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!
September is always a blur for us as we welcome first-year students to campus. Before the semester even started on September 6, we took our leadership team of 16 students on a retreat to reconnect, pray together and plan for all our endeavors in welcoming freshmen to campus and into Christian community. All the praying and planning resulted in us connecting with, at some point or another, over 80 students – 80 students who we were able to feed, caffeinate, welcome, love and share the gospel with. Many of those students have since decided to plug into our community, getting involved with Bible Courses, our weekly large-group gathering, The Anchor, and joined us for our Fall Retreat over the weekend of October 6-8, where we explored the why’s and how’s of sharing our faith. In all, the whirlwind of this year’s Freshmen Welcoming Campaign was a huge answer to prayer and, undoubtedly, brought much joy and glory to our Father in Heaven.
As we head into the final half of this semester, we would love for you to join us in prayer for the following:
Bible Courses: This semester we are studying the book of Philippians with our students. As you know, though short, this is a powerful letter, rich in theology and heavy on the call to discipleship. Pray that God would grant Matt Woodard (Ministry Director), Laurel Copp (Ministry Fellow) and myself a great deal of wisdom and insight as we teach the text and challenge our students to apply it to their lives. Pray also for two of our students, Rebekah Lee and Gianna Uson, who are leading and teaching a group of freshmen ladies. Both of these seniors have proven humble and gifted, so we have no doubts that God will use them in powerful ways in the lives of these freshmen.
Outreach Event: On December 4, we will be hosting an outreach event on campus that will explore the intersection of faith and science. Though we are still ironing out the details, two speakers will begin a conversation exploring genetics, what it means to be human and how we might think about scientific advancement as Christians. Please pray that we would get many of the details ironed out in the very near future. And, more than that, pray that God brings the right people to this event. Though it’s the kind of event that will surely encourage Christians, its aim is to engage the not-yet-Christians in such a way as to convince them that Christianity is an intellectually viable option. We plan to have follow-up and work with several of the other ministries on campus, so please do pray for God’s grace to be with us as we plan, prepare and execute.
As always, we appreciate you and your partnership in the gospel here at Brown University!
Grace and Peace,
Justin Doyle
Ministry Fellow
Christian Union at Brown University
Please note: if you would like to receive regular updates on how to pray for Christian Union's work at Brown, please email prayer@christianunion.org.
