Members of Chi Alpha, a Christian organization on Marshall University’s campus, gathered Tuesday for their third meeting of the semester.

Weekly meetings, which occur Tuesdays at 7 p.m. in room 2W37 of the Memorial Student Center, consist of a worship service, music from a live band and community time.

“Chi Alpha’s focus is on loving God and loving people,” said sophomore Hannah Fetty, president of Chi Alpha. “One of our sayings is ‘transforming the university, the marketplace and the world.’”

Aside from weekly meetings, the group of around 20 people has weekly life group meetings, which Fetty said are small bible study groups. Women meet on Wednesdays at 6 p.m. in Towers West or 7 p.m. in room 2W9 of the student center and men meet at 8 p.m. in the student center basement.

“Another part of Chi Alpha is real devotion to life, real community and real responsibility,” Fetty said. “Real devotion to life is making sure you’re spending time with God and building a relationship with Him, real community is building relationships with each other and real responsibility is just taking responsibility for others’ salvation and reaching out to them, loving them and being a part of their lives.”

Chi Alpha reaches out to the community through events off campus, such as a winter retreat, the World Mission Summit once every four years, where missionaries from all over the world meet to speak with each other, and a fall advance. This year, the summit will be Jan. 4-6 in Houston, Texas.

“We also do stuff outside of the school,” Fetty said. “From Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 we’re going to what’s called a fall advance, and it’s a retreat where we’ll be meeting with WVU’s Chi Alpha and Fairmont State’s Chi Alpha.”

Junior Brittany Layton, life group leader and vice president of Chi Alpha, said she joined the organization because she felt welcome.

“I’ve gone to church all my life, so I was trying to find a good campus ministry,” Layton said. “I came to what we call ‘mug night,’ where you get something to eat and play games with people, and they just made me feel loved. You truly become a family here instead of just someone who’s in their group. We accept all, you don’t have to be Christian or of any faith.”

Fetty said any student can join Chi Alpha or attend a meeting.

“It’s a cool opportunity to get plugged into a community that is going to accept you and love you no matter what your background is, and that’s really what we’re about, loving people unconditionally,” Fetty said.

Olivia Zarilla can be contacted at [email protected].