The famous college campus ministry Cru, formerly Campus Crusade for Christ has long gone woke. But what was not previously known was that Cru is affirming homosexuality and transgenderism at an organizational level. Their ministry leader curriculum “Compassionate and Faithful” contains several heretical teachings which have never been brought to light until now. It is without a doubt that Cru affirms homosexuality and transgenderism in addition to promoting Side B Theology which asserts that homosexual and transvestite desires and identities are not sinful.
“We want our student leaders and volunteers to agree with and to live out our theological teachings, both Side A and Side B Theology, and to joyfully submit to the lordship of Christ”
Lori Kepner, Cru Legal Counsel
This Cru staffer openly admits that Cru embraces both full affirmation of homosexuality (Side A is shorthand for affirmation) and affirmation of homosexual desires and identity without the sexual acts (Side B). Both of these accepted positions in Cru are heretical and outside the historic orthodox Christian teaching that sinful desires are themselves sin and that sinful identities are incompatible with the Christian walk.
“We those who experience same-sex attraction and gender dysphoria to thrive serving with Cru.”
Marc Rutter, the leadership development director for Cru
Like the United Methodist Church, Cru is bent on having homosexuals and transvestites in leadership positions within their organization and thus created a training program to that end.
The examples of full affirmation continue where in one clip a man named Ted Child celebrates how his homosexual daughter can feel comfortable in church bringing her “non-Christian girlfriend” and how he wants Cru to be as welcoming.
Moreover, Kat Laprairie, a transvestite, appears in Cru’s curriculum speaking about how “identifying as transgender has been extremely freeing.”
Examples of Side B Theology, or partial affirmation are the baseline for Cru’s curriculum. Preston Sprinkle of the Center for Faith Sexuality and Gender is the primary lecturer in the training videos. Sprinkle is one of the most prolific Side B Theology heretics in the church today.
Among homosexual activists in the church, the term “clobber passages” is used. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 is the most notorious of these. Preston Sprinkles’s handling of the text
I want to make something really clear. 1 Corinthians 6, the words arsenokoitai and malakoi, and 1 Timothy 1 that uses the word arsenokoites again. Paul is not thinking about gay people per se in these words. Now listen closely. Paul is not thinking about somebody, for instance, like my friend Matt, who is committed to celibacy, who is not sleeping with anybody else. He’s not thinking of my friend Tom or Leslie who is not engaging in sexual activity. Paul is thinking explicitly of people who are engaging in ongoing unrepented of sexual immorality. He’s not thinking of somebody who simply identifies as gay or somebody who experiences same sex attraction. He’s thinking of people engaging in ongoing sexual activity. In fact, in Paul’s day, a lot of people who engaged in same sex relationships weren’t even gay.
In 1 Corinthians 6, Paul is not only describing ongoing behavior but also identity. It is not compatible with “such were some of you” to hold on to and identify with homosexuality. And to say that active sodomites weren’t actually gay is laughable. Preston Sprinkle carves out exceptions for the sin of homosexuality that he is unlikely to extend to the other sins listed in 1 Corinthians 6. Preston Sprinkle’s teaching is quite close to Matthew Vines in some respect, ultimately showcasing how there is a mere fig leaf of difference between Side A and Side B Theologies.
Use Of Language
Angela Knedgen, of Cru’s US digital strategies, explains that Cru does not “have an organizational position or practice regarding language use.” She goes on to say “There’s room for more than one view in Cru on these questions.” However, the training material excludes the most biblical view.
Preston Sprinkle talks at length about language throughout the various sessions. Sprinkle teaches that the word “homosexual” should not be used. He also believes that phrases like “gay agenda.”
[What do] spiritually minded or conservative Christians think of when they hear the term gay. They think of lust or they think of sexual behavior. And so I hear a lot of people say, well, I don’t think Christians should ever say they’re gay. I mean, I don’t say I’m an adulterous Christian or or I’m a lustful Christian. You see, when they when they say that, they assume that gay means something very sinful, like I’m lusting after somebody of the same sex, or I’m actually engaging in sexual acts with somebody at the same sex. But the term gay doesn’t have to mean that.
Preston Sprinkle broadens the term “gay” in a feeble attempt to remove the degenerate connotation.
I’m not saying it always will, but it could just erect like a thin wall that separates you from the person you’re trying to relate to. So I’ve gotten rid of the term homosexual. I just do not use it ever in this conversation.
He then goes on to chide Christians who hold a more orthodox approach to the issue:
Some straight Christians love to use the phrase gay agenda, as if all gay people in America have the same agenda, but that’s just not accurate. It’s just kind of a sloppy phrase. And again, if there’s a gay agenda, there must be a straight agenda. Do you have the same agenda as every other straight person on the planet? Probably not. And you would probably resist the stereotype if somebody said, oh, you’re straight, and then assume that all straight people have the same agenda. So homosexual gay lifestyle, practicing homosexual gay agenda. Let’s just get rid of those phrases. All they are are stereotypical phrases that oftentimes, um, create barriers between two people trying to engage in a real relationship.
