BRIDGING FAITH & LEARNING Duke University Chapel Annual Report 2018
“Duke Chapel is, I believe, living out the vision of James B. Duke when he provided the funding to create Duke University—a towering place of worship prominently set on the campus of a renowned university, with a vital mission and direct engagement with the entire Duke community. As Duke has grown into an international learning center, so has our Chapel grown into something with much greater impact than I could have foreseen as an undergraduate. The Chapel is a center of learning, music and other arts, preaching, student engagement, and community outreach. The Chapel staff is part of the public dialogue on what faith and learning mean in a rapidly changing world. Yet, the Chapel is also a place where students, staff, and community members find peace, solace, support, and inspiration.” - Charles Berardesco, T ’80 ADVISORY BOARD CHAIR
LETTER FROM THE DEAN
Ancient wisdom tells us, “[God] hath made every thing beautiful in his time….” (Ecclesiastes 3:11, KJV) and we continue to see the beauty of God expressed at Duke University Chapel every day. First among these beautiful things, year after year, we see you, our amazing supporters, continuing to help us bridge faith and learning at Duke, in Durham, and beyond. We remain grateful for your time, talents, and treasure shared with us, this campus, and the broader community. Today, we are especially amazed at the magnitude of wonderful and constructive wisdom we received in response to our Strategic Planning surveys and focus groups. As we imagine the future of the Chapel with great energy and expectation, we do so with the help of the many friends of the Chapel. In preparing this annual report, we considered how our values align with the work that we do and offer a brief summary of some of the ways we lived into our values—hospitality, care, ecumenism, integrative education, creativity, communication—in the past year. Many transitions and new opportunities came to the Chapel in 2018. J. Samuel Hammond retired from his role as university carillonneur after more than fifty years of devoted service. We began an international search for our next director of Chapel Music. We worked with Housing and Residence Life at Duke to launch a new Living Learning Community for students on campus, Eruditio et Religio, and collaborated with Story+ via the Franklin Humanities Institute and Bass Connections to research and activate our digital preaching archive. As always, we continued to bring exceptional music and the arts to the Chapel community, including Mozart’s arrangement of Handel’s Messiah and a special community arts series, Always Human: Re-visioning Justice, focused on mass incarceration and our deep commitment to the flourishing of all humanity. The beauty of all of God’s children amazes me and because of you, the Chapel’s message of Christian hope and hospitality remains relevant and vital, not only to the university community, but to Durham, the nation, and the world. Thank you for your role in ensuring this spiritual and intellectual vibrancy now and into the future. With gratitude,
Dean Luke A. Powery
COVER PHOTO: DUKE JUNIOR JUNETTE YU READS SCRIPTURE DURING A CHAPEL WORSHIP SERVICE WHILE ARTIST LA CHESSON PAINTS. PHOTO: SAMUEL ZHU, T ’19 LEFT PAGE: SPIRE AT SUNSET. PHOTO: JONI HARRIS, DUKE CHAPEL
Hospitality
“Maybe it shouldn’t surprise us that God works through particularities, through individuals, and small seemingly insignificant communities—maybe that’s what works. God works locally because that’s how blessing spreads.” Rev. Dr. Jacqueline Lapsley ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF OLD TESTAMENT AT PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY FROM THE SERMON PLAYING FAVORITES PREACHED AT DUKE CHAPEL ON JUNE 24, 2018
In times of joy and in times of sorrow and strife, we affirm the deep value of welcoming those who are least like us. Our tradition of hospitality emerges from New Testament teaching. We affirm that in welcoming the entire community, we welcome God’s presence to be here with us. We see the campus as a perfect reminder that we must be a Chapel without walls, open to people of all faiths and none. The Chapel is a hub for the community, a place for people to practice their faith, find respite, seek consolation, and discover inspiration. In 2018, we logged more than 283,000 visits by students, staff, faculty, the worshipping community, audience members, and walk-in tourists. This year, that meant 160 people walked a labyrinth during its time at Duke Chapel. Sixty-four couples were married here and twenty memorial services
remembered those who died from within our community. Among these, we hosted the memorial services for two of our campus colleagues, Dr. Phail Wynn, Jr. (September 8, 1947–July 24, 2018), former vice president of Office of Durham and Regional Affairs, and Dr. Brenda Armstrong (January 19, 1949–October 7, 2018), senior associate dean for student diversity, recruitment, and retention at the School of Medicine. It was a reminder of the privilege of hospitality. Each of these servants worked tirelessly, crossing boundaries and building bridges at Duke and in Durham. We also practice hospitality in difficult conversations that lead to deeper understanding.
