March 5, 2018
by Geoff Sackett
Sensible people agree that giving and receiving love is crucial to a person’s emotional wellbeing and his or her general prospering. Some people, even some who are not religious, believe that loving your enemy is morally commendable and pursuit-worthy. The Christian scriptures also affirm this point of view. So what is the Christian difference in loving one’s enemies? Is there a Christian difference? Let’s turn to Paul’s words in Romans chapter 12 – specifically his words regarding how we are to treat our enemies – to find out.
March 4, 2018
Stearns ’73 Announces Retirement from World Vision
After two decades of ministry to orphans, refugees, and those impacted by AIDS, Richard Stearns announced that he will retire as president of World Vision U.S. at the end of the year.Stearns (Cornell ’73, Wharton School of Business ’75) joined the relief organization as its fifth president in 1998 after a successful, 23-year corporate career, including roles as CEO of both Parker Brothers Games and Lenox. Under his leadership, World Vision’s annual revenues grew to more than $1 billion and the organization expanded its work in serving children and other humanitarian causes.February 28, 2018
Stranger Stories; Billy Graham 1918-2018; Un-Masked: Lenten Musings; Christian Union at Columbia's New Home; Happiness and Man at Yale; Space Available for the 2018 Summer Getaway with Christian Union and more, in this issue of Christian Union's bi-monthly email brief.
Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.— Psalm 116:15
February 27, 2018
Latest on probation of Harvard College Faith and Action (HCFA) a student organization at Harvard supported and resourced by Christian Union.Post starting at 6pm Tuesday, February 27th. To read the latest updates, click here.
February 23, 2018
The Christian Union Conference on Faith and Action
Nexus 2018 gathered nearly 300 students from nine of the United States' most influential universities for a challenging and inspiring weekend. Undergraduate attendees represented Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton, Stanford, and Yale. For one weekend, students worshiped and prayed together, heard from high-caliber speakers, experienced engaging breakout sessions, connected with one another in small groups, and built cross-campus ties around shared challenges and opportunities.February 21, 2018
Today Christian Union Founder & CEO Matt Bennett released the following statement on Billy Graham’s passing into eternity: "Billy Graham was a spiritual giant whose leadership adorned the doctrines of Christ and brought salvation to thousands and perhaps millions. May God raise up countless others to expand his work as Dr. Graham enters into his reward with the Savior."
February 20, 2018
Christian Union New York was delighted to welcome Ken Fish for a second salon on February 20th titled, "Supernatural Christianity: What Is It? How Do I Live It?"
February 15, 2018
Thank you for joining us on February 15th when CU New York was honored to host a salon with Ken Fish that explored why the Kingdom of God remains as relevant of a message in our day as it was in the time of Jesus.
February 14, 2018
Lenten Musings
“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” - 1 John 1:8,9“You can hide nothing from God. The mask you wear before men will do you no good before him. He wants to see you as you are, he wants to be gracious to you. You do not have to go on lying to yourself and your brothers, as if you were without sin; you can dare to be a sinner. Thank God for that; he loves the sinner but he hates sin.”[1] - Bonhoeffer The masks we wear, that I wear, are heavy and deceiving. Do you know these masks that I speak of?February 12, 2018
Christian Union Universities | Christian Union Cities | Day & Night
"Christian Union wants to see a spiritually vibrant United States of America," says Matt Bennett, the founder and CEO of Christian Union. Since 2002, the ministry has been working toward that end. The ministry has always been, says Bennett, "about the whole nation — seeing the whole nation transformed, and then from there, America blessing the whole world." Christian Union: develops bold Christian leaders at the most strategic and disproportionately influential universities in America; builds networks of Christian leaders in cities; and promotes national revival through the Christian Union Day & Night online ministry. (4:58)February 7, 2018
Stranger Stories; Tolstoy’s Familiar Crisis of Faith; A Healthy Dose of Religious Freedom: New HHS Division to Protect Medical Professionals; Vive la révolution(?): on the ‘progress’ of the sexual revolution; How to Seek the Holy Spirit and more, in this issue of Christian Union's bi-monthly email brief.
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?— Micah 6:8
February 5, 2018
Thank you for joining us for the forum featuring Os Guinness, where he explored the topic "The Reformation at 500: The Forgotten Secret of American Freedom." (1:10:41) For questions regarding upcoming events or the Christian Union New York City ministry, please email CUNewYork@christianunion.org.
February 4, 2018
Few things are more paralyzing to believers than that particularly dread gloom which inevitably dawns whenever a vague, gnawing sense of the unreality and irrelevance of the claims of Christian faith begins to crystallize in experience. Leo Tolstoy, after publishing War and Peace and Anna Karenina and receiving world-wide fame and accolade, experienced a jolting mid-life crisis of faith in his early 50s in which he questioned the significance of everything he had accomplished and lived for up until that point. Frantically seeking out what the meaning of life might be, he recorded the initial findings of his desperate quest in his short work Confession. One passage in particular struck me
January 25, 2018
The Hinge Podcast; Why Doctrine Matters; A Brave New World of Transgender Policy; Waking Up to an Incoming Ballistic Missle Alert; Challenges Facing the Church in 2018 and more, in this issue of Christian Union's bi-monthly email brief.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.— Colossians 1:15-18
January 23, 2018
On January 23, 2018 Christian Union New York gathered for our second salon of 2018 to hear from Jay Jakub, published author and Director of External Research at Mars Catalyst.
January 22, 2018
by Titus WillisOriginally 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.
January 19, 2018
Christian Union New York’s kick-off forum for 2018 featured two amazing speakers on the theology of space - what space means for flourishing, for understanding our need for community, and for revitalizing neighborhoods and cities.
January 16, 2018
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.
January 10, 2018
Legacy in Business; Prioritize Prayer; The Zealous Faith of Secularism; How Can I Possibly Believe that Faith is Better than Doubt?; Revivals and the American Church and more, in this issue of Christian Union's bi-monthly email brief.
You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.— Isaiah: 26:3
January 8, 2018
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).