Dear friends,
We are grateful for your steady 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 second full week of ministry with classes in session; I'm happy to share with you the following highlights from the past month.
- Our annual "Pre-Retreat" took place from September 7-10, as over 50 of our student leaders and freshmen gatherers came together for three days of worship, teaching, fellowship, and planning for these first few weeks of the year. By God's grace, we are beginning the year with a strong sense of unity, mission, and purpose... as well as enthusiasm for inviting new students into the PFA community and sharing the love and truth of Jesus Christ with those on the campus of Princeton.
- PFA's weekly Leadership Lecture Series, "Encounter," kicked off on Friday, September 16th, and I gave the opening message. I challenged students with the depth and weight of the claims and invitations made by Jesus Christ in the Gospel of Mark (which all of our weekly Bible courses will study together this semester). Regardless of where students are in their walks with the Lord, I invited them to consider Jesus deeply in the coming year, and to wrestle with his identity as the Son of God, his demand for repentance and belief, and his invitation for all to follow him.
- We concluded last Spring with the highest-ever enrollment in our weekly Bible courses to end a year: 370 total Princeton University students. We are praying for even more this year, so that many more students here will be exposed to the life-giving and transformative message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Encouragingly, we are seeing a strong response from students in the class of 2020 thus far, and are praying for 10 new Bible courses to be formed from members in this year's freshmen class.
- New ministry fellows Lane Young and Kori Porter have "hit the ground running" here in Princeton; we are so grateful to have them on the team. Our students have embraced them, and they have both been quickly learning the ministry context here, and diving into the fast pace of ministry, evangelism, discipleship, and leadership development with our tremendously gifted students.
Would you continue to pray for both the depth and width of the reach of our ministry here at Princeton University? We are eager for the Christian students of PFA to become even more bold and courageous in their witness to Jesus Christ on this campus —in their classes, on their sports teams, in their clubs, and among their friends and roommates. We are also longing for more and more students to hear the gospel, and move out from this campus with a new focus, vision, and God-centered purpose for the years ahead. We welcome, and need, your prayers, and continue to count it a privilege to engage daily in this vital and eternally valuable work here at Princeton.
Blessings in Christ,
Jon Nielson
Christian Union Ministry Director
Princeton University
Please note: if you would like to receive regular updates on how to pray for Christian Union's work at Princeton, please email prayer@christianunion.org.
