Cru, CRT, and the History of American Evangelicalism

Last updated on: June 25, 2021 at 10:25 am by johnturner

Cru, CRT, and the History of American Evangelicalism 2021-06-25T10:25:23-04:00 johnturner

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

“The debate over critical race theory,” reported Christianity Today a few weeks ago, “has landed at Cru, one of the country’s most prominent parachurch ministries.”

Cru – formerly Campus Crusade for Christ – is a behemoth in not only the world of American evangelicalism, but around the world. A few statistics suffice. $750 million in annual global revenue (2020). Nearly 20,000 staff members around the world, each relying on a large network of donors.

Cru’s former name was misleading. While campus ministry is Cru’s origin story and remains at the heart of its evangelism, Cru is really an organizational umbrella containing a large number of evangelistic ministries. FamilyLife, Josh McDowell, Athletes in Action, the Jesus Film, and so forth.

Bill Bright with students in the early years of Campus Crusade for Christ. Photograph courtesty of Cru.

Bill Bright, who founded Campus Crusade in 1951 through his student evangelism at UCLA, was renowned for his laser-like focus on evangelism. Bright passionately preached, over and over again, that all Christians are called to personal evangelism. When he visited congregations and other gatherings, he would ask those in attendance what could possibly be more important than sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with others? And, he would often continue, when was the last time you did that? By all accounts, moreover, Bill Bright practiced what he preached.

Since Bright’s 2003 death, Cru has had two other presidents: Stephen Douglass and (as of September 2020) Steve Sellers. Douglass was on staff for decades prior to succeeding Bright, and Sellers has been with Cru since 1976.

Given this high degree of institutional stability, Cru seems an organizational unlikely to drift quickly from its evangelical and evangelistic foundations. Yet that is precisely what a sizeable group of Cru’s staff members have alleged.

In “Seeking Clarity and Unity,” these staff members – some named, some anonymous – allege that “elements of the victim-oppressor worldview have permeated our ministry, creating havoc.” In particular, these internal critics maintain that beginning in 2015, Cru invited speakers who in their advocacy against racism and for diversity sowed distrust and division. “The entire program,” the critics state, “main sessions and seminars, were given over to the most radical social justice and CRT communicators.” The result of this new ideology, they assert, has been mission drift away from evangelism and the departure of longtime staff members and donors.

The authors and supporters of “Seeking Clarity and Unity,” however, are not the only Cru staff members discontent with the organization’s current handling of race and justice issues. Others believe that Cru’s top leadership remains tone-deaf on the issue of racism in the United States and has failed to take necessary steps to diversify the top echelons of the organization. For instance, some criticized Steve Sellers for what they perceived as an inadequate response to the murder of George Floyd. “If I call this out specifically,” Sellers wrote shortly after Floyd’s death, “why not every example of racism?” And why not publicly speak against abortion, “the horrors of women being trafficked or … the assault on the biblical view of human sexuality?” When the organization elevated Sellers and two other white staff members to top positions of leadership, some staff members questioned why Cru’s board had not more vigorously recruited candidates from other backgrounds.

I don’t have any insight into the particulars of these internal organizational divisions. Back in the early 2000s, I wrote a history of Campus Crusade for Christ, but since its 2008 publication I haven’t closely tracked Cru’s subsequent course.

Here are some thoughts, though, about the current moment, guided by some historical reflection:

