Campus Crusade for Christ
Encyclopedia
Campus Crusade for Christ is an interdenominational Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
organization that promotes evangelism
Evangelism
Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....
and discipleship in more than 190 countries
around the world. In 1996, USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
called Campus Crusade the largest evangelical organization in the United States. Today, the organization employs over 25,000 full-time missionaries and has trained 225,000 volunteers around the world.
Founded in 1951 at the University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
by Bill Bright
Bill Bright
William R. "Bill" Bright was an American evangelist. The founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, he wrote The Four Spiritual Laws in 1952 and produced the Jesus Film in 1979.-Early life:...
as a ministry for college students, Campus Crusade has since expanded its focus to include adult professionals, families, athletes, high school students, and more. The World Headquarters is located in Orlando, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
, and the current president of the organization is Steve Douglass.
Campus Crusade is also the publisher of The Four Spiritual Laws
The Four Spiritual Laws
The Four Spiritual Laws is an evangelistic Christian tract created in 1952 by Bill Bright , founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, the world's largest Christian ministry...
, also known as the "Knowing God Personally Booklet".
On July 19, 2011, Campus Crusade for Christ announced that they will be changing their name to "Cru" in order to overcome existing barriers and perceptions inherent in the original name. This name was already in use on a number of college campuses.
Campus Ministry
Campus Crusade for Christ has active ministries on 1,064 college and university campuses with over 50,000 students actively involved in the U.S. ministry in 2007.While Campus Crusade continues to use one-to-one conversations about God to reach out to students, they also use mass meetings, film showings and new media, such as Google advertising with e-mail responses and social networking on Facebook.
The Jesus Film Project
The Jesus Film Project was founded in 1981 to translate the Hollywood film Jesus into other languages so that it could be shown by missionaries to peoples around the world in their native languages.The first translation was done for the Tagalog
Tagalog language
Tagalog is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by a third of the population of the Philippines and as a second language by most of the rest. It is the first language of the Philippine region IV and of Metro Manila...
-speaking people of the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. The organization works with thousands of missionaries around the world to show the film, sometimes to audiences who have never seen a motion picture. Distribution in the United States has included direct mail campaigns sponsored by churches to deliver a copy of the film to every address in select zip codes across the country. In 2004, the organization made the film available for viewing on its website in over 800 languages. Both Jesus and The Story of Jesus for Children are available in DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
and VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
formats. Audio dramatizations in a number of languages are also available.
The origins of The Jesus Film Project date back to 1945 when a young businessman named Bill Bright
Bill Bright
William R. "Bill" Bright was an American evangelist. The founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, he wrote The Four Spiritual Laws in 1952 and produced the Jesus Film in 1979.-Early life:...
wanted to privately finance a film about the life of Jesus Christ that was entertaining, biblically
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
accurate, and which could be translated into non-English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
languages. Rather than making a film at that time, Bright went on to found a Christian ministry to reach college students called Campus Crusade for Christ in 1951.
In 1976, with Campus Crusade's influence spreading beyond college campuses to sports, the marketplace and other aspects of society, Bright turned his attention once again to filmmaking. Hollywood producer John Heyman approached Bright to fund a project to put the entire Bible on film. The project would eventually be scaled back to just one book of the Bible, the Gospel of Luke, and be financed primarily by Campus Crusade supporters Bunker and Caroline Hunt for a sum of $6 million.
A team of 500 scholars and leaders from secular
Secularism
Secularism is the principle of separation between government institutions and the persons mandated to represent the State from religious institutions and religious dignitaries...
and Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
organizations began to research historical elements for a film about Jesus. Filming took place over the course of several months throughout the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
.
Jesus was produced by John Heyman, a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
-born Jew
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
and starred British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Shakespearean
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
actor Brian Deacon
Brian Deacon
Brian Deacon is a British actor. Born in Oxford, he trained at the Oxford Youth Theatre. He appeared with his brother Eric Deacon in the Peter Greenaway film, A Zed & Two Noughts , as Heumac in The Feathered Serpent and as Frank Miles in the TV series Lillie in 1978.He has been married twice:...
as Jesus, Rivka Neumann
Rivka Neumann
Rivka Neumann is an Israeli actress.Neuman started her acting career at the age of 15, when she left Kibbutz Mishmaroth, in order to pursue her desire for acting...
as Mary
Mary (mother of Jesus)
Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...
