Cru (Christian organization)

Cru (until 2011 known as Campus Crusade for Christ—informally "Campus Crusade" or simply "Crusade"—or CCC) 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" (1957), 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 (1981) 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.