Our national leadership announced a few days ago that our U.S. ministries will begin the process of changing our name to “Cru”.  You can see the official statement here.  Our national leadership has addressed some frequently asked questions here.

However, because some major national media outlets have been spreading some false accusations regarding this change, we hope you will take the time to read our thoughts in response to the name change.

First of all, the reason for the name change is that for a few decades, the word “Crusade” has been offensive to many and turned them off from discussing Jesus with us.  Similarly, the word “Campus” is no longer an accurate description of the entire ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ, International, and describes only a part of what our organization does (U.S. Campus Ministry is only about 10% of our global operations).

Most people agree that removing “Crusade” was a good move, but some have accused us of removing “Christ” from the name because we are embarrassed of Jesus and are trying to hide behind a disguise.  This criticism is inaccurate.  Most churches and ministries don’t have “Christ” in their name, yet they are passionate about Him.  The name of the organization is the only thing changing – not the mission, not our actions on campus, not our passion for seeing people hear and respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ.  In fact, the very reason we are changing the name is so that we can be more effective in reaching people for Christ, without having a buzzword like “Crusade” get in the way.

The new name, “Cru”, is what most campus ministries–including Omaha–have been using since the the mid-1990s.  This really changes nothing about our ministry.  We trust that you will see from our prayer letters that nothing is different about what we are doing.

Thanks so much for your continued prayers and support.  Your partnership in the Great Commission is bearing fruit in Omaha and around the world.

Lee and Chelsea