Friends,
I pray this email finds you well. The Lord continues to show himself faithful to us here at Brown University, where our ministry has begun its fourth year on campus. For the first time ever, we have a graduating class, which means there are, also for the first time, four classes of students – freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors; four classes of Brown students that we have the incredible privilege of walking alongside as we all follow after Jesus. Praise the Lord for his goodness!
Greetings,
Christian Union at Columbia continues to experience God’s grace as we minister to the students on campus. We recently wrapped up a successful Freshman Campaign, in which we attained all our goals for the new freshman class. These students are enthusiastic new members of our family here at Columbia. We also had an impactful Fall Conference. For the conference, the staff chose to focus on the topic of wisdom, giving a series of talks from the book of Proverbs. Feedback from those in attendance was that it was one of our best Fall conferences yet. The students loved the talks we gave, and we were privileged to see one Freshman give her life to Christ during student prayer after one of the main sessions. We were also told that the conference was successful at causing friendships to form among students who usually don’t have much interaction with each other.
Dear friends and family of HCFA,
First, my name is Tyler Parker and I'm the Harvard College Faith & Action (HCFA) intern for this year! Some of you may know that Anne Kerhoulas usually writes these messages, but this month, we're trying out a little bit of a fresh perspective on things. As an HCFA alum, I'm truly honored and excited to be serving the organization that transformed my college experience and gave me my first true experience of spiritual family. With that said, here is the update for the month of October:
As I write this email, it finally feels like Autumn in Princeton. We are enjoying the cool mornings, warm afternoons and the start of fall foliage. It’s a beautiful time of the year. We are so thankful for your faithful prayers, support, and encouragement as we adjust to the rhythms of the new academic year. We are off to a good start and I’m happy to share with you the following highlights and updates from the past month.
We have arrived at the middle of the fall quarter for Stanford, and it has been an incredible first several weeks! Our Freshman Welcome fall kickoff resulted in connecting with a great group of freshman men and women who are exploring God and growing in their faith through the ministries of Christian Union Caritas -- Christian Union's ministry to students at Stanford.
Thank you for your continued support and prayers. We could not do what we do without you lifting us up in prayer. Thank you for your prayers, please keep them coming!
As always, thank you for your partnership in the gospel ministry at Harvard Law School (HLS). Your support continues to encourage us and our students as we press on to see the gospel advance throughout the HLS campus and beyond.
As I write to you, we are more than halfway through the fall semester. Our Bible Courses and mentor meetings continue to bear fruit each week as the word of Christ dwells more and more richly in our students. We are always looking for ways to bring specific encouragement to our students as they begin to think about integrating the Christian faith and the law, so we have started a series called “FAITH in Practice” that brings in lawyers to share how they have practiced law in a way that pleases the Lord. Also, we are planning another series called “FAITH Talks” that will address the core doctrines of the faith in ways that will help our students apply the biblical worldview to their studies and work.
The past few weeks have been packed with events to welcome in the freshmen class of 2021. Our upperclassmen “freshmen gatherers” have done a fantastic job inviting and bringing freshmen (’21s) to our events and encouraging them to get involved in a Bible course. We are pleased with the number of '21s who are looking for Christian community and desire to be in a Bible course. We hit the ground running with Bible courses this week, jumping right into Philippians for our quick 8-week term.
Thank you for your partnership in the gospel ministry at HLS. Your prayers are a significant part of how God is accomplishing his purposes on this campus and beyond.
We are a few weeks into the fall semester. All of the 2L’s and 3L’s have returned, and the 1L’s are becoming convinced that they will not only survive but begin to thrive amidst the intensity and intellectual rigor that is HLS. Coram Deo Law has begun its men’s and women’s Bible Courses on Philippians, focusing on the example and power of Christ for living in a manner worthy of the gospel. Also, we are beginning our weekly lunch discussions that make sense of trending legal issues from a biblical worldview.
The incoming freshman class just arrived at Stanford on September 19th! Christian students across campus are pulling out all the stops to welcome these freshmen to Stanford and to the various Christian groups on campus. For many of these freshman, they will either get plugged into Christian community during the first few weeks of college, or they won’t at all during their four years here. These weeks are a pivotal time in their lives!
We are grateful for your faithful prayers, support, and encouragement during these weeks as we launch into a new and exciting season of ministry on the campus of Princeton University. Even as I write this report, we are concluding our first full week of ministry with classes in session. I’m happy to share with you the following highlights from the past month.
Dear friends and family of HCFA,
I hope your summer has been warm and restful. At Harvard we are already a few weeks into the semester and the Lord is at work!
Please Join Us for a Week of Spiritual and Physical Refreshment
Thanks for joining Christian Union leaders, staff, alumni, friends, and ministry partners (and their families), this summer, for the third annual Christian Union Summer Getaway from July 13 - 20, 2019. We gathered at the beautiful CAMP-of-the-WOODS, in the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York, for a week of spiritual and physical refreshment.*Due to COVID-19, we have no plans for the CU Summer Getaway.*
Speakers
Our 2019 chapel speaker was Dr. Colin Smith. He is an evangelical pastor and author currently serving as the Senior Pastor of The Orchard Evangelical Free Church in Illinois where he has been since 1996. Pastor Smith was born and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland and trained at the London School of Theology. Prior to his time with The Orchard Evangelical Free Church, he served as pastor of Enfield Evangelical Free Church in London for 16 years. Smith brings a strong emphasis on God’s Word and brings passion to help the church develop a vision for the future, including training younger preachers.