The Dean’s Bridge Panels brought campus partners to the Chapel for critical conversations. Even while there have been many traumas in our nation’s churches and synagogues over the last year, Duke Chapel continues to be open to the public 364 days a year. Our goal is to ensure that everyone who comes to the Chapel finds it a welcoming place, a place where they can stop and spend a moment in prayer, join their voices in song and worship, take a photograph, or listen to a tour. LEFT PAGE: PHAIL WYNN, JR., MEMORIAL SERIVCE. PHOTO: MEGAN MENDENHALL, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS BELOW: GLOBAL CAFE FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS IN THE CHAPEL BASEMENT.
We join with our brothers and sisters across denominational lines to meet the needs of the community. For more than eighty-five years, the community has gathered to worship on Sunday mornings at Duke Chapel. That gathered community is united by a common set of core beliefs that establish the Chapel as first and foremost a Christian center. We are a community of the young and the old, visitors and longstanding supporters of our work. We strive to ensure that our worship reflects our diversity with an integration of the rich traditions of Christianity
in the North and the South, in Europe and in Africa, in Asia, and right here in Durham. Beyond Sundays, the Chapel hosts more than one hundred additional services with our partners in Christian ministry and Religious Life at Duke. Duke Chapel continues to be a Christian church of uniquely interdenominational character and purpose. Through its tradition of inspiring worship and music, and a calling to walk with people of all faiths and circumstances, Duke Chapel stands as a beacon of hope that bridges faith and learning on campus and in the community. In 2018, Duke Chapel served as the host venue for more than 1,000 participants from
across the United States for the annual “Why Christian� conference. In addition to the national audience, several staff members attended and were inspired to continue to work with diligence and enthusiasm for the Gospel. Much of our work carries us out of our offices only to discover that as we walk away from the Chapel, our commitment to ecumenism comes to life. Whether it is Dean Powery preaching in a pulpit in Washington, D.C., the Evensong Singers traveling to St. Martin-inthe-Fields in London, or our community minister joining the work of churches in Durham to find shelter for the homeless, these encounters remind us that we are better and stronger when we share the richness of our traditions with one another.
Ecumenism “What we find here at this table, where we eat the same food and drink the same cup, is the precious, living community, the people of God, you, the Body of Christ alive and at work in our world.” Rev. Dr. Carol Gregg PASTOR TO THE CONGREGATION AT DUKE CHAPEL FROM THE SERMON EATING TOGETHER PREACHED AT DUKE CHAPEL ON OCTOBER 7, 2018
RIGHT TOP: THE “WHY CHRISTIAN” CONFERENCE THAT THE CHAPEL HOSTED. PHOTO: JAMES TODD, DUKE CHAPEL RIGHT: JOHN BROWN’S LITTLE BIG BAND AT A JAZZ VESPERS WORSHIP SERVICE. PHOTO: GRACE CAI, T ’19 LEFT BOTTOM: APOSENTO ALTO, A BILINGUAL WORSHIP SERVICE ORGANIZED BY THE HISPANIC HOUSE OF STUDIES AT DUKE DIVINITY SCHOOL
To care for one another is our calling; to care with one another is our blessing. We care for the community in ways that may be difficult to measure, but we define our ministry by our prayers, our presence, and the generous support of those who extend our reach into the local community. We continue to pray every day for those who request our prayers. Close to 2,000 requests are submitted each year and teams of lay and ordained ministers ensure that every request for prayer is honored. On rare occasions, we hear back from those for whom we have prayed, but, most of the time, these requests are reminders of the great needs that surround our work.
With the addition to our staff of a full-time community minister, the Rev. Breana van Velzen, we are able to “show up,” participating in the old and new ministries shaping the future of Durham. Attending community forums, public programs, and neighborhood caucuses endorses Duke’s commitments to Durham and reinforces our commitment to care for the needs of the people who live in close proximity to the campus.
