Brothers and Sisters,

I recently mentioned in a Sunday sermon that in my consumption of books, I’ve started reading the last chapter first. (Non-fiction books only, of course. I’m not a monster.) I want to know where the author is going and get a sense of whether the content is at all relevant to my life and work in this season.

In the apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he seemingly does this for us. He forgoes the spoiler alert and skips right to the proverbial last page of God’s cosmic plan for humanity: “To bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ” (Eph. 1:10). That’s the big picture, God’s revealed plan. As we’ve studied Ephesians this semester, Paul has us asking: What would it mean to work backwards from this future hope in order to live forwards with a Kingdom calling?

Building Together

Our theme for this season is Time to Build Together. Paul writes,“In Jesus you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (Eph. 2:22). As a collective of disciples, our shared vision is to become a culture of prayer and worship, a sending base for mission and discipleship, a retreat of healing and care, and a hub of belonging and equipping. With that vision in our purview, it has been rather breathtaking to see how Jesus is building each of those components. There is freshness and excitement mixed with spiritual depth and hunger. This stands in contrast and brings hope to the pervasive unknowns, mental and emotional fragility, and spiritual lostness that encapsulate the stories of so many in this campus community. We long for the Kingdom to come in our midst—in our own lives and also in those of our campus and neighbors. And it has already begun.

Earlier this fall, a freshman named Suguru responded to the invitation to be baptized. As I met with him to hear his story, he shared how he searched the internet trying to find a religious construct to bring some direction to his life. The Lord led him, via Google, to The Case for Christ. Instead of finding a religious framework, he found a Savior (or, rather, was found by Him). A senior named Caleb felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to invite Suguru to lunch after worship that day and welcome him into the community. The two have met each week to read and discuss the Bible together. It’s an awesome picture of God’s loving pursuit and salvation embodied through His Church: an intentional, yet organic, commitment to be a community of disciples who make disciples in a multiplicative kind of way. We listen and respond. We try and fail, learn and grow—together, in the sufficiency of our God.

Your Role In Making
Disciples at Purdue

We’re still in awe and praise God that our building, this hub of discipleship, is without a mortgage—a testimony to your faithful generosity and God’s grace! Having been in this space for over a year now, we’ve recognized the need for additional ministry support in the areas of worship, pastoral discipleship at Greyhouse, and first-floor hospitality to create a more welcoming and consistent presence in our lobby during the week. We’re battling inflation and cutting expenses to meet these needs, but it’s been challenging. For those of you hard hit in this economic downturn, a repetition of your gift from last year would, in itself, be a stretch of faith. If this is you, we honor and thank you! Please give as you feel led. Others of you have the capacity to give a larger gift. Would you be willing to do so? Your individual participation in this good work on Purdue’s campus is treasured at whatever level you can offer. We trust God, who is not limited, to provide as He moves and ministers through the collective. This is the way of Jesus, who always has and will continue to use what we each bring to build—together.

The Year-End Need

As of the end of September, we still need $354,784 to meet our goal for 2022. These gifts are significant. They meet real ministry needs and give us momentum in our pursuit of becoming a multiplicative sending base for mission on campus and beyond. We treasure your prayers as much as your financial gift. As we fix our eyes on the yet-unseen reality of the consummation of Christ’s Kingdom, we recognize the present reality suffused with physical, emotional, and familial challenges, griefs, and hardships of various kinds within our present and extended Campus House community. Pray that we will keep in step with the Holy Spirit. Pray for both faith and wisdom to live and minister in the present “now” with our hope set upon the “not yet.” And so we pray, “Be thou our vision.” We are grateful to be in this together with you—in the mix and milieu, the ache and wonder, the lament and praise.