What's it like to be on staff with Cru?

What’s it like to be on staff with Cru?

Okay, let’s say you are sold out for Jesus and you would love to spend your best hours helping win, build, and send high school students. But you want to know, what is it REALLY like to be on staff with Cru?

Everyone’s staff experience will be different, but here is a good general picture of life on staff with Cru.

It is Flexible

As Cru field staff, you need to have a basic level of responsibility and self-motivation. Why? Because on the whole, YOU will be in charge of your schedule.

Serving with Cru, you will not punch a clock, fill out a timesheet, or provide a minute-by-minute account of your activities to your team leader. You will have great freedom in how to carry out the basic mandate to win, build, and send students.

So rather than every day from 9 to 5, your 40 hours of work may be distributed very differently throughout the week.

Time with God

Every day, we must be spiritually prepared for the work of the gospel. So the great news is, spending time with God is part of your job! If you want to spend an hour or more each day in the Word and prayer, you can do it completely guilt-free.

We also encourage staff to take a monthly half day with the Lord.

Time with Students

Most of our staff work on the field, directly with students. This is where many new staff spend the bulk of their ministry time, working to win, build, and send teenagers.

You will have Cru club meetings at lunchtime and/or before or after school. You will spend some of those same times on campus (where allowed) sharing your faith, asking God to bring you to students who are open to the gospel.

When you bring your students with you to do evangelism, you can do win/build/send all at the same time. You are building them in their faith and knowledge of how to share, and you are sending them when they are the ones who invite a group to do “Soularium” or when they share their testimony or teach at a weekly club meeting.

You may also lead one or more Bible study groups and individual or small-group discipleship times. These can be after school or in the evenings.

Not all the time you spend with students will be in formal events. Maximize your time by bringing them with you wherever you go. Take them along to the hardware store. Go to their football practices and attend their talent shows. Remember the principle that we do “life-on-life” ministry.

Also counted as work is the time you spend . . .

Studying and preparing for those meetings
Contacting your students via phone, text, however
Praying for them
Promoting Cru through social media
Planning and focused personal growth activities

Time with Your Staff and Leaders

You will have a staff meeting each week, which will include planning and possibly some relational time. You may have a regular time of being supervised by your team leader or campus leader.

For your assigned campus(es), you may get together with other staff or volunteers each week. You can plan and strategize how to reach that school, share victories and struggles in ministry, and discuss individual students and the next steps for each (share Christ with them, challenge them to leadership, etc.).

New field staff will be guided by a trainer through Cru’s Core Training. This includes a lot of content and hands-on assignments and may take about 20% of your time each week during the first year.

If the Office is More Your Thing

While many of our new staff prefer to work directly with students, others have skills and aptitudes that are more administrative or operational. If you are great behind a desk and love working to maximize the efforts of others, you should definitely consider a position at one of our Cru offices. Whether you work out of our Cru headquarters in Orlando, FL, one of our regional offices, or help support one of our local teams operationally, there are many opportunities to serve behind the scenes with Cru.

MPD

Finally, all staff need to prioritize regular time on Ministry Partner Development – maintaining and building relationships with partners, seeking new and increased support, and writing and producing newsletters. Staff who make MPD part of their weekly schedule are usually the ones who see long-term success.

To sum up: A typical day may include time in the morning for personal chores or free time. Your lunch hours and afternoons will often be spent with students, and some of your evenings as well. The key is to be flexible, adaptable, and available.

The life of a Cru field staff person has rhythms and seasons different from almost any other job.

Your Year

Just as your day and your week have a flow, your year has a rhythm as well. Because we are campus workers, our most busy time of year will be when our schools are in session, typically September through June.

But contrary to some perceptions, we are not schoolteachers, and we do not get summers off!

Of course, our focus is different because we are not going on campus. But there is still plenty of ministry to be done. A typical summer starts with a Getaway conference (24/7 with students for 4-5 days). Then you may go on a short-term domestic or international mission with students.

Your staff team may have some planned summer ministry activities, like cookouts, summer Cru meetings, or recreation days. These might be less intense and more geared toward gathering new students, but still include biblical teaching or devotionals.

And just as during the school year, you will want to look for informal ways to spend time with your disciples and other students. In fact, you may have a lot more time to hang out with them.

You may also spend 2-4 weeks in the summer attending IBS (Institute of Biblical Studies) classes toward fulfilling Cru’s theological education requirements.

If your support needs work, your team leader may ask you to devote yourself full-time to MPD for a few weeks, possibly back in your home area. Cru staff also have vacation time, but please do not confuse time in MPD with vacation. Your team leader and MPD coach will expect you to work as hard on MPD as you do on campus.

Back to the school year: Your fall will be full of planning, evangelism, and gathering as you restart the movement on your campus(es). It is an exciting time of developing students to take leadership spaces vacated by those who have graduated.

When winter rolls around, you will probably put on a winter Fastbreak conference as well. This can happen any time between December and February, either during Christmas break or the MLK or Presidents’ Day holidays.

Spring of a school year can rush by quickly. For the seniors in our movement, we are getting ready to launch them into a new phase. If you are taking students on an international mission trip, you will spend a good amount of time fundraising for yourself and helping them, since they are not experts like you!