With help from our many supporters, the Chapel continued to invest in a select group of local nonprofits and ministries through our offering program. Twenty-two local organizations received direct financial support from the families and friends who attend Sunday morning worship at the Chapel. Looking ahead, we will continue to support groups ranging from Habitat for Humanity to KidzNotes in their efforts to care for the community.
Another group of PathWays Fellows spent a year in intentional discernment, working in local charities, and living in community. Planting a summer vegetable garden at the PathWays House was a tangible reminder of our commitment to care for our neighbors in Durham’s West End.
We are grateful for those who work beside us, as providing this level of care to our community is only possible because of the generosity of the Chapel community. In December, we honored eighty-two volunteers who help to make every day run smoothly at the Chapel.
LEFT: STUDENTS REUNITE AT A CHAPEL SCHOLARS EVENT. RIGHT PAGE: VOTIVE CANDLES IN MEMORIAL CHAPEL. PHOTO: ANDIE REA, DUKE CHAPEL
Care
“God is there even when our lives seem to be crushed. God is holding on to us with love and care.” Rev. Dr. Cláudio Carvalhaes
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF WORSHIP AT UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY FROM THE SERMON LIFE LIVED IN LIGHTS, SHADOWS, AND DARKNESS PREACHED AT DUKE CHAPEL ON FEBRUARY 11, 2018
Integrative Education
“In knowing himself and knowing the Lord, the Psalmist asks to be led and instructed in God’s ways…. The Psalmist acknowledges his need to be led in the Lord’s ways of living, being, and doing—ways that are not like his ways, paths that are not his typical paths, modes of being that are shaped by the goodness, justice, mercy, and steadfast love of the Lord.” Rev. Bruce Puckett ASSISTANT DEAN OF THE CHAPEL FROM THE SERMON MAKE ME TO KNOW PREACHED AT DUKE CHAPEL ON FEBRUARY 18, 2018
Education happens not only in lecture halls, study carrels, and laboratories, but also through mission trips, internships, and engagement with the local community. At the Chapel, we understand that education is a lifelong endeavor designed to increase our skills, expand our capacity, and train our hearts to hear the call of God on our lives. Students, staff, faculty, and community members were invited to join the Chapel in reading Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to
White America by Professor Michael Eric Dyson. Divinity school students studied homiletics with Dean Powery, and a Duke House Course focused on faithful mission trips. We know we need to stand up from our pews, set our books down for a moment, and walk out into the world around us, build new relationships, and learn directly from one another. In order to meet the world’s great needs, we need to meet the world’s great people and discover new solutions within the context of neighborhoods, communities, and beyond. The Chapel Scholars and Religious Life at Duke offer students new experiences
and companionship as they bridge faith and learning in their undergraduate years. Mission trips, retreats, and service projects were supported by existing endowments this year, as well as new expendable gifts making it possible for students to engage with critical questions in realworld environments. We are grateful for the campus and community partners who enrich everything we do. ABOVE: THIS YEAR’S GROUP OF CHAPEL SCHOLARS. PHOTO: SAMUEL ZHU, T ’19 LEFT PAGE TOP: THE RE-VISIONING JUSTICE BRIDGE PANEL DISCUSSING RESTORATIVE JUSTICE. LEFT PAGE BOTTOM: REV. JOSHUA LAZARD, C. ERIC LINCOLN MINISTER FOR STUDENT ENGAGEMENT AND INTERIM DIRECTOR OF RELIGIOUS LIFE, SHARES A MEAL WITH CHAPEL SCHOLARS.
