Christian Union: The Magazine
Flip through the online magazine above or scroll down to read a selection of the feature articles in the magazine.
Incoming First-Year Students Already in Bible Courses
by luke brown, dartmouth ’18
As the COVID-19 pandemic pushed Bible courses to Zoom and students and staff scrambled to adjust to the new normal, Christian Union Vox experienced an unexpected silver lining. A multitude of incoming freshmen from the class of 2024 began reaching out to the Vox team via social media, interested in being a part of the Christian community. A few months later, and through the boldness of the incoming freshmen and the openness of current students and staff, sixteen members of the Class of 2024 are already seeking the Lord in Christian Union Bible Courses.
Reaching out to Young Professionals
by catherine elvy, staff writer
The COVID-19 pandemic did not prevent Christian Union’s ministry to professionals from sharing its core mission with recent college graduates.
In May, Christian Union New York coordinated virtual introductory meetings with graduating seniors at top universities. During the spring, the ministry typically reaches out to seniors involved in Christian Union Universities to help facilitate connections for graduates within certain professional and geographic networks in various cities. In New York City, the ministry offers emerging and established leaders an array of community groups, mentoring and networking opportunities, as well as enriching events including forums, lectures, and conferences.
Christian Union Day and Night
by justin woyak
Editor’s Note: The following devotional was written to help Christians think about and respond biblically to the crisis of COVID-19. In March, Christian Union Day and Night organized a nationwide, 40-day initiative of prayer, fasting, and repentance to address the coronavirus pandemic, supported by daily devotionals.
But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.
—2 Timothy 3:1-5 (ESV)
HCFA Undergrads Give Seniors a ‘Commencement’
by anne kerhoulas, staff writer
The chaos of the developing pandemic and learning that the spring semester would conclude remotely could not deter students with Christian Union at Harvard (HCFA) from celebrating and honoring their graduating seniors.
While the campus shifted toward scenes of frantic packing, hastily thrown parties, and seniors clinging to last moments of their college experience, HCFA underclassmen mobilized to create a commencement ceremony for the departing graduates. They devised cardboard caps and personalized pseudo diplomas, a commencement speech delivered by an impersonated Barack Obama, and a real charge for those leaving campus to seek the Lord.
Nova’s Sending Team Focuses on Evangelism Training
by catherine elvy, staff writer
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, students involved with Christian Union Nova at Princeton University took a deep dive into evangelism.
During April and May, about fifteen students participated in video conference calls to discover how to share the Good News more effectively in their everyday lives, both on campus and beyond.
“God is doing something on our campus. Our prayer leaders have been praying about how to reach the campus,” said Christopher Heslep, ministry director at Princeton University.
Love from Libertas Moves Hong ’20 to Become Intern
by rachel mari, contributing writer
Jane Hong, a recent alumna of Brown University, is evidence that the light of the Gospel shines brightest in the darkest of times. Hong, a leader with Christian Union Libertas as an undergraduate, was blessed by its community of believers during COVID-19 restrictions and will serve as the ministry’s newest intern in the fall.
Originally intending to work at a dermatology clinic after graduation and before attending medical school, Hong felt called to intern with Christian Union. In March, when Brown closed due to the pandemic, she was unable to go home, but found comfort and encouragement in her Christian Union Libertas community. It was during this time that she felt led to consider becoming an intern.
Being Home When Home Is Hard
by daniel chabeda, yale ’20
Editor’s note: The following devotional was written by Daniel Chabeda, who served as a student president of Christian Union Lux at Yale University before graduating in May. This devotional was part of a series entitled “On Our Hearts, On Our Minds,” that encouraged the Christian Union community in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Caritas Is Engaged in Summer Bible Study
by catherine elvy, staff writer
Young adults involved in Caritas, Christian Union’s ministry to Stanford University students, are discovering new insights into the foundational truths of Genesis.
In late June, Ministry Fellow Justin Woyak began leading a virtual summer study devoted to unpacking the themes and wonders of the Bible’s first book. “There’s a lot to dig into,” said Woyak, Princeton ’09. “There are so many threads of the Bible’s storyline that begin here.”
A dozen students are participating in the online studies, which are held on Tuesday evenings and will continue into early September. Stanford students from varying collegiate stages are taking part in the calls, including two incoming freshmen.
Given the COVID-19 pandemic, Christian Union’s ministry team at Stanford moved the gatherings to an electronic format for summer 2020.
Senior’s Faith Sustains Her during Abrupt End to On-Campus Semester
by francine barchett, cornell ’20
Nigerian-American. Singer/Blogger/Poet. Future physician/scientist. All are apt descriptors for Iyaniwura Olarewaju, a recent Cornell graduate in biological sciences who had an unexpected end to her senior year.
From reading and re-reading President Martha Pollack’s urgent email imploring students to leave campus, to completing her finals through “Zoom University,” Iyaniwura’s COVID-derived life has been at times “like an eerie dream.”
Flourishing in Digital Babylon
by david kinnaman and mark matlock
In a previous era, we had some semblance of success with mass-producing disciples. We had big rallies and crusades and whiz-bang events, and many young people came forward to pledge their lives to Christ. But as the growing dropout rate starkly reveals, that approach alone doesn’t seem to work here and now as well as it did there and then.
In digital Babylon, faithful, resilient disciples are handcrafted one life at a time. Over the past ten years, we’ve observed five patterns of intentional behavior we can adopt to guide disciples in the making.
