Faith and Work
The Spiritual Climate at Yale University
Christian Union Asks Student Body, "What is the Purpose of Your Life?"
By Erin conner, Writer and communications associate
"God is moving mightily at Yale, and we are seeing students boldly proclaim the gospel like never before," said Jeffrey Walsh, the ministry director of Christian Union Lux.
Night after night this semester, 20-25 students are walking across campus, sharing the good news of Jesus and praying with their peers. Just before Christian Union Lux's evangelism prayer and worship event at Battell Chapel on February 21-22, an email titled “What is the Purpose of Your Life?” was sent out to every student on campus. This email ignited a firestorm of discussion, going viral on Yale’s internal social media platform, Fizz, with 2,100 comments in a single day. "The curiosity and spiritual hunger this initiative sparked is overwhelming," Walsh said.
Christian Union Helps to Host "Give Me an Answer" Ministry
Evangelism Campaigns at Some of Our Nation's Most Secular Schools
By erin conner, writer and communications associate
On March 3, Cliffe and Stuart Knechtle from the Give Me An Answer Ministry visited Stanford, boldly proclaiming Christ and engaging students in deep conversations about difficult questions of faith. The crowd grew to nearly 250 students toward the end, with still more stopping by throughout the four-hour event in White Plaza.
"In the days since, I’ve heard several testimonies of how students have had many conversations with their non-believing friends about Christ, the gospel, and faith. Cliffe and Stuart’s example emboldened students in their faith, and we see clear evidence that God is at work in hearts on our campus," shared Justin Woyak, the ministry director at Christian Union Caritas, one of the ministries that helped to host this outreach event. Christian Union Caritas was honored to partner with other Christian ministries at Stanford to help proclaim the gospel in such a bold way.
"Give Me An Answer" ministry at Stanford University
Mike Vincent, the ministry director of Christian Union Nova at Princeton, shared some evangelism events that CU Nova is planning for the spring of 2025. "We have several exciting outreach opportunities coming up this semester. First, our CU Proclaim Retreat next week is being held right here at Princeton. Students from several of our other ministries will be coming to Princeton during their spring break for evangelism training in the mornings, evangelism on campus in the afternoons, and guest speakers and motivation in the evenings. This week-long event will be capped off on Friday night by the Summit Worship Team and Pastor Carter Conlon from Times Square Church in NYC. They will lead a worship night on the South Lawn of Campus Center where students will be encouraged to bring as many friends as possible."
Vincent continued, "Christian Union Nova will also be helping to host Cliffe and Stuart Knechtle from the Give Me An Answer ministry for some outdoor evangelism. As this ministry has amassed a huge following on YouTube in recent years, this event is generating lots of excitement! They will be posted up outside on campus for three days, giving talks and answering questions about the Bible and Christianity."
Christian Union Vita is hosting the Knechtle's ministry at Cornell University from March 19-20 with the support of other Christian organizations on campus. Christian Union Lumine is also planning to help host this ministry at Columbia University at the end of the month in an aim to make Jesus the most talked-about name on campus. 
"Give Me An Answer" ministry at Cornell University
Christian Union has ten strategic student leadership development ministries at some of our nation's most secular and influential universities. Christian Union's heart is to see college students build their lives on the truth and power of Christ. This spring from the west coast to the east, they are working to help equip student leaders to reach as many open hearts and minds as possible with the gospel. To Him be all the glory.
Learn more about Christian Union Universities here.
Leaders Rise to Proclaim the Name of Jesus
Student Leadership Ministry Equips Students to Share Christ
By erin conner, writer and communications associate
As Christians around the world prepare their hearts this Lenten season to acknowledge Christ's death and resurrection, Christian Union is preparing student leaders to boldly proclaim the gospel.
Every spring, Christian Union holds an eight-week evangelism campaign across their ten ministries at some of our nation's most secular and influential schools, equipping students to share the gospel in multiple, meaningful ways. From social media ads to initiating conversations with strangers in the street to hosting highly visible, large group events on campus, student leaders are devoted to sharing the life-giving message of Jesus Christ to all who have ears to hear.
Different types of evangelism can be found in the pages of Scripture. Sometimes, new converts gathered friends and family members to hear the good news. On other occasions, Jesus or the disciples preach openly to crowds of people, some of whom are friendly and some hostile. On other occasions, evangelism is accompanied with miraculous signs to give glory to God. Christian Union recognizes that it can be tempting to identify one particular methodology of gospel proclamation as the most important but maintains that the Biblical model of evangelism is a comprehensive approach.
