If the weather’s nice on a Sunday afternoon at Covenant College, in Lookout Mountain, Georgia, you might see students chatting on blankets scattered across the lawn, or resting in hammocks.
What you might not see is much studying: the library is closed. And while Covenant doesn’t ban personal study on Sunday, there are a number of policies designed to encourage rest.
“God has given us the Sabbath as a gift. It’s not meant to be a burdensome rule to follow,” said Stephanie Formenti, vice president for student development at Covenant.
Covenant is the PCA’s denominational college, and Formenti said the Sabbath policies are based on the “Westminster Confession of Faith,” the PCA “Book of Church Order,” and Scripture.
As such, the college closes important buildings on Sundays, including the gym and the library. Even the chapel is closed on Sunday in order to highlight the fact that chapel is an extension of the classroom and not a substitute for the worship of the local church.
There are no Sunday athletic practices or games. Faculty avoid Monday due dates and tests to relieve some of the Sunday homework pressure. On holiday weekends like Easter, students also are given Monday as a holiday so they don’t have to travel back on Sunday. All freshmen take an orientation class that covers the foundations of the Christian faith and includes teaching about healthy rhythms like the Sabbath.
The Sabbath rest reminds students that God made humans as finite beings. “We are creatures; we are not able to do everything all at once, all the time,” Formenti said. “I think when students start to bump up against that [during college], they start to understand the beauty of rest and the goodness of God in giving us that rest.”
The Sabbath policies don’t come without challenges. Formenti said it’s hard to break old habits and build new ones. And sometimes Sabbath rest requires sacrifice, like in 2016 when the women’s tennis team forfeited a championship match that was scheduled on a Sunday. While the NCAA has religious exemptions for schools unwilling to play on Sundays, Covenant’s collegiate conference at the time, USA South, was not bound by the NCAA’s rule.
John Hirte, Covenant’s athletic director and women’s tennis head coach, said protecting Sundays makes it easier for students to be part of local churches, and his own Sabbath experiences as a student continue to benefit him.
“I understood Covenant’s Sabbath policy loud and clear [as a student]. I think the gratitude for it came on the back end,” he said. “I think it really helps our student-athletes just get oriented into a routine that is hopefully going to play out [long term], as we’re seeking to develop those who want to faithfully follow Jesus.”
Hirte said that the Sabbath policies do not put Covenant at a competitive disadvantage. NCAA Division III rules mandate that coaches give their teams one day off every week. Other schools might have a fluctuating rest day, but at Covenant, rest day is always Sunday.
Covenant’s current conference, the Collegiate Conference of the South, honors schools that wish not to compete on Sundays. Hirte said that after the tennis team forfeited the championship game in 2016, USA South also changed its rules to honor NCAA exemptions. Covenant changed conferences two years ago for other reasons unrelated to Sabbath observation.
“The hope is that we’re orienting students toward involvement in a local church and not allowing the excuse of ‘I have athletic events,’” he said.
In his own life, Hirte said the policies help him reset during the intense school year.
“I think it’s just been a really good source of encouragement,” he said. “I’m just super thankful for a day (that is) carved out, being able to go to church and spend time with family.”
He hopes that Covenant’s choices, like closing the gym, help students “to think more critically about how they’re spending the Sabbath, not bringing legalism into the mix but saying ‘Hey, let’s try to be real intentional about seeing the Lord’s purpose in setting the Sabbath apart,’” he said.
Avoiding legalism is one reason why, despite the policies encouraging Sabbath rest, Covenant has no rules mandating that students keep their books closed.
“We would like this kind of thing to be something that students embrace from their heart, not as something that they do out of legalism,” Formenti explained.
Covenant has a process of helping students understand the heart behind the Sabbath rules. Formenti said they encourage students to start small, with Sunday morning services. And they encourage students to give each other grace.
“We want to be a community of grace and love, and so it’s important for us to equip our student leaders and our student staff to not let this be something that is divisive,” she said.