Bill Bright and Campus Crusade for Christ never had a single-minded focus on evangelism. They maintained an overriding focus on evangelism. There’s an important difference. From the start, Bright had additional – not ulterior, but additional – goals and motives. He came of age in the early Cold War. Like his mentor Henrietta Mears, Bright saw his crusade as both a crusade for Christ and a crusade against communism (both good goals, in my opinion). As time passed, Bright dabbled in conservative politics and occasionally spoke out on many issues beyond evangelism. He also supported the development of ministries such as FamilyLife, which in addition to promoting faith-filled and harmonious marriages and families, defended a complementarian understanding of the church and family. To be fair, these other interests never distracted Bill Bright from evangelism for very long. But Bright and other CCC leaders have taken stands on many issues that they perceived as important for the gospel.
Mission drift is a perennial concern for theologically conservative American Protestants. “The most cautionary tale for organizations like Cru,” write the authors of “Seeking Clarity and Unity,” “is the Student Volunteer Movement, a ministry much like ours. At its height, around 1920, it was sending over 1,000 students a year into foreign missions. Now called the YMCA, it’s known mostly for its community athletic centers.” Whether it’s denominations, seminaries, or parachurch organizations, there are plenty of organizations that drifted far from their founding theological principles. Whether they came of age in the 1960s or the 1980s or early 2000s, many conservative evangelicals are quick to worry that “social justice” might displace evangelism and discipleship as primary concerns within their organizations. At the same time, many younger evangelicals hunger for their churches and organizations to take clear stands against racism and other injustices.
Race is not a new issue within the world of American evangelism, but this is a different moment. White evangelical churches and parachurch organizations have at best a very checkered record on matters of race and racism. One African American staff member with Cru once told me of his discomfort when Bill Bright would talk about returning the United States to its Christian roots, reversing some of the problems that began in the 1960s. As the staff member pointed out, before the 1960s there was segregation. Do we really want to go back to that golden age? For the most part, white American evangelicals were deeply uncomfortable with if not outright opposed to the Civil Rights Movement. Eventually, they came to celebrate the movement’s gains and, as in the Promise Keeper’s Movement of the 1990s, accept the need for racial reconciliation. But what most white evangelicals wanted was quick reconciliation, an ability to repent, reconcile, and move on. And given the leadership structures and demographics of evangelical churches and parachurch organizations at the time, they largely could and did move on. I think that’s less possible today. Given this long history of evangelicalism and race, though, the heart of the issue isn’t CRT.
“How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!” And how destructive it is when they don’t. Back in the 1950s, CCC was part of evangelicalism’s emergence from within American fundamentalism. For CCC, this was like a painful divorce. A number of CCC staff members were graduates of Bob Jones University, and Bright had made trips to BJU. When Billy Graham and Bob Jones Sr. split over the matter of cooperative evangelism, it sparked painful ruptures within other churches and organizations. For CCC, this divorce was painful. Those staff members who stuck with CCC found themselves persona non grata at BJU. Many personal relationships became strained. Likewise, the news about Cru today makes it clear that the present disunity is straining and sometimes sundering friendships and organizational relationships.

If the Southern Baptist Convention and Cru have deep fissures over these issues, you can bet other evangelical denominations and parachurch organizations are in for bumpy rides in the years ahead.

