Campus Crusade For Christ - Joining the Ministry

1. Where would I be placed?
Where would you like to go? We can’t always place people in their first choice, but we try. Other factors include where we need staff and who is available to train you. We often place people at a site in the region of the country where they’re from.

2. How can I use my major on staff?
Art majors welcome! Engineering majors welcome! Education majors welcome! All majors are welcome! Whatever your major is, you can use the skills you’ve learned on staff. Think about it: Not only are you being trained in the specifics of your major, you’re learning great general skills too. Art majors, your creativity can help a staff team be more open to new ideas. Engineers, your systematic thinking skill can help your team be more effective in planning outreaches. Educators, your communication skills and teaching skills can make you more effective at sharing your faith.

Plus, you’ve learned skills simply by being a college student that are essential on staff. You’ve learned how to connect deeply with friends, how to make decisions, how to finish a task, and how to be a critical thinker. Imagine how God could use you in expanding His Kingdom!

Now, it’s important to point out that there are also opportunities to use your major in a full-time capacity on staff. We have (huge) needs in our regional and national offices. We need people trained in computer technology, accounting, administration, graphic design, and a bunch of other things. We even need teachers for our schools overseas. So keep those options on your radar as you think about using your major on staff.

3. What are the criteria for being accepted as a staff member?
Taking the step to join our staff can be scary; some people wonder if they have what it takes to be in full-time Christian work. We look at three main areas as part of the application process: relationship with God, self and others. We look for staff members who have a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. We look for staff members who also know themselves, who know their strengths and weaknesses and are growing in their personal maturity. Finally, we look for staff members who are relational people, able to form and maintain friendships, and who desire to reach out to and influence others. For a look at our application, click here.

4. What does the support-raising process look like?
All of our full-time staff members have the honor of raising our own financial support. At our New Staff Training, we coach you in how to develop ministry partners. You then go home and begin the process of finding those people whom God has chosen to be part of your ministry. You’ll spend a lot of time on the phone and visiting people in their homes or at work – you’ll be presenting your ministry and inviting people to join you in what God is doing. For more about support-raising, check out the Discerning God's will section and the Financial Information section.

5. How long will it take me to raise support?
It takes a single person an average of 8-10 months to raise their support. But God is in charge of the process, so each person's experience is different. A wise woman once said that raising support is much more about trusting God than it is about the money. And it's true. Raising financial support will grow a missionary's faith in God, preparing him or her to trust the Lord to reach the world for Christ! For more information on our financial structure, check out the Financial Information section.

6. My parents are hesitant about me joining staff. How should I respond to them?
Parents are often not familiar with organizations like Campus Crusade for Christ so a lack of information creates a certain type of anxiety. Since your parents want what’s best for you, they will be concerned about the things pertaining to your welfare: a decent income, good benefits, and an opportunity to use your skills and education. Providing them with specific information about our benefits and salary system can alleviate many of their concerns.

It may be hard for them to imagine that God will provide consistent donors for your ministry. Maybe you could introduce them to staff members who have seen Him provide for a number of years for their support.

Your parents might be thinking that this environment is not stable enough to raise a family. Again, it might help to bring them into the home of a staff family to see that we live a ‘normal’ life and our children have many wonderful experiences as a result of growing up in a CCC family.

Sometimes parents are concerned about taking full advantage of your very expensive college education. It would be helpful for you to think through how your time in college and your specific degree has prepared you for this opportunity. Even though your major may not be directly used, the skills and information you’ve acquired have prepared you for a lifetime of meaningful contributions. Try to be specific in the application of your studies to full time ministry.

Most importantly, try to understand their position. They have invested over two decades of love, concern, worry, fear, money, time and much more so that you can have the best of all opportunities as an adult. Be mindful that it was not that long ago that you were an adolescent and very likely made at least a few foolish decisions. Your parents want to protect you from as many bad choices as possible, so until they can embrace at least part of this opportunity, they may continue in active concern and worry for your welfare. Try not to see this as challenge to your maturity but as a deep interest in seeing you have all that is best in this life. It can help if you verbalize to them what you think they might be feeling in a very compassionate and understanding way. They will feel understood and in turn may try to understand your point of view.

By demonstrating that you value their concern by providing as much specific information as possible and by modeling to them empathy and understanding will go a long way toward alleviating their anxiety.

For more ideas on how to talk with your parents about your desire to join staff, see What To Do When Parents Say No. Also, check out the section Especially For Parents.

7. What is the difference between Campus Crusade for Christ and other ministries?
There are other wonderful organizations out there that do similiar ministry. Some, like Campus Crusade, are interdenominational, and some are affiliated with a particular denomination. To better understand the differences between organizations, you might want to go to the web sites of the various organizations. Read their statement of faith, their mission and vision, their history and financial structure. Of course, the most important thing with any Christian organization is that they hold to the Bible as their basis of belief.

For more info about Campus Crusade, read our Statement of Faith.

8. What kind of leadership opportunities will I have as a woman on staff?
Campus Crusade desires to allow all of its staff members, men and women, to reach their full leadership potential and fully utilize their gifts toward helping to reach students for Christ. As a woman, you could help to lead an outreach on your campus, a summer project, or even the charge to reach all the students in a given scope, whether a campus, a region, or a nation. We want to help you identify how God has uniquely gifted you and then assist you in developing those gifts and applying them to help fulfill the Great Commission.