This month, Christian Union Nova at Princeton University is kicking off this comprehensive outreach campaign by hosting a one-week student conference entitled CU Proclaim for students at Princeton, Columbia, Yale, Dartmouth, Harvard, and Harvard Law.This conference is a powerful gathering designed to ignite students' faith, deepen their spiritual walk, and equip them to boldly and comprehensively proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ on their campuses and beyond.
At these conferences, students step into an atmosphere of unity, passion, and purpose, where they connect with other faith-driven students from influential universities across the nation to pray together, grow together, and sharpen one another in preparation to make Jesus known to their generation.
This year, Christian Union is honored to host Pastor Carter Conlon, General Overseer of Times Square Church and author of Fear Not and It’s Time to Pray. His dynamic, Spirit-led teaching is set to equip and empower students to walk in boldness, deepen their faith, and step into their calling.
At last year's conference, held at Cornell University, one student shared with Marcus Buckley, the Ministry Director of Christian Union Vita, that he wondered how he was ever going to be bold enough to share Jesus with complete strangers by just walking up to them. By the end of the week, this same student could not be stopped, asking for more opportunities to go out and share with strangers. Students, by the grace and power of God, are taking the demonstrative love of Christ into their spheres of influence and Christian Union is helping to equip them for this.
In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, Matt Bennett, Founder and President of Christian Union, shared that students at some of America's most influential educational institutions constitute an "unreached people group" with such a low percentage of the student body and faculty identifying as Christians. CBN's article about the interview stated, "Bennett made a sobering statement that underscores the dire state of spiritual affairs and intense lostness at many of these colleges, when he said, 'What's shocking is that, in this audience, you have fewer practicing Christians than you do, say...in mainland China or a lot of other places that we consider unreached.'"
Bennett also shared in this interview that, in his experience over the last twenty-plus years of providing ministry in some of the most spiritually dark places in our country, personal connection, not a campaign, is ultimately what inspires an individual to accept the gospel. However, it seems people need to encounter several touchpoints with the gospel before going to a trustworthy Christian in their life with their questions. Consequently, each and every Christian's role is to have the courage to be known as a Christian in their sphere of influence, so that when someone is seeking Truth, they know to whom to turn for direction to find and follow Him.
Christian Union's boldness reminds all Christians that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the hope of all the world and that followers of God are privileged and duty-bound to proclaim it far and wide in the power of the Holy Spirit. No other message on earth is more important to communicate than the opportunity of reconciliation with God by grace through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.
Christianity’s mission to the world is one of love. Nothing is more loving than letting people know how eager God is to wipe away all their sins and to replace death with life, ashes with beauty, and captivity with freedom through faith in Christ.
Watch a related 12-minute CBNNews interview here.
Uniting in Extraordinary Prayer
Seeking a Spiritual Awakening in America
By christian union, first published in 2021; revised 2025
The following article by David Bryant is adapted from his essay in the 2004 updated edition of Jonathan Edwards’ influential book on prayer marked by a thirty-six word title that began with three famous words: An Humble Attempt. The modern version’s title is “A Call to United, Extraordinary Prayer…An Humble Attempt.”
Signs and Wonders
Christian Union Hosts Ken Fish at Recent Biannual Conference in NYC
By christian union
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.
Christian Union Alumni Host Online Film Discussion
Oscar-Nominated Film Discussion Set to Unite Students and Alumni
By erin conner, writer and communications associate
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.
Alumni Spotlight: Cassandra James
Inspiring Imagination and Adventure in Young Adults
By erin conner, writer & communications associate
"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.
How Can Christians Influence Society?
by Christian Union America
For many years a populist mindset has dominated Christian thinking about how to influence a society, meaning that Christians have believed that when a majority of people value virtue, culture will follow. But according to James Davision Hunter, the LaBrosse-Levinson Distinguished Professor of Religion, Culture and Social Theory·at the University of Virginia, "culture changes from the top down; rarely, if ever, from the bottom up."All the Commands Hang on This One
True Faith Produces the Fruit of Love
Revised By erin conner, writer & communications associate
It may seem contradictory to say that in order to love the people in our sphere of influence the best-our neighbor, our spouse, or our children-we must love God the most. However, this is God's command and, therefore, the way to fulfill Jesus’ two greatest commandments.
