Christian Union to launch 8-week evangelism tour at elite schools

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Wednesday, March 13, 2024

A Christian youth organization will soon launch an eight-week evangelism tour at elite secular universities, with the hope of reaching approximately 75,000 students with the Gospel.

The Christian Union, a nonprofit evangelism ministry, will launch its third annual “CU Rise” event on Sunday. This year’s theme is “Jesus Disrupts.”

Matt Bennett, founder and president of Christian Union, told The Christian Post that the theme was chosen “to introduce students to how radical Jesus is.”

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“We are doing a much more extensive outreach this year, including national media outreach, so in terms of exposure, we expect this will be our biggest year yet,” said Bennett.

The schools that the campaign will focus on include Brown University of Rhode Island, Columbia University of New York, Cornell University of New York, Dartmouth College of New Hampshire, Harvard University of Massachusetts, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University of New Jersey, Yale University of Connecticut, and Stanford University of California.

“Jesus ministered among the downtrodden as well as the influential, and these nine universities produce a disproportionate number of future leaders for the nation and the world,” Bennett told CP.

“Also, students at these schools are, on average, less exposed to the Gospel message than college students elsewhere. God loves all people and wants them to be saved if possible.”

The campaign seeks to reach students through what Bennett described as “a multifaceted plan incorporating digital media as well as on-campus events.”

This will include promoting the “Jesus Disrupts” campaign extensively on social media, as well as offline advertisements placed around the nine school campuses.

There will also be “student-on-the-street” interviews asking youth about Jesus and religion, with these set to be combined into videos that will be posted on social media platforms.

Additionally, according to Bennett, flyers, posters, stickers, and shirts promoting the “Jesus Disrupts” message will be distributed at the nine schools, and evangelistic gatherings will be held.

“Students today at the nation’s most rigorous schools are largely unaware of the most important message in the history of humanity,” Bennett told CP. “Jesus Christ has brought more good into the world than any other person, and these students deserve to know.”

“He also is the only one who can forgive sins and transfer us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. We need to do everything we can to give these students the opportunity to believe in Him.”