And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.  And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

~ The Great Commission, Matthew 28:18-20  (ESV)

Almost 2000 years ago, Christ gave the “Great Commission” to His small band of disciples and followers just before He ascended into Heaven to take His place at the right hand of God.

At Cru, we see this passage of Scripture as a divine mandate to do all we can in helping the Body of Christ take the gospel to every person and nation on the face of the earth… no small task! More than seven billion people are alive today. Missions experts estimate some five billion are living outside the direct influence of believers who could share the good news of new life in Christ with them.

For more than 65 years, Cru (Campus Crusade for Christ) has sought to help the Body of Christ with tools and strategies to reach even greater numbers of people. Technology has extended this reach globally, crossing difficult political and physical boundaries. Through the use of the Internet and mobile phones, we’re now able to provide gospel and discipleship materials to nearly every ethnic group on earth. For example, Balázs, a young man in Hungary, found our Everystudent.com site in his language in the summer of 2013. He clicked on a link that connected him to a Hungarian family who patiently answered his many emailed questions. A year later, he had received Christ and was volunteering on everystudent.hu himself, answering the same questions he had been asking.

Some of our most-used web sites and phone apps include:

• Everystudent.com
• God Tools
• the JESUS Film Media app, and
• Falling Plates (a short video which helps people think about their need for Christ).

As you see below, in the last 12 months, we had over 31 million visitors to our various digital tools.

Quite often our ministry leadership is asking the key questions: “How well are we doing?”  “How many people are we exposing to the gospel and who are making decisions to follow Christ?”  “Are we reaching into the parts of the world which are the most difficult to send missionaries?” Data Sciences and Analytics, the team Mike is a part of, collects massive amounts of information (from our various field ministries and from our digital tools) and developed a tool to try to answer these and other strategic questions. This new tool displays helpful information through maps. For instance, we can show what parts of the world our online visitors come from. We’re even able to correlate spiritual interest with current events such as the recent earthquake in Ecuador.

Having information like this will help our leaders know better where spiritual interest is greatest in the world and where to invest resources such as:

1. teams to open new ministry opportunities on campuses or in cities
2. new websites, or
3. new phone apps.

Over the 40+ years we‘ve been part of this wonderful movement, we‘ve seen how technology helps accomplish the work of God’s kingdom on earth and in eternity. Through your faith, prayers, and financial investment, you make this possible. We ourselves, and Cru as a whole, can only do what we do because of your support of our ministry. We pray the Lord gives you great joy in knowing you’re helping to make disciples of all nations, as Jesus commanded us all, 2000 years ago.

Related content: Watch a video of Balázs as he explains how he came to Christ.