Happy New Year from Palo Alto!
Greetings from Palo Alto! We’ve reached the halfway point of the academic year and winter quarter, which means we wrapped up our study of Philippians last week and are embarking on a mammoth study of Romans in the weeks ahead. According to Martin Luther, in his preface to Romans, all the most important truths in the universe will be laid out before us:
We’re back into the swing of things at Penn and the main focus is leadership. 1 Timothy 3:1-2 states, “The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach…”
This semester is a significant time for our students as we are seeing the fulfillment of 1 Timothy 3:1-2 happen before our eyes as we prepare for a “change of the guard” with our student ministry team leaders (MTL’s) and assistant Bible course leaders (ABCLs). We have big shoes to fill as many of our current leaders are graduating seniors this year. However, this provides a great opportunity for aspiring leaders to rise to the occasion to lead next.
Loneliness at Yale is an enemy of wellbeing, even for those who enjoy solitude. In a recent Yale Daily News article, Sharla Moody, a senior in Berkeley College and one of our talented leaders, narrates how loneliness clouded her student experience at the college of her dreams. That’s because even at Yale, nothing is more valuable than satisfying the human longing for loving and life-giving relationships. We are all made to experience and enjoy fellowship with God and each other.
Your prayers for Christian Union New York are bearing so much fruit! Christian Union New York is thrilled to announce to you that after many months in the making, CU New York has established its own Advisory Board! Christian Union as a whole has been operating under the guidance and wisdom of a board for many years. But now, as CU New York continues to expand and solidify the means of accomplishing its mission (including one day expanding into other major cities), Christian Union leadership has determined that it was time to establish this localized board. This board will help advise, multiply the hands and feet, talents, areas of expertise, experience, and networking connections of CU New York.
Greetings from Providence! The spring semester is underway as students began the spring semester on January 26th. Covid continues to wreak havoc in the northeast, especially here in Rhode Island. Fortunately, students will be attending classes in person and we do not anticipate any disruptions to our ministry calendar. It has been so wonderfully refreshing to greet students as they return to campus, and the time spent praying with them has been a blessing.
Greetings in the matchless name of Jesus! I am thankful for your love and partnership with Christian Union Lumine at Columbia University. Because of your committed giving and prayers, we are seeing students’ lives transformed by the gospel.
Greetings from Ithaca! The spring semester is getting underway this week. Our students are once again enduring the realities and restrictions of life with Covid. Group gatherings are currently discouraged and while students are on campus, all classes at Cornell are being taken remotely for the first two weeks of the semester. We are, however, hopeful that things will open up soon. We have been holding weekly CU Vita student leadership meetings via Zoom for the past two weeks, and we will meet again this coming Thursday night. We have been reconnecting and praying together, and fine-tuning our plans for the semester ahead, some of which I will describe in the following prayer requests.
Hello from Hanover! As many of you know, the Dartmouth academic calendar is different than most schools. Winter term classes began on January 4th so we are well underway with life and ministry. The start of a new year and a new term always bring renewed energy and enthusiasm. It’s always a delight to have the campus filled with students and bursting with activity. The rhythms of Bible courses, daily prayer, social events, Leadership Lecture Series, and one-on-one mentorship are well established and are serving to challenge and encourage the students this term. Join me in praying for these items:
Robb ’70 Inspires CU Lux with Message of Revival
By Anne Kerhoulas, Staff Writer
When Isaiah sees the glory of the Lord, his magnitude and power as just the hem of his garment filled the temple, he fell to his knees saying, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips.” (Isaiah 6)
"Jesus Stood Up for Children"
The killing of babies has had a place in our world for centuries. From abandoning newborns with deformities to killing female babies, each culture has had its own reasons for ignoring their personhood and allowing for lives to be discarded. Even today, in nations like India and China, female babies are regularly aborted or killed in favor of males, leaving a drastic gender gap in the population.
Participants Share Powerful Testimonies
By Chuck Hetzler, Director of CU Day & Night
God has a word for every nation. That’s why 4,500 American Christians joined Christian Union Day and Night’s fourteen-day fast on January 3-16, 2022.
Football Players Huddle Up for Christian Union Bible Course
Tom Campisi, MANAGING EDITOR
Editor's note: This Throwback Thursday article originally appeared in Fall 2019.
“Don’t Stop Pressing In!”
By Jacob Hawkins, Harvard Kennedy School ’20
About a year ago, my mom asked me, “When did it all change for you?” Without thinking, the answer was clear. “When I started to read my Bible every day,” I responded.
Matthew 22 Evangelism Walks Invigorate CU Libertas
By Anne Kerhoulas, Staff Writer
Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. - Matthew 22:8-10
Institution Seeks to Foster 'Dynamic Conversations'
In November, a group of notable professors banded together to launch an ambitious project: the founding of a new university that would be built on the constitutional, American right to free speech. Citing academia’s growing problem with cancel culture for both professors and students who dare to voice unpopular opinions, the University of Austin aims to be an institution that fosters dynamic conversations around controversial topics, welcoming and creating a space for argument and dissent from cultural narratives in hopes of retrieving what much of American academia has lost: true freedom of speech.
The Complicated Dynamics of Faith and Works
The relationship between one's faith and the works that flow from that faith has always been complex. Oftentimes, the two seem to create one of the many paradoxes of faith; we are saved by our faith alone, not our works, and yet our works demonstrate our faith and we must have them.
Alumna Recalls the Discipleship, Community, and Leadership Development she Experienced at Columbia
By Taylor Willis, Columbia ’18
As soon as I set foot on campus as a first-year at Columbia, I felt out of place. I yearned for Christian community minutes after my parents left me to fly back to Texas. Thankfully, by God’s grace, Christian Union Lumine existed.
Q and A with Professor David Gustafson
Editor's note: This Throwback Thursday article originally appeared in the Fall 2018 edition of Christian Union: The Magazine.
Twelve Things You Need to Know About the Third Person of the Trinity
In the fall semester, Fady Ghobrial, a Christian Union ministry fellow at Harvard University, challenged students to go deeper in their faith when he delivered a message about the Holy Spirit during DOXA, Christian Union Gloria’s Leadership Lecture Series. Ghobrial’s lecture, “Twelve Things You Need to Know About the Holy Spirit,” covered thematic threads through scripture, church history, and systematic theology, and was followed by a question and answer session that unpacked even more teaching about the Holy Spirit. Below is a summary and highlights of the twelve points:
A Podcast on Faith + Work
Though American Christians once lived in a culture that was infused with Christian morals and understandings of reality, American culture today is the least Christian our nation has ever seen, forcing believers and the Church to reconsider how they might embody and share the Gospel in their unique spheres of influence.
