Christian Union: The Magazine Summer 2017 | Page 5

letter from the founder and ceo
Shining the
Light of Christ
On Campus
We are determined to
do everything in our
power to continue to let
the love of God shine…
A
issue makes the case for more independent
Christian ministry centers at these influ-
ential schools as a protection for the Gos-
pel witness to endure no matter how
hostile to faith universities may become.
Christian Union is seeking space near, but
independent of, leading universities like
Columbia, Dartmouth, Penn, and Stan-
ford. Future ministry centers would be used
for Bible courses, one-on-one mentoring,
prayer meetings, and Christian seminars. 
During every school year, students who
never heard the Go spel or knew about the
love of God come to faith in Christ. We
are determined to do everything in our
power to continue to let the love of God
shine wherever men and women have lit-
tle-to-no exposure to His grace and mer-
ciful kindness in Jesus Christ. As Jesus tells
us in Matthew 5:16: “…let your light shine
before others, so that they may see your
good works and give glory to your Father
who is in heaven.”
Many blessings to you in Christ,
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Matthew W. Bennett
matt bennett is the founder and
CEO of Christian Union. He earned
undergraduate and MBA degrees from
Cornell, and launched Christian Union
in 2002 in Princeton, New Jersey.
few years ago, I asked the Dean
of Religious Life and the Vice
President of Student Life at Princ-
eton whether they would ever seek to ban
Christian ministries from campus the way
Vanderbilt had banned Christian ministries
in 2012. Neither would answer the ques-
tion.
Try to imagine the significance of their
silence on that important subject. On the
one hand, I appreciate that they didn’t tell
me a falsehood just to get me to go away.
On the other hand, how strange it is that
an institution founded to bring glory to
Jesus Christ would consider such a course
of action. The light of Christ used to per-
meate all learning at the university, but
over time it was relegated to the theology
and religion departments. Later still, it was
consigned to the Dean of the Chapel (name
later changed to Dean of Religious Life)—
even that changed in 1980 when Dean
Earnest Gordon was fired for leading stu-
dents to faith in Christ.
Devotion to Christ was subsequently
relegated to independent chaplaincies and
student organizations, where it now stands.
For Vanderbilt, that was still too close of
an association; and that decision puts in
jeopardy a Christian witness at all the uni-
versities where Christian Union currently
ministers. 
An article on the next page chronicles
our recent dedication of the Robert L.
Melrose Center for Christian Leadership,
which is located adjacent to Princeton
University. A subsequent article in this
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