The Christian club that wanted everyone to see it

Students heading toward the Fox Den, the Student Center or lunch did not have to go looking for the Students of Christ 3:16 club.

The club put itself right in the middle of campus.

At a recent movie event in the rotunda, 3 large screens played The Chosen while pizza, drinks and tables turned a public pass-through space into something more deliberate: an invitation. Organizers said that was the point. They did not want the event tucked away in a classroom. They wanted students to see it, get curious and feel like they could stop in.

Paris Morgan, one of the event organizers, said the rotunda made sense because students coming from the cafeteria area, the Fox Den and the Student Center could “take a little peek” and see something was happening. What she wanted them to feel, she said, was “welcome.” The event, she said, was meant as outreach, not just for club regulars. “Anybody can come in, anybody is welcome,” Morgan said.

That public visibility is what made the event more interesting than a standard club meeting.

At a commuter college, campus space often feels transactional. Students move from class to class, grab food, head to work and leave. A public movie screening about Jesus in one of the campus’s most open spaces changed that rhythm, at least for a while. It gave passing students a reason to slow down, look over and decide whether they wanted to keep walking or step closer. That tension, between visibility and hesitation, seemed to be at the center of the event.

For some nonmembers, the event landed as welcoming rather than awkward.

Kayla M., who stopped briefly before class, said she had been eating lunch with friends when she noticed The Chosen on the screen. She described the atmosphere as “low-pressure” and said the event made her more interested in possibly attending the club’s Bible study. Ayelen Hernandez, another nonmember who stopped by, said the event made the rotunda feel “very nice, very welcoming.” TJ, who also passed through, put it more simply: “It feels cool.” He said he liked seeing student groups use public space that way.

Those reactions matter because Morgan said one of the biggest misconceptions about a public Christian event is that people might assume the club is trying to push religion on anyone who walks by. That is not how she described the goal. She said the event was supposed to feel welcoming even to students who were not Christian, so they could experience “just the love itself” rather than the stereotype of a closed-off religious event.

Another organizer, Cheri Dosh, framed the event in similarly open terms. She said the rotunda works because it is a common location where CCA already holds other large events, and because the setup makes it easy for students to stop for the movie, food or conversation. Dosh said the hope was that students would enjoy the event and “feel loved and accepted.” She also said the club has seen major growth in Bible study attendance, rising from five people to 25, which she pointed to as one sign that more students are engaging.

Still, the event was not really about numbers alone.

John Patchen, president of the Students of Christ 3:16 club, said the group offers something he thinks campus life often lacks: perspective and the feeling that “you’re not alone.” He said public events in the rotunda feel different from normal club meetings because they bring in more foot traffic and create chances to meet students the group might not otherwise reach. For him, the space feels transformed not at the beginning or end, but in the middle, when people settle in and actually start listening.

That may be the strongest way to understand what happened in the rotunda.

The event did not turn the space into a worship service. Dosh herself noted that watching a movie is different from worship, and said she hoped it would lead more to conversation afterward. What it did do was make faith visible in a place where visibility itself matters. On a commuter campus, public space is one of the few things everybody shares. When a student club uses that space well, it can do more than promote itself. It can change the feel of the campus for an hour or two.

For the Students of Christ 3:16 club, that appears to be the real play.

Not just showing a movie. Not just giving out pizza. Not just attracting members.

Making faith public in a way that feels approachable enough for students to stop, watch and maybe rethink what kind of campus community is possible.