About
Developing and Connecting Christian Leaders Across America
Grace Ann Arvey
Director, Christian Union America
Grace Ann brings a lifelong passion for seeing the good news of the gospel transforming people's lives in the community. This passion led her to spend her early career years as an elementary educator at an inner-city school. She received her B.A. in Elementary Education from Covenant College and her M.Ed. in English Language Learning from Western Governors University. When the Lord opened the door for her to work alongside her husband's financial company as an executive assistant, she learned that she loved working with adults to transform culture from the top-down.
Grace Ann resides in the scenic city of Chattanooga with her husband and their two toddlers--one who is biological and one who is adopted. During her free time, she loves to be outdoors exploring God's beautiful creation, hiking and boating with her family.
Developing Leaders at Strategic Institutions
Jason Walsh
Vice President, Christian Union Universities
Jason Walsh honorably served 10 years in the United States Marine Corps, 3 years in the 102nd Mounted Infantry Battalion with the Connecticut Army National Guard, and 4 years as a Firefighter/EMT for the City of Stamford Fire Department in Stamford, CT. At the Pentagon, Jason served as a Mission Planner, supporting the highest levels of U.S. leadership, including the resident, Vice President, Secretary of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and military generals across all branches. While deployed to Afghanistan, He was a Combat Aviation Operations Chief at Camp Dwyer, Afghanistan, a Forward Operating Base (FOB) to combat insurgent activity in the Helmand Valley, which was a hotbed of terrorist activity and the most dangerous province in Afghanistan at the time. Jason served in and out of combat zones with multiple government agencies, including the CIA, FBI, Secret Service, the U.S. Army’s 20th Special Forces Group, and the British SAS.
Throughout nearly 20 years of service in military and local agencies combined, Jason’s leadership has been at the forefront! Jason graduated from Marine Corps Recruit Training, Parris Island, SC (Boot Camp), as the Platoon Honor Graduate, #1 out of 96 recruits. He was promoted to Sergeant within his first 4 years of Marine Corps service. He was selected from the top 1% of the Marine Corps globally for recruiting duty. Jason was also a .50 Cal Machine Gunner, becoming proficient in all U.S. Army Infantry weapons systems, criminal profiling, and interrogation. He was selected in the top 10 out of 2000 applicants to be a Firefighter/EMT. He was later selected as an instructor at the Stamford Regional Fire Training School after unanimously being voted platoon leader in his own firefighter recruit class. His service is recognized with numerous military medals and personal awards, including the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, 2 Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, 3 Marine Corps Good Conduct Medals, the National Defense Service Medal, and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.
Jason is the Vice President of Christian Union Universities, based at Yale University. He is also an associate pastor at The Rock Church in Wallingford, CT. Jason’s passion for Jesus and service is deeply personal. Overcoming homelessness and personal hardship, he attributes his transformation to the love and healing power of Jesus Christ. He is committed to sharing this message and believes that Jesus has a unique plan and message for each individual that can transform their life.
Jason holds a bachelor’s degree in Pastoral Leadership and Ministries from Nazarene Bible College in Colorado Springs, CO, with additional education in Theology and Urban Missions from Alliance Theological Seminary in Manhattan, NY.
Imagine the United States transformed by the leadership and values of Christians of wholehearted devotion to the Lord.
Vision
Christian Union seeks a spiritually vibrant nation marked by Christian values permeating every corner of society.Mission
Christian Union develops and connects transformative Christian leaders.Strategy
Christian Union’s two main emphases on select universities and professionals in key cities reflect our concern to reach people groups that exert disproportionate cultural influence in the United States.
Outcome
If US society was transformed by the leadership and values of Christians of wholehearted devotion to the Lord we might expect to see some of the following implications: - If large numbers of business executives valued Christian ideals above all else, it would mean the spread of ethical business practices, concern that workers be treated fairly, and integrity in leadership.
- In the field of education, if large numbers of university presidents, faculty, and administrators were committed to Jesus Christ, careers, internal politics, and ideology would take a back seat to the education of our children.
- If the US government contained high numbers of developed Christian leaders, we would expect laws and the execution of laws in our country to more fully reflect a Christian worldview.
