{"id":133,"date":"2011-07-21T13:47:08","date_gmt":"2011-07-21T13:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/preacherskid\/?p=133"},"modified":"2011-07-25T01:43:49","modified_gmt":"2011-07-25T01:43:49","slug":"campus-crusade-for-christ-is-now-just-cru-at-least-its-not-cru-x","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/2011\/07\/campus-crusade-for-christ-is-now-just-cru-at-least-its-not-cru-x.html","title":{"rendered":"Campus Crusade for Christ is now just ‘Cru’ . . . at least, it’s not Cru-X"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
What's in a name? What is "Cru"?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It seems having \u201cJesus\u201d or \u201cChrist\u201d or even \u201cChristian\u201d on the signs of churches or logos of ministries \u2013 even long-established ones dedicated to spreading the gospel \u2013 has become pass\u00e9.<\/p>\n

Even evangelical and fundamentalist congregations have been jettisoning those reminders of the founder of the faith in favor of more palatable \u2013 dare I say, politically correct<\/em> \u2013 terms. This is, after all, the age of the \u201cseeker friendly\/seeker sensitive\u201d<\/em><\/a> church.<\/p>\n

\u201cHope\u201d churches are aplenty. A Google search yields 82.8 million results for that choice. \u201cLife\u201d churches garner 56.3 million. \u201cFaith\u201d churches pull down 23.4 million, and \u201cJourney\u201d is popular, too, at 8.4 million. (Full disclosure: I worship at Lifechurch Utah<\/a>, a name selected a couple years ago to replace the words \u201cValley Assembly.\u201d)<\/em><\/p>\n

There are lots of reasons for such name changes, of course. Some are simply to shed old names associated with dated geographical or neighborhood designations; others to represent a change in ministry focus or mission. But others? They shed \u201cChrist\u201d and \u201cChristian,\u201d often along with that gauche<\/em> cross on the steeple or roof, so as not to be off-putting to visitors. (These are places, too, where you may never hear words like \u201csin\u201d \u201csalvation\u201d or, heaven forbid, \u201chell\u201d).<\/em><\/p>\n

That said, I never expected that 50-year-old Campus Crusade for Christ<\/em> \u2013 famous for its \u201cFour Spiritual Laws\u201d <\/em><\/a>pamphlets and the<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Four Spiritual Laws: CCC classic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

multi-language \u201cJesus\u201d<\/em><\/a> film \u2013 would drop the Big C. Well, they have. Call this international family of ministries simply \u201cCru,\u201d now. (And no, even that is not short for crusade, which is, after all, a reminder of those embarrassing invasions<\/em><\/a> of Palestine in the Middle Ages that so often had more to do with rapine, genocide, greed and grasping for political power than missionary zeal.)<\/p>\n

No, \u201cCru\u201d is just a nickname. This is how CCC\/Cru explains it:<\/a> \u201c<\/em>The name, selected from a pool of 1,600 potential names, has a track record within Campus Crusade for Christ. Since the mid-1990s, it has been used locally on the majority of their U.S. campus ministries.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

As for dropping \u201cChrist\u201d from their name? Cru insists the message will remain the same: \u201c\u201cOur team understands that our name is really for the benefit of others. Ultimately, it’s not about our name, but how we live out our mission every day.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Credit Cru<\/em> for this, though \u2013 they invite comments<\/em> <\/a>on their website about the change. And, they are getting them. Some are favorable, but many more seem unimpressed; here are just a few:<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t like it because when someone asks “what does ‘Cru’ mean?” you have to refer back to the old name . . . Then they ask, “so why did you change the name?” and whatever you say you either sound like a dweeb. . . .\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cKind of liked the old name, It really shows what you stand for.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThis reveals a uniquely American phenomenon in the “marketing” of Christ and the gospel, something that was foreign to the Apostles and most likely would have prompted a sharp rebuke from them.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

My personal favorite, though, is this one:<\/p>\n

\u201cAt least put a J in front for “Jesus” and call it J-cru.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

. . . not to be confused with clothing and accessories retailer\u00a0 J. Crew<\/em><\/a>, I suppose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It seems having \u201cJesus\u201d or \u201cChrist\u201d or even \u201cChristian\u201d on the signs of churches or logos of ministries \u2013 even long-established ones dedicated to spreading the gospel \u2013 has become pass\u00e9. Even evangelical and fundamentalist congregations have been jettisoning those reminders of the founder of the faith in favor of more palatable \u2013 dare I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":432,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100,84,99,8,83,7,3,16,1],"tags":[101,103,571,102,104,105],"class_list":["post-133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-campus-crusade-for-christ","category-christ","category-cru","category-faith","category-jesus","category-pop","category-pks","category-tolerance","category-uncategorized","tag-campus-crusade","tag-christian-marketing","tag-cru","tag-crusade","tag-seeker-friendly","tag-seeker-sensitive"],"yoast_head":"\nCampus Crusade for Christ is now just 'Cru' . . . at least, it's not Cru-X - Preacher\u2019s Kid: Honest Faith, Real World<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/2011\/07\/campus-crusade-for-christ-is-now-just-cru-at-least-its-not-cru-x.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Campus Crusade for Christ is now just 'Cru' . . . at least, it's not Cru-X - Preacher\u2019s Kid: Honest Faith, Real World\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It seems having \u201cJesus\u201d or \u201cChrist\u201d or even \u201cChristian\u201d on the signs of churches or logos of ministries \u2013 even long-established ones dedicated to spreading the gospel \u2013 has become pass\u00e9. 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