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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 course for those who are serving in Penn’s Gospel choir. 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.
I am writing to you on a cold January day here in Princeton. The students here are just finishing their exams, which they have been completing, along with final papers, over the last three weeks. In this letter, I want to update you on the ministry that has been happening here, as well as alert you to several specific ways you can pray for us.
Dear Prayer Partners,
Blessings to you in the name of Jesus! Thanks for praying for us regularly. I’ll maintain that our primary strategy in ministry here is what Paul spells out as the “communications equipment” of God’s armor, saying in Ephesians 1:18 “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints”.
Greetings from Palo Alto!
“Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them” (Hebrews 13:9).
Students in our Bible courses meditated on this verse recently as we concluded our Bible course on the book of Hebrews. The author’s teaching certainly includes the temple sacrifices which, after the sacrifice of Christ, had become obsolete.
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
— Ephesians 3:20-21
In Finland, Camille Zimmerman, Columbia ’18, Continues to Lead in Prayer
Columbia University refers to her as its “Best-Ever Basketball Player.” Camille Zimmerman ’18 is “the highest scoring basketball player ever in Columbia Athletics history.” She was also, up until graduation last spring, considered a leader at Columbia in more ways than one.Nick Nowalk
Christian Union Teaching Fellow
Columbia University
"If then you have been raised with Christ, then seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory." - Colossians 3:1-4In Colossians 3, the apostle Paul reminds his audience of what God has already done for them in Christ. They have died with Christ to both the penalty and power of sin, and likewise they participate in Jesus' own resurrection life through the indwelling of the Spirit. The old has been done away with; the new creation has arrived!
Yet Paul does not stop there,
Student Spotlight: Jose Reyes '19
Jose Reyes is part of the Class of 2019 at Brown University. The biology major, on a neuroscience track, hails from El Paso, Texas. In addition to being a student leader with Christian Union at Brown, he tutors peers in organic chemistry and immunology, and he is also part of an Alzheimer's research lab. Recently, Jose shared his thoughts about the important qualities of a leader and mentor:Salon with Mark Reynolds
On Thursday January 17, Christian Union New York welcomed over thirty guests to hear Mark Reynolds (of Redeemer City to City) teach on church planting in global cities. Through a Salon entitled The New Frontier of Mission, Reynolds outlined effective ways for Church planters and Christian leaders to engage the city around them, along with advice on how to avoid common pitfalls.The central point of the discussion focused on what Reynolds described as the “Two-Cities” theory.
As outlined in a simple diagram Reynolds handed out at the start of his talk, the church can often be described as one smaller “second city” within the larger “first city.”
Will you not revive us again,
that your people may rejoice in you?
— Psalm 85:6