We are grateful for each one of you who know, love, and support us in this ministry! Because you are the most valuable people in this with us, we want to share a few thoughts and answers regarding Campus Crusade for Christ’s name change.

As you may have already heard some media outlets have spun this as a politically correct move or speculated whether we have changed our message. These stories have caused some alarm within the Body of Christ.  We know it is likely that a number of you are hearing this news, and it affects all of us directly.

You have known us and supported us for years, so we want to make sure you have the information you need about us and Campus Crusade for Christ.

1.  It is true that we are changing our name to Cru in the U.S. After two years of exhaustive research, our leadership found that the problematic words in the U.S. are “Campus” and “Crusade.” We didn’t set out to remove the word Christ.  Some media outlets have spun this as a politically correct move or speculated whether we have changed our message. Some have focused on our dropping Christ from our name. The truth is we dropped all three names.
Campus. Our athletic ministry, our adult professional ministries, executive, church, Hollywood, Josh McDowell, Christian Embassy, our publishing houses, etc. had little to do with the campus. “Campus” limited their efforts.
Crusade. In 1951, when we first started, crusade had a positive connotation. Today, with our ministries to international students and in the Muslim world, that word conjures up very negative images. Meanings change over time.
Christ. It is because we want to make Christ known that we are making this change. In our “sound bite” world, words often befriend or alienate. Watch the way our political leaders use talking points to position. We in CCC, or Cru, long to be able to share what Christ can do in a person’s life. So it is for that reason that we want the name of our organization to illicit a neutral response, so that we can get to the heart of those we share with.

2.  As an organization we have not wavered in our commitment to Christ or our willingness to stand for Him.

3.  The majority of Christian missions organizations and many local churches do not have the name Jesus or Christ in their name. This doesn’t lessen their devotion to Christ or their effectiveness.

4. Our mission remains the same: To give every person a chance to say YES to Jesus. It’s the same mission that God gave to Bill and Vonette Bright in 1951.

5.  We are not backing away from Jesus but rather moving toward those who need to hear the gospel, more effectively.

If you have questions or concerns, please take a look at this FAQs page. These are answers that come directly from our leadership.  We wish you could be here at our National Staff Conference with us to see and hear the humble hearts behind this decision.  We respect each of the many wise people who collaborated for years on this decision.

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns, we’d be happy to talk with you.

We love you and are thankful for your partnership. We are just as committed as ever to giving students in Charleston and NYC a chance have a personal relationship with God through saying “yes” to Jesus.