Christian Union Universities
Friends,
I pray this email finds you well. The Lord continues to show himself faithful to us here at Brown University, where our ministry has begun its fourth year on campus. For the first time ever, we have a graduating class, which means there are, also for the first time, four classes of students – freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors; four classes of Brown students that we have the incredible privilege of walking alongside as we all follow after Jesus. Praise the Lord for his goodness!
Greetings,
Christian Union at Columbia continues to experience God’s grace as we minister to the students on campus. We recently wrapped up a successful Freshman Campaign, in which we attained all our goals for the new freshman class. These students are enthusiastic new members of our family here at Columbia. We also had an impactful Fall Conference. For the conference, the staff chose to focus on the topic of wisdom, giving a series of talks from the book of Proverbs. Feedback from those in attendance was that it was one of our best Fall conferences yet. The students loved the talks we gave, and we were privileged to see one Freshman give her life to Christ during student prayer after one of the main sessions. We were also told that the conference was successful at causing friendships to form among students who usually don’t have much interaction with each other.
Dear friends and family of HCFA,
First, my name is Tyler Parker and I'm the Harvard College Faith & Action (HCFA) intern for this year! Some of you may know that Anne Kerhoulas usually writes these messages, but this month, we're trying out a little bit of a fresh perspective on things. As an HCFA alum, I'm truly honored and excited to be serving the organization that transformed my college experience and gave me my first true experience of spiritual family. With that said, here is the update for the month of October:
As I write this email, it finally feels like Autumn in Princeton. We are enjoying the cool mornings, warm afternoons and the start of fall foliage. It’s a beautiful time of the year. We are so thankful for your faithful prayers, support, and encouragement as we adjust to the rhythms of the new academic year. We are off to a good start and I’m happy to share with you the following highlights and updates from the past month.
We have arrived at the middle of the fall quarter for Stanford, and it has been an incredible first several weeks! Our Freshman Welcome fall kickoff resulted in connecting with a great group of freshman men and women who are exploring God and growing in their faith through the ministries of Christian Union Caritas -- Christian Union's ministry to students at Stanford.
Thank you for your continued support and prayers. We could not do what we do without you lifting us up in prayer. Thank you for your prayers, please keep them coming!
As always, thank you for your partnership in the gospel ministry at Harvard Law School (HLS). Your support continues to encourage us and our students as we press on to see the gospel advance throughout the HLS campus and beyond.
As I write to you, we are more than halfway through the fall semester. Our Bible Courses and mentor meetings continue to bear fruit each week as the word of Christ dwells more and more richly in our students. We are always looking for ways to bring specific encouragement to our students as they begin to think about integrating the Christian faith and the law, so we have started a series called “FAITH in Practice” that brings in lawyers to share how they have practiced law in a way that pleases the Lord. Also, we are planning another series called “FAITH Talks” that will address the core doctrines of the faith in ways that will help our students apply the biblical worldview to their studies and work.
The past few weeks have been packed with events to welcome in the freshmen class of 2021. Our upperclassmen “freshmen gatherers” have done a fantastic job inviting and bringing freshmen (’21s) to our events and encouraging them to get involved in a Bible course. We are pleased with the number of '21s who are looking for Christian community and desire to be in a Bible course. We hit the ground running with Bible courses this week, jumping right into Philippians for our quick 8-week term.
Thank you for your partnership in the gospel ministry at HLS. Your prayers are a significant part of how God is accomplishing his purposes on this campus and beyond.
We are a few weeks into the fall semester. All of the 2L’s and 3L’s have returned, and the 1L’s are becoming convinced that they will not only survive but begin to thrive amidst the intensity and intellectual rigor that is HLS. Coram Deo Law has begun its men’s and women’s Bible Courses on Philippians, focusing on the example and power of Christ for living in a manner worthy of the gospel. Also, we are beginning our weekly lunch discussions that make sense of trending legal issues from a biblical worldview.
The incoming freshman class just arrived at Stanford on September 19th! Christian students across campus are pulling out all the stops to welcome these freshmen to Stanford and to the various Christian groups on campus. For many of these freshman, they will either get plugged into Christian community during the first few weeks of college, or they won’t at all during their four years here. These weeks are a pivotal time in their lives!
