Campus Crusade: Bringing Christianity Onto College Campuses and Beyond
By Jim Kouri CPP (10/06/07)
Campus Crusade for Christ is an interdenominational ministry committed to helping take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all nations. The organization cooperates with millions of Christians from churches of many denominations and hundreds of other Christian organizations around the world to help Christians grow in their faith and share the Gospel message with their fellow countrymen.
Working together with these fellow believers, CC's goal is to help give every man, woman, and child in the entire world an opportunity to find new life in Jesus Christ. Their commitment is based on the Lord's command: "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20 (NAS)
Campus Crusade for Christ was founded in 1951 by Bill and Vonette Bright. Bill was studying late one night for a Greek exam while a student at Fuller Theological Seminary. He received a unique impression from God to invest his life in helping to reach the entire world, starting with college students. A professor friend suggested, "Campus Crusade for Christ" as the name of the new ministry. In the fall, Bill and his wife Vonette, started Campus Crusade for Christ at UCLA with the backing of a 24-hour prayer chain.
Campus Crusade is home to a number of different ministries. Many use a name that doesn't directly connect them with the organization, but they operate totally within the legal and relational structure of Campus Crusade. You can get the complete list of ministries from their Ministry Finder. This website is updated regularly and will provide you with current information.
It was Campus Crusade's founder who adopted the approach of encouraging and supporting individual ministries to pursue their unique calling without the constraint of requiring that Campus Crusade be a part of their name. Through the years there have been critics of this approach, but they say they have found the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. Doors have been opened for ministry that we would have not dreamed possible.
DISCOVER GOD is the joint vision of Dr. Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, and his son Brad that began as an informal conversation in the fall of 2000. Today it has grown into a strategy to put God back at the center of both the Church and the culture in America.
There are many people today who believe that homosexuality, abortion, radical feminism, euthanasia and pornography are the problems facing America today. Or that racism and poverty are the most critical problems. However, these are merely symptoms of an underlying cancer -- people's distorted and twisted view of God.
Trying to suppress cultural symptoms apart from the larger context of understanding who God really is, will only lead to the continued erosion of our cultural foundations.
Bill Bright understood this very well. He said, "We can trace all of our human problems to our view of God." Renowned 20th century theologian, A.W. Tozer, whose tombstone bears the epitaph "Man of God" also believed this. He wrote, "It is impossible to keep our moral practices sound... while our idea of God is erroneous or inadequate."
And after years of studying American culture, pollster George Barna reflects this truth as well, "Every choice you make is impacted by your perception of who God is."Dr. Bright's heart was to help believers understand who God really is. He often said, "There is nothing more important to teach another believer than who God is."
Today, Brad's heart beats with the same passion. Drawing on his experiences in national politics and his study of history, he is committed to putting the God of the Bible back at the center of American culture by deliberately co-opting every major cultural symptom as a platform.
DISCOVER GOD is the logical outgrowth of this passion.Before he died, Dr. Bright specifically commissioned his son, Brad, to launch DISCOVER GOD under the newly formed Bright Media Foundation, an affiliate ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ.If we wish
If conservatives wish to win the war for the heart and soul of our nation they must make the God of the Bible the most passionately debated issue across America, both in the Church and the culture.
But first they must teach believers who God really is, so that they may be transformed and fully equipped to change their world. As the Bible says in Acts 17:6 about Paul and Silas, "These who have turned the world upside down have come here too." They knew their God. They changed their world. It was simply a matter of cause and effect.
For more information visit http://www.discovergod.com/
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