- If large numbers of top media executives reflected Christian values, we would expect more programs valuing marriage, parenthood, generosity, respect, courage, self-sacrifice, and compassion.
- There is a global impact to consider as well in the thousands of foreign students who study at these key universities. Consider the potential impact if a future president of Pakistan, China, or Russia were reached for Christ and trained to be a godly leader for their home country.
At present, the nation's most influential universities export spiritual darkness into our culture through secularized leadership.
It will take prayer, effort and financial resources to reach these future leaders for Christ. Please prayerfully consider how you might partner with Christian Union to make a difference.
God
God is Triune—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each an uncreated person, one in essence, equal in power and glory.
The Scriptures
The Bible alone, and the Bible in its entirety, is the Word of God written and is therefore wholly truthful in the original manuscripts and authoritative for faith and practice.
Creation
God created all things out of nothing, and He has created all people in His image, equal in worth. However, because of sin, all people are alienated from God and one another and justly deserve God’s eternal judgment.
Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ, the only and eternal Son of God and His perfect image, took on human flesh to save us, in order that we might be restored in relationship with God and one another, rightly worship, and love God and love our neighbor as ourselves, and be freed from the power of sin and the just judgment of God.
Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, fully God and fully man. He lived a perfect and sinless life, loving others, teaching truth from God, and working miracles. He was crucified for us, died, and was buried. On the third day He rose from the dead with a glorified body. He ascended into heaven, and he now rules as Lord at the right hand of God the Father, where He intercedes for His people.
The Gospel
Because of the love of God and for the glory of God, Jesus died in the place of sinners in order to secure our salvation. All who, by the power of the Holy Spirit, repent of sin, believe in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, and confess Him as Lord receive God’s free gift of restored relationship with Him and eternal life.
Our good works do not earn salvation, but by God’s grace through the Holy Spirit good works always accompany salvation and make it manifest, for the glory of God and Christ. God gives to all believers the Holy Spirit who indwells, sanctifies, instructs, gifts, and empowers believers for Christ-like living and service, the unity of faith, and knowledge of the Son of God, through which we grow in the maturity and fullness of the image of Christ in us. The Spirit Himself is the down payment of our promised inheritance in Christ.
Jesus has commissioned His church to bring the gospel to all peoples, to make disciples of Him, and to celebrate baptism and communion until He returns. Jesus is coming back to earth personally, bodily, and gloriously to consummate His righteous rule. All who trust in Him will enjoy eternal, joyful fellowship with God and one another in resurrected and glorified bodies in a new heavens and new earth.
See also our Statement of Ethics
Christian Union
Matt Bennett
Founder and President, Christian Union
Cornell BS '88, Cornell MBA '89
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School MDiv '10
A native of Houston, Texas, Matt earned BS and MBA degrees from Cornell University and holds a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He worked for Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru) at Princeton University for 12 years, and developed the ministry into one of the largest in the history of the Ivy League. In 2002, he founded Christian Union. The ministry has been featured in The New York Times, PBS, NPR, Christianity Today, and World Magazine. Matt currently resides in New York City.
Ed Morgan
Independent Board Memberbio coming soon
Dian Naman
Independent Board MemberAlumna, Columbia University
Dian Naman is a wonderful woman of God and is a tremendous addition to the Board. She and her husband Vince first became acquainted with Christian Union through their children’s involvement. It started with Luke, a 2015 graduate of Dartmouth and an active participant in Christian Union activities, and then their youngest daughter Brianna, a 2017 graduate of Brown, who was also involved with Christian Union.
The Naman’s eldest daughters also attended Ivy League Schools but before Christian Union was fully formed and/or present at their respective universities. Natalia, the oldest, went to Princeton earning a BA in English, theater, and African-American Studies (2008). She also earned an MFA, Dramatic Writing from NYU in 2010. Julia attended Yale and graduated in 2012. Christian Union featured the all-Ivy family in CU: The Magazine in 2016.
While Vince is a proud Princetonian and is now a plastic surgeon, Dian attended Columbia University for nursing school and runs their medical clinic and spa, Chattahoochee Plastic Surgery. Dian and Vince have been generous advocates and financial supporters of CU over the years. They love the mission of Christian Union and enjoy the prayer and fasting initiatives from Day & Night. They have also hosted or been a key connector to CU events in Columbus, GA where they are pillars in their community.
