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We are off to an exciting start to the spring semester here at Christian Union Vita at Cornell! The sun has been peeking through the normally gray skies more than it usually does during this time of year, and God has been pushing back against the kingdom of darkness as well! We’re celebrating what He is doing, and we want you to be able to celebrate with us as we share these with you.
First and foremost, we are praising the Lord for six students who have put their faith in Jesus this semester! This is an extraordinary blessing, and we are grateful for the movement of the Holy Spirit and allowing us to be a part of His work in bringing the lost to Himself. Your support allows us to carry out the ministry that makes this possible, so rejoice with us as part of the team of workers who were a part of this harvest. Pray that God continues to draw more and more students to a saving knowledge of Him!
The Lord hasn’t stopped working, and neither have we here at Christian Union Vox at Dartmouth! As always in ministry work, our urgency remains undiminished. Jesus tells us in John 9:4 that “We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned to us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work.” If even Jesus, with all the resources of the Godhead at His disposal, felt urgency, how much more must we as we look out upon this lost and dying world! May we continue to have faith, rely on His grace, and work hard.
Greetings from Princeton! God is on the move here in Christian Union Nova and I’m excited to share with you some of the amazing things that are happening!Greetings from Princeton!
At Christian Union Caritas, we are so grateful for how God has been speaking to us through His Word and by His Spirit! This past month, our Bible courses finished our 10-week study of Colossians. During each course’s final sessions, students cited the supremacy of Christ in 1:15-20, Paul’s critique of the empty philosophies of this world in 2:8, and the hope of glory when Christ appears in 3:4 as some of the passages in Colossians that breathed life into them during this study.
We also recently hosted our second ever alumni panel after our most recent Friday night leadership lecture series (which we call Venture). It was so great to hear faithful testimonies and wisdom from five CU Caritas grads walking closely with the Lord!
Grace and Peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ. I’m happy to be writing to you again, and am grateful for your prayers! The Lord has been working in our midst.
Since I last wrote, we have taken 37 students on our winter retreat where we went through the book of Esther. The retreat was titled “Conspiracy & Sovereignty” and we looked at how God orchestrated His will and how Esther, as a leader, sought God and led others to do the same in response to God’s sovereignty that He would move on their behalf. Here is what some students said of the retreat:
We greet you with gratitude and joy as we reflect on the extraordinary journey we've embarked on over the last month. Our ministry has been a beacon of transformational leadership, deeply inspired by the principles shared in a recent article that beautifully outlines the impact of embodying such leadership in Christian Union Lux. This piece, featured on our website, delves into how authentic, Christ-centered leadership can profoundly affect both individuals and communities, advocating for a leadership style that is not only transformative but deeply rooted in Biblical truths and the example of Jesus Christ. Embodying Transformational Leadership | Christian Union
CU America's 2024 National Fast, "Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace for All Nations"
By Chitra L Kovoor, Ministry Fellow, CU Lux at Yale University
"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." – Ephesians 6:12
Christian Union Universities Highlighted
By Erin conner, writer and communications associate
The Christ and Coffee podcast, led by Dr. Haig Kherlopian, pastor of Church for the Nations, recently hosted Matt Bennett, Founder and President of Christian Union, to discuss Christian Union (CU) Universities. CU Universities is comprised of ten Christian leadership development ministries at nine of the nation's most influential educational institutions: Dartmouth, Brown, Harvard, Harvard Law, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Cornell, and Stanford. During the informal podcast interview, the uniqueness of CU's ministry was discussed, among other topics related to how Christian Union is developing leaders with spiritual depth in strategic places for cultural renewal.
In the podcast episode entitled "Inside Ivy League Ministry," Bennett discussed how the majority of America’s most strategic universities were expressly founded as Christian colleges. But over the years, these schools gradually shed their religious affiliation and became secular institutions. Bennett referenced research done by James Tunstead Burtchaell, who has extensive experience in American higher education as both a teacher and an administrator. Burthchaell, in his book The Dying of the Light, "provides case studies of seventeen prominent colleges and universities with diverse ecclesial origins - Congregational, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, Catholic, and Evangelical.
Christian Union Universities Proclaiming the Good News This Spring
By Tom Campisi, 2022, revised and edited by erin conner, 2024
“What shall you do then with Jesus which is called Christ?”
That was the question posed by preacher Dwight Lyman Moody at his Illinois Street Church in Chicago on October 8, 1871. In the sermon, he paraphrased the question asked by Pontius Pilate in the Gospel of Matthew (27:22). Moody challenged the congregation to think about it during the week and return to church the following Sunday with an answer—would they crown Christ as Lord or, like Pilate and the misguided mob of that time, deny his supremacy? However, as Moody finished his sermon, a warning bell began to ring. The Great Chicago Fire was raging. There was no next week at his church, which burned to the ground like many of the buildings in the city.
CU America's 2024 National Fast, "Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace for All Nations"
By Qwynn Gross, Ministry Fellow, CU Nova at Princeton University
"And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved" – Matthew 24:12-13.
As a youngster, I can think of plenty of extracurricular activities that I began with curiosity and zeal or out of a parental charge to participate, and for one reason or another, I soon opted to stop–-from piano lessons to Girl Scouts to running track to being a debutante, and many other activities–-however, when my firstborn was placed in my arms there was a conscious decision to continue regardless. This unwavering commitment to the children I bore would only be eclipsed by my commitment to live for God simply because I found out that He is alive. Now, with adult children and a life in Christ that spans close to forty years, I can attest that my endurance has not been easy, nor has it been without opportunities to quit, but rather because value and worth were assigned.
Assigning importance and meaning or significance to something or someone is not strange. It’s done all the time;however for Christians, the commitment to cherish and esteem Jesus means to safeguard why we value Him even during the ecological, economic, and ecumenical tumult that Jesus warns will not only come, but cause the strongest of believers to defect because of pervasive lawlessness.
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