The laughter of college women and pink banners on a Sunday night in the Schwitzer Student Center signal a new ministry at the University of Indianapolis. Delight Ministries is an all-female ministry devoted to building a community, growing together and growing in relationships with Jesus Christ, according to the group’s website.
Two college women at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., founded Delight Ministries in the fall of 2012. It began as two friends and grew into many friends. According to the Delight Website, “We are a college women’s community that grows together, serves together, learns together and does life together while chasing the heart of God.”
Ellen Hodson, a sophomore psychology and pre-occupational therapy major and Delight Community Coordinator, decided it was time to bring this ministry to UIndy.
A group photo of the 58 women who attended the first meeting of Delight on Jan. 24, where they spent time getting to know each other, more about Delight and some of the things they would be doing as members. Delight meets Sunday nights in UIndy Hall B/C at 6:15 p.m. Photo contributed by Ellen Hodson
“I think a lot of people just haven’t felt a connection with other Christian ministries,” Hodson said. “I think the other Christian ministries are awesome, but everyone connects in a different way. And I think there are a lot of people that aren’t a part of something that want to be. So I think that bringing Delight will just be another way people can connect to God.”
The UIndy Delight leadership team (from left to right) sophomore Gracie Minix, sophomore Erin Burton, sophomore Ellen Hodson, sophomore Erin Mills and sophomore Katie Harvey have helped to bring Delight to UIndy. Photo contributed by Ellen Hodson
Delight Ministries functions as a weekly meeting, but along with that, is the Delight devotional book. The book covers many topics, and recent college graduates wrote it.
Freshman nursing major Adrienne Henke believes the book is going to be one of the best parts about Delight.
“The books that we are using are written by college women that have experienced and gone through things that we probably will in the future,” Henke said. “It seems real and not the cookie cutter typical Bible study. It seems more down-to-earth.”
To grow as a community, Delight also will host community events. This is when the group will go to an activity together, such as ice-skating or laser tag. Delight also serves the community. For example, they may go to a homeless shelter and feed the poor or go to the nursing home. Along with the devotional study, the community events and the service events are the worship nights. The Delight worship nights are the third Sunday of every month.
Freshman biology and chemistry major Chloe Wahl heard of Delight on the social media platform Instagram. Wahl was excited to check it out and decided she would be back the next week.
“As we go on during the semester, we’ll probably get more comfortable with each other and get to know each other better,” Wahl said. “It’ll be easier to open up about issues we’re having or our relationship with Christ.”
In order for Delight Ministries to be on campus, it needed to be a Registered Student Organization. The process was not easy according to Erin Mills, a sophomore psychology and pre-occupational therapy major and Delight Worship Leader.
“It’s appropriately difficult,” Mills said. “You don’t want just anyone to be able to start an RSO. It was a lengthy process, and it took a lot to plan the kickoff. And even getting the word out was a big part of it too. You have social media which is a great source, but some people don’t like that form. So you have to do posters and just word-of-mouth. I think word-of-mouth has just helped us the most. People we didn’t even know just told others, and those people told others. I think the process was hard, but definitely worth it, because it shows that if you follow through that you are determined that you really want it for the school.”
Delight at UIndy meets every Sunday night at 6:15 p.m. in UIndy Hall B/C.