Winston Wu
Independent Board Member
UC Berkeley B.S. Business Administration '00
After working on Wall Street for eleven years, Winston Wu has co-founded several companies, where he served as COO, Operating and Managing Member. He has also worked as a consultant and advisor to startup companies and existing businesses. He has broad experience in mortgage credit and derivatives as well as real estate, lending, capital raising, product or services testing and implementation, hiring and HR.
He previously served as the President and Board Member of the Board of Trustees of Trinity Grace Church Chelsea, NYC and worked on the merger with Hope Church NYC. He is passionate about spiritual and personal development, the integration of faith and work, community formation and redemptive communication.
The Christian Union Difference
Four distinctives differentiate Christian Union. Each is a theme that runs through Christian Union's work in key cities and on strategic university campuses:
01 || A Lifestyle Marked by Seeking God
Christian Union promotes biblical Christianity's emphasis on frequent, fervent prayer; massive intake of Scripture; repentance; humility through fasting; perseverance; promptly obeying the Spirit; and extended times of gathering with believers.Learn more >
02 || Networked & Engaged Christian Leaders
Christian leaders must engage culture in order to transform it, and Christians of influence must be well networked in order to maximize their godly impact on society.Learn more >
03 || High-Caliber Faculty & Intellectual Rigor
This strategic focus requires curriculum and faculty suitable for men and women of exceptional intellectual caliber; proprietary Bible course and leadership training curriculum are combined with effective mentoring by ministry faculty of mature faith and advanced theological training.Learn more >
04 || Disciplined Approach & Organizational Excellence
Christian Union seeks to honor the Lord, expand the ministry, and serve donors' intentions by maintaining a disciplined ministry model and a culture of strict accountability evidenced by detailed metrics, extensive evaluations, and continuous improvements to maximize ministry impact.Learn more >
A Process of Drawing Close to God
Christian Union emphasizes a mindset and behaviors considered normative by Christians for centuries which have fallen out of practice in the US, save during periods of revival. These are characteristic of the international church, such as in Uganda, China and Korea, and include frequent prayer; large intake of Scripture; repentance; humility through fasting; perseverance; promptly obeying the Spirit; and extended times of gathering with fellow believers. Something as essential as seeking God entails attention, time, and energy.
Learn more about seven characteristics of a Seeking God Lifestyle.
Training Christian Leaders to Engage Culture
We need Christians to assume positions of leadership across many vocations and to take the part of (and continue to take up) issues of justice. Christians who are isolated in a "holy huddle" either socially or intellectually will not change culture.
"What we want is not more little books about Christianity, but more little books by Christians on other subjects—with their Christianity latent...It is not the books written in direct defense of Materialism that make the modern man a materialist; it is the materialistic assumptions...he would be troubled if, whenever he wanted a cheap popular introduction to some science, the best work on the market was always by a Christian." —C.S. Lewis, "Christian Apologetics," God in the Dock
There are numerous examples of Christian leaders whose lives inspire Christian Union to develop new generations of Christian leaders. C.S. Lewis himself is one of them.
The following five examples illustrate the range of social and cultural impact that Christians have when they submit their influence to God-honoring ends:
Five Examples of Inspiring Christian Leaders
C.S. Lewis (1898 – 1963)The Oxford Scholar, novelist, poet, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, and Christian apologist wrote such classics as the Narnia Chronicles (The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe etc.), Mere Christianity, The Great Divorce, Surprised by Joy, and of course many other titles. He bridged academia and mass culture with popular works of fiction and non fiction, and compelling presentations of Christian worldview. We need many Christian to take the lead in academia, journalism, as essayists, cultural commentators, story tellers, filmmakers, and in many other fields, to impact our culture.
Dr. Ida Scudder (1870 –1960)
A third-generation American medical missionary in India, she was a graduate of Cornell Medical College, New York City, 1899; the first class at that school to accept women medical students. Ida had resolved not to become a medical missionary, but seeing women die in childbirth needlessly convinced her God wanted her to help as a physician. In 1918, she started one of Asia's foremost teaching hospitals, the Christian Medical College & Hospital, Vellore, India. She dedicated her skills to God. We need Christians in the medical fields, sciences, economy, and more, to do likewise.
