“Have the opportunity to present the gospel message to more than 6 billion people! See 1 billion people receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Plant ministries on 8,000 campuses in strategic metro-politan areas worldwide to help reach university students and their professors. Assist denominations with their growth goals, resulting in 1 million new churches.”
These are just some of the goals of Campus Crusade for Christ’s most ambitious project ever, “New Life 2000.” That Campus Crusade leaders could even contemplate such goals shows the confidence they have both in the success of their college ministry in generating the manpower for this task and in their methods of campus outreach, which Crusade has adapted to a wide variety of additional ministries (such as Student Venture, Crusade’s high school ministry) and which have been imitated widely throughout Evangelicalism.
Indeed, Campus Crusade’s college ministry is the very heart of Bill Bright’s plan to fulfill the Great Commission “in this generation.” Yet despite the critical role Christians from secular colleges and universities in the U.S. have played in the post-World War II Evangelical revival, Catholic outreach to this same population has remained woefully inadequate, leaving nearly untapped this vast source of converts and vocations.
Studying the methods and strategies employed by Evangelical campus ministries such as Campus Crusade, the largest and most aggressive of these organizations, may well be the first step in correcting this deficiency. An analysis of Campus Crusade’s methods may provide ideas for Catholics interested in evangelism in general, but especially for those Catholics who will turn their attention to the secular campus.
Careful discernment is needed here, for the manner in which Campus Crusade applies its methods tends to conflict with Crusaders’ more fundamental intentions of obeying Christ and loving the unsaved. So determined are Bill Bright and the leadership of Crusade to fulfill the Great Commission in this generation, and so urgent does the task seem to the rank and file of the movement, that they subtly pressure people to join the movement and often exhibit a tendency to control and use people to achieve the organization’s activist goals. (With theological principles such as predestination virtually ignored in Crusade literature, it is easy for Crusaders to feel intense pressure concerning the salvation of the world–one factor which contributed to my own burnout.)
In applying any of these methods to Catholic outreach, our guiding principles must include the spontaneity which arises from genuine charity, humility, and abandonment to the will of God. In order to foster a greater understanding of Crusade and to point out possible pitfalls for Catholics, I will describe some of the manifestations of this activist impulse as we survey the organization’s campus ministry methods.
At the center of Campus Crusade’s methods is its discipleship program called “spiritual multiplication” or “win- build-send.” Newcomers to Crusade are introduced to the program by the following illustration, as I was when first becoming involved in the movement:
On the one hand, Crusade teachers explain, a Christian who desires to evangelize the world using the mass evangelism method (preaching, say, to 1,000 people every day of the year) would require 16,438 years to reach a world population of 6 billion.
On the other hand, if that same Christian spent, say, one year winning two people to Christ (evangelism) and building them in their faith (discipleship), and then sent those two people out each to win and build two more disciples, and so on ad infinitum, he would need less than 33 years not only to evangelize but also to train the same population.
This strategy permeates every Crusade ministry and program. Every “teachable” person involved in Crusade is challenged to be discipled by someone else in order to become a leader who can extend his evangelism downward through a chain of disciples. But this emphasis on becoming leaders and having successful ministries is often hard to distinguish from the worldly desire to be important and influential.
Establishing a discipleship ministry among students, and thus being able to “saturate” the campus with the gospel and raise up Christian workers to evangelize locally, nationally, and internationally, is the chief goal of Crusade’s campus staff. These staffers members generally hold four-year degrees, are in their twenties or early thirties, and have generated their own financial support.
Their method of raising support deserves special attention. Before a staffer can begin a campus ministry or join an already existing one, he or she (there are no restrictions on women becoming staffers, although the overall Crusade leadership is predominantly male) must find people willing to contribute money each month to support him. The staffer accomplishes this by contacting people he knows, presenting an overview of Campus Crusade and his own ministry goals to motivate them to provide financial support, and asking these people to refer other people who might be interested. He does this until he has gathered enough people into his support team to provide an adequate amount of money.
Despite the awkwardness a person may feel in raising a salary this way, the end result is generally positive: He has developed a team of people involved in his outreach, people he may even be able to lead into a deeper Christian life. Through monthly letters the staffer communicates with his supporters about the ministry, thus maintaining the relationship.
Campus Crusade succeeds in extending its financial base through a close, personal, grassroots approach, and the supporters feel they really are a part of Crusade’s work. Crusade’s practice is intended to force staffers to trust God for their every need, and if a staffer is unable to raise enough support, Crusade leadership considers this a sign that he is not in the right calling.
