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Christian Union: The Magazine
October 24, 2023

CU Fire Retreats Continue to Blaze Across America

  “Once again CU Fire Retreats Delivered! Amazing!,” claimed one participant following the past Christian Union America Retreat held on October 13-14.  CU Fire Retreats are multi-site, two-day simulcast retreats focusing on spiritual strengthening through prayer, fasting, repentance, and seeking the Lord. CU Fire Retreats are a part of Christian Union America’s efforts to bring sweeping change to our nation for God’s glory through the development and connection of transformative Christian leaders.    

October 24, 2023

The Debate of Cessationism v. Continuationism 

  Are the miraculous gifts for today? Dr. Michael Brown argues a compelling “yes” in his article entitled “The Reformed of the Lord Say No to Cessationism,” published on October 9 in Christianity Today.  “The cessationist debate is back, although in some ways, it’s never left,” Brown writes, in light of the recently scheduled 2024 Cessationist Conference led, in part, by Pastor John MacArthur. This conference is timed to coincide with the release of the Cessationist movie, “bringing an age-old topic back to the forefront of trending conversations, especially among Reformed believers.” 

October 15, 2023

Student Spotlight: Senior Reflects on Her Faith Journey at Princeton

  Cynthia Makachi, a public and international affairs major and a member of the executive team at Christian Union Nova, describes her faith journey at Princeton by saying, “divine intervention is evident in my life." From accepting her offer to Princeton three years ago to sitting beside a stranger three weeks ago, God has shown up in powerful ways during her academic career. 

October 15, 2023

The 2023 CU Rise Campaign

  From deeply rigorous Bible courses, intellectually engaging lecture speakers, vibrant worship and prayer events, experienced and Spirit-led faculty, powerful one-on-one discipleship, to leadership training and development, Christian Union's university ministry has much to offer Christian students at the schools where they serve. These ministry programs are deepening the faith of the students involved, but also equipping them to lead others toward life in Christ. The 2023 CU Rise Campaign is just one example of this.   

October 11, 2023
  The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.  – Acts 17:10-11 The Bible says that the Bereans were “more noble” than the Thessalonians because they were eager to hear what Paul and Silas had to say. They did not quickly take offense to the concept of a suffering Savior, crucified as a criminal, and raised from death to life as the victorious Son of God. They did not consider it inconceivable that God could fulfill thousands of years of prophecies in this God-Man, Jesus of Nazareth. Some people today can be quickly triggered when hearing unfamiliar messages, but such a reaction is ignoble and immature. We should be able to hear different views and then patiently weigh and test them through the Scriptures, just as the Bereans did. 

October 1, 2023

Christian Union America's Mentoring Program Launches Alumni Well

  Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.  - Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 For many Christians, the most challenging phase of life begins the moment they graduate from college. Robust discipleship, through which many students grew strong in college, suddenly disappears. The members of their Bible Course group scatter across the country and around the world. Young graduates suddenly find themselves in a new city, with a demanding job, and no home church. Christian Union’s Alumni Mentoring Program aims to smooth this time, by equipping these graduates with some support. The intention is to see these new alumni continue to network with other faithful people and grow into the full Christian leaders God intends for them to be.

September 27, 2023

A Devotional 

  If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.  - John 15:7, NKJVThe Word of God is the bedrock, basis, and fabric of Christianity; spoken in the beginning and framing the world in which creation lives, the Word is the manna from heaven that became flesh and dwelled amongst man, written on tablets of stone and transferred to man’s heart so that all would be warned and find great reward, the Word was given to one, Adam, and defied by two, Adam and Eve; a covenant to be kept by a nation astray in heart but upheld by the Savior who would be faithful and true. Established as the one thing that will never pass away, neither return to God void, the Word of God is the Truth that endures forever, and that must abide in every believer, as imitators of Christ, that prayers may be answered, faith can be seen, and fruit is produced. 

September 24, 2023

FCA v San Jose Unified School District

  In an article on the FIRE (The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression) website, Robert Shibley reports that in 2019, at a high school in California, Fellowship of Christian Athletes' (FCA) recognition as a student group was revoked for requiring that student leaders comply with their statements of belief. These statements align with the basic tenets of Christian theology. On September 13, 2023, belief-based student groups won an important victory in the lawsuit that followed, Fellowship of Christian Athletes v. San Jose Unified School District, which restored the ability of many such groups to meet on public campuses and schools in the many western states covered by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. 

