Summer Missions 2015: Cru Knows Students. Cru Knows Missions.
Our summer mission trips are a place where students can grow in their relationship with God while taking steps of faith, while being guided, trained and encouraged by staff from campuses all over the U.S. Staff and students leave their local campuses during the summer for several weeks to go to places where our ministry may not be during the school year. In tourist destinations in the U.S. and abroad we partner with local churches to bring the gospel to people who may not otherwise have a chance to hear it. Our stateside students work during the day and organize events like outreaches, bible studies, and ministry training in the evenings. They share the gospel with co-workers, beach goers and neighbors as they develop life-long friendships with each other and those they meet in the community. Through outreaches, prayer nights, bible studies and leadership training workshops all students on summer mission can grow in skills they will use back on their campuses and local churches.
Megan Henley, one of our Cru graduates from St. Louis pictured to the right with friends from East Asia Summer Mission, said this about her experience: “Seeing God raise up believers by using our team in East Asia, encouraged me to share more on campus back home. People readily receiving Jesus in a closed country like East Asia reminded me that there are people ready to hear the gospel and wanting to know about the hope of God on a campus in America that is hostile to the gospel. We learned to be a team on summer mission and that community gave me encouragement about creating the same thing with the Cru community back at my school.”
The University of Michigan has 24 students attending this summer: 16 stateside and 8 overseas. Please pray for our students on summer mission:
- Refreshment and grounding in the grace of the gospel for students and staff
- Rich relationships between one another, co-workers and those in the local community
- Bridges to build to the gospel as they share their faith during outreaches and at work
- Growth in leadership skill for students to bring back to their campuses
Cru 15: National Staff Conference
The early church was no stranger to the challenge to be one in Christ and love and minister across cultural barriers. The words of Apostle Paul came to the early church in the midst of a culture bubbling with racial tension. The headlines of our news programs and papers over the last 8 months have brought to light something that has bubbled under the surface of America for years. The gospel provided the early church and now provides us with the foundation and ability to love others, reconcile people to Jesus Christ and give to one another as each has need regardless of race, class, or cultural background.
Our God cares for people of every tribe, nation and culture and Cru is a ministry seeking to be faithful to connect all people to Jesus Christ. We desire to be people who share the good news, embrace ethnic diversity, cultivate partnerships and take the good news beyond our borders to the people of the world. These four topics will be the focus of our national staff conference, Cru15, in Fort Collins, Colorado from July 13-21st.
Staff from around the world will gather together to meet with the Lord, and fellowship and network with each other while receiving teaching from thought leaders and authors like: Dr. John Perkins, Francis Chan, Dr. Christena Cleveland, James White, Andy Crouch, Joshua Ryan Butler and Nikki Toyama-Szeto. We will also have hear what God has done through our staff around the world, and where he is leading us as a ministry entrusted with connecting people to Jesus Christ.
Pray for us as we attend the conference:
- Safe travels to and from Ft. Collins, CO
- We would be refereshed by the gospel and encouraged by the teaching and training
- Friends and fun for Martel at the Cru summer kids camp