Creativity Our identity is linked to the creativity of God. Expressed with originality and innovation, Duke Chapel traditions bring people together in creative ways. Working from a variety of sacred music traditions, Chapel Music continues to present annual concerts and lead worship during this year of transition. As we search for the next director of Chapel Music, three choirs, five staff members, two organ scholars, four organs, and a fifty-bell carillon, create the soundtrack for the ministry of the Chapel. Partnerships with many professional musicians, student music groups, and guest choirs bring new voices into this space. In the fall of 2018, the Chapel’s arts committee imagined and implemented a multidimensional project to recognize the varied history and purpose of prisons in
the United States and in Christian traditions. Prisons can be places for restraint and repentance that serve the cause of justice, and places of mass suffering and confinement that are used as tools of injustice. Prisons have also been the sites from which prophetic and inspired letters in the Christian tradition have been written by St. Paul, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King, Jr., and others. Always Human: Re-Visioning Justice cast a critical eye on the current state of the criminal justice system in America and highlighted ways that communities and individuals are seeking both justice and hope. The project comprised two art installations, multiple talks, and a concert. In December of 2018, the Chapel received new support for work on the Duke Chapel Recordings digital archive from Bass Connections. Not only is the archive a treasure trove of recognized American
preachers, it also prompts a new generation of scholars to pose contemporary questions about intersections of body, place, and performance in the space of the pulpit. With this support, students and scholars will examine the benefits and the constraints of “Minoritized Bodies in the Pulpit,” enriching our understanding of what role the Chapel may have played in the emergence of women and people of color in American churches since 1950. With the help of Duke’s Bass Connections program, this project will engage graduate and undergraduate students in a creative analysis of the recordings and accompanying texts, while also applying the muchneeded metadata to make the archive searchable for future teams. We remain grateful for the generosity that supports this creative community.
ABOVE: DR. PHILIP CAVE CONDUCTS THE ANNUAL PERFORMANCE OF MESSIAH BELOW: VISITORS VIEW AN ART INSTALLATION THAT WAS PART OF THE ALWAYS HUMAN:RE-VISIONING JUSTICE SERIES. PHOTO: GRACE CAI, T ’19
WHY I GIVE
“Indescribable, unfathomable, unimaginable in so many ways, yet God is reachable, touchable, and digestible. God is in you! God is with you! Wiping tears from every eye, touching you, making all things new.” Rev. Dr. Luke A. Powery DEAN OF THE CHAPEL FROM THE SERMON MORTAL GOD PREACHED AT DUKE CHAPEL ON NOVEMBER 4, 2018
“God speaks ... from the very beginning in Genesis. Speech is a primary way God relates to creation. God speaks to us and we speak as a sign of what it means to be made in God’s image. This mutual speaking is key to the relatability of God.” Rev. Dr. Luke A. Powery
DEAN OF THE CHAPEL FROM THE SERMON WHIRLWIND WISDOM PREACHED AT DUKE CHAPEL ON OCTOBER 21, 2018
Communica
ation
The statistics speak for themselves. The Chapel is reaching more people and welcoming more visitors than ever before; more tower climbs; more tours; more services, and more online visitors to our website and recordings on our YouTube channel. Based on this, we have redesigned our Visitor Relations team to create a new hospitality coordinator position. With the Chapel receiving more than 283,000 visits in 2018, this position manages our hospitality team of front desk greeters and leads our program of service to the university. In many ways, this is a direct outgrowth of our expanding efforts in communications. New strategies to reach and retain followers on Facebook and Twitter have been successful. We also have expanded the reach of our live-streams and online archive of concerts, services, and celebrations. As the next generation turns away from a television set and a book to open up their laptop for entertainment and meaning, we know that this part of our work will continue to expand. Music continues to be one of the mainstays of our communication outreach. Vespers on Thursday evenings at 6:00 p.m. and Evensong on Sundays at 4:00 p.m. have online audiences that extend our service beyond the walls of the Chapel and into homes and offices around the world. At the heart of our communications ministry is our work with Duke Health. Every day, Chapel services are available on the televisions in patient rooms and every year, we hear from patients and their families that the broadcasts encouraged them. At its finest, communication helps us to stay connected, to see together and believe together. We remain grateful to the generous support of the Friends of Duke Chapel in making unrestricted gifts that are used to support this important ministry. LEFT PAGE: A CHRISTMAS OPEN HOUSE VISITOR TAKING A PHOTO OF THE MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
2018 VISITOR BREAKDOWN General visitors 191,787 Chapel worship services 35,633 Ceremonies and talks 15,696
283K
Concerts 13,072 Weddings, memorials, and baptisms 11,848
TOTAL VISITS
Religious Life services 9,856 Tours, tower climbs, and organ demonstrations 5,326
2018 IMPACT
PRAYED IN RESPONSE TO
2,000+ PRAYER REQUESTS
22
NONPROFITS FINANCIALLY SUPPORTED
325
WORSHIP SERVICES held in the Chapel
100
PASTORAL SERVICES weddings, funerals, and baptisms
76
CHAPEL SCHOLARS
23
RELIGIOUS LIFE GROUPS
21 4 14
41 12
5 38
9
12
61
ONE YEAR OF SUPPORT
190
22 92
26
774
11
4
67
42
5 6
22
CHAPEL SUPPORTERS
28 41
58%
GIFTS OUTSIDE OF NORTH CAROLINA
20
Gifts to Duke Chapel come from a growing network of supporters, and 7 countries outside of the U.S.
