Part of Cru’s “Compassionate & Faithful” curriculum has leaked online, and it’s worse than we, and probably you, thought.
If you were unaware, “Compassionate & Faithful” is Cru’s curriculum for training campus groups to “Navigate LGBT+ Questions in Ministry.” With Cru’s (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ) many forays into social justice topics in recent years, and from what could be seen from the outside, it was assumed that Compassionate & Faithful (C&F) was teaching a less than Biblical approach to the topic. This assumption has been more than confirmed with much of the curriculum’s leak.
Diving In
In this article, we’re taking a first look and summarizing several concerning points, but you can expect more analysis in the coming weeks.
For now, let us start by briefly mentioning who created the curriculum. The core appears to have been created by Preston Sprinkle and his “Center for Faith, Sexuality, and Gender.” It does appear that Cru has built its own program around that core, yet the line between the parts constructed specifically by Preston vs. Cru is unclear, as is the exact relationship between the two.
Preston is a major agent of change with regard to the American church’s view of human sexuality. We’ve covered Rosaria Butterfield and Jared Moore calling out Preston’s teaching, as well as his “Exiles in Babylon” and “Exiles Denver” conferences. Beyond his questionable teaching on sexuality, he also holds several positions that would normally be considered heretical, including denying a literal hell and denying/questioning penal substitutionary atonement.
Why is this man being brought in to teach college students about sexuality?
Bringing in Democrat Activists
This is one of those “it’s worse” points, as included as one of the presenters, specifically on race and sexuality, is self-described Democrat activist Justin Giboney. This is a man so involved in Democrat politics that he served as a delegate to the DNC in 2016.
Giboney runs “the AND Campaign,” with the goal of shifting Christians to the left, getting them to be comfortable with voting Democrat, and helping them adopt his views on race (namely, Critical Race Theory).
To quote from the AND Campaign’s book: “…the church should be leading the way. We can understand and appreciate identity politics, intersectionality, and critical race theory.”
With all that in mind, watch this short selection of clips from his segment of the curriculum.
It’s fascinating to note how he attacks the church as part of an oppressive force over both “racial minorities” and the “LGBT community.” Additionally, he goes after people for using secular ideas or being politically indoctrinated, when he clearly does both of these things. We included a clip of him giving a correct view of marriage because we want to show there is more than just false teaching going on, yet it’s mixed in with ideas that seem to counter his correct statement.
In the end, it is very concerning that this man was chosen to be a part of a Christian curriculum, especially as he brings in much more than just a questionable approach to sexuality.
Pronouns
The question of “Can a Christian use someone’s preferred pronouns” has become a massive Trojan Horse of overcomplication, used to smuggle in categories and ideas that have never been a part of Christian thought. How does Cru handle this question? By overcomplicating it to the point where it is, at best, a point to “respect differing opinions” on.
To quote their document “In Evangelism, Should I use Someone’s Chosen or Preferred Name and Pronouns?” they say that “it is important to treat fellow believers with charity and respect as we may come to different decisions [about pronouns].” Further, they state that “not using someone’s preferred name or pronouns is that this may put a barrier between you and them, offending them and limiting your ability to gain a relationship or share Christ.”
Now, they do say they “want to help every believer discover the goodness of biblical teaching about God’s good design for male and female and embrace their biological sex.” Yet you may see that there is a bit of discontinuity between that statement and the previously quoted ones.
The water gets even muddier when we look at the video portions of C&F tackling transgenderism. They label the speakers (who all claim to be Christian) as “Heterosexual Cisgender Female,” “Transgender,” or “Same-sex Attracted Cisgender Female.” For the sake of clarity, the “transgender” woman does not identify as male, but does consider herself “transgender” as a way of making sense of her “disconnect between her body and internal self.”
To be blunt, there are contradictory things being presented. This is not a Biblical approach, but a desperate attempt to have one foot in the world and one foot in the church. Donors and former members should be upset and disappointed by this level of problematic teaching.
Promoting Liberation Theology?
We only have part of C&F, but there is so much more that exists. C&F is simply the curriculum that staff members use to teach campus groups, but what about the training those staff members receive? We may not have access to that training, but we can observe some alarming things from available syllabi. In a 2024 class on “Christian World View [sic] & Ethics,” they use the C&F curriculum, but it is what else that is included that provides the main concern.
Alongside C&F, other questionable books, and diversity statements, we find “Bonheffer’s Black Jesus: Harlem Renaissance Theology and an Ethic of Resistance.”
That “25%” next to the book, is the percentage of the student’s grade that is based on writing a paper (précis) summarizing the book. This is not a minor point of the class, nor is there even a hint that the book is something to refute—quite the opposite in fact. It is presented as a positive thing that helps you achieve the “learning outcomes” of the class.
What is wrong with the book though? It is a book promoting Black Liberation Theology, a Marxist ideology that usurps Biblical language to promote “oppressed blacks” rising against their “oppressors” (hence: Ethic of Resistance). This ideology is then connected to Bonhoeffer’s resistance to the Nazis.
It should be readily apparent that this sort of rhetoric is dangerous, and not the sort of thing that should be used for the education of Christian ministry leaders.
Now, what is the end goal for the class? The final project lays that out: ”
The final project is to design an outreach, discipleship curriculum, mission project, or cross-cultural learning experience (or any other idea that fits within the general parameters of the assignment) that can be applied in your current ministry context. Some examples of projects: (1) You can write a curriculum for cross-cultural training in your ministry context; (2) You can write a weekly-meeting talk or retreat seminar on sexuality; (3) You can write an evangelistic talk on the good news in a polarized political climate,”
The objective is to create staff members who can not only lead curricula like C&F, but to create their own.
That is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Cru. When will enough be enough? When will Christians stop supporting organizations that are shifting the Church away from her first love? Please, if you have any connection to Cru, call for repentance.
All files from the leaked course may be viewed here. We will strive to update this link if the files change location: https://mega.nz/folder/GL4WiCgJ#SDSYWxqf_yOGjaElTBuxCw