We were excited to have Eric Metaxas be part of the Christian Union Summer Getaway again this summer. Eric Metaxas is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, the host of a nationally-syndicated radio program (the Eric Metaxas Show), and a highly sought-after speaker. This was Eric’s second year with us, and his talks last summer were a highlight for many of the Summer Getaway attendees.
CAMP-of-the-WOODS
Mornings are highlighted by chapel services that feature inspiring worship and biblical teaching. In the afternoons you will be free to explore all that CAMP-of-the-WOODS has to offer.
CAMP-of-the-WOODS has been providing meaningful Christian vacations for families and people of all ages for more than 117 years. The ten-week summer season runs from late June through Labor Day. Each week guests enjoy teaching from internationally known speakers and teachers, such as Ravi Zacharias, Alistair Begg, James McDonald, Erwin Lutzer, and Charles Zimmerman. While parents enjoy morning speaker sessions, children from kindergarten through high school enjoy age-specific Christian education and make new friendships that last a lifetime. For younger children, childcare is provided during all speaker sessions and concerts.
Afternoon activities include: water sports; hiking; canoe trips; rock climbing; sand volleyball; mini-golf; tennis; shuffleboard; arts and crafts; and a wide variety of games and competitions in the massive Sonju Sports Complex.
Christian Union Activities
As part of the CU Summer Getaway, you will also have the option to participate in a number of Christian Union-specific excursions, seminars, and social opportunities.
Learn More
Email us with any questions at SummerGetaway@ChristianUnion.org.
We are wrapping up another sophomore summer and have enjoyed getting to focus on just the ’19’s class for these past few months.
There are a few highlights from the summer, including a 4th of July picnic, which turned out to be a beautiful day for grilling out and playing volleyball, a welcome break from studying for the students. We also led a weekly book discussion on the book You Are What You Love, The Spiritual Power of Habit, by James K. A. Smith, which turned out to be a wonderful tool to discuss spiritual disciplines and how to train our hearts to love the right things.
It's hard to believe that the summer is nearly over and our staff conference is right around the corner!
We're delighted to announce the addition of Michael Racine, a Brown and Yale alumnus, to our staff as men's ministry fellow. We now have a "complete" team and couldn't be more hopeful about how God will use Christian Union at Yale this coming year.
The students and team in Palo Alto are in the middle of our summer rhythms, enjoying a slightly different pace and landscape. While this is a great time to refresh, we also expect God to continue His work in the lives of our students while they are away from the demands of school.
Thank you for your prayers! Our first year welcoming campaign is winding down and we have been so encouraged by the depth of faith of some students as well as the openness to the gospel of others.
Greetings from the campus of Harvard Law School!
Another academic year is just weeks away at Harvard Law School. But this one is a bit different. HLS is celebrating its Bicentennial: 200 years of producing some of the most significant leaders of this country. This year marks the 500th anniversary of the Reformation that God used to spread his gospel across the world. And Christian Union is celebrating 15 years of God’s grace and the transforming power of the gospel at the most strategic universities in America.
Physical & Spiritual Refreshment
Christian Union alumni, friends, and ministry partners and their families, plus several Christian Union staff members and leaders, recently gathered at the beautiful CAMP-of-the-WOODS, in Upstate New York, for the week-long 2017 Christian Union Summer Getaway.
Guests enjoyed CAMP-of-the-WOODS' daily chapel services that featured worship led by a tremendously talented orchestra and vocal ensemble, as well as powerful teaching from Ravi Zacharias and Abdu Murray.
Zacharias, the founder of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM), is a world-renowned speaker and brilliant defender of the Christian faith. Murray is part of the RZIM speaking team, has authored two books, and serves as the North American director of RZIM.
Summer Getaway attendees also took part in hikes, special teaching times, socials, and meals together — all designed to help the group connect. Guests enjoyed access to the full range of CAMP-the-WOODS activities, including swimming, water skiing, sailing, kayaking, canoeing and other water sports, hiking, rock climbing, zip line, golf, mini golf, tennis, basketball, volleyball, and more.
CAMP-of-the-WOODS offered something for everyone, including special programs for children and teens.
The feedback from attendees was overwhelmingly positive.
One family said, “we’ve had an absolutely amazing week — of course we love everything CAMP-of-the-WOODS has to offer from a recreational perspective, but the spiritual component is what really made it special. We will leave both physically and spiritually refreshed.”
Another commented, “it is remarkable to be at such a gorgeous place, with so much to do, yet to feel totally safe letting our kids run around without us having to know where they are every second of the day.”
“It was an absolutely fantastic week. We particularly enjoyed getting to know others taking part in the Christian Union activities — we feel like we’ve made a lot of new friends,” observed another participant. “We would love to come back next year.”
To stay up-to-date on news related to future Summer Getaways, please visit www.CUSummerGetaway.org.
