Friends,
Since students have not yet returned to Brown's campus from Winter Break, this prayer email will be short and sweet. Would you please join us in praying for the following:
The Semester Ahead
This prayer request seems obvious, but please pray for this upcoming semester. As usual, we have several Bible studies, large group gatherings we call The Anchor, conferences and several other events to offer for students' continued growth in the faith. It's a lot to balance while continually pushing the ministry forward and loving/serving our families. Pray that we would lean on Christ and that his Spirit would give us strength and endurance to finish strong to the end of the semester.Bible Study Workshop
We will be offering a workshop on February 3 in which we'll explore how to study scripture using Genesis 1 as our case study. Pray that Laurel Copp, Ministry Fellow here at Brown University, and I would prepare well for this workshop and that students would walk away from it with a better sense of how to approach the study of scripture and a deeper love for God's holy Word.Nexus 2018
Every year we join hundreds of other students from across the Ivy League and Stanford for "a life-changing weekend of worship, prayer, speakers, small groups, fellowship, seminars and more." This year we will gather over February 23-25 in New Brunswick, NJ, and the theme will be, "Turn the World Upside Down." Please pray that this will be a transformative weekend for our students (so far, we have over 30 students registered to attend), that they would fall more in love with Jesus and bring that passion back to campus with them!I promise to have more updates in my next email. Until then, may the peace of Christ rule in your hearts!
In Christ,
Justin Doyle
Ministry Fellow
Christian Union at Brown University
Please note: if you would like to receive regular updates on how to pray for Christian Union's work at Brown, please email prayer@christianunion.org.
The first day of spring term began on January 24th! Our students have been on winter break since December 14th and we miss them terribly. (Because of winter break, this prayer letter is a bit shorter.) We value your prayers for a successful launch into the spring term.
Originally posted October 8, 2017, in Columbia Crown & Cross. Posted here with permission of the author.
Six weeks ago, with a secret photographer looking on, I escorted my girlfriend Taylor to a patio overlooking a lake upstate. Taylor and I had met here at Columbia through mutual friends, sat beside each other in Art Hum, and went on a dozen dates in the city. Just before the outset of our senior year, right there on that patio, I proposed to her; she said yes, with the camera bulb flashing behind her.
Needless to say, Taylor and I have taken a few deviations from the common college dating route. When we get married next summer, we will both be 22 years old, a half-decade younger than the national average age of first marriage and perhaps a decade younger than the average Columbia student’s. We aren’t sexually active, which frequently surprises people. We read a devotional book and pray together to promote intimacy in our emotional and spiritual lives. Talk to someone who knows us well and they might mention that we’ve become abstinence-minded matchmakers for others—it’s easy to fix up potential couples since we only know a handful of Columbia undergrads who approach romantic relationships like we do. But as our model, which draws a great deal from the doctrines of Christianity, has worked for us, we believe it could work for everyone, regardless of religious conviction.
Why Doctrine Matters
Mere Christianity was a book written by Clives Staples Lewis and published in 1952 (based on a number of radio recordings by Lewis on the BBC during World War II). It is one of the most influential books of the 20th century, written by one of Western culture’s intellectual giants. In the book, even though it gives a baseline apologetic (or, defense) of the Christian faith, it contains an impressive depth of what we call doctrine.In the years since its first publication, the Church has undergone a continual seismic shift.
You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.
— Isaiah: 26:3
Great things happen when you decide to pray!
Prayer is a forum that brings fulfillment to a life in Christ. Without prayer Christianity is a title alone, but with prayer, Christianity is an ever-growing, intimate relationship with the God who promises to honor those who honor Him (1 Samuel 2:30), reveal Himself to those who search for Him (Jeremiah 29:13), and draw near to those who will draw near to Him (James 4:8).
This December we and our students have been reading a new Advent devotional—Come Let Us Adore Him, by Paul Tripp—which we gave out at our Christmas party at the beginning of the month.
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons..
— Galatians 4:4-5
Greetings,
We’ve seen God work wondrously here at Columbia; we have so much to be thankful for. Both the staff and the students are excited about the acquisition of a new ministry center one block away from campus. Our biggest need as a ministry at Columbia is space, and God has made provision for that need in a significant way. A heartfelt thanks to everyone who supported the effort through prayer and financial giving. An incalculable number of lives will be blessed through this ministry center because of your support.
Praise the Lord for the closing of a wonderful fall term at Dartmouth. We ended the semester with our annual Thanksgiving dinner, which the freshmen (‘21s) did a fantastic job planning and putting on. We enjoyed delicious food and fellowship, but I have to say the highlight of the evening was hearing the testimonies of three ‘21s. They each opened up about a difficulty or sin struggle in their past and how the Lord used it to grow them in their faith. The final testimony included a very clear and powerful gospel presentation, which brought tears to my eyes and thanksgiving to my heart. Join me in praising God for His powerful and intricate work in the students’ lives and for the ways He is using hardship to mature them in the gospel.
As always, thank you for your commitment to pray for the Christian Union ministry at HLS and our student group, Coram Deo Law. The Lord has provided according to his abundant wisdom and grace. And we rejoice with you that his work continues to bear fruit on the HLS campus and in the lives of our alumni.
Friends,
I pray this Advent season has been full of Christ’s presence, joy and peace!
It’s hard to believe, but this semester has already come and gone! It’s been a semester full of God’s goodness and faithfulness meeting students in their everyday lives – the highs and lows and every place in between. I could share many stories of God’s work on campus over the course of the Fall Semester, but I’d like to tell you about a large outreach event we organized earlier this month.
We are deeply grateful for your partnership in prayer!
Our Lord has been faithful, good, and gracious to our community here at Cornell this past semester. We have much to be thankful for.
A Book Review: Walter Brueggemann’s Sabbath as Resistance: Saying No To The Culture Of Now
by Laurel Copp
Christian Union ministry fellow
AT Brown University
I grew up observing the Sabbath. Aka: my family didn’t go out to eat on Sunday, get gas on Sunday, or go grocery shopping on Sunday. I spent my teenage life not going to the mall, doing homework, or grabbing Starbucks on Sunday (kidding, Starbucks wasn’t a thing when I was a teenager).
You might think that sounds awful. But actually it meant that we always had people at my house with my dad making homemade pizza or grilling or baking elaborate desserts (because my mom didn’t cook on Sunday…it was work for her). It meant a day filled with playing games, singing, having bon fires, moshing to 90s music, playing basketball, swimming, and cruising in my car (until I ran low on gas of course). Not a bad way to spend Sundays.
Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
— Col. 3:17