, Yosef Shiloach
Yosef Shiloach
Yosef Shiloach was a Kurdish Jews film actor. Shiloach was considered by many in Israel one of the nation's most beloved actors, mostly thanks to his parts in many Bourekas Films, a series of films made primarily in the 1970s, portraying the life of Sepharadim in an exaggerated comic manner,...
as Joseph
Saint Joseph
Saint Joseph is a figure in the Gospels, the husband of the Virgin Mary and the earthly father of Jesus Christ ....
and Niko Nitai as Peter
Saint Peter
Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...
.
The Jesus Film Project has translated Jesus into 1,006 languages and shown the film in 228 nations. Project leaders claim that it has been viewed over 5 billion times by over 3 billion people, numbers which cannot be verified and have been greeted with skepticism by other evangelical leaders.
Athletes in Action
Athletes in Action works with athletes and coaches who compete at both the collegiate and professional level to use the platform of sport to help people around the world with questions of faith.Among the events sponsored by Athletes in Action is the NFL-sanctioned Super Bowl Breakfast which features the presentation of the Bart Starr Award "to honor the NFL player who best exemplifies outstanding character and leadership in the home, on the field and in the community."
FamilyLife
In 1976, Campus Crusade began providing pre-marriage seminars for its staff members. Following their success, married staff couples began asking for encouragement through marriage seminars. Demand for the seminars spread to community leaders and pastors they were opened to the public in 1978. Since 1976 more than 1.5 million people have attended conferences. Today, approximately 100 "FamilyLife: Weekend to Remember" conferences annually held in almost every major city in America. FamilyLife offers multiple resources like the HomeBuilders Couples Series, HomeBuilders Parenting Series, Resurrection Eggs, and What God Wants for Christmas.FamilyLife president Dennis Rainey hosts the daily FamilyLife Today radio broadcast.
Josh McDowell
In 1964, Josh McDowell became a traveling representative of Campus Crusade for Christ International addressing campus groups about the Christian faith. Over the years his ministry has focused on Christian apologeticsChristian apologetics
Christian apologetics is a field of Christian theology that aims to present a rational basis for the Christian faith, defend the faith against objections, and expose the perceived flaws of other world views...
, youth issues such as relationships and sexuality, and international humanitarian aid.
McDowell's writings have concentrated on addressing challenges to belief, questions posed by non-Christians, doubts about faith, and non-Christian religions. Notable works include Evidence That Demands A Verdict, The Resurrection Factor, He Walked Among Us, More Than A Carpenter and The Da Vinci Code: A Quest for Answers. McDowell has arranged his arguments by pleading for a cumulative case of evidences, such as archaeological discoveries, the extant manuscript
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
s of the biblical texts, fulfilled prophecies, and the miracle
Miracle
A miracle often denotes an event attributed to divine intervention. Alternatively, it may be an event attributed to a miracle worker, saint, or religious leader. A miracle is sometimes thought of as a perceptible interruption of the laws of nature. Others suggest that a god may work with the laws...
of the resurrection
Resurrection
Resurrection refers to the literal coming back to life of the biologically dead. It is used both with respect to particular individuals or the belief in a General Resurrection of the dead at the end of the world. The General Resurrection is featured prominently in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim...
.
Other ministries
The Christian EmbassyChristian Embassy
The Christian Embassy is an evangelical organization affiliated with Campus Crusade for Christ. Like its parent organization, Christian Embassy describes itself as non-political and interdenominational.-Mission statement:...
is a Campus Crusade ministry with offices in a number cities around the world. Its United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
office is accredited as a Non-Governmental Organization
Non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
. Another office located in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, is geared towards the diplomatic community, including presidential employees, members and the staff of the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
, and workers in The Pentagon
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
. Its alleged influence among the military and in national politics has attracted attention from the media.
