It’s 8 on a Thursday night, and the lights inside a stadium-style lecture hall in the Chemistry Building are dim. \nStudents pump their hands in the air, scream out to their friends and randomly exchange hugs. A six-person band, complete with a cymbal-banging drummer, rocks on.\nNo, this isn’t your typical worship service. This is Campus Crusade for Christ, an interdenominational Christian ministry that’s one of a growing number of organizations targeting college students who want personal religious experiences.\nAt Cru, as it’s called, organizers put special emphasis on making the worship events relevant, using contemporary music and real-world topics like drinking and sex to engage students. \n“We believe there are timeless truths that it’s up to us to effectively communicate and capture in the language and the concepts that students use today,” said Tony Arnold, the organization’s national spokesman. \nThe strategy seems to be working at IU, where staff members say attendance is up and students are interested. \nEvery week, more than 300 people pack into the group’s Thursday evening meetings while, throughout the week, about 50 smaller groups – averaging 10 students each – converge in places like dormitory basements and floor lounges to study the Bible. \nIn the past 10 years alone, the international organization has seen dramatic growth, increasing its number of campus locations from 500 in 1996 to 1,163 today.
A support network\nChris Robertson, a senior business major, is one of the group’s success stories at IU. \nHe wasn’t particularly interested in religion during his freshman year, but as a sophomore he started attending a weekly Cru Bible study in his dorm. \nThere, students talked candidly about their beliefs, relationships and sins, and became so close that they extended the conversations over meals or late-night video games in each other’s rooms. He \nwas hooked. \n“People see the need for Christ in their life. They see this need and realize that they can’t do it on their own,” he said. “Crusade is a place where it really is a spiritual resource where you can get involved with Bible study; you can meet people who are in very similar situations … struggling with the same things.” \nIndeed, at every campus-wide event on Thursday, after two emcees joke with the crowd and a pair of students read announcements in a Saturday Night Live-style news skit, a designated speaker or a panel of guests discuss issues and challenges in students’ lives. \nRecent sessions have focused on “Biblical decision making,” relationships and the topic of heaven and afterlife. In late March, the group planned a session on alcohol to address concerns surrounding this past weekend’s Little 500 bike race, known for drinking, said Jodi Butts, a campus \nstaff member. \nIn that session, a recent IU graduate and one of Cru’s current staff members described his personal struggles with alcohol, disclosing painful times spent in rehab during high school and the ways it led him away from God. \n“Because it’s student run,” Butts said, “they’re very in touch with what would be relevant, what would be a good topic.”
Less about rules\nBut relevancy isn’t the \nonly attraction.\nSome students say Cru’s welcoming, feel-good nature – where greeters hand out name-tags at the door and speakers openly talk about their past mistakes – marks a refreshing change from traditional church services heavy on religious doctrine.\n“Cru is more about the relationship with God and it’s less about the rules that go along with the relationship with God,” said Michael Sullenberger, a junior exercise science major, after a recent session. “You don’t have to be perfect to come to Cru – you come to Cru because you’re \nnot perfect.” \nMoreover, students say Cru offers a haven from the parties, pre-marital sex and other temptations that abound on campus.\n“It’s a way to be surrounded by people who are trying to live their life for Christ,” said Stephanie Hughart, a junior special and elementary education major. “It’s so hard to be in this college town just surrounded by troubles.”
A Christian home\nThose challenges are prompting one religious group to offer a designated house on campus where Christians can live and explore their faith with others. \nThe organization, Christian Student Fellowship, houses 59 male and female students in a large two-story, red brick building on North Jordan Avenue, near the end of a long strip of fraternity and sorority houses. \nDirector Bill Kershner says the Christian Student Fellowship house, which was established five years ago, attracts those who want to connect with other Christians outside of worship services or church functions. \n“We can come here, we can live, we can experience a university and a great town and we can be with like-minded people,” he said. “We want people to really do life here.” \nStudents apply to live at the house and pay $6,300 per year for room and board, similar to freshman dorm rates. \nThe house hosts a contemporary Thursday evening worship service – open to all students on campus – and 10 small group Bible studies throughout the week. Besides the structured events, though, Kershner said students in the house are just as likely to talk about religion over personal-pan pizzas in the basement kitchen, and at late-night poetry readings or social coffeehouse nights.\nThose informal gatherings help students develop relationships, he said, so they can hold each other accountable to their Christian faith.\n“This place can help you be built up so you can go out and lead the life we believe we’re called to live,” he said. \nFreshman Kevin Clemens, a psychology major who lives in the house, heard about it in high school and said its emphasis on personal connections has helped him stay committed to God even amidst the temptations that come with being a \ncollege student. \n“It helps keep us accountable to know we have a support group here,” he said. “It’s more one-on-one worship time.”
