True Discernment

“Reasearch found a fifth of non-Christians alienated by the name”

His name is supposed to be an offense to many!

Matthew 10:33

But whoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

from The Daily Mail:

One of America’s most prominent Christian ministries has caused outrage by taking the word Christ out of its name.

The move by Campus Crusade for Christ international has generated cries of political correctness from within the evangelical community after they announced that the name of its U.S. operations would become known as ‘Cru’ in early 2012.

Steve Sellers, the vice president for Campus Crusade, told Fox: ‘We felt like our name was getting in the way of accomplishing our mission, but we are still committed to proclaiming Christ around the world.’

He said that they made the decision after research found that nine per cent of Christians and 20 per cent of non-Christians were alienated by the name Campus Crusade for Christ.

Mr Sellers said the founder of the organisation Bill Bright – who died in 2003 – was looking at making the name change as early as the late seventies.

He said that the name – particularly the use of the word crusade – was becoming more and more of a hindrance to them as people still associated it with its meaning in the Middle Ages when Christianity was forced on different parts of the world.

Mr Sellers also denied that political correctness was the motive.

‘It has nothing to do with political correctness,’ he said. ‘It has everything to do with how we can be effective at what God has called us to do.

‘Most churches don’t have Christ in their name. Hardly any other Christian organization has Christ in their name. People are making an issue out of something that isn’t the intent at all.’

As for removing Christ from their name, the Campus Crusade for Christ website states: ‘We were not trying to eliminate the word Christ from our name. We were looking for a name that would most effectively serve our mission and help us take the gospel to the world.

‘Our mission has not changed. Cru enables us to have discussions about Christ with people who might initially be turned off by a more overtly Christian name.

‘We believe that our interaction and our communication with the world will be what ultimately honours and glorifies Christ.’

Members of the evangelical community voice their anger and disbelief on the church’s website.

Richard Hornsby, of Kansas City, who was actively involved with Campus Crusade at The Ohio State University when he was a college student, said: ‘It is sad that an organization like Campus Crusade at least appears to have allowed themselves to be taken by the politically correct environment instead of acting counter culturally as Christ’s followers are called to do.

‘For an institution like Crusade to appear to cave to the same cultural pressure that leads school principals to harass or try to ban Christian groups from meeting on campus is incredibly sad.

‘We expect the ACLU to intimidate small towns and schools by threatening to sue them. We don’t expect long-standing pillars of the Christian community to fold like this.’

‘I immediately thought of Paul’s letter to the Romans, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ”. It may be that CCCI has good intentions behind the change, but on its face, this decision to drop Christ seems like an attempt to hide or mask the core identity of the group.’

The new name, Cru, has long been used as a nickname for the organization on university campuses. Other than that, Mr Sellers told Fox that Cru does not have a definition.

He said: ‘Much like lots of brand names they don’t necessarily have meaning in and of themselves. It is a name we intend to give meaning so that when people hear it they know that it’s a caring group of Christians who are passionate about lifting up the name of Jesus.’