September 22, 2023

Christian Union New York 

  Many people know Christian Union as a student leadership ministry serving at some of our nation’s most influential educational institutions. However, Christian Union also serves Christian professionals in one of our nation’s most influential cities: New York.    CU New York is working to bring revival to America, by developing, connecting, healing, empowering, and equipping bold Christian leaders in the city.

September 18, 2023

Christian Union Bible Courses Challenge Students

  Intellectual engagement, one of the six core values of Christian Union, embraces God’s command for us to love God with all our mind. (Mark 12:30) As a result of the desire to intellectually engage university students to build faithful leaders, Christian Union offers rigorous Bible Courses. Students involved in Christian Union ministries in the fall semester of 2023 have an opportunity to join a 10-lesson study on the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Colossians, which is often referred to as a “prison letter,” as Paul wrote it while “in chains.” (Colossians 4:3, 10, 18.)  

September 16, 2023

Ministry Snapshot: Christian Union Vita at Cornell University

  “Let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth.”  - 1 John 3:10   In February of 2023, Marcus Buckley and his wife, Lea Ann, packed up their life in Florida as church leaders to move to Ithaca, New York to answer God’s call to serve Cornell students.This call did not come without sacrifice. 

September 13, 2023

Three Lessons in Revival

  In this 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.” 

September 5, 2023

Announcing the October 13-14 CU Fire National Simulcast Retreat 

  CU Fire Retreats—quarterly simulcast retreats for believers across America—help participants experience spiritual rejuvenation and encouragement with their friends, their church, or any other Christian community to which they belong, from the comfort of their own homes. The next CU Fire Retreat will take place October 13-14, 2023.

September 1, 2023

God is at Work Through CU's Freshman Welcoming Campaign

  The great commission of Jesus Christ, to his followers, is to “go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20) At universities across America, students entering college can discover a culture that seems to silence discourse about existential purpose and meaning; about faith and God. This is especially true at the ten academic institutions where Christian Union serves. To follow the great commission in these contexts requires courage to resist the pattern of this world. 

August 31, 2023

A Devotional

  Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” – 1 Peter 1:23-25  “The grass is always greener on the other side.” It has been said that cliches which linger in our vocabulary do so because they have a strong element of truth, and the endurance of this statement is good evidence. How many times have we been enticed to wander off to pastures a deeper shade of emerald, only to find that they are filled with problems not readily visible from a distance?

August 21, 2023
Christian Union Universities' Fall Campaigns Begin By Erin Conner Christian Union has established undergraduate ministries at nine of America's most highly influential undergraduate institutions (and also at Harvard Law). The ministry plans and executes intensive freshman welcoming campaigns at the start of each academic year. Research indicates that the first few weeks of students’ lives, as they transition from high school to college, can be critical for establishing foundations for future success.

August 18, 2023
Christian Union's National Fast Concludes By chuck Hetlzer Christian Union America’s most recent national fast came to an end Monday, August 14, 2023. 5,175 Christians across the nation signed up to seek God in prayer, fasting, and repentance, along with a special emphasis on taking in massive amounts of Scripture.

August 7, 2023

An Update

  Fasting and prayer are two spiritual disciplines recorded in Scripture that help to align people’s hearts with the Lord’s. Which is why, in part, Christian Union America leads two nationwide fasts each year toward its mission to develop and connect transformative Christian leaders for national revival and reformation. As Chuck Hetzler, Vice President of Biblical theology for Christian Union, states, “the Scriptures are clear: God is moved by the humility that fasting demonstrates when it is combined with proper attitudes and actions surrendered to God’s ways.”    Currently, one of CU America’s bi-annual fasts is underway. It began on Tuesday, August 1 with 5,175 participants from across the country and will continue through Monday, August 14, 2023. Approximately a quarter of the participants involved in this fast are alumni from our nation’s top 30 colleges and universities.   

July 8, 2023

A Devotional 

  For the shepherds are stupid   and do not inquire of the LORD;therefore they have not prospered,   and all their flock is scattered. – Jeremiah 10:21 Jeremiah 10:21 is a jarring verse that you might not expect to find in the Bible, “the shepherds [i.e. leaders] are stupid!” For this reason it gets our attention and lets us know how important it is to God that His leaders inquire of Him. 

July 2, 2023

Prayerful Penn Students Are Making a Difference

The following article was actually written in 2021, when the universities where Christian Union works were beginning to come out of the COVID lockdown.   While most college students spend their Saturday mornings sleeping in, recovering from a week of late nights and coursework, a group of students from Christian Union Martus at the University of Pennsylvania participate in sidewalk abortion ministry with Quakers For Life, a pro-life organization founded by Martus alumnus, Eric Hoover ’19.