Religious and Spiritual Life
Supporting and engaging students of all traditions through the values of belonging, holistic wellbeing, transformational justice, and active community participation
All Are Welcome Here
While Muhlenberg College, founded in 1848 as a Lutheran seminary, is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, we welcome and support students from a wide variety of faith traditions.
The Office of Religious and Spiritual Life (RSL) approaches religious and spiritual curiosity and engagement by empowering students in their individual growth and identity formation while inviting further exploration into how we, as a diverse community, must also learn from and relate to one another for mutual flourishing in a pluralistic democracy.
On-Campus Religious Communities
Christian
Choose from among four active and intimate Christian student organizations: Abide, Catholic Campus Ministry, Chapel, and DiscipleMakers Christian Fellowship. Each of these communities gather for worship, Bible study, fellowship, and service throughout the academic year, offering students a chance to explore or deepen their Christian faith both personally and in community with others.
Jewish
Two Jewish student organizations offer programming for students to gather for learning, observances, cultural celebrations, service, and community. Hillel — whose mission is to enrich the lives of Jewish students so that they may enrich the Jewish people and the world — is housed within the Leffell Center for Jewish Student Life on campus. Muhlenberg’s Chabad Club partners with a campus-adjacent Chabad house to program on and off campus. Many students find great value learning and interacting within both communities during their time on campus.
Muslim
The Muslim Student Association seeks to provide a voice and platform for Muslim students on campus while providing an environment for Muslim and non-Muslim students to bond and engage. The MSA aims to further educate the Muhlenberg College community about the Islamic faith, as well as its faith belief system, values, customs, and rituals.
Interfaith/Spiritual but Not Religious
Recognizing the great diversity of religious and cultural affinity organizations on the Muhlenberg College campus, Bridges brings these communities together over a shared interest in interfaith work and learning about one another. Bridges is dedicated toward hosting spaces for students to learn about various religious, spiritual, or secular practices in an environment that promotes dialogue and the sharing of personal experiences in order to foster meaningful relationships.
We are here to be in conversation with everyone! You may still be asking deep questions about meaning and purpose in life. Being on a college campus is an incredible gift, allowing us to explore and engage beyond what we may have known previously. RSL offers individual reflection and small group programs such as mindfulness practices and training in dialogue across differences to the wider community to help students bring their full identity to the table (be it religious, spiritual, or secular) to discern their values and pathway in life and interact with peers doing the same. Our interfaith community welcomes students of all or no religious or spiritual identity to learn about and from one another, sharing appreciative knowledge, growing in positive attitude toward one another, and building relationships across both similarity and difference.
To learn more about faith communities on campus and off, please contact chaplain@muhlenberg.edu or 484-664-3120.
If you practice a tradition that is not represented among these groups and want to explore how to connect with practitioners in our local community, create a student organization, or develop independent programming to share your tradition with others on campus, please reach out to begin a conversation with our staff. We’re eager to accompany you in your exploration!
Dive Deeper Into These Communities
Hillel
Muhlenberg offers Jewish students the outsized Jewish life of a large university in the intimate environment of a top liberal arts college.
Muhlenberg College Chapel
The Chapel has been a Reconciling in Christ community since 1995, welcoming students of all identities into worship, community, and leadership.
Catholic Campus Ministry
The Newman Center provides Roman Catholic students a place to gather, socialize, and pray.
DiscipleMakers Christian Fellowship
This student group aims to help students grow deeper in their relationship with God and be equipped to live out their faith for years to come.
Faith in Action
An individual walk of faith or exploration of ethics leads us to consider our communities and the roles we play in them all the more. RSL offers different avenues for students to engage in active community participation and the work of transformational justice through three distinct programs.
The Muhlenberg Useful Living Essentials (MULE) Community Cabinet
Through the MULE Community Cabinet, students can make an impact on matters of food justice — as student employees, volunteers, or donors. They manage this valuable space, sharing resources with campus community members who may need supplemental food, hygiene, or cleaning products. Email MULECabinet@muhlenberg.edu to learn more.
The Fellowship for Interfaith Learning and Leadership (FILL)
FILL is a year-long cohort experience that kicks off with both asynchronous and in-person learning through the Foundations of Interfaith Leadership course from Interfaith America and full participation in the Interfaith America Leadership Summit in August. Upon returning to campus each fall, cohort participants meet with one another (for continued learning and program development) and with other interested students through campus programming. Each cohort participant is expected to co-lead at least two unique events during the school year to build appreciative knowledge on campus, develop relationships, and leverage social capital to impact attitudes.
Alliances for Justice Active Leadership (AJAL) Workshop Series and Retreat
Held in collaboration with the Office of Community Engagement and MOSAIC (the Muhlenberg Office for Student Access, Inclusiveness, and Community), this series of workshops, open to all Muhlenberg students, leads up to a retreat prior to the spring semester. Students come together for a weekend of reflection and deep engagement with the work of social justice grounded in dialogue.
Pastoral Care and Support
Pastoral care is foundational to our work in the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life. Our entire staff is present to connect one-on-one to offer pastoral care and support to students, faculty, and staff. In addition to our counseling center, the Rev. Janelle Neubauer and Ira Blum ’10 are both designated confidential resources, as is our assigned Roman Catholic sacramental minister, the Rev. Keith A. Mathur.
Contact the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life
Reach RSL at chaplain@muhlenberg.edu or 484-664-3121.
