Dear Friends and Family of HCFA,
Thank you so much for your ongoing prayers and partnership in the gospel. With eyes of faith we continue to look to the Lord Jesus for grace, strength and wisdom as we navigate through troubled waters.
HCFA Placed on “Administrative Probation”
Many of you are already aware that the Harvard administration has recently placed Harvard College Faith and Action (HCFA) on probation, threatening to revoke its official recognition as a student group. HCFA is the student organization that Christian Union has resourced for ten years now. And so we covet your prayers for us, for the students, and for the administration. You can find more information about this issue on the CU Harvard Recognition Blog.
Our prayer requests center on our student leaders. They desire, more than anything else, to shower our campus with the grace, love and righteousness of the gospel in the midst of the backlash. Additionally, please pray for students within and without our fellowship who are grappling with issues of sexuality. These issues affect them in very personal ways and trouble some of their closest friends and so it is important that we pray for their faithful engagement with Scripture and with the Holy Spirit so that our student leaders will continue to encourage all in Christ: “hold fast to the confession of (their) hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:23)
Something Old and Something New
Over winter break, students began reading through the Book of Romans in anticipation of the in-depth study of the epistle that our sophomores and juniors are enjoying this semester. Seniors are currently engaged in a vocational study. Freshmen are considering what it means to seek God wholeheartedly and they are walking through a five-week course on Sex and Spirituality. Please pray that God will continue to speak to our students through their Bible Courses and that He will forge radical, confessional friendships within these student gatherings.
Over spring break, fourteen students embarked on a seven-day mission trip with Fady Ghobrial (ministry fellow) and Tyler Parker (intern). They had an extraordinary experience helping with Hurricane Maria recovery efforts in Puerto Rico by partnering with Mar Azul Church. This non-denominational church has delivered $3.2 million dollars of recovery supplies to local churches. Our participants helped them to revitalize an elementary school and local homes in Arecibo, and they prayed for people in San Juan as part of a street evangelism project. Students were deeply challenged and encouraged by the experience and felt that they had gained a greater appreciation for the global body of Christ and the value of Christian social justice. The power of the Holy Spirit was also manifest in their friendships and ministry, including the apparent healing of a crippled man. May the Lord continue to thoroughly equip us all to live out the gospel in all walks of our lives.
And so in brief, in the midst of common opportunities and deeply unsettling controversies, God has been at work in many tangible ways. Our students' imaginations have been stretched by witnessing God take difficult circumstances and redeem them for His purposes. Even in recent weeks, we have seen Harvard students giving their lives to Christ through relationships with our students. And we have heard of many constructive, gospel-centered conversations that have cultivated deeper areas of understanding between our students and their non-Christian friends. Please pray that God will continue to exercise His perfect sovereignty over the situation at Harvard and that His will would be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Much love in Christ,
Don Weiss
Christian Union Ministry Director
on behalf of the Staff Team of
Harvard College Faith and Action
Please note: if you would like to receive regular updates on how to pray for Christian Union's work at Harvard, please email prayer@christianunion.org.