Wrapping it Up

The life of a Cru field staff person has rhythms and seasons different from almost any other job. It can be hectic and demanding, but most of us would not trade this life for anything. The rewards of seeing young lives changed for eternity are totally worth it.

Next Step

What is your next step on your journey? Here are some suggestions...

If you know a Cru staff member, talk to them about what it might look like for you to join staff.
Learn more about the qualifications for coming on staff with Cru.
Visit our New Staff Orientation page to find training dates and deadlines for our New Staff Training.
Apply for staff with our online application.
Not sure you are ready for staff? Check out Different ways to Join Us.

qualifications online application

Starting Spiritual Conversations

Bringing up spiritual topics can be hard, but it’s one of the most important steps in reaching your friends. If no one starts the conversation, most students will never talk about their faith.

Solarium: A deck of picture cards to help you start conversations about life and God.

Sharing Your Testimony

Your story matters. Sharing what God has done in your life can open hearts and help others realize that faith is personal and real.

How to Share Your Story (article): A step-by-step guide to help you talk about how Jesus has changed your life.

Sharing Your Faith

The gospel is powerful and your friends need to hear it. Learning how to clearly explain the message of Jesus is a huge step in making your faith your own and helping others follow Him.

How to Share the Gospel (article): a step-by-step guide to help you share the gospel with a friend.
Connecting with God Booklet: A short, simple booklet you can read through with a friend to explain how they can know Christ.
The Four Wristband: A wearable tool with four simple symbols to help you talk about God’s love and how to receive Christ.
GodTools App: A free app with interactive ways to share your faith in different languages and styles.

“You don’t have to be perfect to start reaching your school.”

Following Up a New Believer

When someone accepts Christ, they need help knowing what to do next. Helping a new believer grow in their faith is one of the most rewarding things you can do.

Thrive Studies App: Includes the START series—four Bible studies for new believers.

Leading a Small Group

Small groups are a powerful way to build community and help students grow. If you can lead a good conversation, you can lead a small group.

Thrive Studies App: Includes dozens of studies on real-life topics and built-in leader training.

Campus Ministry Training

Reaching students on your campus is one of the most strategic ways to share your faith. Learning a few simple principles can help you start conversations, gather students, and take steps toward building a movement at your school.

Campus Training Videos – Short, practical videos to help you learn how to reach students on your high school campus. These eight trainings cover key topics like meeting students, starting conversations, sharing your faith, and taking simple steps to build a movement.

Other helpful tools

Everystudent.com: articles to help students learn about faith
Gotothecampus.com: ministry training and tools to help you grow your ministry

Next Step

Pick one tool and take a step this week to start a conversation or gather a few friends.

Ask a Coach – Tips from an Expert

Starting a ministry on your campus is an exciting step, but it can also raise a lot of questions. What should you do first? How do you find students who are interested? What if your group is small or things do not go the way you expected?

This is where a coach can help. A campus ministry coach is someone who has experience helping students and leaders start and grow ministries on high school campuses. They listen to what you are facing, help you think through wise next steps, and connect you with helpful tools and resources along the way.

Throughout the Reach Your School Playbook, you will see short insights from coaches who have spent years helping students reach their campuses. This page gathers more of those tips in one place so you can learn from their experience and keep moving forward.

Below are practical coaching tips from leaders who have walked this road before. As you read, look for what applies to your situation right now and take your next step. You can get your own coach by emailing us at coachingcenter@cru.org. We’d love to help.

Starting a ministry on your campus can feel overwhelming, but you do not have to figure it out alone.

Coaching Tips

Ask a few non-Christian friends how they would respond to your ideas, then process those same questions with Christian friends to sharpen your thinking.

Evangelism is the engine of your ministry, and helping students influence others is how you build future leaders.

You don’t have to figure this out alone, there are people with experience who would love to help you gather students and get the word out.

You have rights on campus, learn them, then live them out with confidence.

Many people are looking for something bigger than themselves, so give them a vision worth joining.

You may be walking past someone God is preparing, start a conversation and see what He does.

Pray Scripture, if God says it, you can pray it, and keep prayers short so more people can participate.

Invite a coach to join your team early, it will help you move faster and avoid common mistakes.

Use the tools available to you, there are helpful resources for sponsors, leaders, and teams if you ask.

When meeting with school leaders, bring others with you so it’s clear you’re building something together.

Be curious, kind, helpful, and bold, those four traits open doors.

Work with your school, not against it, staff can often help you more than you expect.

Teams help you reach more people, save time, and build momentum.

If your school allows non-curricular clubs, they must allow a Christian club too.

Use tools and visuals that help people remember and apply what they learn.

Create environments people actually want to be part of, whether on campus or off.

Use social media, simple graphics, and personal invites, everyone plays a role in getting the word out.

Have a clear process for identifying and developing student leaders.

Work within school expectations for roles, but organize your team in a way that actually helps you function.

Start outreach where you already have relationships, teams, clubs, and shared interests.

Use response cards or forms to follow up, gather feedback, and invite people into next steps.

If God is nudging you to take a step, go for it, but bring others with you.

Parents can be powerful allies, don’t be afraid to involve them.

Always have a next step ready so you can invite people while they’re still engaged.

Next Step

Do you have any questions for our coaches? If so, ask your question here, or request a coach for your ministry by emailing us at coachingcenter@cru.org!