Christian Union Universities

Dear Friends and Partners of Christian Union at Penn,

Praise God! Our students have returned safely to campus after Winter Break and our Bible Courses have had an excellent start. We currently have 13 Bible Courses meeting, with the possibility of adding an additional women’s course. We are thankful that God’s Spirit is moving among the students, bringing a sense of unity and hunger for God’s Word. Please pray that our students would have an increasing affection for Jesus and would translate that passion for Christ’s glory to tangible action on Penn’s campus.

Friends,

Since students have not yet returned to Brown's campus from Winter Break, this prayer email will be short and sweet. Would you please join us in praying for the following:

The Semester Ahead

This prayer request seems obvious, but please pray for this upcoming semester. As usual, we have several Bible studies, large group gatherings we call The Anchor, conferences and several other events to offer for students' continued growth in the faith. It's a lot to balance while continually pushing the ministry forward and loving/serving our families. Pray that we would lean on Christ and that his Spirit would give us strength and endurance to finish strong to the end of the semester.

Bible Study Workshop

We will be offering a workshop on February 3 in which we'll explore how to study scripture using Genesis 1 as our case study. Pray that Laurel Copp, Ministry Fellow here at Brown University, and I would prepare well for this workshop and that students would walk away from it with a better sense of how to approach the study of scripture and a deeper love for God's holy Word.

Nexus 2018

Every year we join hundreds of other students from across the Ivy League and Stanford for "a life-changing weekend of worship, prayer, speakers, small groups, fellowship, seminars and more." This year we will gather over February 23-25 in New Brunswick, NJ, and the theme will be, "Turn the World Upside Down." Please pray that this will be a transformative weekend for our students (so far, we have over 30 students registered to attend), that they would fall more in love with Jesus and bring that passion back to campus with them!

I promise to have more updates in my next email. Until then, may the peace of Christ rule in your hearts!

In Christ,

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.

Dear Partners in Prayer,

The first day of spring term began on January 24th! Our students have been on winter break since December 14th and we miss them terribly. (Because of winter break, this prayer letter is a bit shorter.) We value your prayers for a successful launch into the spring term.

Happy New Year from Palo Alto!

This December we and our students have been reading a new Advent devotional—Come Let Us Adore Him, by Paul Tripp—which we gave out at our Christmas party at the beginning of the month.

Greetings,

We’ve seen God work wondrously here at Columbia; we have so much to be thankful for. Both the staff and the students are excited about the acquisition of a new ministry center one block away from campus. Our biggest need as a ministry at Columbia is space, and God has made provision for that need in a significant way. A heartfelt thanks to everyone who supported the effort through prayer and financial giving. An incalculable number of lives will be blessed through this ministry center because of your support.

Praise the Lord for the closing of a wonderful fall term at Dartmouth. We ended the semester with our annual Thanksgiving dinner, which the freshmen (‘21s) did a fantastic job planning and putting on. We enjoyed delicious food and fellowship, but I have to say the highlight of the evening was hearing the testimonies of three ‘21s. They each opened up about a difficulty or sin struggle in their past and how the Lord used it to grow them in their faith. The final testimony included a very clear and powerful gospel presentation, which brought tears to my eyes and thanksgiving to my heart. Join me in praising God for His powerful and intricate work in the students’ lives and for the ways He is using hardship to mature them in the gospel.

Greetings!

As always, thank you for your commitment to pray for the Christian Union ministry at HLS and our student group, Coram Deo Law. The Lord has provided according to his abundant wisdom and grace. And we rejoice with you that his work continues to bear fruit on the HLS campus and in the lives of our alumni.

I am writing this email on the final day of classes at Princeton. The semester has flown by and we are delighted in what the Lord has done in the ministry. We are grateful for your faithful support in the form of prayers, encouragement and financial gifts. It’s a pleasure to share with you the following highlights and updates.

Grace and Peace to you from God Our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Here we are a week out from Christmas! Our students have been writing Advent Devotions on Facebook for the last few weeks with various challenges to seek God, practice thankfulness, and otherwise prepare ourselves for the King. I hope that you have been (or will be) able to prepare as well, but the amazing fact still remains that Jesus Christ has come to us, even when we weren't ready. His grace meets us right where we are—dead in our sins—and through his death and resurrection, we are “made alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:5). These are truly tidings of comfort and joy!

Friends,

I pray this Advent season has been full of Christ’s presence, joy and peace!

It’s hard to believe, but this semester has already come and gone! It’s been a semester full of God’s goodness and faithfulness meeting students in their everyday lives – the highs and lows and every place in between. I could share many stories of God’s work on campus over the course of the Fall Semester, but I’d like to tell you about a large outreach event we organized earlier this month.