Close

How to Know God

Do you ever wonder what Christians believe? Who Jesus is, what he did and why it matters? Get answers to these questions and more.

Spiritual Growth

Take the next step in your faith journey with resources on prayer, devotionals and other tools for personal and spiritual growth.

Life & Relationships

Explore resources to help you live out your life and relationships in a way that honors God.

Bible Studies

Find resources for personal or group Bible study.

Share the Gospel

Learn to develop your skills, desire and ability to join others on their spiritual journeys and take them closer to Jesus.

Help Others Grow

Help others in their faith journey through discipleship and mentoring.

Leadership Training

Develop your leadership skills and learn how to launch a ministry wherever you are.

Video

Browse videos designed to help you grow spiritually, share your faith, and lead others well.

Language Resources

View our top Cru resources in more than 20 languages.

Quizzes & Assessments

Have some fun taking various quizzes and assessments to learn about yourself and others.

Campus

Helping students know Jesus, grow in their faith and go to the world to tell others.

City

Reflecting Jesus together for the good of the city.

Inner City

Partnering with urban churches to meet physical and spiritual needs.

Athletes

Striving to see Christ-followers on every team, in every sport and in every nation.

Families

Equipping families with practical approaches to parenting and marriage.

High School

Reaching students and faculty in middle and high school.

Military

Bringing hope and resources to military families worldwide.

Locate Cru Near You

Explore Cru's global presence and discover how you can get involved in communities worldwide.

Mission Trips

Volunteer abroad this year on a short term global missions trip offered by one of the best, most-reliable Christian missions organizations in the world.

1-Year Full-Time Internships

Internship opportunities with Cru's ministries.

Careers

If you're looking for the best Christian jobs and careers, check out Cru's ministry job openings for full- and part-time missionaries and professionals.

Go International

Live in another country building relationships and ministries with eternal impact.

Volunteer Opportunities

Would you like to give your time to work with Cru? We need you.

Events

Find a Cru event near you.

Explore Your Interests

Use your hobbies and interests to find the best place for you to serve.

What We Do

How we seek to journey together with everyone towards a relationship with Jesus.

Donor Relations

Answers to questions on donations, financial policies, Cru’s annual report and more.

Our Leadership

Learn about Cru's global leadership team.

Cru Partnerships

When the global church comes together then powerful things can happen.

Storylines

Showing God in action in and through His people.

Press

Access Cru's latest news releases, media contacts, and background information on our global ministries and leadership.

0

What is the Biblical Response to America’s Ethnic Strife?

A couple years ago, I went to the Creating Options Together™ conference, curious about how ethnicity was having an effect on inner city ministries. In the shadow of Trayvon Martin’s death and George Zimmerman’s acquittal, the racial tension of today was just beginning.

Two weeks later, Michael Brown was shot in Ferguson, Missouri and riots broke out. During the two years since then, the news has reflected the growing tension due to confrontations between African American men and police, often ending in a dead citizen.

Yet as I heard all the reports of violence from across the country, I continued to think about what I learned at the conference. Because even though the leaders didn’t know what the future would hold, they highlighted a biblical response to ethnicity and justice. A biblical response to engage, to not stay silent.

It gave me hope, and it gives me hope again as they hold the next Creating Options Together conference.

This is the goal:
The heart of this conference is discipleship in the context of grace and justice. Together, we’ll discover how to build a lifestyle of discipleship to reach the world, to be conduits of his grace and voices for justice. We’ll invite believers to step away from a neutral stance on the issues of biblical justice and engage in the gospel issues of the day such as poverty, fatherlessness, and racism.

Here’s what they said last time that gave me the most hope.

John Perkins, then 84 years old and a leader in the civil rights movement of the 1960s, said, “First thing, we’ve got to understand the incarnation. We’ve got to bring our lives in line with the incarnation.”

How do we do that? “We call that relocation. That’s what Jesus did. He relocated from the most gated city in the world.” That was the first point in his 8 key components to holistic Christian ministry.

He went on to say, “If you don't believe in reconciliation, you don't have a gospel to preach. That's the whole idea of the gospel.” Perkins pointed out that if you have a white church, and a black church and a Hispanic church, “you missed Pentecost.” Hear his whole message.

Milton Massie, co-director of Cru's inner city ministry

Milton Massie, co-director of Cru’s inner city ministry, addressed the cost of working with people of different ethnicities. When he sensed God’s call to be part of Cru, an organization not previously known for ethnic diversity, he recalled, “He [God] told me I was called me to be a bridge. I said. ‘that's pretty cool. I get to connect people together.’

“Then God tapped on my head and said, there's another function of a bridge you’re forgetting. You’re going to get walked over. A bridge not only connects; it gets walked on.”

Speaking about 1 Peter 2:9, Milton pointed out that we are a chosen race, not based on ethnicity. “What gives us our identity is not our color or our culture, but our chosen-ness. My first identity is that I am chosen,” he said.

Terry Robinson, director of Cru's inner city ministry in Detroit

“Ethnic diversity is messy. It was messy in the first century, and it is still messy. So I embrace the mess. Jesus does. He died for that mess.” Hear more from Milton.

Building off of the event’s title, Terry Robinson, director of Cru’s inner city ministry in Detroit, said, “We cannot create options together unless we are together. We have folks here who are black and white and Latino and Asian and Indian and international. What brings us together centrally is our relationship with Jesus Christ.” Hear the rest of Terry’s talk.

Learn more about the Creating Options Together event.

Since 1951, Cru has helped individuals who grapple with integrating faith into daily life by offering practical steps and community support. As a result, countless people in over 190 countries have been empowered to move from passive belief to active faith.