A religious nonprofit that aims to build the next generation of American leaders is hosting a fundraiser in Dallas.
Christian Union was founded in 2002 by Houston native Matt Bennett to develop Christian university students into effective leaders in the private and public sectors. In an interview with The Dallas Express, Bennett explained that Christian Union is a “leadership development ministry” that hosts training sessions at universities nationwide.
“We’re a Christian leadership development ministry with a desire to develop and strengthen leaders,” he said, adding that the organization has branches in nine of the country’s “most influential universities,” including Princeton, Penn State, Columbia, Yale, Cornell, Brown, Stanford, Dartmouth, and Harvard.
In addition to molding effective leaders, Bennett said Christian Union does “everything we can to make the gospel of Christ known to all the other students on campus.” He explained that the student programs include “small group Bible courses” written by Christian Union that aim to “strengthen” students and encourage them to “build relationships among their peers.”
“We also do a lot of one-on-one mentoring … We put on conferences and retreats for the students,” he continued. “We train them in various aspects of leadership, including evangelism on campus.”
In addition to programs for students, Bennett said Christian Union also offers alumni programs through Christian Union America.
“We have Christian Union Universities and Christian Union America,” he explained. “We do a lot of online programs. We promote a national fast … twice a year … We do a mentoring program for students when they first graduate with alumni.”
“We are really glad to be coming to Dallas,” Bennett said. “We’ve got long-time supporters there, plus alumni, and it’s always a treat to get back there.”
The upcoming fundraiser will take place in Dallas on December 12 but will not be open to the public. Bennett told The Dallas Express that Christian Union chose to have a fundraiser in the city because Dallas is home to supporters and donors of the organization.
“You have a lot of people who are friendly to the faith, but also a lot of people who are cosmopolitan and aware of national issues and aware of the influence that schools like this can have,” he explained. “They’re nationally minded. [Dallas is] really a great place to meet people and cast the vision.”
Bennett said that while Christian Union has a national fund focused on expanding its programs, many donors often “like to support a particular university ministry.” He added that Christian Union also has a couple of new initiatives in the works.
“We’re looking to put out a regular podcast starting in January for the first time,” he said.
Bennett told The Dallas Express that the upcoming fundraiser will involve “a few alumni who’ve gone through the program testifying to the impact in their lives.”
It will also touch on Christian Union’s progress, where its students are involved, the lives being changed, and its main programs.
“Some people are long-time supporters, so they know what we’re about, but some are newer,” he said. “So we will introduce them to our mission, our vision, [and] our key activities, as well as the impact.”
Bennett said the “hook” for many donors is “this desire to see the nation positively change,” citing demonstrations that have occurred at “influential universities” over the past several years. These include Black Lives Matter protests and more recent anti-Israel rallies.
“It concerns them because many do know the influence these places have,” he said. “So when they hear that there are people there working to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ and bring a civic-mindedness, a peacefulness to these places, they are really encouraged and want to be a part. And for those who are devout Christians, they really key in on the fact that we share the gospel and teach from the Bible.”
The Dallas Express also spoke with Christian Union COO Peter Ahlin, who said the organization aims to promote “national revival and reformation.”
“Our goal is to develop excellent leaders who are really trying to shape society in every different way,” he said. “We have really mature, educated ministry faculty … [who are] excited about the mission, but are also deeply trained and steeped in Biblical wisdom in a way that they’re able to impart that to students.”
He said Christian Union has a presence at “arguably the most academically intense and highly culturally influential universities in the country.”
“One thing I would say about these universities is that the vast majority of them were founded to prepare theologians [and] to prepare pastors,” he said. “That’s the mission of Harvard. That’s the mission of Yale. That’s the mission of Princeton initially … And so that, that’s the case for most of the universities that we’re at. They started with that goal … so being able to kind of equip students in these universities that were founded for that very purpose in many ways, returning to that original purpose is really important because they go on to shape culture.”
“Many of them become justices on the Supreme Court. They become government officials [and] politicians,” Ahlin continued. “They go on to become leaders in science and industry. It’s really an incredibly important place to invest in the future of the nation via the leaders that it’s going to have.”
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