Global Aid Network (GAiN) is the humanitarian aid arm of Campus Crusade for Christ. In 2007-2008 fiscal year GAiN distributed over $30 million worth of aid to countries all over the world. Global Aid Network exists to bring the message of God's love through tangible ways. GAiN is able to partner with many countries around the world, because of the wide network of Campus Crusade for Christ. GAiN also has several mission trips that go on year-round.
Military Ministry
The Military Ministry was started by Bright in 1965 and originally led by retired Colonel Jack Fain, USAF (Ret.). In July 2009 Christianity TodayChristianity Today
Christianity Today is an Evangelical Christian periodical based in Carol Stream, Illinois. It is the flagship publication of its parent company Christianity Today International, claiming circulation figures of 140,000 and readership of 290,000...
noted the organization's Bridges to Healing Ministry, which specifically addresses the issue of PTSD.
1950s
- 1951: Campus Crusade for Christ is founded by Bill and Vonette Bright on the UCLA campus.
- 1952: The Brights accept their first six staff members.
- 1958: Campus Crusade becomes an international organization, forming a ministry in South KoreaSouth KoreaThe Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
. - 1959: By the end of the 1950s, Campus Crusade is active on 40 U.S. college campusesUniversities in the United StatesHigher education in the United States includes a variety of institutions of higher education. Strong research and funding have helped make United States colleges and universities among the world's most prestigious, making them particularly attractive to international students, professors and...
and in three other countries.
1960s
Campus Crusade begins new ministries to high school students, military personnel, and athletes, as well as a new prayer ministry.- 1962: Campus Crusade purchases their headquarters for the next three decades at Arrowhead Springs, a resort complex in San Bernardino, CaliforniaSan Bernardino, CaliforniaSan Bernardino is a city located in the Riverside-San Bernardino metropolitan area , and serves as the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States...
. - 1965: Bill Bright writes Have you Heard of The Four Spiritual Laws?, likely the most widely distributed religious booklet in history, with more than 2.5 billion printed to date.
- 1966: Campus Crusade begins The Music Ministry (now called Keynote), using music to communicate the gospelGospelA gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...
around the world. - 1969: By the end of the 1960s, Campus Crusade is active in 25 countries.
1970s
- 1972: EXPLO '72Explo '72Explo '72 was an evangelistic conference sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ, planned and directed by Paul Eshleman. Explo '72 has been called the most visible event of the 1970s Jesus movement, and came to be associated with the same, even though its primary attendees were not directly involved...
, a conference featuring evangelism and discipleship training, premiers in DallasDallas, TexasDallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
with 80,000 in attendance. - 1974: EXPLO '74 premiers in SeoulSeoulSeoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
, Korea, training 300,000 in evangelism and discipleship. - 1976: "I Found It!", an evangelistic billboard/bumper stickerBumper stickerA bumper sticker is an adhesive label or sticker with a message, intended to be attached to the bumper of an automobile and to be read by the occupants of other vehicles - although they are often stuck onto other objects...
campaign, is launched along with an 800-number. 85 percent of all Americans are exposed to the campaign, and by 1978 campaigns are established in more than 100 countries. As a result, more than 3.5 million people become Christians. - 1979: JesusJesus (1979 film)Jesus , is a 1979 motion picture which depicts the life of Jesus Christ according primarily to the Gospel of Luke in the Bible...
, a film based on the Bible's Gospel of LukeGospel of LukeThe Gospel According to Luke , commonly shortened to the Gospel of Luke or simply Luke, is the third and longest of the four canonical Gospels. This synoptic gospel is an account of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. It details his story from the events of his birth to his Ascension.The...
, is first released in 250 theaters across the United States.
1980s
- 1982: Campus Crusade's campus ministry sends its first team of students to the Soviet UnionSoviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. - 1988: The first Thursday in May is officially declared the National Day of PrayerNational Day of PrayerThe National Day of Prayer is an annual day of observance held on the first Thursday of May, designated by the United States Congress, when people are asked "to turn to God in prayer and meditation". Each year, the president signs a proclamation, encouraging all Americans to pray on this day...
