“Let your light shine”
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UC Santa Cruz Chapter
Watch Altars
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Chapter One

Our Story

2016 · The first altar

A dorm-room prayer meeting

Six students gathered in a Cowell College common room to pray for their campus. They called it a “watch altar” — a place to keep watch in prayer. Within a term, the room couldn’t hold them.

2018 · Worship nights

Friday nights at University Center

Weekly worship gatherings drew hundreds. Small groups multiplied across the residential communities, and the first ministry teams formed around worship, prayer and outreach.

2021 · Faith meets tech

Scholarship & the labs

We launched study groups and hackathons exploring how faith engages science, research and technology — the conviction that worship and intellect belong together.

Today · A movement

24 chapters and growing

What began with six now spans campuses nationwide — still built on the same simple call to keep watch, pursue truth and build the future together.

Worship night

“We never set out to build an organization. We set out to keep watch — and God built a family.”

— Founding student, Class of 2017

Where we’re going

Vision & Mission

Our Vision

A generation of university students who love Jesus wholeheartedly, think rigorously about truth, and use their gifts and technology to serve the world for the glory of God.

Our Mission

To make disciples on campus — gathering students for worship and prayer, equipping them in the Word, and sending them out to lead, create and serve in every sphere of culture.

Gather

Worship & prayer weekly

Grow

Discipleship in the Word

Serve

Teams using their gifts

Send

Into culture & the world

What we hold to

What We Believe

We believe in salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ — crucified, risen and reigning. The good news of His death and resurrection is the center of everything we are.
We hold the Bible to be the inspired, trustworthy Word of God — our final authority for faith and life, studied carefully and lived out faithfully.
We depend on the Holy Spirit to convict, transform and empower us — for worship, witness and a life that bears lasting fruit.
We believe truth is one. Rigorous scholarship and wholehearted worship are not enemies — the God who saves is the God who made the universe we study.

Read the full Statement of Faith

Our complete doctrinal statement and foundational documents are available to read and download.

View documents
What drives us

Our Values

Hover each value to see how it shapes our community day to day.

Devotion

Jesus first, always. Worship and prayer are the engine of everything we do.

Truth

We pursue truth honestly — in Scripture, in the lab, and in our own hearts.

Family

No one walks alone. We belong to one another across colleges and years.

Service

Gifts are given to be given away — to the campus, the city and the world.

This is who we are. Come be part of it.

The best way to understand Watch Altars is to experience it. Join us this Friday — there’s a seat with your name on it.

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