for parents

Berkeley Cru welcomes your interest and questions about your son or daughter’s involvement in our ministry. The resources and events offered here at Cru provide development and opportunities in the areas of faith and leadership. Cru offers a number of conferences and mission projects that allow students to grow in their knowledge of God and help others find meaningful answers to life’s questions.

Berkeley Cru is a ministry of Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ), an interdenominational Christian organization founded in 1951 at UCLA with the purpose of helping fulfill the Great Commission as recorded in Matthew 28:18-20. When Bill and Vonette Bright first launched Cru, the underlying concept was to “win the campus today and change the world tomorrow.” In 1952, Cru was established at UC Berkeley. More than 70 years later, the mission remains the same. 

Traditional, orthodox Christian beliefs are at the core of the Cru movement. We hold to the essential claims of the Christian heritage including the birth, life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have no ties to any one particular denomination, but work instead in cooperation with many local churches to aid the spiritual development of young men and women.

Within the last 20 years, US News & World Report rated Cru as the top religious charity in the United States and Money magazine ranked the ministry as the most “efficient” religious ministry in the U.S. In 2001, founder Bill Bright passed the leadership torch to the new and current president Steve Douglass. The campus ministry of Cru currently has active movements on more than 1,000 campuses with 44,000 students involved in 191 countries. There are over 25,000 full-time staff members serving in the U.S. and internationally. The ministry is sharing the gospel with approximately 5 million students each year worldwide.

Cru has a rich history over many decades, but our mission remains the same – seeing students lives changed one at a time. We hope your student's life will be transformed by experiencing a gospel-centered community in Berkeley Cru. If there is any way Cru can be a spiritual resource for your son or daughter, please let us know!

For more about Cru, visit our Ministry Profile or read our Statement of Faith.