By now you’ve probably heard that Campus Crusade for Christ is changing its name to Cru early this year.
Here are some questions you may be asking. These are our answers:
Why the name change?
Of course, Jesus is the name above every name. We care tons more about His Name than any other name. Our mission and calling to make Him known has not and will not change. Yet we want to do all that we can to be more effective and engage with more people. Changing the organizational name in the USA will be a step in this direction.
Unfortunately, some of the news media response has created the opinion that we changed our name simply to “drop Christ.” This is not true. We’re more committed and more passionate about introducing people to Christ than ever before. Years of painstaking research and much prayer has revealed that we’ll generally be more effective in communicating the gospel with the new name. Actually, only after one final late hour prayer session did the name “cru” emerge as a possible choice out of 1,600 name suggestions. The Lord chose the new name.
Go here to see a lot of new details about the name change and even see a video from co-founder Vonette Bright speaking in favor of the new name.
How do we feel about now serving with Cru?
Although any change of this type will require time to get used to it, Shannon and I are fine with the name change to CRU. This decision has been bathed in prayer for years. We’ve known that a change was coming for almost 3 years now. Even 20 years ago, Bill & Vonette Bright discussed changing the name. Here in the U.S. – particularly on college campuses – there were just too many negative connotations with the word “crusade.” And the word “campus” does not represent us well either, because of our huge ministry presence outside the campus today. For example, it’s been difficult for our Military Ministry (especially in recruiting contexts) to explain that they were “Campus Crusade” staff when their ministry had nothing to do with the campus. Same is true for our Inner City ministry and dozens of others.
What does “Cru” mean?
Just like Nike and Starbucks chose a company name ambiguous to their product line, yet highly rememberable, our research showed strong positive sentiment amongst a large cross section of people towards the short name “cru.” It is simply a coined term. To those familiar with us already, it connects us with our past and yet is forward looking. For those that we will connect with in the future, the name will be filled with all of the experiences and meaning of who we are and what we have to offer.
Why is Cru only for the USA?
Good point. Yes, just to clarify, the new name Cru is only the name for the USA organization. In each country where we have a ministry presence, the indigenous ministry leaders in that particular country get to decide their own organizational name. Several countries will keep the name Campus Crusade for Christ. Other countries have never chosen this name. We’re named Agape in France, LIFE Ministry in Kenya, Power to Change in Canada and Tandem Ministries in New Zealand.
Can we still make checks payable to Campus Crusade for Christ?
Yes. Either name will work.
More details: http://www.ccci.org/about-us/donor-relations/our-new-name/index.htm