christian union universities
A Fruitful Freshman Campaign
Christian Union Welcomes Class of 2021
by catherine elvy , staff writer
Students involved with Christian Union’s
ministry at Harvard College eagerly wel-
comed members of the class of 2021 as
they descended upon Cambridge.
During late August and early September, min-
istry fellows and returning students hosted a series
of events to greet freshmen, including a pizza party,
waterfront picnic, and ice cream social.
18
Harvard College Faith and Action’s executive team, (left to
right) Christian Schatz ’18, Eunice Mwabe ’19, Molly Richard
’18, and Scott Ely ’18
“The upperclassmen and ministry fellows are
hungry for a harvest,” said Tyler Parker, a Christian
Union intern and Harvard alumnus of 2017. “We
are motivated in our mission.”
Indeed, student leaders and ministry fellows were
tireless in their intensive efforts to introduce and
showcase Christian Union’s core leadership devel-
opment opportunities, including Bible courses and
the leadership lecture series.
Before the critical freshman welcoming campaign,
about 50 undergraduates joined Christian Union
faculty at Ottauquechee Farm in Vermont for a re-
treat that included worship, prayer, teaching from
Ministry Fellow Jon Yeager, and a game plan for
upcoming outreach activities.
The retreat “served as a wonderful opportunity
for members of the community to build strong re-
lationships among one another and to truly soak up
this vision (to build Christian leaders who will trans-
form culture),” said Eunice Mwabe ’19, vice presi-
dent of Christian Union at Harvard. “We came back
to campus fully charged, confident of what God
was doing and encouraged by the prospect of par-
ticipating in His work at Harvard.”
Within hours of returning to campus on August
25, the upperclassmen gathered near the bronze
statue of benefactor John Harvard, famously an-
chored in Harvard Yard, to invite frosh to a pizza
party in Boylston Hall’s Ticknor Lounge.
Participants in Christian Union’s ministry also
took advantage of the event to invite incoming stu-
dents to a Saturday dinner outing and to attend area
churches on Sunday. A handful of the new collegiate
peers joined Parker in attending nearby Aletheia
Church, where they witnessed a jubilant baptismal
service that prompted discussions.
“There were lots of awesome relationships
formed,” Parker said of the weekend. “People were
starting to feel really connected to the community.”
While studying government, Parker served as a
pastoral intern for Aletheia Church and also as a
student leader and assistant Bible course leader for
Christian Union at Harvard.
In other activities, returning students hosted
a picnic on August 28 near the John W. Weeks
Bridge, the landmark span across the Charles Riv-
er. The upperclassmen ventured to Harvard Yard
to invite freshmen to join them for buckets of