Cru (Christian organization)
Cru is an interdenominational Christian parachurch organization. It was founded in 1951 at the University of California, Los Angeles by Bill Bright and Vonette Zachary Bright as a Christian ministry focused on university students. Since then, Cru has expanded its focus to include a broad range of audiences. In 2020, the organization had 19,000 staff members in 190 countries.
Campus Crusade for Christ relocated its world headquarters from Arrowhead Springs, San Bernardino, California, to Orlando, Florida, in 1991. The president of the organization is David Robbins. In 2011, Campus Crusade for Christ changed its name in the United States to Cru. The name change was intended to avoid association with the word crusade, which can lead to offense, especially to Muslims. A spokesperson for Cru also noted that the organization's work is no longer limited to campuses.
Influenced by Henrietta Mears and evangelist Billy Graham, Bill Bright left his seminary studies to launch the organization, which rapidly expanded across U.S. campuses during the 1950s and 1960s. Cru became known for its conservative evangelical theology, strong anti-Communist stance, and the development of evangelistic tools such as the "Four Spiritual Laws", one of the most widely distributed religious booklets in history, with over 2.5 billion copies printed in more than 200 languages. Over time, Cru diversified its ministries, launching initiatives such as Athletes in Action, the Jesus Film Project, FamilyLife, and international outreach programs, while also playing a prominent role in large-scale events like Explo '72, often referred to as the "Christian Woodstock."
During the 1970s and 1980s, Cru increasingly aligned with the American evangelical conservative movement, supporting causes such as complementarian gender roles, opposition to abortion, and abstinence-focused campaigns, while also cultivating ties with Republican political figures and the Moral Majority. Its Jesus Film Project became one of the most significant global evangelistic tools, translated into hundreds of languages and reportedly viewed billions of times. Cru also expanded internationally, with large presences in regions such as South Korea, Nigeria, and the Philippines. In recent years, Cru has faced internal debates over issues of race, diversity, sexuality, and theology, reflecting broader cultural and generational shifts within American evangelicalism. It remains one of the largest Christian parachurch organizations in the world.
History
Early beginnings
Campus Crusade for Christ was founded in 1951 at the University of California, Los Angeles by Bill Bright and Vonette Zachary Bright as a ministry for university students. According to historian John G. Turner, Bill Bright and Vonette Zachary Bright were influenced and mentored by Henrietta Mears, the director of Christian Education at the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood. In addition, Bill was also influenced by the theology and teachings of the prominent American evangelist Billy Graham. While studying at Fuller Theological Seminary, Bright felt what he regarded as the call of God to reach out to university students. Abandoning his studies at Fuller, Bright started Campus Crusade at the UCLA campus.By 1952, Campus Crusade saw 250 UCLA students join them in following Jesus Christ including decathlete and future film actor Rafer Johnson. With the establishment of other Campus Crusade branches in other universities, the ministry hired six staff members. In 1956, Bright developed a 20-minute evangelistic presentation called "God's Plan For Your Life," which set the tone for Campus Crusade's evangelism and discipleship programs. In 1953, Campus Crusade rented a tiny office on Westwood Avenue in Los Angeles, which served as the organization's headquarters until the 1960s. According to Turner, Cru's expansion across US university campuses during the 1950s and 1960s created friction with existing Christian campus groups including the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and liberal campus chaplains.
According to Turner, Campus Crusade had a conservative evangelical and anti-Communist orientation. While Bill Bright initially cultivated friendly relations with the fundamentalist Bob Jones University, Bright's relations with Bob Jones Sr. and his son Bob Jones Jr. deteriorated after the former sided with Billy Graham, who had accepted the sponsorship of liberal Protestants during his 1957 New York City crusade. As a result, Bob Jones University ended its support for Campus Crusade. Turner argues that the deterioration of Campus Crusade's relationship with BJU led the former to gravitate towards the "new evangelical" wing of the American evangelical Protestant movement by late 1958.
