![\"Ministry](\"https:\/\/christianunion.org\/images\/content\/photos\/magazine\/2019-Fall\/Ministry-MilestoneSmall.jpg\")
As he looked back on the last five years, Woodard was \u201cfilled with gratitude for all the hard work done by ministry faculty and student leaders who have worked tirelessly and energetically to make this ministry what it is today.\u201d<\/p>\nAt the Christian Union Staff Conference this summer, the organization celebrated a major milestone\u2014five years of ministry at Brown University.<\/p>\n
A few weeks later, Ministry Director Matt Woodard and Ministry Fellows Laurel Copp and Ben Pascut began earnestly to prepare for year six and the annual Freshmen Welcoming Campaign.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFive years at Brown is a remarkable milestone,\u201d said Doyle Dunn, vice president of Christian Union Universities. \u201cWe celebrate the many ways God has changed students\u2019 lives through these years. We also celebrate the faculty and staff who have devoted their time and energy to make this ministry such a joyful success.\u201d<\/p>\n
As he looked back on the last five years, Woodard was \u201cfilled with gratitude for all the hard work done by ministry faculty and student leaders who have worked tirelessly and energetically to make this ministry what it is today.\u201d<\/p>\n
He expressed thanks for growing from a core group of eleven students in the ministry\u2019s first year to graduating its first class of seniors to having 100 young men and women in Bible courses last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, what we as a staff will remember most,\u201d Woodard said, \u201care the hours we were fortunate to spend with them, hearing life updates over coffee, studying Scripture together in Bible courses, and watching as they grew into young adults ready to live on mission as they enter the next phase of their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Lord is doing amazing things on campus and in the city of Providence!\u201d<\/p>\n
Copp said walking alongside students as they learn and grow in their relationship with God, their love for their fellow students, and in their studies has been \u201ca joy and a great adventure.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have sought to help students integrate their faith and learning, to love Brown the way that Jesus loves, and to develop the fruit of the Spirit as they look towards their future lives, vocations, and families,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
At the beginning of the fall semester, Christian Union at Brown welcomed freshmen to campus, signed up students for Bible courses, and hosted \u201cAnchor,\u201d the ministry\u2019s weekly leadership lecture series. During the Freshmen Welcoming Campaign, staff and student leaders delivered over 600 welcome bags to freshmen dorm rooms and hosted events such as Lawn Games and Chick-fil-A, Sunday Pancake Dinners at the Judson Center, and the fall conference at Lakeside Christian Camp in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe current Freshmen Welcoming Campaign has been a beautiful picture of our students in a busy and stressful time reaching out and caring about the freshmen,\u201d Copp said. \u201cWe have had several fun events, several bonding events, and a lot of meetings with freshmen as they figure out what being a part of the Christian community at Brown will look like for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0One of the highlights was a Do-It-Yourself Dorm D\u00e9cor Night, which was held as an alternative to the Friday party scene.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a sweet mix of girls from all four years tie-dying and painting and chatting together,\u201d Copp said. \u201cBy the end of the night, I saw so many girls making plans to meet up for brunch or dinner the next day.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt looks like we will have a solid class of guys and girls this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Woodard is also expecting great things in 2019-20 as the Christian Union faculty, student leaders, and students seek God and look to impact their campus for Christ. Prayer and evangelism will be a focus. The leadership lecture series will focus on the book of John and the tenets of Christianity.<\/p>\n
By God\u2019s grace, these kinds of initiatives will help develop Christian leaders to transform culture, according to Doyle: \u201cBrown University describes the impact of their academic work as \u2018deploying knowledge to address critical and complex problems in the world.\u2019 Christian Union at Brown helps students understand and address those \u2018critical and complex problems\u2019 through the lens of faith in God, who created the world and shows His love and compassion for humanity through His Son, Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thanks to a labor of love for the last five years, Christian Union at Brown has a strong foundation on which to build.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a special privilege to have spent five years participating in His work here,\u201d Woodard said. \u201cNationally, there\u2019s a perception that Brown is an especially difficult place to minister. To an extent, that is true. Historically, we\u2019ve found that a very small percentage of students enter campus with any kind of commitment to Christ. But, the students here are exceptionally bright, creative, and passionate. They are a joy to work with and they deeply love one another.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s still so much work to be done here! I\u2019m excited to see what\u2019s in store for the ministry over the next five years and beyond.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Christian Union Celebrates Five Years at Brown\u00a0 At the Christian Union Staff Conference this summer, the organization celebrated a major milestone\u2014five years of ministry at Brown University. A few weeks later, Ministry Director Matt Woodard and Ministry Fellows Laurel Copp…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":70,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"university":[53],"class_list":["post-1161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-2019"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianunion.org\/brown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianunion.org\/brown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianunion.org\/brown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianunion.org\/brown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianunion.org\/brown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/christianunion.org\/brown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianunion.org\/brown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianunion.org\/brown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianunion.org\/brown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianunion.org\/brown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1161"},{"taxonomy":"university","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianunion.org\/brown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/university?post=1161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}