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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

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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

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Events

Whether you're interested in conferences or local gatherings, there's an opportunity for you. Explore upcoming events and find your place to serve and grow.

Mission Trips

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Internships

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Careers

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Volunteer

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International

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What We Do

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

Donor Relations

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Our Leadership

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Cru Partnerships

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

Storylines

Showing God in action in and through His people.

Press

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The Power of One

I came to know Christ at a camp at age 14. My parents are still not believers. The decision happened at the camp, but for years before that, my grandmother would pray with me and we would have discussions.

I think that relationship was the key that prepared me for camp. For me, accepting Christ was a very logical decision. I knew that I was corrupt but I finally put it all together with the gospel at the camp. Looking back, it was probably a gradual awareness of my need for Jesus.

As I grew up, several friends and I would get together for prayer and Bible study. When we were eighteen, my friend Jena and I were trying to find more ways to share our faith with students.

We went to the same church and noticed that there was not a lot of evangelism going on. We both felt it would be good to share our faith with other people. So we decided to focus on students, partly because Jena was a student at the time.

Someone suggested that we contact Cru. And that is how we got hooked up with staff members in Ukraine, specifically the catalytic branch called “Link.”

Jena and I connected with two staff members that lived in Kiev. We began to get training and discipleship from them. They would call regularly to help us plan out the ministry and think through the why’s behind what we were doing.

Every 3-6 months, the team in Kiev would host a retreat for encouragement and training. I got to know mission-minded people from other cities that way.

In 2006, my Russian wife, Alena, and I moved to her hometown. We were both attending a Bible college at the time and we met through a short-term mission project in Russia.

I always thought we would return to Ukraine but I was praying and the Lord showed me that Russia was in need of missionaries.

I was thinking, how I could serve God in this new setting? Immediately I thought of students because that was already familiar to me. That is what I already felt God calling me to in the Ukraine.

Now I wanted to do that in Russia as well. Students are a very accessible and open group of people so it was a good fit to be able to start with them.

I now serve as the assistant Pastor in the church. Before I took the job I made sure that I would be free to continue working toward reaching the University with the gospel.

The church agreed. Alena and I knew our time limitations, so our team committed to two days a week. We are very committed to those days. We alternate activities between dorm ministry one week and a student café the next.

As a team we go to the dorms and invite the students to the café for the following week.

The café events are where we talk with students and try to build relationships for future evangelistic conversations. We also do that through a podcast.

In the podcast I take a subject that is current and relevant to students like finances, food, student life and then use that subject to highlight the subject of the café. It’s a teaser to attend the café where that subject will be explored further.

I met Yura, a third-year engineering student through Twitter ®. We started chatting about our common interests and then I invited him to attend a student café. Alena and I were able to share the gospel with him after a café one night.

He is spiritually open and warm to Christians. He did not accept Christ at that time, but he is thinking a lot about it. He even started helping organize café events and he co-anchors the podcast with me.

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.