Friends,
Students are currently scattered around the globe enjoying some rest and relaxation during Brown University’s spring break. Once they return to campus, we’ll have four more weeks with them before they move into reading/exam period. Hard to believe the end of the semester is so close at hand!
Christian Union at Columbia continues to see God’s goodness to our ministry. As you may already know, Christian Union was working tirelessly to acquire a ministry center for Columbia. As of February 13, that purchase was completed, and we will be using the center next semester. We could not be more thankful to each of you for your prayers and sacrificial giving. Our desire is to use this space as a hub for gospel engagement with Columbia University. Please pray that many students would be encouraged in their faith and come to know Jesus through the work that will be done there.
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice”, Philippians 4:4.
Paul’s letter to the Philippians is full of joy and thanksgiving – he used his own thankful heart to teach and encourage the church to live joyfully in light of the gospel. Even, and perhaps especially, in challenging times. This season of Lent is a time of reflection and repentance that leads directly and unequivocally to an unencumbered joy in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We have an abundant new life in Christ, and the hope of all things being made new.
We have much to give thanks to God for this month.
Just last week we hosted apologist Alycia Woods from Ravi Zacharias International Ministry. Alycia is a winsome speaker who has addressed mixed believing and unbelieving audiences at MIT, Harvard, Brown, Boston University and, now, Cornell. She addressed the question, "Is Christianity Intolerant?" to a room of about 75 students, and made a clear statement of the Christian principle of expressing the truths of Christianity with love and respect even to those we have deep and fundamental disagreements with. She gave clear expression of the beauty of the Gospel. Her 40-minute talk was closed with 15-minutes of Q&A. Friendly, but serious, questions were raised by the audience, like: "How do Christians explain their checkered and, at times, intolerant past?" "What are some practical, effective ways we can 'break the ice' to speak with our atheist and agnostic friends about the truths of Christianity?" About a dozen people stayed after the event to dialogue further with Alycia. Please pray that the unbelievers who came would continue to grapple with the truths of the gospel in community with us. Cornell is a fiercely secular place which means your prayers are especially needful to break through these hard spots and skeptical hearts.
I am writing you as we begin a new semester at Princeton to thank you for your ongoing prayers, encouragement, and financial support for our ministry. We depend on your prayerful support for the ministry we do here, so thank you. We want you to know that God is at work in the lives of our students!
We are grateful for your support and want to give you an update through February of this spring semester to inform your continued prayers.
—C. S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces
This short, but loaded statement from Lewis’ reimagining of the Cupid and Psyche myth contains a good measure of hope, but also a fair amount of challenge. We are creatures in process, striving toward Christlikeness, often stumbling along the way. As our students endure the midpoint of the winter quarter (and the school year!), they have a keen sense that their lives are yet not in a true and final form. God has begun a good work in many lives on this campus, and He will carry it to completion through His Son.
Hello from Dartmouth,
It’s hard to believe we’re already in week 4 of the winter term! It’s been a full one so far. Thank you for your prayers for our Winter Conference. It truly was a blessed weekend of fellowship, growth, and fun!
As we begin the spring semester, I want to encourage you to continue praying for the Christian Union ministry at Harvard Law School (HLS) and our student group, Coram Deo Law. This semester will bring its own share of possibilities and challenges. And we know that success in both requires the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and our faithful submission to him. So please join us in praying that the Lord's work continues to bear fruit in the lives of our students and on the HLS campus.
As I sit down to write this letter, Princeton students are busy preparing for their final exams and making the final push on their final papers. Since our last letter, students have mostly been away on their winter break, so most of this update will be forecasting the exciting spring semester ahead. We are grateful for your faithful support in the form of prayers, encouragement and financial gifts that make all of this possible.
Praise God! Our students have returned safely to campus after Winter Break and our Bible Courses have had an excellent start. We currently have 13 Bible Courses meeting, with the possibility of adding an additional women’s course. We are thankful that God’s Spirit is moving among the students, bringing a sense of unity and hunger for God’s Word. Please pray that our students would have an increasing affection for Jesus and would translate that passion for Christ’s glory to tangible action on Penn’s campus.
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.
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.
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.