Alumni Spotlight: Jesus is the Reward
Esther Xiang, Harvard '23
by erin conner, writer and communications associate
"I thought Harvard would give me everything I ever needed," said Esther Xiang, as she reflected on her undergraduate career, "but only Jesus can do that." Xiang graduated from Harvard in 2023 as a psychology major. She walked out of Cambridge, rejecting the voice of the world, and followed the voice of God into full-time missionary work to be Jesus's hands and feet to the nations. The Lord opened up a door for her to take a year off and do global mission work in the Himalayas, France, and New Zealand.
Nine Ways to Help Students
How to Join a Movement to Transform Culture for Christ in America
By erin conner, writer and communications associate
Christian Union Universities (CUU) is developing leaders with spiritual depth at strategic places for cultural engagement to change the world. CUU serves students at Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Harvard Law, Penn, Princeton, Stanford, and Yale. You can join this movement to equip our nation's students at these highly influential and secular schools with the power and love of Jesus in the following ways:
Faith-Based Movie Hits Theaters Across America
A Film Recently Released about Theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer
By erin conner, writer and communications associate
After 12 years in the making, Bonhoeffer opened in 2,000 theaters across the country starting on November 22. Faith-based films like this one raise thought-provoking questions that lead viewers to explore their own faith and actions in their spheres of influence, as well as the implications of their actions in shaping the contours of culture and history.
Preview the trailer of this film here: https://youtu.be/eK2sPrMlsQs
Faith & Mental Health: A Testimony of Freedom
Christian Leader in Media Shares Life-Giving Message in a Culture of Despair
By erin conner, writer and communications associate
Carrie Sheffield, a renowned columnist and broadcaster in Washington DC, released a memoir this past spring entitled Motorhome Prophesiesthat proclaims liberty is possible for the captives of trauma. Sheffield is a Harvard alumna, a member of Christian Union America, and serves in an advisory role for the Christian Union Washington DC board of advisors.
Sheffield shares insights with millions of Americans on networks like CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, CBS News, CNBC, BBC, and more. From ABC’s Good Morning America to HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, PBS,and C-SPAN, she brings a voice of virtue to the American communications and media industry through boundless interviews, articles, appearances on television shows and podcasts, and at forums across the nation.
A Movement to Transform Culture for Christ
Christian Union Provides Support and Resources for Spiritual Strengthening
By erin conner, writer and communications associate
Your spiritual vitality is a matter of national importance. Perhaps that sounds dramatic, but consider it–our culture is shaped by the daily decisions of industry leaders who either embrace secular values or who embrace biblical values, many of whom may not know how to integrate their faith and their profession. How well are American believers equipped to bring Christian faith and values into their spheres of influence? And what are the implications if they don't? Alumnus Wins Congressional Seat
Former Christian Union Student President Claims Victory in Recent Election
By Erin conner, writer and communications associate
Leaders developed at Dartmouth shape the future of our country by determining what media gets disseminated, what laws get passed, and how major decisions get made. Dartmouth has produced influential figures, including author Dr. Seuss, beloved T.V. personality Fred Rogers, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and former central banker and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Another name of influence has been recently added to this list: Brandon Gill.
Brandon Gill claimed victory in the congressional race for the 26th district of Texas over Democrat Ernest Lineberger III in the recent November election.
Gill's Congressional webpage states, "I attended Dartmouth College and graduated cum laude with degrees in both Economics and History. I was President of the conservative paper, The Dartmouth Review. I was also President of Christian Union and grew it to be one of the largest student groups on campus, despite being on a campus hostile to the Christian faith. In college, I fought the left nonstop - on their own turf - and I left Dartmouth even more conservative than when I arrived."
Dartmouth Receives the Only Green Light of All the Ivies
Intellectual Freedom Under Attack at American Educational Institutions
by erin conner, writer and communications associate
On September 16th, 2024, Dartmouth College aligned its written policies of free speech with First Amendment principles. Consequently, Dartmouth officially reclaimed the overall “green light” speech code rating from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE).
According to a recent article published by FIRE, Dartmouth is the only green light school in the Ivy League, one of four in New Hampshire, and one of 68 nationwide. FIRE awards green light ratings to institutions with no written policies that seriously imperil student free speech rights.
