In spring 2023, Professor Nate Glasper Jr., a campus worship associate, had an idea. He brought together five students and encouraged them to form a group for multicultural worship on Calvin’s Campus. By fall 2023, that group — Stephan Bovell, Grace Cheong, Pierre Kaldas, Yoseob Lim, and Nisya Salim — had become the 7:9 Project.
Although all of the group’s founding members except Cheong have since graduated, the 7:9 Project continues to thrive. Its name comes from Revelation 7:9, which describes “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” This verse encapsulates the 7:9 Project’s mission, which is to provide spaces for international students to worship in their native language, so that everyone at Calvin is encouraged to “stand before the throne.”
“We’re going to be doing that for eternity, so why not?” said Caleb Tan, a sophomore and member of the 7:9 Project’s leadership team. “How we live out that vision here [and] now is providing spaces for international students to worship God in their language.”
Calvin University offers other opportunities for international representation in worship. The most obvious example is the “Sounds Of” chapels every Monday, but for some students, that is not enough. According to Cheong, “A lot of us felt it was very performative, and we wanted a more organic space to share our experiences and worship naturally.” This desire became the driving force behind the project.
The main way the 7:9 Project is able to create these kinds of spaces is through collaboration with international student groups. They have been collaborating with Mu Kappa, the student club for missionary and “third-culture kids” — students who grew up outside of their or their parent’s country of citizenship — since their first fall. This semester, they added new collaborators to their schedule: Puentes, the Latinx/Hispanic student group, and the Chinese Student Association. The 7:9 Project supports the groups in their worship nights, providing worship leaders and music.
Since these worship nights with Calvin’s affinity groups are a new occurrence for the 7:9 Project, they are a learning experience for the project members. To put on these events, the team needs to learn songs in new languages well enough to lead the group in worship. Cheong described worshiping in an unfamiliar language as being “a little awkward, but it’s also a space of vulnerability before other believers and also with God.”
The 7:9 Project’s style of worship also emphasizes the importance of prayer. Cheong lamented the “lack of awareness on campus in general about how powerful a weapon prayer can be, and how much of an important communication tool it is with God.” The group combats this lack of awareness by prominently including prayer in their worship, by posting prayers to their Instagram page, and more recently, by hosting a morning prayer session at the Calvin Symposium of Worship.
Nearly two years after formation, leadership feels that things are progressing smoothly. Cheong and Tan both noted that their worship nights have been well-received by students, and Tan also sees God moving through their work. In particular, he felt that “the Lord leading was just absolutely amazing” during the most recent worship night with Mu Kappa.
However, there is always more to do, and there is always something more to do. Cheong hopes to get more — and more diverse — students involved in the project, with the goal of continuing to “grow in our vision of worship.” The group has a current membership of around four students and are in the process of adding several more.
The plans for growth are not limited to Calvin’s campus. “The goal is to serve Christians in the area,” Cheong said. She has aspirations of getting people from Cornerstone and Aquinas involved in multicultural worship. The project’s leaders also plan to involve the Grand Rapids community through fellowship at local churches, social media networking, or leveraging personal connections to continue to grow and minister.
Tan encourages interested students to follow @7.9project on Instagram.
