Community Life
As a center for theological study in West Michigan, Western's student body is diverse in age, experience, education, race, and religious tradition. As each new class enters, its members join a community that includes not only Western's student body but also faculty and staff, the community of Holland, Michigan, and the Reformed Church in America.
At Western, activities from chapel to basketball are open to all. Professors, students, administrators, and staff regularly mix in worship, social, and study settings.
Western also encourages students to build ties to its larger communities in a variety of ways. These include becoming involved in local church life, serving or eating at the Community Kitchen, and serving as student representatives to a variety of church bodies.
Worship and Spiritual Growth
Faculty, students, and visiting preachers lead chapel services every morning during the academic year. These include many styles of worship and meet both in John R. Mulder Chapel and the more informal setting of Semelink Hall.
Depending on their interests, students may choose to take part in a number of seminary-sponsored activities, including Bible studies, liturgical dance groups, choruses, and dramatic productions. In addition, the city of Holland and nearby communities are filled with opportunities for worship, musical performances, retreats, spiritual conferences, and small-group studies.
Spiritual Direction
Spiritual direction, either as an individual or in a small group, is available at Western from trained spiritual directors. Information about joining a spiritual direction small group or about how to be matched up with a spiritual director is provided at the beginning of each academic year.
Bookstore and Coffee Shop
The Sacred Page bookstore's purpose is to provide ready, helpful access to books and materials that support and fulfill the seminary's mission. These include textbooks, materials supporting faculty and student research, materials to sustain the ongoing learning of pastors, church leaders, and laity, Bibles, music, and worship materials.
The goal of The Sacred Page bookstore is to become the premier source in this area for Christian literature that is relevant to the needs of church members and leaders and that is biblically and theologically well-grounded.
Located just off the sunny atrium, the bookstore's coffee shop offers "Fair Trade" coffees and an assortment of snacks.
The City of Holland
Western Theological Seminary resides in the heart of Holland, Michigan, on the southeast shore of Lake Michigan.
The community has deep religious roots that trace back to nineteenth-century Europe. In the 1840s, a group of Dutch Reformed Christians separated from the state church in the Netherlands. They came to America to worship according to their beliefs and to escape the poverty they faced in the Netherlands. Led by the Rev. Albertus Van Raalte, some of those immigrants founded Holland in 1847.
Although today people of many ethnic backgrounds and religious beliefs call Holland home, the city remains a strong center of activity for the Reformed Church in America. Hope College, one of three Reformed church colleges, is located here, as are many vital Reformed Church congregations.
Holland provides Western students with many options for worship and membership in local congregations and for places to practice ministry. Holland is also home to a number of service-based ministries through which people of faith reach out to help others in the local community and around the world.
Holland's wide variety of industry and commerce supports a prosperous economy. Nearby larger urban areas (25 miles to Grand Rapids; 150 miles to Chicago) guarantee residents access to a wide spectrum of cultural activities and services.