I am writing to you from a small café on Princeton’s campus where many of our ministry fellows meet with students. It is not uncommon to see a ministry fellow at a table with a student, often with a Bible open, in this spot. This is one aspect of our ministry that your prayers and financial support enables—regular one-on-one discipleship of students. I personally just finished meeting with a student, studying the book of 1 Samuel together. In part, due to these meetings, this student has gone from having deep doubts about the Christian faith to becoming a Christian leader on campus. This has been extremely encouraging. Thank you for your partnership which allows for this kind of one-on-one discipleship to happen!
The past month has included a whirl of ministry activity here in Princeton. As usual, we have been having weekly Bibles Courses on the book of Hebrews, one-on-one discipleship meetings like the one I described, our daily prayer meeting, and times of large group worship. Beyond these forms of ministry, one especially exciting ministry initiative was an all-night prayer event led by several of our students. We had a great turnout of around fifteen students for this event. This event was led by a sophomore and a freshman in our ministry, and it was just awesome to see these students taking leadership. Another ministry initiative led by our students was a Thanksgiving dinner at the Melrose Center. This event was spearheaded by two seniors along with an alumni of our ministry. There was also a strong turnout of about twenty students at this event. In general, it has been so exciting to see our students growing in their leadership abilities. This past week we were able to see new leaders at our Frosh Encounter—one of our Leadership Lecture Series events led specifically by freshmen. This year roughly twenty freshmen were involved in planning and leading this event.
This month we would ask you to join in prayer for several specific items. These are:
Ski Safari
Skii Safari, as you are probably aware, is one of our major ministry events. It is a week-long retreat in the Adirondacks every January. God has evidently been at work at our previous Ski Safaris and we are praying for the same this year. Would you be in prayer for this event this coming year?
New Additions to Bible Courses
We are always hoping to add new members to our Bible Courses as well as start new courses. Recently, I’ve had three young men say they are interested in joining one of the courses I lead. This has been extremely encouraging. Would you pray for more young men and women to join these courses so that they can learn what God’s word says?
Bold Faith
Bold Faith is one of our core values as a ministry. Would you specifically pray that God would give us this kind of faith? Having this kind of faith is difficult—especially on the campus of a fairly secular school like Princeton. Knowing this, would you pray that our ministry director, our ministry fellows, and our students would evidence both faith—the kind of faith seen in Caleb when he said, “give me this mountain” (Josh. 14:12)?
Thank you again for your prayers and your financial support of our ministry. We depend on your support to do this work that God has called us to. Thank you for your partnership in the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
Grace and peace,
Ryan Reed
Teaching Fellow
Christian Union at Princeton
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.
