Katie Averitt: Theology Homework

1. Is Chi Alpha a church? Should a student be involved in a local church on Sunday mornings in addition to their involvement in Chi Alpha? Are your
reasons more pragmatic or theological?

I would say that Chi Alpha is part of a church. Chi Alpha is the campus missions branch of the Assemblies of God. We are very much church in the sense that a body of believers gather together to seek and worship Jesus as well as reach the post together. However, my hesitation in calling Chi Alpha a church is that there is a lacking of the multigenerational component that should be present in the church. Ideally, a healthy church would contain babies through elderly and every age group in between—married and single—so that we can learn from one another, grow together, and truly encapsulate the family aspect of the Kingdom.

If a Chi Alpha student is not regularly attending a Sunday church service, they are missing our on that aspect of Church. I would say that my reasoning is theological, as scripture encourages intergenerational mentorship. An example of this is Titus 2:3-5, “Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.” (Esv).