Preston Sprinkle’s definition of gender is similarly woke, in that he makes a delineation between sex and gender that was unfounded before modernist gender theory.
Transgender. It’s it’s really an umbrella term that can mean many different things and many different people. Some people who identify as transgender believe that they are in the wrong body, like they believe they are a sex different from their biological or natal or birth sex. While other people may say that they’re trans if they just don’t like to try to match up to the stereotype. So, for instance, a biological woman who doesn’t feel very feminine or doesn’t like to wear dresses or, you know, go to sewing parties or whatever, if that’s something women do, they may say they’re trans because they’re just kind of protesting the stereotypes. And so transgender can mean all kinds of different things.
Preston Sprinkle also defends transgenderism, coming up with an innocuous definition that broadens the term beyond what it means. But in any case, he’s affirming an identity that is incompatible with Created Order, as there is no such thing as a “transgender person.”
The Church Is The Problem
Much of Cru’s content is a struggle session, lecturing the church about how we are the problem when it comes to homosexuality in society. Bill Henson, a Revoice speaker and founder of his gay affirming organization Posture Shift, peddles a victim narrative for homosexuals, stating that they’ve been mistreated by the church and laments how countries, like Uganda, have criminalized homosexuality. Henson also laments the “crisis of trans people being assaulted and murdered.” Henson treats sodomites as though they’re an unreached native group in the jungle with a complicated history.
Similarly, Jamey Pappas, a Cru team leader, highlights his apology tour on a college campus.
The Gay Seeker-Sensitive Movement
Ultimately, what Cru is advocating for in their training is for their campus ministries to adopt a seeker-friendly model towards sodomites and transvestites. In the broader church, the seeker-sensitive movement has led to all sorts of compromises where churches went along with the prevailing wind of culture to not offend.
Bill Henson emphasizes being a missionary to homosexuals, detailing the plight of child homosexuals and transvestites. Bill Henson wants Christians to learn the history, language, and culture of homosexuals and “die to our discomfort.”
Preston Sprinkle states that 76% of homosexuals and transvestites who left the church would be willing to come back if the church makes some changes. Sprinkle celebrates the fact that only 8% said that the church needs to change on marriage. He concludes that if the church was nice, the other 92% would return. This approach sounds more akin to extortion, especially when Preston Sprinkle is also advocating that homosexual desires are not sin. Sprinkle is not genuine about what theology needs to change to reach homosexuals and transvestites, as he focuses solely on the church’s teachings on marriage.
The grace truth way of Jesus has a very high standard of obedience, but excessively loves those who are falling short of that standard, especially especially people who have been marginalized and ostracized by religion today.
Preston Sprinkle
Christina Thomas, a field staffer for Cru, believes that the church has prioritized marriage too much and teaches incorrectly about same-sex attraction.
Equating same-sex attraction to sin and speaking judgementally against those in LGBT+ community doesn’t prove conducive to sharing the gospel with nonbelievers.
Christina Thomas, Cru field staffer
There’s an obsession with being seeker-friendly to homosexuals and transvestites, but Cru fails to take into account who they will turn away by catering to degenerates. If you want men, especially Gen Z men to join Cru, effeminate undertones are not conducive to sharing the gospel with this polarized generation.
But the fruit of this seeker-sensitive approach for Cru has the same result as the fruit of the seeker-sensitive approach in the church: functional antinomianism.
Holly Murray, a local team leader for Athletes in Action, told a story of a homosexual in her ministry affirming her faith in the process.
Claire entered a same sex relationship… She was afraid of how other Christians might respond to her if they knew that she was gay. I did not want to reinforce her fears by jumping into that topic right away… When I approach talking about Cru’s stance on same sex romantic relationships and sexual sin, I do it in the same way I do with any student who is living in sin. I gently explain that an athlete who is not experiencing victory in the area of sexual wholeness is not in a position to lead others spiritually. Yet I know that Claire knows the gospel and has a relationship with Jesus. I also know that she understands sexual wholeness rather than condemning her for being in this relationship. I’m praying for her and trusting the Holy Spirit to do the heavy lifting in this area of her life.
The approach of seeker-sensitive megachurches on sin is to defer all disciplinary action to the Holy Spirit. This is true with a host of sins, not just homosexuality. In the same way, Cru staffers are being taught to not disfellowship a member who is actively engaging in sexual immorality while affirming this person’s profession of faith. It would be one thing if a homosexual started attending Cru to learn more, but the aforementioned example is someone choosing their sin. Moreover, the example set tells the other members on that campus that sin is acceptable. Cru does not acknowledge the consequences of such a posture.
Conclusion
Cru has long been woke and made conscientious efforts to conceal information like this from the broader church. Whistleblowers within Cru face retaliation and many are too afraid to go on the record. The solution to this problem would require heavy donor intervention and the elimination of Cru’s bureaucratic positions, in favor of a decentralized approach to ministry reliant on local churches for guidance, to prevent college campus liberals from subverting the mission of the campus organization many were once a part of. But until these changes happen, Christians should not be funding this apostate organization.
Powered by RedCircle
