If you’ve got a vision to reach your school for Christ, you’re asking exactly the right question. Whoever you are, a student, teacher, youth pastor, college student, or concerned adult, here’s how to get started. There are two ways to go about it.
1. Do Your Own Thing
If you’d like to gather some friends, share your faith, and build something without any formal ties, just start with the playbook. The Reach Your School Playbook gives you everything you need to get started today.
2. Call Yourself Cru
If you’d like to use the Cru name and logos, and be part of a wider movement beyond just your campus, here’s what that looks like:
Doing Your | Being Called | |
| Use the Cru name and logos | No | Yes |
| Need a coach to get started | No | Yes |
| Part of the wider Cru movement | No | Yes |
| Get ongoing support from Cru staff | No | Yes |
| Can start today, no waiting | Yes | Still fast — just a call first |
"Whichever path you choose, you don’t have to figure it out alone."
How to Get Started
If you want to call yourself Cru, the way to get started is to connect with a coach, that’s how you register your movement. This is separate from anything your own school requires; if your campus has its own club registration process, you’ll still want to check with your school on that too.
A coach is a Cru staff member whose job is to walk alongside you as you get started. Here’s what working with a coach actually looks like from there:
- It’s free. No cost involved, no catch.
- No pressure. You reach out, someone gets back to you with information and answers your questions, and there’s no commitment required just to ask.
- Go at your own pace. You and your coach agree on a rhythm together, whether that’s weekly, every other week, or monthly, usually in calls of about 20 to 30 minutes.
- The calls are practical. Your coach checks in on how things are going, helps you work through whatever challenges you’re facing, brainstorms ideas with you, and prays for you.
- Real experience backs it up. Coaches have spent years working directly with students, teachers, and other volunteers on campuses like yours.
- You get resources. Training and tools to help you lead with confidence, even if this is your first time.
- It fits around your life. Coaches build their availability around your schedule.
Through it all, you’re helping students hear about Jesus, grow in their faith, and go on to reach others too. And whether you’re the student or the adult in this story, you stay the one leading it. Your coach walks alongside you; the coach doesn’t take it over.
Check Out the Playbook
Whichever path you choose, the Reach Your School Playbook is worth having in hand. It walks you through four simple steps — DREAM, PRAY, GO, GROW — for building something that reaches your school.
Download the Reach Your School Playbook
Whichever path you choose, don’t wait until everything feels figured out. Gather a few friends, open the Playbook, or send that first email to a coach. The important thing is that you start. Somewhere out there, a student at your school is waiting for someone to notice them, and that someone could be you.
