Brown and Columbia Student Leaders Reflect on Worship 

Christian  Union Universities, a Christian leadership development ministry at ten highly secular and influential educational institutions in America, aims to provide training and growth opportunities for students to lead others in devotion to God in their spheres of influence. One area of leadership that students develop during their time with Christian Union is worship. The following thoughts from Christian Union ministry team leaders at Brown and Columbia University reveal the power of worship on their campuses and in believers' lives. 

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• Brown
• Columbia

When God Woke Up Wales

  In an article published by Desiring God, Pastor Jeremy Walker writes a brief summary and analysis of the revival that took place in Wales, England in the  1700's. Walker notably writes that “the Lord was pleased to stir the listless and lethargic to liveliness and labor during the 18th Century in various parts of the world by various human instruments. In England, God raised up George Whitefield. In America… Jonathan Edwards, and in Wales… Daniel Rowland.” 

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• Brown
• Columbia
• Cornell
• Dartmouth
• Harvard
• Penn
• Princeton
• Yale
• Stanford
• Seeking God
• Harvard Law

Devotional from January 2025 Christian Union National Fast 

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."–James 1:2-4 ESV   God and the devil both recognize the incredible value and opportunity of suffering. In fact, we humans might be the only ones who do not! So many times, in the midst of suffering, our goal is simple: stop suffering. And we turn all our energy and attention to that task, desperate to be done with our trial.  But James 1:2-4 paints a different picture. “Count it all joy,” he writes, “when you meet trials of various kinds.” James does not call us to enjoy suffering—that would be masochism—but instead to count our suffering as joy. We are to view it not as something senseless, but as a trial of faith, a necessary testing ground which produces good fruit.

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• Devotionals

True Faith: Trusting and Aligning Our Desires with God's

  Ijeamaka Achebe, a senior at Yale University, recalls parts of her journey through her academic career, wondering, "What is my purpose?" While she has a clear goal of becoming a doctor, she realized that goals and existential purpose are not necessarily one and the same.Through Christian Union Lux's ministry at Yale, in part, Achebe began to realize that, above all, she wanted her career aspirations to be in alignment with God's will. After two years of participating in Christian Union Bible courses, she shared that her outlook on career is different than it once was. "Our secondary calling is career," she shared, recognizing that while a career is important, it is subordinate to her primary calling as a Christian.

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• Yale
• Seeking God

Devotional from January 2025 Christian Union National Fast 

“But the one who endures to the end will be saved." -Matthew 24:13 ESVThe context of these words from Jesus is somewhat stark. He has just told his disciples about the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, simultaneously an event that was literally fulfilled in Jerusalem in 70 AD but also a figurative event in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As he continues explaining what accompanies these events, the tone becomes alarming: Christians will be led astray, wars will occur, and famines and earthquakes will ail the earth. False prophets will come and lead many astray, with results that would make any one of us worried: “And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold” (v. 12).

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• Devotionals

Christian Union Hosts Ken Fish at Recent Biannual Conference in NYC

God is not simply a concept or theory. So often in the Western Church, Christians read the stories of the Bible and assume that signs and wonders were events that occurred in biblical times and simply don’t happen today. Ken Fish is one Christian leader in America who is here to explain otherwise. His 2023 book, On the Road with The Holy Spirit: A Modern Day Diary of Signs and Wonders, is based on a diary he kept over the course of five years while he was traveling extensively around the world. Fish spent time almost daily writing down the healings and miracles that the Lord was doing through hundreds of journal entries.

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• Alumni
• Intellectual Engagement
• Past Events
• New York
• Seeking God
• Faith and Work

Oscar-Nominated Film Discussion Set to Unite Students and Alumni 

In 2021, Christian Union alumni from Columbia and Penn gathered to discuss religious themes in film. This event was spearheaded by Columbia alumnus and Film and Media Studies major Stephen Cone ’20. Participants of the event gathered, in part, at Christian Union's Ministry Center at Columbia for a discussion entitled, “Where Is God in the Movies?” Attendees enjoyed a presentation from Cone that examined the role of religion in Terrence Malick’s Days of Heaven (1978). The discussion that followed focused on how Christian artists can represent and convey their faith through their chosen medium. Megan Foo, '19 alumna of Penn who currently works in Hong Kong, was in attendance that day. She enjoyed the event so much that she decided to help Cone plan a similar event on Jane Campion's 'The Power of the Dog' in 2022. 

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• Brown
• Columbia
• Cornell
• Dartmouth
• Events
• Harvard
• Penn
• Princeton
• Yale
• Stanford
• Faith and Work
• Harvard Law

Devotional from January 2025 Christian Union National Fast 

“But you, be strong and do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded!”- 2 Chronicles 15:7 (ESV) The world around us is not changing apart from God’s intervention. As Americans, we are living in the degradation of society, where everyone seems to do what is right in their own eyes. Righteousness and moral corruption are indistinguishable for far too many, as culture challenges the authority of God and embraces ethical decay. Meanwhile, believers who are called to pray for the world around them often appear paralyzed. Charles Finney aptly said, "If the presence of God is in the church, the church will draw the world in. If the presence of God is not in the church, the world will draw the church out." His sentiments resonate deeply as we observe the growing distance between godly standards and the prevailing norms of society.

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• Devotionals

Ministry Leader at Harvard Law School Shares Vision and Hope

Greetings from Harvard Law School! As we begin 2025, I want to take a moment to reflect on all that God accomplished in 2024. In my six-plus years with Christian Union Gloria Law, I can confidently say that this past year has been the most fruitful and exciting season of ministry yet.

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• Alumni
• Harvard Law

Inspiring Imagination and Adventure in Young Adults

  "God has been in this quite literally since the very beginning," said Cassandra James, Princeton '23, as she reflected on her professional writing career.     "As a child, I was an absolute bookworm, and I would max out my library  card. I aged out of kids' literature and wanted to read more stories but couldn't find the kind of stories I desired to read, so my mother dared me, 'If you can't find it, write it.'"    So, she did.

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• Alumni
• Princeton
• Faith and Work

University Leadership Ministry Helps Students Develop a Robust Christian Worldview

As the Judeo-Christian worldview has receded in modern Western society, nihilism, atheism, secularism, post-modernism, and a resurgent paganism now present competing paradigms for explaining the meaning of life and our purpose here on earth. Bifurcation of facts from values has contributed to the identity dysphoria endemic to the dislocation of self in society that troubles many young people today. Issues related to sexual "empowerment" and individual gratification dominate public policy debate, even as our nation’s values related to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness find new definition in the reshaping of longstanding positions on private and public morality.

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• Intellectual Engagement
• Seeking God

Devotional from January 2025 Christian Union National Fast 

We are living in a time of great changes, ripe with opportunity and fraught with danger. As trust in once-venerated institutions and authorities erodes, people are searching—for meaning, for purpose, and for anchors amid the swirling storm of competing truth claims. Many are turning, or returning, to the church, and for that we thank God. Meanwhile, many others are turning (or returning) to what a generation ago would have been near-universally laughed off as superstition—to psychics, tarot, and witchcraft—or cobbling together a faith of their own invention, mixing perhaps a bit of Buddhism, some yogic meditation, a dollop of post-modern relativism, and various Christian ideas divorced from the broader biblical vision.

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• Devotionals