How This Ministry Used the JESUS Film to Reach 700M People with the 'Never Changing Gospel' During the Pandemic

An international Christian organization has created digital tools and resources to empower anyone to share the Gospel, build close communities, and make disciples. 

Cru is the U.S.-based organization for Campus Crusade for Christ International started in 1951.  Founder Bill Bright stepped onto the campus of UCLA with the mission to connect people with Jesus Christ. 

His mission to share the Gospel with college students eventually grew into the ministry of Cru that now operates on more than 10,000 college and university campuses across 190 countries. 

Cru's National Director, Mark Gauthier, told CBN's the Prayerlink that the strategy from the outset has been to "win, build, and send."

"We are gripped and changed by the love of Christ in our own lives," he explained. "Christ in us and His heart for every one of the 7.4 billion people on this planet has been the driving force for all that we do for these 70 years."

"That has been the driving force for Bill and Vonette when they stepped onto that campus in 1951 in Southern California and it continues to be our driving motivation and strategy," Gauthier continued. 

Gauthier shared the organization has changed gears in light of the pandemic. He says God has used it as a spark to "innovate ways to connect the never-changing Gospel with ever-changing culture."

"Anytime there is a crisis, whether an individual crisis or a countrywide crisis or a global crisis, it's an opportunity. God is at work because he is always, as it says in 2 Samuel 14:14, 'always devising ways that the banished person may not remain estranged from Him.'"

According to Gauthier, Cru's JESUS Film Project  reached more than 700 million people this past year. 

"That's one person every second," he shared. 

"Our methods are dictated by the people we are trying to reach," Gauthier continued. "Over this pandemic, the vast majority of the human race finds themselves on a computer screen or mobile device and that has been a large part of what we have done to connect with people."