by EMILY HOLLAR, Staff Writer

As a Protestant Christian in a Catholic school, it can get easy to feel alone in your faith on campus. Cru has a mission to end that feeling. Their website, Cru.org, gives very detailed descriptions of the worldwide program, including 5,300 campuses around the globe.

Campus Crusade for Christ is devoted to spreading the truth of the Word and the power of the Holy Spirit. They offer non-denominational “spiritual guidance, resources, and programs tailored for people from all cultures in every walk in life through many diverse outreaches.” Cru’s ministres reach different campuses, and cities all around the globe, sharing God’s love throughout all of them.

Cru was founded in 1951, when “Bill and Vonette Bright began the ministry at the UCLA campus.” Bill was called by God to fulfill the Great Commission, to teach and bring people to the Lord, as seen in the book of Matthew, chapter 28, verses 18-20. Since then, Cru has changed the lives of hundreds to thousands of young people, simply by bringing them to the Lord in various of the following ways.

Cru also has an athletic ministry, which has outreaches in 64 countries, 225 college campuses, and 46 professional team sports all throughout the U.S. The website has multiple articles about their work in the field, including NFL football cleats, baseball players explaining their faith, team leaders, and even the all too familiar question, “why, God?” Cru is working through athletics to help show God’s light in every aspect of life.

Cru is also involved in the Jesus Film Project, “helping to provide media tools, training, strategies, and resources for abundant follow through evangelism in every needed language.” This project is credited for more than 7.7 billion exposures to the gospel, and an incredible more than 530 million total estimated decisions to live for Christ. These incredible statistics are growing everyday, and only further exemplifies the light of the Lord.

Senior Noah Alexander is a second year transfer student, where Cru was in motion at his previous school. Now, he is one of the few starting Cru here at Manhattan. “One of the guys from Cru reached out to me and a couple other guys, he had come to campus looking for a group of Christian people who were willing to start it up, and so I said ‘Oh yeah, for sure! It was really big at my old school.” Noah and his group are excited to share the love of God with Christians all over campus.

Essentially, it is a small group meeting for all Christians who believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Cru is not specific to any denomination, it simply exists to help students find friends in their faith, and to help them grow in their relationship with Jesus.

“We’re trying to start out with a pretty laid back structure, because our Cru mentor’s idea is ‘what will best reach Manhattan College?” Noah explained. “We were thinking of a simple group of people, just getting together and having a place where they can talk about their faith and their Christianity.”

Cru here at MC has just begun. It is not of club status, it is no more than a group meeting to help students learn and grow. They begin with a little bit of getting to know each other, maybe a quick game, and then dive into a Bible study. This incredible group of people is so devoted to sharing their faith, and cannot wait to see the growth in the group. Meetings have been taking place in the Alumni Room on the first floor of the O’Malley Library, on Wednesdays at 4:30pm.

Senior Sam Szabo describes what he noticed, “I think it is so important to have a faith-based community, where we can disect the word of God, and at the same time be able to live it out together. And to have a Bible based ministry finally come to campus is certainly what I personally was missing, and now I’ve found it.”

“I remember how easy it is to feel alone in your faith on a college campus,” Noah said. Cru is certainly a group of people that can help with that, it is time out of your wednesday that could not be better spent.

“For the past two weeks,” Sophomore Nicholas Carrado said, “God has really put a desire in me to take this group further, I want this to go far. I’ve noticed that thoughts here on campus seem to have a negative tone, like ‘I’m so dumb’ or ‘I’m so not ready for this test’and there is no thinking positively. Not only that, but doing so for a reason. So just offering that different path to a universal truth can change everything.”