I have great news: Christian Union Caritas was officially recognized as a student group by Stanford at the end of March! Many students over the years have worked toward and eagerly anticipated this milestone. We thank God for their labors and prayers, and for His gracious provision! We are also grateful to the leadership in Stanford’s Office of Student Engagement and Office of Religious and Spiritual Life for partnering with Christian Union in this way. Recognition will afford Christian Union students many privileges and responsibilities that we have not had to this point, such as the ability to table at activities fairs, advertise Christian Union in official Stanford communications, access a wider array of meeting spaces, and more. As Christian Union students reach out to incoming freshmen during the beginning of the year, they are hoping that recognition will provide a significant boost to their efforts. Please thank God along with us! The beginning of the spring quarter is also our season of leadership transition. We are grateful to God for our leaders who are moving on after the coming graduation! Would you pray for His shepherding of them in the next chapter of their lives? We are also looking forward to what God will do this upcoming year through new and returning student leaders. Would you pray for our students, that God would stir up their spirits to build up and extend our community of Christ-followers, just as God stirred up the spirits of the leaders and of all the people to build the house of the Lord (Haggai 1:14)?
I will leave you with a passage from Romans (5:1-5) which was a significant part of our meditation and discussion at our most recent Bible courses:
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Isn’t it incredible that, for those who are in Christ, we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God, we have access to grace, we rejoice in hope of the glory of God—and even in our sufferings, which ultimately lead us into greater and greater hope? Thank you, Father, for pouring your love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit!
Grateful to God for your partnership in prayer,
Justin Woyak
Senior Ministry Fellow
Christian Union Caritas
Please note: if you would like to receive regular updates on how to pray for Christian Union's work, please email prayer@christianunion.org.
