Seeking God

Why the Practices Are Both Challenging and Invaluable

By Anne Kerhoulas

Silence and solitude are unpopular disciplines. In our fast-paced, technologically connected, over-worked world, who could possibly have the time and energy to prioritize being alone in silence? And if we had the time, who would choose it? 

Our Speech Is Part Of Our Witness

By Mike Vincent, Ministry Fellow at CU Nova

Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.  – James 5:9

The world loves to complain about the Church. There's an abundance of negative words from non-Christians aimed at our beliefs, our moral values, how we talk, and how we live. Such negative speech and attacks can be discouraging. How much more so when they come from within the Church! We who are supposed to be united in Christ are sometimes just as guilty of complaining against His Bride. Nothing destroys unity more quickly than complaining against those with whom we are supposed to be united.

How Speaking Well Of Others Changes Us

By Liz Thomforde

Let no corrupt talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.  – Ephesians 4:29
 

Growing up you may have heard or even used the phrase, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” However, we know that this is not true. Words do hurt. In fact, I am sure it would not be hard for you to remember words that hurt or wounded you in a profound way. Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.”  

October CU Fire Retreat Elicits Powerful Responses As Holy Spirit Moves in Power

By Chuck Hetzler

“This was my first CU Fire Retreat. It's hard to put into words what I experienced this weekend.  I have been challenged to examine my walk with the Lord, to address areas where I am not walking in obedience. With regard to revival, I have a better understanding as to what is required of us collectively and myself individually.  This is a new beginning for me. I don't think I will ever be the same again. The teachings were the most memorable part for me but our small group discussions and prayer times were also wonderful.”

How Jesus Keeps Us Day By Day

By Anne Kerhoulas

In the Christian life, we need Scripture that grounds us firmly in the truth of Christ and our union and communion with him. Hebrews 7:25 is one such verse that roots and establishes us in the unshakeable love of Jesus and his ongoing work of interceding on our behalf. 

Forgiveness Is A Lifestyle, Not An Event

By Cory Lotspeich, Ministry Director CU Martus

In Jesus’ sermon on the mount, He sums up His teaching on prayer in Matthew 6:12-15  by saying, “and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” 

Our Unity With Other Believers Matters More Than We Think

By Matt Bennett, Founder and CEO of Christian Union

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. - Acts 1:12-14 

A Summer Book Study Led to Community Transformation

By Isabella Campolattaro

Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s seminal work on community, Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christians in Community, has been inspiring believers since it was first published in 1939. What makes this classic all the more poignant and powerful is the fact that it was penned while Bonhoeffer was teaching at an underground seminary, just six years before being martyred by the Gestapo.

Freshmen Launched Prayer and Fasting Team 

By Tom Campisi

When two first-year Yale University students studied Christian Union’s Seeking God Lifestyle manual they put their faith into action and displayed exemplary leadership. In the spring semester, Yoska Guta and Zaneta Otoo, attendees of a Christian Lux Bible course, stepped up and launched a prayer and fasting team that had a passion for revival.

Why It Matters That Our Whole Lives Are Devoted to Jesus

By Anne Kerhoulas

What happened to Paul? This is the simple question that Church of the City pastor Jon Tyson asks in his sermon entitled, A Thorough Conversion. Yes, we know that Jesus met him on the road to Damascus and transformed his life from a murderous Pharisee to a super apostle. But what happened in his heart? In that encounter with Jesus, he was completely and radically changed. As Tyson says, Paul was thoroughly converted, there wasn’t an ounce left in him that hadn’t been completely given unto Christ. What happened to Paul? And can what happened to him happen to us?

Fasting, Bible Studies, Mentorship, Retreats, and More Will Be Available Through CU America

By Tom Campisi

Christian Union recently announced the formation of CU America, which will focus on inspiring, encouraging, and networking adults across the country to wholeheartedly seek the Lord, repent of sins, grow bold in their faith, and pray diligently for national revival.
 

The CU Nova Ministry Team Begins the Semester Anticipating What the Lord Will Do 

By Leah M. Smith, Princeton ’22

In the spring semester, Christian Union Nova welcomed the addition of two staff members, pastor Chris Coppernoll and Princeton alumnus Mike Vincent ’10. Coppernoll will serve as Christian Union’s ministry director at Princeton, while Vincent, a former CU Nova intern, is a ministry fellow. Both of these new staff leaders share common desires for increased discipleship, close-knit community, and revival on Princeton’s campus.

How Hatred Poisons Community and Steals Our Joy

By Qwynn Gross

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. – Ephesians 4:31

When time is given to fast and pray for matters relating to our nation, our families, and ourselves, it should also be a time of reflection and repentance for sin, specifically for the sin of malice.
 

The Unity of The Triune God Is Our Hope

By Chris Coppernoll

May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.  – Romans 15:5-7

The temperature dropped in Eden when the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord walking in the cool of the day, and hid among the trees. By taking a bite of the forbidden fruit, they'd torn the bond with their Creator apart and hid because they knew what they'd done was wrong. The couple's act of hiding brought their sin out into plain sight. Now, there would be no more walking with God in the cool of the day, only the cold reminiscence of their innocence lost. 

Jack Deere Speaks at Several Christian Union Universities

By Anne Kerhoulas

Almost forty years ago, Jack Deere found himself in an unexpected position. An esteemed professor of Hebrew and the Old Testament at Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS), Deere had signed a statement of beliefs for professors regarding the ongoing supernatural gifts of the Spirit. But through his teaching and study, he found his beliefs increasingly changing, becoming misaligned with the seminary’s stance.

How a Struggle with Addiction Led a Princeton Alum to Rediscover Faith and Launch Multiple Enterprises

By Chris Lumry 

New experiences of God and my own creativity arrived unexpectedly in a season of hopelessness and dissatisfaction shortly after finishing my MBA at Harvard. The day after the 2016 Super Bowl, I blacked out after drinking by myself and woke up around midnight on a street corner in San Francisco. 

Life took a sudden, undeserved turn for the better. 

A Letter from Founder and President Matt Bennett

Christian Union is entering its third decade of ministry; praise God and thanks to you! I thank God for the lives that have been changed and the honor the Lord has received over the past twenty years. 

Rivalry in the Body of Christ Dishonors the Lord

By Chuck Hetzler, PhD, Director, CU Day and Night

But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?  – 1 Corinthians 3:1-4

All jealousy, pride, rivalry, and division must be repented of and put at the foot of the cross or Christian Unity will not be achieved. 

The American Church Needs Revival More Than Ever

By Anne Kerhoulas 

The American church needs revival. It’s fragmented and fractured, limping past scandal and hypocrisy, and lacking in zeal for the Lord. But as Russell Moore argues in his article for Christianity Today, revival does not simply mean church attendance rising without radical reformation of the ways the church has veered off course. The revival we need is one of repentance, reformation, and a powerful work of the Holy Spirit.

Christian Union Hosts Impactful Student Conference

By Tom Campisi, Managing Editor

At the conclusion of the academic year, Christian Union hosted Spiritus, a two-week-long, invitation-only conference that introduced students to Daniel Spirituality and inspired them to be transformative Christian leaders. Spiritus, held at the D.L. Moody Center in Northfield, Massachusetts, featured doctrinal teaching with an emphasis on prayer, fasting, and repentance.