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Summer was full of exciting stories and opportunities for our students both at home and abroad. Meanwhile, Christian Union faculty have been preparing for the coming year. At the start of August, we gathered together for a week-long retreat of training and spiritual revitalization aptly titled Momentum. Now Fall has come, bringing blessings and challenges.
We’re excitedly preparing for our PreRetreat where we will join our student leaders for a time of refreshing in the Lord, deepening the bonds of community, and training for our Freshmen Welcoming Campaign! Our students will be challenged to reach out with the message of the gospel and to pursue friendships with as many incoming Freshmen as possible. Many Christian Freshmen simply don’t know that they need Christian community and don’t think to seek it out. This is why we must go to them! Our prayer is that no Christian student falls away and misses out on spiritual growth during their Princeton years - and that every student has an invitation to Christian community. We aim to be like the Good Shepherd, leaving the ninety-nine to seek out and find the one!
Announcing the October 13-14 CU Fire National Simulcast Retreat
By grace ann arvey
CU Fire Retreats—quarterly simulcast retreats for believers across America—help participants experience spiritual rejuvenation and encouragement with their friends, their church, or any other Christian community to which they belong, from the comfort of their own homes. The next CU Fire Retreat will take place October 13-14, 2023.
For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”. How then can they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news! - Romans 10:13-15
Greetings from CU Libertas!
God is at Work Through CU's Freshman Welcoming Campaign
By erin conner
The great commission of Jesus Christ, to his followers, is to “go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20)
At universities across America, students entering college can discover a culture that seems to silence discourse about existential purpose and meaning; about faith and God. This is especially true at the ten academic institutions where Christian Union serves. To follow the great commission in these contexts requires courage to resist the pattern of this world.
A Devotional
By dr. Marcus buckley
Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” – 1 Peter 1:23-25
“The grass is always greener on the other side.” It has been said that cliches which linger in our vocabulary do so because they have a strong element of truth, and the endurance of this statement is good evidence. How many times have we been enticed to wander off to pastures a deeper shade of emerald, only to find that they are filled with problems not readily visible from a distance?
Christian Union Universities' Fall Campaigns Begin
By Erin Conner
Christian Union has established undergraduate ministries at nine of America's most highly influential undergraduate institutions (and also at Harvard Law). The ministry plans and executes intensive freshman welcoming campaigns at the start of each academic year. Research indicates that the first few weeks of students’ lives, as they transition from high school to college, can be critical for establishing foundations for future success.
Christian Union's National Fast Concludes
By chuck Hetlzer
Christian Union America’s most recent national fast came to an end Monday, August 14, 2023. 5,175 Christians across the nation signed up to seek God in prayer, fasting, and repentance, along with a special emphasis on taking in massive amounts of Scripture.
An Update
By erin conner
Fasting and prayer are two spiritual disciplines recorded in Scripture that help to align people’s hearts with the Lord’s. Which is why, in part, Christian Union America leads two nationwide fasts each year toward its mission to develop and connect transformative Christian leaders for national revival and reformation. As Chuck Hetzler, Vice President of Biblical theology for Christian Union, states, “the Scriptures are clear: God is moved by the humility that fasting demonstrates when it is combined with proper attitudes and actions surrendered to God’s ways.”
Currently, one of CU America’s bi-annual fasts is underway. It began on Tuesday, August 1 with 5,175 participants from across the country and will continue through Monday, August 14, 2023. Approximately a quarter of the participants involved in this fast are alumni from our nation’s top 30 colleges and universities.
I hope that these summer months are treating you well! Things are currently quiet around the campus at Cornell, but in a few short weeks, thousands of students will pour into Ithaca and the surrounding communities as a new school year begins. That means there will be thousands of individuals who need to hear about and experience the Good News of Christ. We at Christian Union Vita are excited about the opportunities God has in store for the coming year. Our student-led outreach team has already contacted over 100 incoming students, and the work has barely begun.