George Gallup Jr. (1930 – 2011)
An American, George Gallup Jr. graduated with a degree in religion from Princeton, then worked at a ministry on Galveston Island in Texas. He considered becoming an Episcopal priest until he was drawn into work for his father's polling firm, where he worked from mid 1950s until 2004. He expanded the firm's surveys into religion, becoming one of the first pollsters to ask questions about organized religion and religious teachings and practice. Under Gallup Jr. the polling firm became a barometer of Americans' views on religion and politics. Late in life, he lamented that politicians had come to follow polls so closely; still he felt polling to be good for democracy. "It's removed power out of the hands of special interest groups...It's given people who wouldn't normally have a voice a voice." We need Christians to lead in the social sciences, media, and more, to bring Christian values and perspective to bear on the pressing issues of our time.
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 – 1968)
A Baptist minister, King is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience. He led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. His efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. Remarkably, King balanced the tension between confrontation and nonviolence, and in 1964 he received the Nobel Peace Prize. Leading up to his death, he expanded his focus to include poverty and the Vietnam War. Just days after his assassination, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1968. We need Christians to lead on behalf of the oppressed, whether that means working to pass just laws, living and serving among those who suffer, or advocating for "the least of these."
Sandy McDonnell (1922 – 2012)
This engineer, businessman and philanthropist was the former chairman and chief executive officer of McDonnell Douglas Corporation, he also served as national president of the Boy Scouts of America and as chairman of Character Education Partnership. He became a Christian later in life and used his influence to institute a code of business ethics, one of the first of its kind. Following his retirement, he worked energetically to advance character training in public schools. We need many business leaders to implement Christian values in the marketplace and society.
Men and women poised to lead in their fields must be reached with the Gospel and equipped to serve effectively for God-honoring ends.
Networked Christian Leaders
Movements may be known by one leader, but it takes a network of high-level influencers to shift culture.One of the most successful examples of a modern network of Christians is the extraodinary group of believers who pooled their collective influence, resources, physical and spiritual energies together to form a group dubbed the Clapham Circle. In the 19th century, when a member of the British parliament, William Wilberforce, came to faith and dedicated his influence to abolishing slavery, these peers became a network - in fact, a community - of spiritual and practical encouragement. They leveraged their influence for God.
Movements may be known by one leader, but it takes a network of high-level influencers to shift culture.
After decades of toil, God used Wilberforce and this influential network of Christian believers working with him, to not only end slavery in the British empire, but also to usher in an era that honored virtue in a society that had fallen into deep darkness.
Together, the Clapham Circle—a small group that included writers, philanthropists, scholars, politicians, clergy and businessmen who were driven by their faith—literally changed the world. Their far-reaching impact included dramatic success in prison reform, education, integrity in politics, mission, medicine and cultural change.
Christian Union works to network together leaders of wholehearted devotion, who will have a greater impact together than they could ever have leading alone.
Please prayerfully consider how you can help.
Honoring the Lord with Excellence
The nature and significance of Christian Union’s calling compels a culture of accountability. While our primary output or product as an organization is changed lives, we hold ourselves accountable for our diligence and progress.Metrics are a means to the end of ensuring that accountability which, in turn, flows from the desire to honor God with our best efforts. We aspire to be as organizationally robust as some of the best well-run for-profit firms. From score-carding mechanisms, to assessing year-over-year results, to post-event analyses, we seek to continuously improve our performance and effectiveness.
Christian Union is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation and donations are tax-deductible as allowed by law. Christian Union is audited annually by an external firm. You can view these audited financial statements. The ministry highly values the contributions of financial partners and carefully manages every gift. We will respond to financial partners promptly with questions and requests for additional information.
The Christian Union Difference
Christian Union tailors its ministry to people of high intellectual capacity whose knowledge of Scripture ranges from non-existent to well-developed. The ministry develops Bible courses, conferences, certifications, lectures, reading groups, and more, for our targeted audience. Christian Union ministry faculty are selected for their capacity to assess needs and to teach to this level.
The high-caliber materials and instruction Christian Union provides is tailored to its audience, not to produce seminarians but to ensure its offerings have suitable intellectual depth to be appealing and effective.
