Opportunities for students through Upper Room

Upper Room is a student lead club on campus who have a goal to, “foster community and point students to Christ in a testimony sharing type of venue” said Josh Sumpter, University Chaplain and assistant professor of Biblical and Ministry Studies, as well  as the advisor of Upper Room. 

Upper Room Testimony Coordinator, Emily Barker, said she is currently scheduling people to give their testimony for next semester. Barker can be contacted in person or through her student email for any of the 10 open slots available for a student to give their testimony. 

Barker said, “You should feel called to share your testimony, so once you feel that calling from Christ, once you’ve prayed about it and you’ve decided you want to share your testimony… come to me and let me know. I’ll schedule you a date to share your testimony on one of the Sundays we have Upper Room.”

“There is a call in the end of the Gospel of Matthew to go and make disciples of all nations and one of the ways that people grow as disciples is by sharing what they believe or sharing specifically how they encountered God,” said Sumpter. 

“On campus, students can impact students and students can grow in their faith through the sharing of testimony where they get to share what is God doing in their life.” said Sumpter, explaining the importance of sharing student testimony. 

Upper Room is held on Sunday evenings, at 8 p.m. in Roberts Chapel.

Senior forensic accounting major and president of Upper Room, Josiah Gordon gave a brief overview of how a typical night at Upper Room looks like. 

The team starts out with a time for announcements and goes into a prayer over the space. The worship team then plays two songs which lead into the student testimony of the week. After the student’s testimony, the student offers a prayer which leads into the band playing three songs to close. 

Barker said, “The purpose of Upper Room, it’s not a Church. We’re not a Church service, it’s a student-led body that gathers to worship and hear testimony.” In interviews with both Gordon and Sumpter, they both stressed that Upper Room is for everyone, no matter a student’s background or experience with faith, as it is a space for the campus community.

There are a number of different opportunities coming to Upper Room this semester and next semester, with Barker saying that on Nov 10, Upper Room alongside Becky Juliano, Waynesburg University’s Coalition for Christian Outreach representative, will hold a Jubilee launch party after Upper Room with an informational session about the conference being held in Pittsburgh. 

Other special events coming up for Upper Room include their Christmas Night on the last Sunday before finals week and their Easter Night next semester according to Gordon. He said, “We try to go through the Christmas story with some songs in between and a lot of scripture reading… and then next semester, our Easter service is another good one where we just incorporate a lot of scripture in between songs and get into that reverent spirit for the season.”

To find more information about who is speaking any given week, the songs the team is playing that week and any upcoming events, the club can be found on Instagram as @wuupperroom.