Lancaster Bible College’s newest student organization, the Community Prayer Worship Club, began as one student’s realization that his peers and the LBC community truly enjoyed worshipping together on campus.
Said the club’s founder, LBC Youth & Young Adult Ministry major Kyle Kolynych (’24), “CPW began as a basic worship night at the firepit between East and Peterson dormitories with a speaker and a phone.”
Community Prayer Worship Club founder Kyle Kolynych (’24), left, worships with his fellow students at a recent CPW gathering.
About a year later, Kolynych and his friends decided to make the worship night into an official student club.
“Since then, we have been studying Scripture together, asking questions and seeking what God has in store for us in his Word,” Kolynych said. “We have also spent that time constantly in prayer for one another and in worship together.”
The club meets twice a month and seeks to disciple students in their relationship with the Lord through prayer, worship and studying God’s Word.
Each leadership team member leads a different chapter of the club as they guide students through various spiritual practices at the meetings.
“Our hope and goal is to give students practical ways in which they can connect with God,” said Kolynych. “We want them to walk away with a more tangible way to walk in faith with God and grow deeper in their relationship.”
Kolynych is the president of the club and leads alongside vice president Izzy Werkheiser (’24), treasurer Lauren Marble (’24), president-in-training Mark Wright (’26) and treasurer-in-training Dustin Frantz (’25).
“We as a leadership team are reading though the book ‘Spiritual Practices in Community’ by Diana Shifflet, and it’s been amazing taking the spiritual practices from her book and practicing them at CPW,” said Kolynych. “Our hope with these spiritual practices is that students are able to take them and apply them to their time with the Lord, and it’s been great to see the impact they are having on others.”
Starting and being a part of the club’s leadership team has played a huge role in Kolynych’s growth both as a person and as a leader.
CPW treasurer Lauren Marble (’24), a Business Administration major at LBC, reflects during a CPW meeting.
“CPW has been a valuable part of my LBC experience,” he said. “It gave me a place to test and to grow as a leader. I have had many failures as the leader of this club and many successes, but most importantly, it has given me the chance to share the gifts that God has given me with others. Also, the community that has formed in this club and in the leadership team has been an amazing support for my walk with the Lord.”
Not only has Kolynych seen how CPW has impacted his own faith walk, but he has also seen the way that it has impacted the students who attend. During the spring 2024 semester, CPW has met at 7 p.m. every other Friday in Olewine Dining Commons.
“I have seen and heard that the students really love times of sitting and reflecting on what God is doing in their lives,” he said. “People have really been impacted in their faith by learning what it could look like to spend time with the Lord, and that is really cool.”