October 2016
Dear Friends and Partners of Penn,
Greetings from Penn! Fall is upon us as the leaves change and begin to paint the campus with color before drifting to the ground to be reborn again in the spring. What a wonderful time it is to remember the mercies of God in bringing new life to his people through the Spirit, but also to remember that this inheritance came at a cost to our elder brother Jesus. We ask you to join us in prayer as we consider our needs on campus in light of the great love of our Father and sacrifice of his only Son.
We are overjoyed to report that two students involved in our ministry have launched a pro-life group on campus in the past week. They were met with a great deal of resistance given the typical pro-choice leaning of campuses, but the vitriol seemed particularly intense even before the group gets off the ground. Please pray for wisdom for the two founding students (who are both male) and that women would be compelled to join the group to provide needed perspective and support for women on campus who might be intimately acquainted with abortion.
Just last night our student leaders provided a practical opportunity for students to develop their leadership abilities by creating a way to get involved in our various Ministry Teams. We had over 40 students join us in a miniature activities fair that paired students interested in getting involved in the work we’re doing on campus, with leaders who wanted to invite them to take part in that work in particular ways. Our Community Service team in particular got a needed boost of membership to provide opportunities for service around campus.
Speaking of leadership, this weekend provides an example of how our Ministry Teams can work together to achieve something unique on campus. On Thursday, our Leadership Lecture Series team is bringing a speaker in to talk about what it looks like to follow Jesus. The very next day, the Seeking God team, which encourages intimacy with Jesus through prayer and fasting, will be holding a special prayer time followed by a discussion about spiritual gifts. Finally, on Saturday the Outreach Team will train students on evangelism and then send them out onto campus to have spiritual conversations, preceded by another prayer time with an evangelism emphasis. We’re grateful that even in our work on campus we can reflect the variety of gifts that our good Father has given his people.
We pray that through our efforts on campus, God will bring new life to the people and institutions that make up the University of Pennsylvania.
Thanks for your prayers,
Justin Mills
Christian Union Ministry Director
University of Pennsylvania
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Please note: if you would like to receive regular updates on how to pray for Christian Union's work at University of Pennsylvania, please email prayer@christianunion.org.
