Community Life

C3 serves as our school’s governing body as it relates to coordination of student activities and the distribution of funds necessary to support them. C3 operates under the larger Graduate Student Government Association (GSGA), which serves all graduate school divisions of Emory. Meetings are held monthly. C3 includes representatives from each class and degree program, representatives from each charter student organization, and Candler’s GSGA representatives.

The Black Student Caucus was established to sustain and enhance African American identity, awareness, and cohesiveness on the Emory campus and at Candler School of Theology. It serves as a support group for African American students and as a context for the study of issues facing African American ministry. Through interest groups such as Sistah Circle and Brother/Man, the Black Student Caucus seeks to foster better communication between all persons through dialogue that promotes respect for and understanding of cultural and religious differences, and the needs relevant to those differences. Black Student Caucus is open to all.

CATSA is concerned with the promotion and facilitation of the study of African theologies and cultures. In collaboration with other groups such as the Candler Black Student Caucus and Candler International Student Association, CATSA seeks to foster a sense of fellowship and encourage interaction among African and Black (i.e., African Diasporan) students and Candler’s diverse student body, staff, and faculty, while also attending to the particular needs of African students. CATSA celebrates the gift and blessing of cultural and religious differences among all persons. CATSA is committed to increasing awareness among Candler and Emory University students of African and international concerns and themes. CATSA believes that the liberation of Africa is bound with the welfare of the world.

The Candler Baptist Community is a student-led organization that gathers regularly for fellowship and support. The CBC consists of students from several Baptist denominations, and it encourages dialogue among all who share in the Baptist heritage. Periodic luncheons provide an opportunity for conversation and sharing.

The purpose of the CBC is fourfold: (1) to provide support for Baptist students preparing for ministry; (2) to provide opportunities for networking and job placement in cooperation with the Baptist Studies program; (3) to raise awareness of issues of importance that affect Baptist students at Candler; (4) to promote theological education that is enriched and enlivened through ecumenical dialogue and relationships.

We are a circle of eco-minded folks at Candler School of Theology. We live at the intersection of faith and environmentalism, ever-vigilant to ways we can encounter God through God’s Creation. We have a little something for everyone. We maintain Candler’s educational Theology Garden and meet regularly on Thursdays at noon to tend it. We host hiking trips on the first Saturday of the month in and around Atlanta. We also provide ways to engage in conversations about environmental justice, climate change, and sustainability that are rooted in faith. Come join us!

The Candler Evangelical Society is an interdenominational organization whose purpose is to minister to, support, educate, and reach out to the larger Candler community. CES believes the Bible shapes, expresses, and evokes a transformative faith, which is supreme faith in and patterned after Jesus Christ, especially God’s redemptive activity in Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. CES seeks to explore the richness of the Christian heritage, paying special attention to traditions of the evangelical faith culture. Participants in CES seek to grow spiritually and theologically through an open and appreciative encounter with the broad range of theological positions and concerns found within the Candler community.

CISA represents the broad variety of international students within the Candler student body. The students delegate a representative from each country to form the association’s executive committee. The purpose of CISA is to create and encourage a harmonious community for Candler’s students, faculty, and administrators. To this end, CISA aspires to raise awareness of international concerns, provide a forum for discussion of such issues, enable students to share their gifts and talents, and support international students in their academic pursuits at Candler. It is hoped that by participating in and sponsoring activities such as workshops, worship services, community conversations, international lunches, and other special events, CISA will build community. CISA welcomes everyone to be a part of its community.

The Candler Latin American Community is a community of students that provides fellowship, expression, and support for Latino/a students at Candler, and any other students with interest in Latin American culture. CLAC grants Candler’s Latino/as an intentional space of sharing ways in which their cultural backgrounds intersect with their academic, spiritual, ministerial, and personal lives. CLAC seeks to enrich conversations surrounding diversity and culture at Candler, lifting up a distinctly Latin American perspective. As Latin America spans a number of countries with their own unique values, we aim to recognize Latino/as in their similarities and differences.

CLAC meets three times per semester. All students at Candler are welcome to join and participate.

Candler Women seeks to provide community support and advocacy for women. The group also plans and participates in worship services for women, Women’s Week activities, and Women’s History Month, and promotes Candler’s Women, Theology, and Ministry program. Candler Women co-sponsors events with other Candler groups that minister to the whole Candler community and/or support issues of reconciliation and justice. Membership is open to all who are associated with Candler.

The Emory Korean Graduate Student Association contributes to the Candler and Emory communities by enriching students’ multicultural, social, and academic experiences. Networking and shared interests in Korean/Korean American ethnicity are supported through this organization.

Sacred Worth is organized to support the diverse expressions of human love and sexuality among all of God’s children and is committed to acts of justice, education, conversation, and celebration with Candler, Emory University, and the larger community. Sacred Worth hopes to be a prophetic voice challenging institutional practices and personal attitudes that limit the diversity of human sexuality, and seeks to make the community a sager, more loving, and respectful place for all people. Sacred Worth welcomes all people, regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, sexual or gender orientation, age, or disability and works for the full recognition of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, heterosexual and cisgender persons who feel called to lay or ordained ministry.

The Social Concerns Network seeks to support, coordinate, and nurture social actions and activism that emerge from our faith commitments. It promotes the living out of theology in an effort to question and transform political, economic, and social structures in society and the world. Recent activities include participation in protests, letter-writing campaigns, prayer and worship services, educational workshops and documentary screenings, and direct activism on campus and in the community, with a focus on issues such as anti-death penalty work, farmworker awareness, and an overarching emphasis on intersectionality. SCN strives to support justice issues within the Candler community wherever they emerge.

Candler’s standing committees are comprised of faculty, select administrative staff, and student representatives appointed by the dean per the recommendation of the C3 president. Committees function much like Candler’s “legislative branch,” responsible for decisions regarding institutional policy change. Committees typically meet once every month during the academic year and cover these areas:

• Admission and Scholarship
• Community and Diversity
• Contextual Education
• Curriculum and Policy
• International Studies
• Library, Media, and Tech
• Worship and Spiritual Formation
• Personnel and Academic Policy