“Say something controversial at most elite colleges and you’re liable to get shouted down, canceled, reported, and disciplined,” said FIRE Director of Policy Reform Laura Beltz. “But Dartmouth has shown it aims to foster a better environment for free speech through adopting these policies and encouraging dialogue across difference.”
Two Reasons Our Faith Must Be Bold
Speaking and Living Boldly for the Lord in a Pluralistic Society
by erin conner, writer and communications associate
The Book of Acts shows a people living boldly.
In regard to the church in the Book of Acts, Author Jonathan Parnell in his article, "Why Boldness Matters Now" writes, "The bewildering reality at work in Peter’s and John’s testimony in Acts 4 is what they say about Jesus. These two fishermen had become messengers of God’s salvation, heralds for a new age in human history. They were now spokesmen of the risen and reigning Lord over all. So yes, they spoke with passion. But the point Luke drives home is not their style, but their substance. Not their homiletics, but their hermeneutics. It was all centered on Christ — how he is the One to whom the whole Old Testament points, how his work has changed the world forever. The heart of Peter’s and John’s boldness was how they spoke clearly about the identity and significance of Jesus. The picture Luke gives us of the early Christian mission is that the church was not without words when it came to the question of their King."
Three Lessons on the Soul
How Does Jesus Teach Us to Compute?
by Erin conner, writer & communications associate
In a recent article entitled "To Gain the World and Lose Your Soul," published by Desiring God, writer Greg Morse powerfully illustrates the problem of ignoring the soul as a result of the distractions and deceptions of our modern world.
Morse writes, "One great feature of modernity, from Satan’s standpoint, is the sheer rejection of the soul. We live in a world stupefied by the material. Ask ten people on the street about their souls — if they don’t wonder aloud, 'What does this babbler wish to say?' (Acts 17:18), they will tell you that if they do have a soul, they have not thought much about it. Even ancient pagan philosophers wrote dense treatises on the soul, but the mass of men today live as though they are soulless. And yet these same people investigate the silliest things under the sun. If anything is worth thought, is it not your soul? 'Claiming to be wise, they became fools'” (Romans 1:22).
Devotional: Pray for the Return of the Prodigal
Christian Union National Fast: America Returning to God, August 1-14, 2024
by peter ahlin, coo/CFO at christian union
“But when he came to himself, he said, “How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.” -Luke 15:17-20
Jesus loved to tell stories of heaven’s rejoicing at the salvation of lost souls. He depicted a widow exulting over a found coin or a shepherd delighting as he held a recovered sheep; He spoke in terms that resonated with all. But no story ever became as iconic as that of a loving father whose son rejected him, plundered him, and left him, and how that father watched for him, waited for him, and wept for him. The story captured perfectly how great the father’s love and how hopeful those may be who trust wholly in it.
Many of us also watch, wait, and weep for beloved children or others who wander without hope and without God in the world. We want to follow Scripture’s clarion call to “pour out [our] hearts like water to the Lord, [to] lift up [our] hands to him in prayer, pleading for [our] children” (Lamentations 2:19). So how do we pray for the prodigal?
Devotional: Faith that Pleases God
Christian Union National Fast: America Returning to God, August 1-14, 2024
by michael racine, writer and ministry fellow for cu lux at yale
If you want to see a miracle, what should you do? It’s a question that children in Sunday school could readily answer: Ask God, and have faith. This message runs all throughout the gospels, in the numerous healing accounts in which Jesus says, “Your faith has made you well,” “Be it done to you according to your faith,” or something similar, and in His explicit and repeated teaching on the subject to His disciples. “Ask, and you shall receive” (Matt 7:7; Luke 11:9). “Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24).
All too often, though, we find ourselves crying out like the afflicted boy’s father, “Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief!” (see Mark 9:24). How can we remove the nagging doubt that chokes our mustard seed of faith and keeps it from bearing fruit? First, it helps to understand what exactly “faith” is, as defined by the Scriptures. Faith is not, as many would suggest today, willful belief without evidence. It is, quite simply, that which underlies our expectations and convinces us of things we haven’t seen (Heb 11:1). All of us believe a million different things beyond what we’ve personally seen, and quite rationally. Why? Because we’ve been told, and we deemed the source reliable. “So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of the Anointed” (Romans 10:17).