Following the split with Bob Jones University, Campus Crusade came to emphasize the importance of the Holy Spirit in its theological teaching and evangelical outreaches, which coincided with the growth of the Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements during the 1950s and 1960s. While Bright and Campus Crusade did cultivate friendly contacts with Pentecostal and charismatics, Bright disagreed with the Pentecostal and Charismatic theological view that glossolalia was a manifestation of the Holy Spirit. As the wedge between evangelicals and charismatics deepened during the 1960s, Campus Crusade issued a ruling in 1960 banning staff members from "speaking in tongues." During the mid-1960s, Campus Crusade adopted the cessationist standpoint that spiritual gifts such as the speaking of tongues, prophecy, and healing had ceased with the Apostolic age. According to Turner, the dispensationalist theologian Robert Thieme had an influence on Bill and Campus Crusade's opposition to glossolalia; which prevented Campus Crusade from forming close ties with Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians.
Following a fundraising drive and some litigation with local authorities, Campus Crusade opened a headquarters in Arrowhead Springs, San Bernardino, California in the Arrowhead Springs Hotel. This facility was equipped with a series of dormitories to accommodate thousands of students who received evangelistic training. During the mid-1960s, Campus Crusade's rapid expansion led to the creation of separate overseas, lay, and athletic ministries. Some notable former Campus Crusade staff members have included the evangelist Hal Lindsey, author of the apocalyptic The Late, Great Planet Earth, and Marabel Morgan, the author of The Total Woman.
"Four Spiritual Laws"
In 1957, Bill Bright developed the "Four Spiritual Laws" talking points in consultation with the salesman Bob Ringer after he and his team encountered difficulty disseminating the gospel message. The "Four Spiritual Laws" consisted of the following points:- God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.
- Man is sinful and separated from God, thus he cannot know and experience God's plan for life.
- Jesus Christ is God's provision for man's sin through whom man can know God's love and plan for his life.
- We must receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord by personal invitation.
Confronting the counterculture movement
To compete with contemporary popular musicians such as the Beatles and Bob Dylan, Campus Crusade sponsored its own Christian popular music band called the New Folk. According to historian John G. Turner, Campus Crusade under Bright's leadership also actively sought to confront the counterculture movement during the 1960s and 1970s. One notable Campus Crusade campaign was the "Berkeley Blitz" in January 1967 which saw 600 Campus Crusade staff and students organize a series of events including concerts, dinners for international students, a performance by the illusionist André Kole, and a sermon by evangelist Billy Graham. Campus Crusade also claimed to have converted 700 students and faculty members.During the late 1960s, Campus Crusade in line with its conservative, anti-Communist orientation organized counterdemonstrations against New Left and anti-war demonstrations including those by the left-wing Students for a Democratic Society. Several Campus Crusade members also took the opportunity to evangelize during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Campus Crusade also ran a hippie–oriented outreach called the Christian World Liberation Front to engage the New Left. CWLF's ministry focused on establishing safe houses and "crash pads" for drug addicts, infiltrating SDS meetings, and persuading student radicals to abandon violence. While CWLF received funding and support from Campus Crusade, the latter was discreet to conceal its involvement to avoid antagonizing conservative donors and potential CWLF converts.
In 1972, Campus Crusade in coordination with the Jesus Movement organized a week-long International Student Congress on Evangelism at Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas known as Explo '72. The Explo '72 conference featured evangelism and discipleship training and contemporary music events. It was attended by 80,000 college and high school students and was nicknamed as the "Christian Woodstock" in the media. Besides Billy Graham, the event featured several contemporary popular musicians including Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, the Christian band Love Song, Andraé Crouch, and the Disciples.
The historian Turner regards Explo '72 as Campus Crusade's first significant exposure to the mainstream media and a success due to the positive media coverage. Turner also argues that Campus Crusade during the 1970s sought to become more "socially aware" by recruiting more African American speakers and delegates. According to Turner, the large Pentecostal and charismatic presence at Explo '72 signaled Bright adopting a more conciliatory stance towards the Charismatic movement. However, Campus Crusade maintained its opposition to glossolalia.