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The Christian Union Conference on Faith and Action
Nexus 2018 gathered nearly 300 students from nine of the United States' most influential universities for a challenging and inspiring weekend. Undergraduate attendees represented Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton, Stanford, and Yale.For one weekend, students worshiped and prayed together, heard from high-caliber speakers, experienced engaging breakout sessions, connected with one another in small groups, and built cross-campus ties around shared challenges and opportunities.
Christian Union at Columbia continues to see God’s goodness to our ministry. As you may already know, Christian Union was working tirelessly to acquire a ministry center for Columbia. As of February 13, that purchase was completed, and we will be using the center next semester. We could not be more thankful to each of you for your prayers and sacrificial giving. Our desire is to use this space as a hub for gospel engagement with Columbia University. Please pray that many students would be encouraged in their faith and come to know Jesus through the work that will be done there.
We have much to give thanks to God for this month.
Just last week we hosted apologist Alycia Woods from Ravi Zacharias International Ministry. Alycia is a winsome speaker who has addressed mixed believing and unbelieving audiences at MIT, Harvard, Brown, Boston University and, now, Cornell. She addressed the question, "Is Christianity Intolerant?" to a room of about 75 students, and made a clear statement of the Christian principle of expressing the truths of Christianity with love and respect even to those we have deep and fundamental disagreements with. She gave clear expression of the beauty of the Gospel. Her 40-minute talk was closed with 15-minutes of Q&A. Friendly, but serious, questions were raised by the audience, like: "How do Christians explain their checkered and, at times, intolerant past?" "What are some practical, effective ways we can 'break the ice' to speak with our atheist and agnostic friends about the truths of Christianity?" About a dozen people stayed after the event to dialogue further with Alycia. Please pray that the unbelievers who came would continue to grapple with the truths of the gospel in community with us. Cornell is a fiercely secular place which means your prayers are especially needful to break through these hard spots and skeptical hearts.
We are grateful for your support and want to give you an update through February of this spring semester to inform your continued prayers.
I am writing you as we begin a new semester at Princeton to thank you for your ongoing prayers, encouragement, and financial support for our ministry. We depend on your prayerful support for the ministry we do here, so thank you. We want you to know that God is at work in the lives of our students!
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice”, Philippians 4:4.
Paul’s letter to the Philippians is full of joy and thanksgiving – he used his own thankful heart to teach and encourage the church to live joyfully in light of the gospel. Even, and perhaps especially, in challenging times. This season of Lent is a time of reflection and repentance that leads directly and unequivocally to an unencumbered joy in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We have an abundant new life in Christ, and the hope of all things being made new.