“It’s through the life of a church that we learn to love people who are different than us– people with different backgrounds, struggles, and strengths.” If you're a pastor, staff member, or a lay leader with a local church, thank you for the countless ways that you give of yourself, selflessly invest in others, and serve often unnoticed. Each member of the Upstate Cru staff team, and countless involved students are deeply grateful for the local church that encourage and support us. We believe that partnering with lots of local churches is the only way that students across the Upstate will be captured by the love of Christ!
Partnering Together
Many times college students are a neglected group within the Church, yet it is during these years that they need the most influence for Christ. Think about it! The biggest decisions of their life (beliefs, values, spouse, and career) with the greatest amount of freedom and temptation most students have ever faced! And they make all these decisions typically with little or no Christian influence.
We desire to be a part of changing this in the Upstate by ‘reaching the church to reach the campus’. Church partnerships are joint ventures whereby the local church and Cru combine their strengths to reach students at a nearby campus.
We believe this is a win, win, win scenario. The mission of Cru is to “turn lost students into Christ-centered laborers” by developing “ a self-sustaining, multiplying ministry on every campus that is run by students and guided by local church volunteers that presents Christ to every student, and develops Christians to have a heart for God, a heart for each other, a heart for the lost, and a heart for the world.” Cru recognizes that we are just one part of the body of Christ. We are thrilled to find others who share the same passion to help fulfill the Great Commission!
If you'd like to hear more about what partnership could look like, contact us! We'd love to meet you for a cup of coffee, share stories, and dream together about laboring alongside one another!