New York City

“Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.”
-- C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

The above quote from Lewis’ remarkable sermon, given in Oxford in 1941, is part of the argument to raise our understanding and practice of what it means to live out the job description God gave us in Genesis 1 and 2: to honor God, steward creation, and bless others. It's not always obvious to us that we’re made in the very image of God, and we certainly struggle with seeing others in that way.

One of my perennial resolutions in every new year is to read more deeply and profoundly about both faith and the world around me. However, given my suggestion in an earlier letter, I am moving from resolutions to building habits - they tend to be much more permanent.

Psalm 2 is a majestic description of Christ’s coming and rule. God gives the Psalmist the ability to look beyond earthly constraints and context to see a place of transcendent and righteous rule - whose kingdom reaches to the very ends of the earth. This vision of a righteous kingdom runs through the narratives of both old and new testaments, and motivates the events and initiatives we do in New York.

We’ve been encouraged with a full month of events, small group meetings and an array of initiatives both large and small. All of these reflect the on-going work of God in New York - a city not widely viewed as a hotbed of spiritual vibrancy, yet vibrant nonetheless with the Spirit working in individual’s lives, in and through churches, and with an increasing hunger for spiritual perspective and truth.

This summer the CU New York and CU DC teams were able to connect with, and grow alongside recent graduates and young professionals, many of whom are transitioning into the workplace or graduate programs. These young professionals represent a number of esteemed universities and are eager to mature and step out boldly in faith - in cities which are enormously influential in shaping our culture and norms.

In the past six weeks more than 630 students graduated from our university ministries to pursue graduate school or enter the workplace. From our first ministry at Princeton to our most recent at Stanford, and including our graduate ministry at Harvard Law school these young men and women are in the midst of exciting transitions - most of them into the workplace.

Christian Union Cities Podcast

Christian Union Cities is a ministry to professionals in the nation's most influential cities, beginning with New York and Washington, DC. The institutions and networks that most shape our cultural values and norms are centered in just a handful of cities—and a similarly small group of professional spheres play a key role.

How do we engage redemptively in our vocations and communities to the end that they more fully reflect the intent God has for them rather than reflecting the brokenness of the world? How do we build the kind of thriving networks of thoughtful, proactive Christians toward this end?

These podcasts will explore these questions with a range of guests who can illuminate them from a variety of industries and disciplines.

Click here to learn more about Christian Union New York.

Click here to learn more about Christian Union DC.

Listen Here

*Soon to be launched on iTunes and Spotify

About the Hosts

Engaging the City is co-hosted by Scott Crosby, Ministry Director, Christian Union New York City and Christian Union Washington DC, and Kate Farrar, Director of Development and Donor Relations.

Christian Union New York

What a great time two weekends ago - most of two days...with amazing speakers on compelling ideas...engaged in prayer and worship...about being courageous in the ways of the Lord...in our city.

One of our persistent longings, as Christians in the contemporary world, is for our own transformation to what we know we were made to be. We know, both intuitively and from scripture that we are made in the image of God and to be complete in Christ - not just theologically but experientially as well. And yet…the reality leaves us wanting so much more.

Miroslav Volf and Michael Croasmun, in their new book, For the Life of the Worldput it this way: “Flourishing requires the transformative presence of the true life in the midst of the false…”. What we long for is flourishing. We long to live fully in the life of the true rather than in the midst of the false.

Check out the plenary talks and breakout sessions from the Cities Conference to explore this more from different vantage points - but especially the talks on Sanctified Ambition, and Engaging the City.

- Scott Crosby, Ministry Director at Christian Union New York

We recently concluded our annual Christian Union Cities Conference. Held here in New York, June 21-22, the conference theme was taken from 2 Chronicles 17:6, Courageous in the Ways of the Lord. The church in America lives as “exiles in a strange land” as the apostle Peter describes in his first letter to the church in Asia Minor. Therefore, how we engage our city, community, vocation, and relationships becomes a matter of understanding both the culture and our faith, and our courage in stepping forward in engagement.

My wife and I recently hosted a dinner party around a discussion of the book, The Wind in the Willows. Like many enduring children’s books, this one from Kenneth Grahame operates on several levels - engaging for children with talking animals, humorous mishaps, and obvious good guys and bad guys; and stimulating for adults with its themes of deep community, perseverance, and morality. As we discussed these aspects, our conversation slowly wound toward our own community of faith - do we see these same issues extant in our relationships and church? It was a rich time of reflection on the praxis of our faith - are we swimming in the stream, or just dipping our toes in the water? It’s awfully easy to just do the latter.