American Religious History

Evangelicalism

John Turner

Previous Post

June 23, 2021

Eucatastrophe in American Evangelicalism

Next Post

June 25, 2021 The Great Drying, or How Climate Drives Religious Revolutions

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abolitionism Abortion Abraham Joshua Heschel Abraham Kuyper Abraham Lincoln Academia Activism Adam Renberg Advent Adventist africa African American Religion Agnes Howard Albert Camus American History American Religious History American Revolution American West Anabaptists Ancient History Andrea Turpin Andrei Tarkovsky Anglicanism Annales Ansley Lillian Quiros anti-Catholicism Antisemitism Anxious Bench apologetics Apparitions Arash Azizi Archaeology archives art Artificial Intelligence Asia Asian Americans Augustine Authors Bad Bunny Baptism Baptists Barack Obama Battle of Hastings Benjamin Franklin Bernard-Henri Levy Beth Allison Barr Beth Moore Bethany Mannon Bible Bill Cunningham Billy Graham Black Music Bob Dylan Body Boenhoffer Books Breastfeeding Bruce Springsteen C.S. Lewis Calvinism Cancel Culture Capitalism Carmelites Catholicism Cedric Robinson Cesar Chavez Charismaticism charity Charles Dickens Charles Lindbergh Che Guevara Chicago Children Chinese Christianity Chris Gehrz Christ Christian death Christian Higher Education Christian life Christian Nation Christian Nationalism Christianity Today Christmas Church life Church Practice cinema Civil Religion Civil Rights Movement Civil War civility Classics Climate Change Cold War Colonial Mexico colonialism Comer Communism community complementarianism Conference on Faith and History Congregationalism Conspiracies Conspiracy Conversion Narratives Coronavirus Costa Rica Council of Nicaea Covid-19 Creation Critical Race Theory Crusades Culture culture wars Daniel K. Williams David Barton David Swartz Death Ways death with dignity DEI democracy Democratic Party Devotion Digital Age Diplomacy discipleship diversity Donald Trump Drama Dua Lipa Early Church early modern Early modern Catholicism Easter Eastern Christianity economic exploitation Education elections Elie Wiesel Elizabeth II Elizabeth Taylor emotions Empire Engineering England enslavement Entertainment Episcopal Church Erica Ramirez eschatology Eurocentrism Evangelicalism Evangelicals Exegesis Family Feminism Film Flannery O'Connor folk music Food Foreign Policy founding fathers Franciscans Franciscus Junius fundamentalism Funerals G.K. Chesterton Gender Genocide genre geography George W. Bush George Washington George Whitefield Global Christianity Global church Grief Guadalupe Guest Post guest post gun control gun violence Gustavo Gutierrez Hamid Dabashi Harold John Ockenga Harvest Hate Hawaiian Christianity Healing health care Heather Cox Richardson Hell Heresy Hermeneutics Higher Education Hinduism Hippocratic oath Historical Fiction Historical Methodology Historical Profession Historical Profession Historical Theology Historical Thinking historiography Holidays Holocaust horror movies Human rights Humanitarian Work humanities Hummingbirds Hungary hymns Imago Dei Immigration Injustice Interviews Iran Islam Islamophobia Israel Ivan's Childhood Jacob Randolph James Bratt Janine Giordano Drake Japanese history Japanese Literature Jean Paul Sartre Jesse Miranda Jesus Jesus Christ Jimmy Carter Joan Baez Joan Didion Joanne Freeman João B. Chaves Joao Chaves Joey Cochran John Calvin John Fea John Tillotson John Turner Johnny Cash Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Tran Joseph Smith Josh Howerton Journalism Jr. Judaism Jürgen Moltmann Just War Justice Justin Brierley Karl Barth Katelyn Beaty koi ponds Kris Kristofferson Kristin Kobes Du Mez Latin American Religious History Latino Americans Lectio Divina Leisure Lent Leonard Cohen liberal arts liberalism Liberation Theology Linda Ronstadt Lisa Clark Diller Literature Lou Reed Lynchings Lynneth Miller Renberg Mainline Protestantism Malcolm Foley Marilyn Monroe Maritime history Mark Noll Marriage Martin Luther Martin Luther King Martyrdom Marxism Mary Masih Alinejad mass shootings material culture medieval Christianity Medieval Ethiopia Melissa Borja memory Mennonites Mental Health Mental Illness Methodism Mexican Americans Mexicans Mike Madrid Miles Mullin Min Jin Lee Miscarriage Missionaries Mister Rogers Mitt Romney modernity Monasticism Mormonism Motherhood Mothers of the Church Moving Music Musicals Nadya Williams Nahua Christianity Native Americans Natsume Sōseki New Contributor New England New Year New York Nico Non-Violent Protest Orthodoxy pacifism Paleo Evangelicals Palestinians Parenting Patti Smith Paul Kingsnorth Pedro Calderón de la Barca Pentecostalism Philip Jenkins Phillis Wheatley physician-assisted suicide pilgrimage Pilgrims Piracy pluralism Plutocracy Poetry Politics Pope Francis Pope Leo XIV post-modernism prayer preaching Presbyterians prosperity gospel Protest Public Executions Public history Publishing Puritans purity culture Quakers race Race Massacres Racial Capitalism racial reconciliation racialization Racism Raha Bahloulipour Re-Enchantment reading Reformation Refugees religion and the university religion and war Religious Freedom Religious Nones Religious Pluralism Religious Symbols religious violence Republican Party Revival Rita Coolidge Ritual Roger Williams Roman Catholic church Royalty Russell Moore same-sex marriage Sarah Irving-Stonebraker Scandinavia Science Science and Technology Scopes trial Scriptural Interpretation secularism Selena Quintanilla seminary Seventh-Day Adventists sexual morality Sexuality Sikhs Silence slaveholders theology Slavery Slavoj Zizek social justice Social Media Southern Baptist Convention Southern Religion Spain Spiritual Autobiography Spiritual but not religious Spiritual Discipline Sports Stanley Hauerwas Suffering Summer Camps Sunday Night Odds and Ends Supernatural Supreme Court Syriac Christianity Tal Howard Taylor Swift Teaching Technology Television Thanksgiving The Beatles The Mission theater TheoBros Theology Thomas Dixon Thomas Jefferson Thomas Kidd Thomas Merton Tim Gloege Tim Walz Tom Holland Tourism tradition Tragedy Translation Transnationalism Travel Trump Ukraine Uncategorized Unitarians United Methodist Church US History Vanessa Chan Velvet Underground Verónica A. Gutiérrez Veronica Gutierrez Vikings Violence Virgin Mary Virtue Virtue ethics Visions Voting War WCTU Wendell Berry Westminster Assembly White Evangelicalism Wildfires Winnie the Pooh Witches women Women in Ministry Women's and Gender Studies Work Worship writing Yasunari Kawabata Zena Hitz

Select a Month November 2026 October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

To whom did God give the commandments, engraved on stone tablets?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Noah Peter Adam Moses