. Vonette Bright serves as co-chairwoman in its first year. - 1989: By the end of the 1980s, Campus Crusade is active in 93 countries.
1990s
- 1990: Delegates from 102 countries attend New Life 2000 in ManilaManilaManila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
. During the six-month period, the gospel is shared with more than 3.3 million Filipinos. - 1991: Campus Crusade celebrates its 40th anniversary. Its world headquarters moves to Orlando, Florida, from California.
- 1996: Bill Bright is awarded the $1.1 million Templeton PrizeTempleton PrizeThe Templeton Prize is an annual award presented by the Templeton Foundation. Established in 1972, it is awarded to a living person who, in the estimation of the judges, "has made an exceptional contribution to affirming life's spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery, or practical...
for Progress in Religion, and donates the money to promote the spiritual benefits of fasting and prayer. - 1999: Campus Crusade for Christ International's Lake Hart campus is dedicated in Orlando, Florida.
2000s
- 2000: Bill Bright announces Steve Douglass, executive vice president and director of U.S. Ministries, as his successor, effective August 2001.
- 2002: The film Jesus is translated into its 800th language.
- 2003: Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ International, dies of complications from pulmonary fibrosisDiffuse parenchymal lung diseaseInterstitial lung disease , also known as diffuse parenchymal lung disease , refers to a group of lung diseases affecting the interstitium ....
. - 2006: Led by Steve Douglass, Campus Crusade for Christ International comprises some 60 different ministries and projects in 190 countries around the world.
- 2007: CM2007: Campus Crusade for Christ held a global college student missions conference in Busan, South Korea, from June 30 through July 5, which had around 18,000 participants from different parts of the world. The conference focused on three primary themes: Christ Magnified, Connected Movements, and Completing the Mission. CM2007
2010s
- 2011: The ministry announces its name will change to "Cru." This decision draws criticism and causes a number of donors to withdraw their support from the ministry.
Fundraising
- Charter member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountablity.
- Ranks #107 in fundraising efficiency among the top 200 U.S. charitable organizations, according to ForbesForbesForbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
magazine (2007). Ninety-three percent of its funds go directly to programming, and 7% to overhead expenses. - The top salary for any Campus Crusade employee was $85,027 in the fiscal year ending August 31, 2006.
- In 1995, Campus Crusade for Christ was named the largest religious charity in the United States by U.S. News and World Report, with total annual income of $189 million dollars.
- In 2008, Chronicle of Philanthropy ranks Campus Crusade for Christ #23 in private funding in its "Chronicle of Philanthropy 400," with annual giving of $514 million dollars.
- Ranked #156 in overall efficiency among all U.S. Christian charities, according to Ministry Watch.
Staff members
Campus Crusade for Christ staff members raise funds for the organization to pay their salaries and ministry expenses. All staff have the same base pay adjusted by tenure, life situation (single, married, children), and geographic cost of livingMarried staff members are considered a missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
team. In practice this means that if single staff members marry, their new spouse must join staff also if they are not on staff already, otherwise the existing staff member must resign. If a prospective member is engaged or plans to marry in the first year, their fiance must apply as well.
Campus Crusade for Christ does not invite single parents to join, as they feel the demands of the mission would take away from the single parent's ability to raise their child.
Around the world
In many parts of Europe, Campus Crusade is known as Agape EuropeAgape Europe
Agape Europe is the Western European ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ, an interdenominational movement that was founded in 1951 in the United States of America. "Agape" is the Greek word used in the Bible for God's unconditional love...
http://agapeeurope.org or "New Life" in post Soviet countries. The collegiate ministry is known in some parts of the world as Student Life (Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
); Power to Change and Campus for Christ (Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
); Lembaga Pelayanan Mahasiswa Indonesia (LPMI) In Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
; or LIFE Ministry (southeast Africa). The changing of the name of the U.S.-based ministry to Cru will not affect the names of overseas ministries.