The donation of over $200,000 to The Crusader Union will enable the Christian ministry to continue their work in spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ to New South Wales independent school students.
The ministry is now established in around 130 out of 395 independent schools in NSW, with an emphasis on schools that have a mix of Christian & non-Christian staff said Gary Hill, Executive Director of the Crusader Union. The ministry's sole focus on school students had a good justification to it explained Hill.
Contrasting two grim statistics, Hill said that the National Church Life Survey indicated that,only around 7 percent of youth under the age of 17 regularly attend church, compared to 99 percent who attended school each week. The infrequent attendance to church by youth had been a recurring theme for at least 10 years, said Hill.
Reaching school students when they were young was critical, said Hill. He used another statistic to illustrate that 70-80% of Christian adults from across Australia, the United State of America and the United Kingdom became Christians before they turned the age of 18.
The Crusader Union uses a three prong approach in proclaiming the message of Jesus Christ. These are that was the CRU holiday camps, SUMMIT school camps and CRU lunch-time school groups.
The theme for this year's fund raising, which attracted over 170 business people, was 'Living Proof.' Rachel Bennett, a Year 12 Roseville College student, spoke of her living testimony of how her life was impacted by the ministry through the camps and lunch-time group.
"I remember my first CRU Camp 5 years ago – Sail Mania," said Bennett. "I remember it because of the people I met, the fun I had and the memories I made...but most of all I remember it because it was that week when I committed my life to God...at that time I didn't really know what that involved, so it was awesome that Roseville had a lunchtime CRU Group so that I could learn more about how to live as a Christian."