I have been receiving a lot of questions as to why Campus Crusade for Christ is changing its name to Cru. I will attempt to answer that here, but you are welcome to call, text, or email me with further questions. 40 years ago, Campus Crusade founder Bill Bright, told the staff of Campus Crusade that the name of the organization would have to change at some point. You see, in the 1950′s when Bill Bright first started the missions organization, the term “crusade” had a lot different meaning than what first comes to a person’s mind now. A crusade was seen as an evangelistic meeting or gathering, similar to the Billy Graham Crusades. However, with the focus over the last 10 years on the Muslim world, the term “crusade” has been much more used in its negative context, revolving around the Church Crusades a thousand years ago. Bill Bright anticipated this change in how people viewed the word crusade 40 years ago.
The name change was pushed to the back-burner for a long time because people didn’t see it as a necessity for change. However, about 10 years ago, the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ started not only noticing the problems with “crusade,” but also with “campus.” Campus Crusade for Christ is no longer a campus-only ministry. The organization now touches the lives of billions of people around the world. The ministries of the Jesus Film and Josh McDowell and Athletes in Action, as well as ministries revolving around marriage and the family have made the term “campus” incomplete in describing the mission of Campus Crusade for Christ. The name was limiting the organization’s ability to bring people onboard to reach other parts of the world because people were saying, “I’m not involved in the campus at all, why should I partner with Campus Crusade?”
So we made the change. But even though the name has changed, our goal and our mission remain the same. Our mission is to help fulfill the Great Commission by winning, building, and sending in the power of the Holy Spirit and helping the body of Christ do evangelism and discipleship. In other words, our dream is that everyone would know someone who truly follows Jesus. Every tribe, every tongue, every nation. Our goal of reaching the world for Christ has not changed because the name of our organization has. We will continue reaching the world for Christ and building upon the 139 million people that have accepted Christ through our ministries over the last 60 years. This name change has been a result of prayer because this organization is an organization of prayer. We will continue to follow God, wherever and however He leads.
For more information, visit Campus Crusade for Christ’s website at www.ccci.org/cru