19,294
SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOWERS
293,000 TOTAL ESTIMATED RADIO AND TELEVISION AUDIENCE FOR 52 WEEKLY BROADCASTS PLUS SPECIAL CHRISTMAS EVE BROADCASTS
January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018
2,076
30
17 30 15
148
11
22
14 56
19
33
49 STATES
2,533,033 MINUTES watched on the Duke Chapel YouTube channel, which equals 4 years and 298 days worth of Chapel recordings watched in 2018!
We give
THANKS
OFFICE OF THE DEAN Luke A. Powery
ADMINISTRATION Amanda Millay Hughes
CHAPEL ADVISORY BOARD Charlie Berardesco, T ’80
Ava West
Joni Harris
C. B. Richardson III, T ’92
James Todd
William E. King, T ’61, G ’63, G ’70
Dean of Duke Chapel
Assistant to the Dean
MINISTRY Bruce Puckett Assistant Dean
Joshua Lazard
C. Eric Lincoln Minister for Student Engagement and Interim Director of Religious Life
Breana van Velzen Community Minister
Gale Pettiford
Staff Assistant for Ministry
MUSIC Philip Cave
Associate Conductor of Chapel Music and Interim Director of Chapel Choir
Robert Parkins
University Organist
Christopher Jacobson Chapel Organist
John Santoianni
Curator of Organs and Harpsichords
Michael Lyle
Office Coordinator for Chapel Music
Director of Development and Strategy Business and Facilities Manager Communications Manager
Kevin Goldfarb
Communications Specialist
Lisa Moore
Accounting Specialist and Office Coordinator
Erica Thomas
Staff Assistant for Development
HOSPITALITY Mark King
Hospitality Coordinator
Mercedes Conely
Visitor Relations Assistant for Weddings
Blanche Williams Wedding Director
Ann Hall
Visitor Relations Assistant
Wanda Cobb
Visitor Relations Assistant
Antoinette L. Bethea
Visitor Relations Assistant
Jane Kelly
Visitor Relations Assistant
Keshia Perry
Visitor Relations Assistant
Oscar Dantzler
Chair
Vice Chair
Emeritus Member
Zoila Airall Robin Barefoot D. Michael Bennett, T ’77 John A. Bussian III, T ’76 M. Keith Daniel, T ’90, D ’05, D ’16 Ellen Davis Thomas Felgner, T ’94, B ’95 Cathy S. Gilliard, D ’97 Elizabeth Grantland, T ’20 Zachary Heater, T ’17 Sara Elizabeth Hyre, T ’89 Grace Lee, T ’79 and Kenneth Lee, T ’74 Jeffrey Nelson, D ’13 Thomas Walker Robinson, T ’00, G ’01, M ’09 Max Sirenko, T ’11 Valerie Sirenko, T ’11 Amanda Wright Smoot, WC ’63 Kathryn Lynn Watkins, T ’19
University Housekeeper
Beverly Jordan
University Housekeeper ALL PHOTOS BY KEVIN GOLDFARB EXCEPT FOR THOSE NOTED.
OUR VISION
To bridge the differences that divide humanity, reconciling us to God and to one another. OUR MISSION
Through worship, student ministry, community connection, interfaith engagement, and the arts, Duke Chapel stands as a beacon of Christian hope that bridges faith (religio) and learning (eruditio).
919-681-9488
dukechapel@duke.edu
Box 90974 | 401 Chapel Dr. | Durham, NC 27708
@DukeChapel