In Cru, we are about...

If you have been involved with U of I Cru before you may remember the "3 Reals". We would say at every weekly meeting, "Cru is about a Real relationship with God, Real relationships with each other, and a Real impact on campus." Although quite the tongue twister, this really was so much of our heart and what we did on campus. However, last spring we decided to change the wording to even more clearly describe what we do on campus and what we are passionate about. After lots of brainstorming, this is where we landed:


In Cru, we are about…

1. Embracing the gospel personally.

2. Experiencing the gospel together.

3. Extending the gospel to others.

We have been and will always be a movement of people that are centered on the gospel and how it impacts our lives. One way I personally love explaining the Gospel is that we have been given access to God through Jesus taking our sin and making us righteous through the cross. In every decision we make, every talk we give, every social event we put on, these three things, centered on the Gospel, are our compass.


1. Embracing the gospel personally:

 We love Jesus. We want our students to love Jesus. Not just have him as an accessory, a Sunday event, or a "like" on their Facebook page. We desire for students to embrace the gospel, making the work and person of Jesus the center of their lives. The centrality of Christ in the lives of our students and staff is the most critical part of our movement. We facilitate this by many things but a few specifics are: Christ-centered Bible studies all over campus, one on one discipleship helping students grow in their personal faith, and having resources for students on campus that might not know what they believe yet about Jesus and giving them a chance to make a personal decision about Him.

2.Experiencing the gospel together:

 We see all over the Bible that the Christian faith is not one to be lived alone, but more than just having community, we pray that the Cru community is uniquely characterized by qualities that can only be true because of our deep belief in Christ and what he accomplished in his life, death, and resurrection.  We are real and vulnerable with our imperfections and sin because we believe that God has seen us in this state and sent Christ to earth on our behalf. We extend forgiveness, compassion and sacrificial love as Christ did on the cross. We encourage each other to grow in our understanding and relationship with Christ and do this together in many ways. Again, Bible studies, community group times, our weekly meetings, and social events are just a few of the ways we implement this part of our vision.

3. Extending the gospel to others:

The hope we have in Christ is something we want to offer to others. Many students come into college having been to church but not knowing exactly what they believe about Jesus. We want Cru to be a movement on campus that is open to dialogue about Jesus, giving many a chance to hear clearly about the love of God, the state of our fallen condition before Him, and the offer of reconciliation that Christ gives through faith in Him. We have experienced the radical love of Christ and want to lovingly extend it to others. We do this by initiating thousands of conversations on campus about God, building genuine friendships with people from all walks of life, offering many entrance points into our community so that people can hear the gospel, experience a gospel-centered community, and ask genuine questions about faith. We also are passionate about equipping and training our students to extend the gospel for the rest of their lives in their jobs, communities, and families.

Only by God's grace will we continue to make these 3 qualities true about the U of I Cru movement.