By junior year, many students are ready to move off campus. But Elizabeth Ferris stayed in the dorms — to serve what she saw as a higher purpose.
Ferris lives in Allison Hall as a member of Campus Crusade for Christ’s outreach program. By living close to new students, the group fulfills one of its major goals: to recruit new members and help bring them closer to God.
“The reason I push so hard is (because) I believe our mission is so important,” said Ferris, a Weinberg junior. “I know I’m going to have eternal life and I want other people to as well. So for me, it’s a question of life or death.”
Ferris said it has become a tradition for Campus Crusade upperclassmen to live in predominately freshman dorms to lead Bible study groups and help spread the word of the gospels. After all, Campus Crusade’s stated mission is to “turn lost students into Christ-centered laborers.”
Northwestern’s chapter of Campus Crusade for Christ is part of a larger international organization. The non-profit group was started in 1951 at UCLA and has since spread to 190 countries and more than 1,000 U.S. college campuses.
Matt Sfura, a campus staff member, said the goal of CCC is two-fold — to help students have a more authentic relationship with God and to help those who don’t have a relationship with God to develop one. CCC is not the only evangelical group on campus, but students say it is the most well-known because of the strong reactions members elicit from other students — Christian or not.
The cornerstone of Campus Crusade for Christ programming at NU is the group’s Thursday night “Real Life” worship meetings held at Harris Hall. Typically, about 125 students show up each week to listen to a praise band, watch religious skits from fellow students and hear a speaker talk about having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
There also are smaller access groups, divided by dorm, discipleship and fellowship programs, retreats and social activities. Campus Crusade is close-knit, and many members of CCC said the ministry is both a social and a religious outlet.
“I really love Crusade. It’s a giant family of people who love you no matter what,” said Stephanie Boes, a Weinberg junior. “The people I met in Crusade have become my best friends — a group of people with whom I can share my faith.”
But some students criticize CCC, saying its stated goal of proselytizing on campus makes them uneasy.
In particular, students say they are offended by the contact cards given out by CCC that ask questions about the person’s faith and religion. After the surveys are completed, Campus Crusade members often follow up with a phone call or even a visit to the student’s dorm room.
University Chaplain Timothy Stevens said his office has not received direct complaints recently about Campus Crusade or any other on-campus religious group. Stevens said he will sometimes hear a complaint indirectly about students bothered by attention from Campus Crusade or other missionary groups on campus, but students usually don’t pursue it further.
“Maybe they’re a little annoyed but not enough to talk to me,” Stevens said. “Northwestern University is pretty much committed to free speech. If someone says ‘Thanks very much, I’m not interested,’ most people politely move on. The problem is when someone says no and continues to be approached.”
Rabbi Michael Mishkin, director of Hillel Cultural Life, said he has received complaints from Jewish students being called by Campus Crusade. He said he doesn’t like that Campus Crusade “tries to missionize Jewish students.”
“It’s not clear why the student is being called originally,” Mishkin said. “While I respect them as religious people, I find their missionizing of non-Christian people problematic.”
Although some students reported unhappiness with CCC phone calls, others said they merely found Campus Crusade’s presence annoying.
Some students said although they did not want to join CCC they did not have an issue with being approached.
“Campus Crusade approached me the beginning of my freshman year and kept contacting me,” said Medill sophomore Tiffany Wilson. “They were very nice girls, but I decided to get involved with Sheil instead just because I was more comfortable in a Catholic setting.”
Julie Windsor Mitchell, a campus minister with United Christian Ministry, said although there is some overlap between members of UCM, CCC and other evangelical groups, there are some fundamental theological differences between the groups that makes it impossible for them to work together.
Mitchell said her group recruits students differently than CCC and other groups such as Greek IV, and its members lead only by example.
“The big differences between the groups are a question of evangelism and salvation and that’s a much larger issue than just on campus,” Mitchell said.
Jacob Chacko, a Weinberg junior who is a member of Campus Crusade, said he understands how people could be offended by the “sharing of faith,” but still sees that as an important part of Campus Crusade’s mission.
Sfura, the campus staff member, agreed that spreading the word of Jesus is a crucial part of the group’s goals.
“It’s not our intent to offend anyone. Our desire is to inform everyone about Jesus,” he said. “On the other hand, had we not followed up with a number of students they would not have been exposed to what Jesus did.”
Reach Diana Scholl at [email protected].
