ONE IN CHRIST

CHURCH PARTNERSHIPS

SD: Bill, let’s transition to talk a little bit about the church. The local churches, the denominations, the church worldwide. How do you view CCC’s relationship with the church? BB: Well, we're very much committed to the church. In fact, we have a policy. Every staff member needs to be involved actively in a particular local church within 90 days after they’ve' been assigned to their position whatever it is, wherever it is. But in the very beginning we discovered there was great antagonism between churches. There were walls that were high and thick and impenetrable. Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Catholics, Episcopalians had very little to do with each other, and they hated any group like Campus Crusade for Christ and Youth for Christ generally, because we were little nobodies out there in space. So, we weren't warmly received when we appeared on the scene, but we began to demonstrate that we had been called to serve. Campus Crusade for Christ is a movement to serve others, and when our staff became active not only the campuses and in the various communities, many became elders and deacons of their local churches. They began to see that we really did mean what we said, we were servants, and today we have the most joyful, wonderful relationship with denominations all over the land and around the world. It's so exciting, and many of the leaders of denominations have either received Christ through Campus Crusade for Christ or have been greatly influenced through the teaching of Campus Crusade. So, thousands of our former staff and students are pastors all over the world. There are many laymen in prominent positions who help make decisions that govern our whole nation and the world who became Christians through the movement. So, we have so much to be grateful for.

SD: Speaking of the church, what does it take to develop effective, inter-denominational partnerships with whole groups of churches?

BB: Well, I think as Dr. Bob Reccord, President of the North American Missions Southern Baptist said, "If we would put our logos and our egos aside, God could really work through us." That is happening today. The barriers are eroding just like the Berlin wall and we’re seeing people come together from all denominations and saying, let's forget our differences. Let's concentrate on what we really believe and agree upon. We believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God. We believe the Bible is the inspired word of God. We believe Christ died for our sin and was raised from the dead and lives within us. Methodist, Baptists, Presbyterians, Catholics and whomever follows Jesus generally believe that and we can work with them, and we reach out to embrace anyone who loves Jesus and obeys Jesus.

SD: What have been some highlights, in your opinion, of our close teamwork with the Church?

BB: Well, we've had marvelous experience with the Nazarenes where they and we worked out a partnership to show the Jesus Film through the missionaries out on the fields of the world, and I received a letter only a few days ago from one of their leaders in charge of the whole project saying it had revolutionized the whole denomination because they're planting more churches than they've ever planted. They're seeing more people come to Christ than ever because of the Jesus Film. We are doing that with other denominations as well. Chuck Colson and other Christian leaders asked me to join with them in building bridges to Roman Catholics. Now, when we started the ministry in the 70's in Poland, everybody practically was a Catholic. Ninety-nine percent of Polish people are Catholic. So, we sent our first Jesus Film in -- I guess it was in the early 80's. We sent 125 reels, not videos, to be distributed to the Catholic churches of Poland where millions of Catholics viewed the Jesus Film and received the Lord, no doubt. Made a powerful impact. The present pope, John Paul II, approved all of our materials ??????? when he was a cardinal there in Poland. And to this very day we work with literally, I’m sure, millions of Catholics who love Jesus and share the Jesus Film. We share evangelism, and of course I know there are some people who say well our theology is not the same, but you know we can get hung up on peripheral issues. You know when you think about it, the Baptists and the Methodists and the Presbyterians, the Pentecostals, the Charismatics, the Catholics, they have their differences, but basically we agree on the essentials, and that's where we are. Our role is to serve the body of Christ, to bridges of love and communication.

EVANGELICALS AND CATHOLICS

SD: Bill, some years ago, you, Chuck Colson, Pat Robertson and other leaders signed an agreement called “Evangelicals and Catholics Together. Now, that turned out to be a little controversial. Why did you sign that agreement and what benefits have you seen come to the ministry of Crusade and to the whole Body of Christ from that agreement being signed? 

BB: Well, first of all I remember the prayer of our Lord, John 17, where He prayed to the Father that we who are His followers would be one even as He and the Father were one. Now, we know that within the Catholic faith as in Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian so forth, there are true believers. Our commitment was not to a denomination, not to the hierarchy, but to Jesus and to the believers in the church and we have to remember that Martin Luther was a monk. We have to remember that John Calvin and most of all the leaders of the reformation had been Catholics, devout Catholics. So, there are today among Catholics an even greater number, a multitude of believers. The Jesus Film is being shown to literally hundreds of millions of Catholics and there are many, no doubt only God knows, many are receiving Christ, but we have learned that we're to do what God says, not what our critics tell us to do. We love our critics. We say, Lord if there's any truth to what they are raising, help us to learn from it and if we're in error, please correct us. We don't want to ever be inflexible, but we must never yield to the pressure of our peers. What does God want us to do has always been our motto, and that we trust will always be the philosophy of this movement.
 

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