9. Could I work part-time on staff?
Our staff jobs are full-time positions. If you’d like to volunteer with a local ministry, you can contact them for more information about becoming an associate or affiliate staff member.

10. What will I do during the summers?
During our summers, most staff members help lead a Summer Project, either here in the States, or overseas. Some staff members take seminary classes as part of our School of Leadership.

11. Will I have to raise my support every year?
When we raise support, we invite our ministry partners to join us for as long as God leads them. Our prayer is that God would raise up a core team of partners who would give financially for as long as God calls us to be in full-time ministry. Our part is to love them, pray for them, and update them on what God is doing in our ministry. Over time, for various reasons, people will decide to give elsewhere, and then we trust God to provide for that need as we continue to raise support. For an article on overcoming the fear of raising support, click on the "Raising Support" link in the Financial Information section.

12. If I join staff, how long am I committed to stay on staff?
We ask our new staff to join us for at least two years. We have a training program that takes the new staff members through theological and ministry training.

13. Do you have to be married/single to be on staff?
Sometimes if the staff you know are all single, you wonder what’s up with that? Can you be married and be on staff? Or sometimes the opposite happens, and you might know only married staff. In fact, we have tons of all types of staff, from young single people to “married's” without children, to whole families. And there are staff members who have been all of those at some point!

14. What do women do on staff who have children?
Our staff wives and moms are just as much “on staff” as their husbands. There are some moms who spend as much time on campus as their husbands. And there are some moms who stay home and take care of children. We love for our moms to be as involved in the ministry as they can be.

15. Would you accept someone on your staff who has not been involved with Crusade?
Our heart is that God would lead those people to join us who have a heart for the lost. We’re looking for staff members who feel led to help “build spiritual movements everywhere so that everyone knows someone who truly follows Christ” (That’s the mission statement of our ministry). Experience with Campus Crusade helps prospective staff to know a little better what they’re getting into, but it’s not required, by any means. More important than ministry experience is your walk with the Lord and His call on your life.

16. What is New Staff Training and when is it?
New Staff Training is our required five-week leadership development and training conference to launch you into full time staff with Campus Crusade for Christ. This training is so crucial and significant because you'll be trained in the foundations of ministry. You'll receive seminary level theological development. You’All learn about Campus Crusade and our vision and direction as a movement. You’ll learn about our financial structure and how to develop ministry partners. Plus, you’ll be in a cool location with hundreds of other new staff! How fun is that? For more info check out : the New Staff Training Web site.

17. Do you have any denominational affiliations?
Campus Crusade for Christ is an interdenominational organization. We are honored to have partnered with many denominations. We hold to the core beliefs of the Christian faith that have been constant over the centuries. Take a look at our Statement of Faith for more on what we hold to as an organization.

18. What is the difference between internship and full-time staff?
An Internship is a one-year opportunity to experience ministry on a campus or in an office. Interns are only required to raise about half as much money as new staff members do.

19. When I join staff, can I go directly overseas?
We are committed to partnering with the nations of the world to reach the lost. At the same time we are also committed to providing the best possible environment for the personal growth and ministry development of the individual. With that in mind, when a person requests an international assignment as their first placement on staff, we take into consideration the needs of the location and the needs of the individual. We also evaluate the resources on the receiving team, such as the ability to train a new staff person and the infrastructure to develop them. We do not want to send anyone to a location that cannot adequately support them.

It is not uncommon for those who have been on STINT (Short Term International) to sense a call to return to that location to continue in ministry as a full-time staff member. We value the ministry that the STINTer has begun and desire to see continuity in relationships. We will consider that as a first assignment as long as we can confidently provide for both the new staff person’s needs and the in-country team’s resources for training and development.

The US Campus Ministry has many opportunities to explore international ministry such as regional spring break trips, summer projects, STINT and others. We strongly encourage all staff to begin with a shorter commitment before taking the steps toward long-term service on a campus outside the US. For more information on the International arm of our Campus Ministry, check out WSN.

20. Do I need to have an interview as part of the application process?
Yes, unless you’re from the following states which do not require an interview: ME, VT, NH, MA, RI, CT, NY, PA, MD, DE, NJ, VA, WV, AK, WA, MT, OR, ID, NV, UT. However, if you have limited experience with Campus Crusade, you’ll need an interview no matter where you’re from.

21. What is a STINT? What does Crusade’s internship look like?
STINT is short for Short-Term International and refers to our one- to two-year overseas internship program. We send teams of STINTers to every area of the world to do ministry on campuses in those countries. In addition, we also have one- or two-year stateside internships.

22. When can I start raising support?
Once you’re accepted as full-time staff, you may start raising support for your New Staff Training. You begin raising support for your monthly needs after New Staff Training. As an intern or STINTer, you begin raising support after your acceptance and training.

23. When do I hear when I’m accepted/not? What is the timetable?
We have two New Staff Trainings, one in January and one in June/July. The application deadline for our January training is November 1, and the deadline for our June/July training is April 1. Once we receive all of your application materials, including references, you should hear from us in about 4 weeks.