To initiate a campus ministry, staffers (often married couples, in order to reach both male and female students) take up residence near the target campus. Sometimes, though, dedicated students begin this process, especially in areas where a staff shortage exists; the difficulty here lies in maintaining stability, which is undermined by student turnover.
Next there must be found enough students who are interested in petitioning to form an official student organization (at my school, California State University at Long Beach, ten students were required). Staffers have two methods they can employ (in addition to advertising on campus when permitted): one-on-one evangelism and surveying.
Surveying is a quick and versatile method for finding interested students. The surveys we used at my campus had four or five questions, such as, “Would you be interested in learning more about Christ?” and “Would you be interested in a small- group Bible study?”
Not only can staffers use these surveys to initiate a campus ministry, but once the movement (as we called our organization) has gotten underway, students continue to use the surveys to generate more contacts. At least once a year we conducted a campaign in which we asked permission from our professors to survey our classes; permission was almost always granted. We distributed the surveys five minutes before class began and then collected them either a few minutes later or at the end of class. We also distributed surveys to students waiting in line to register each semester and sometimes to students sitting in an eating or study area or walking on the campus commons.
Once enough Christian students have been gathered, they write the organization’s constitution and present their petition/application. Here caution is needed; at CSULB, for example, the student government had an obsession with ensuring that campus organizations did not discriminate in admitting members. One Christian group I knew of had its petition rejected because its constitution required that members subscribe to the Nicene Creed.
After establishing an official organization, Crusaders develop its structure. A weekly hour-long meeting is held. The meeting consists of singing and sharing personal experiences, followed by a brief talk given by a staffer or a trained student expounding Scripture to explain some facet of Campus Crusade’s ministry. At this point one begins to meet Crusade’s motivational strategies, which are fraught with spiritual problems. The meetings, through the talks and even through the music chosen, serve to impress upon students the excitement and adventure of living the Christian life as understood by Crusade.
The “sharing time” is a crucial motivational device used at virtually all Crusade gatherings. Sometimes Crusaders share what “God has been teaching them” through Scripture or experience, or they relate an evangelistic or ministry experience. This sharing spurs other Crusaders to try harder in their own ministries, creating a subtle pressure to perform in order to be and appear “spiritual.”
Another technique Crusaders employ is that of questioning other students involved in the movement in such a way as to challenge them to continue living up to Crusade standards. We often asked each other, for instance, “What has God been teaching you?” or “What have you been learning in your quiet times?” Often I found myself arranging a quiet time to cover myself in case my discipler asked me these questions.
These weekly meetings provide a pool from which Crusade staffers and, later, trained students draw their “disciples.” The “spiritual multiplication” process consists of three levels of small groups: discovery group, leadership group, and action group. At each level the discipler asks for an increased commitment from the people involved, observing their progress to see who should be challenged to go to the next higher stage of discipleship. The presence of a “teachable attitude” is one of the most important criteria used in this selection process; in Crusade parlance this means not persistently criticizing or arguing with Crusade leadership and teachings.
At the action group level, usually made up of only two to four students, the disciples must commit themselves to attending all Crusade meetings and conferences, sharing their faith at least twice weekly, having a daily quiet time of Scripture study and prayer, and beginning their own discipleship ministry–in a sense, they must follow an unofficial religious rule.
Throughout the three levels, Crusade disciplers use Campus Crusade study guides to instill principles of ministry and spiritual growth while teaching evangelism. Typically the discipler takes the disciple out evangelizing, doing most of the talking so the disciple will become accustomed to the procedure; in this way, Crusaders succeed in inducing many otherwise timid Christians to share their faith with strangers.
Unfortunately, because of Crusade’s intense activist mentality, the discipleship process readily fosters duplicitous and artificial friendships. “Friends” are made in order to draw people into the movement and to find disciples. Sometimes these friendships find a genuine basis and outlast the discipleship relationship; often they remain artificial and die out when a person ceases to express interest in Crusade.
After staffers have established the central discipleship ministry, their action group members become the central student leaders of the ministry; a pyramid gradually extends from the staffers down through the generations of discipleship groups. Since staffers are in turn discipled by regional directors who are ultimately accountable to Bright and his inner circle of leaders, the pyramid extends upward as well.
Crusade teachings are disseminated throughout this pyramid by Crusade literature published by Here’s Life Publishers, a Campus Crusade affiliate. Bright has written a series of eight booklets on “transferable concepts.” Each booklet explains a different facet of Crusade spirituality or ministry methods: “How To Experience God’s Love and Forgiveness,” “How to Help Fulfill the Great Commission,” “How to Pray.” Crusaders are encouraged to read these booklets, master the concepts, and pass the teaching on to others.
