Cru responds to Nova Uriostegui’s Sept. 24 column

Dear Editor,

Cru is an interdenominational, global, Christian, movement. Our goal at Elmhurst College is to provide a safe space where people can come ask hard questions about God and consider what it means to have a personal relationship with God. Anyone is welcome to come to our meetings whether they have faith, no faith, or wherever they are on their faith journey. Regarding the recent column about Cru, we have begun a process of listening to our LGBTQIA+ friends on campus and want to take this opportunity to make Cru an even more inclusive community where all feel welcome. The column brought to light some ways our group unintentionally made certain groups of people feel isolated. Know that student leaders of Cru and the LGBTQIA+ community at EC will be in conversation and working together to see that barriers between our two communities are removed.

We start our Cru meetings every Thursday night at 8 p.m., emphasizing our values of everyone having a place to feel safe, wherever they are on their spiritual and personal journeys, challenged, by who Jesus is and how that applies to our lives, and known, finding a community of friends at EC that knows them deeply and loves them fully.

We want to encourage positive conversations, listen to one another, and live our lives to walk with and be more like Jesus.

Thanks for helping us do this and let us continue the conversation.

Sincerely,

Emilie Kottmeier

Hannah DeJonge

Chris Binder

Kirstin Gembala

Rebekah Small

Thomas Yarbrough

The Cru Leadership Team