Delight: A ministry centered on women

BY LINDSEY HUGHES

Art Director

Delight Ministries is a Christ-centered community that focuses on fostering vulnerability between women on college campuses around the United States. Their core values include being invitational, fostering a vulnerable community, practicing effective innovation, equipping and discipling leaders and being spirit-led. 

Delight has chapters all across the country, but Tarleton State University’s chapter of Delight began in the spring of 2021 with Maria Gabrielse in the lead. After her graduation, Lillie Davis took over as the Team Director and is currently leading Tarleton Delight. 

Davis is a Tarleton senior and criminal justice major and has a real passion for the Godly community of women that Delight creates. The core mission statement of the ministry is “building a Christ-centered community for college women that fosters vulnerability and creates transformed stories,” and Davis feels that the organization fosters a group of women that truly do just that.

“I think we really hold true to the vulnerability part; we like to really open up with each other. Some of the girls don’t have that within friends or family, so I think that is our core,” Davis said.

Delight works around a new study every semester, which are 10 weeks long and are completed on your own time throughout the week. At each of the weekly meetings, a leader will lead the study and open the floor to conversation around the topic. These weekly meetings also consist of worship and fellowship with the Delight community. 

However, these weekly meetings aren’t all that the Delight community does. While they are a fundamental part of the organization, it reaches far beyond a weekly get-together. 

“We do a lot of community events, a way for the girls to come and hang out without there being a chapter that week. We’ve done PJs and Pancakes, movie nights, craft nights, karaoke nights, and we do a rooftop worship night every semester. We also do service events – Tarleton Roundup, volunteering for the humane society, things like that,” Davis said.

One of the core missions of Delight is to bring women together, and there is something uniquely special about a ministry centered around uplifting and bringing together sisters in Christ. This organization has reached over 15,000 women, has over 200 chapters and 1,500 student leaders.

The ministry website calls Delight “A place to belong, a place to grow in your faith, a place to be known,” and that holds true for the Tarleton chapter. 

Anissa Armijo is a freshman nursing major at Tarleton, and while this may be her first year in Delight, she has already been able to see the impact that this community has. Armijo will also be heading up the worship team at Tarleton Delight, as she got the opportunity to be worship leader this semester. 

“I would say our core purpose is to bring women together, especially in a Christ-centered community. We encourage each other to grow our relationship with God and grow as a whole,” she said.

Delight is a ministry that provides a place for women from all walks of life to find community. More importantly, that community is one that is Godly and uplifting, no matter what phase of life you may be coming from.

Rebekah Hartman, a junior animal science major and the events coordinator for Tarleton’s chapter of Delight, stressed that the ministry is for anyone, whether they’ve been going to church since childhood or have never stepped foot inside one. 

“Our mission at Delight is to be able to reach girls that just want a group of girls that they can connect with on a deeper level. We don’t have guys here, so we can openly talk and connect with them more,” Hartman said. 

The Delight experience is one that is uniquely tailored to sisters in Christ and fosters relationships and friendships that will last a lifetime. 

Delight has meetings every Wednesday at 7 p.m. Locations for meetings, as well as other information, can be found on their Instagram @delight_tarletonstate.