To provide additional training and motivation for college students, Crusade employs a number of programs: a weekly “Leadership Training Class,” often hosted by a local Evangelical church; local and state conferences which “mobilize” students; Crusade books, sold at conferences and training classes; and a summer Institute of Biblical Studies. (None of these go beyond the level of Josh McDowell’s books on apologetics; here Crusade differs widely from the more intellectual Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship, another college parachurch group.)
For evangelism all Crusaders rely on the “Four Spiritual Laws” booklet, a 16-page tract that summarizes Crusade’s understanding of salvation, invites the reader to “pray to receive Christ,” and urges him to join a local church. According to Bright, one billion copies of the booklet have been printed. Not only is it popular among individual Evangelicals, but other Evangelical organizations have imitated its format in their own tracts.
Crusaders working in pairs walk up to a student sitting somewhere on campus, introduce themselves, and ask, “Have you heard of the four spiritual laws?” (a question conveniently printed on the booklet’s front cover). If the student is willing, the Crusaders read the booklet to him as he follows along.
Although this approach to evangelism lacks creativity, can appear to be patronizing, and fosters an individualistic and one-shot “fire insurance” view of salvation which often has little effect in promoting church growth, it gives Crusade one advantage: It allows people with little theological formation to evangelize. Crusade’s training emphasizes the use of “3- minute” testimonies of one’s “born-again” experience; it does not give the students an intensive grounding in theology. As Crusaders love to point out when their evangelism is criticized, however deficient their practice may be, it is better than what most Christians do for evangelism: nothing.
The quality of this evangelism, of course, varies from Crusader to Crusader. When conducted with tact and genuine charity, this “aggressive” evangelism can be a rewarding experience. I was often able to encourage people to think more carefully about Christianity or their walk with Christ, and on two occasions I developed friendships with people with whom I shared my faith (one a Catholic, the other an agnostic).
Crusaders have other evangelistic tools to supplement the basic approach:
1. To vary the standard evangelistic introduction Crusaders sometimes use religious opinion surveys to initiate the sharing of the four spiritual laws booklet. These surveys include a question about the respondent’s religious affiliation and several questions about his religious beliefs. It concludes by asking whether he would be interested in learning how to receive Christ. The survey is in multiple-choice format; the key is to use it as part of a genuine opinion survey rather than simply as a front for evangelism.
2. Occasionally Crusaders on a given campus gather together during school hours and set out in pairs to evangelize as many students as possible. This is known as the “blitz.”
3. Crusaders use contacts in fraternities and sororities and on athletic teams to give “team meetings” in which one Crusader gives an oral presentation of the gospel (usually following the four spiritual laws outline) and another gives his conversion testimony, offering the listeners a chance to “pray to receive Christ” at the end.
4. Crusaders put on various crowd-gathering presentations, such as comedy skits or concerts. Some of their number mix with the crowd, starting conversations wherever possible; when the presentation is over they “divide and conquer” to share the four spiritual laws booklet with as many as possible.
5. Crusaders seek opportunities to give presentations to their classes. These presentations, of course, must relate some.aspect of Christianity to the course’s subject matter. I once gained the opportunity to present two lectures on Christianity to a sociology class, relating the gospel to self-image and social problems. One student who had been openly contemptuous of Christianity underwent a remarkably positive change of attitude. Inviting a staff member to give a guest lecture is also done occasionally. Josh McDowell himself has given classroom lectures on topics such as “Philosophy and the Resurrection” and “Marxism and Christianity.”
Crusade’s evangelistic methods are adapted for use in the many off-campus extensions of the campus ministry’s work. During spring break our group spent a week in Palm Springs (most groups descend on Daytona Beach), evangelizing in the crowds of hedonistic college students. Close ties with local churches is essential to this outreach; families from Palm Springs churches provided lodging for us. During the summer many Crusaders participate in short-term national and international missionary projects, training the leaders and congregations of local churches in Crusade methodology as well as continuing the “win-build-send” strategy.
If Catholic theological and spiritual principles could be communicated on secular campuses with anything approaching the efficiency of Campus Crusade for Christ, our culture would experience a profound spiritual transformation. The ultimate impact on the life of parishes would be dramatic. We would have plenty of lay missionaries, freeing priests for sacramental duties. After all, the majority of my Crusade friends went on to full-time Christian tasks. If the methods they learned have worked for an organization restricted in its outreach by a deficient theology, imagine what similar methods could do for us.