College religious organizations

College religious organizations provide campus ministry services to students of colleges and universities throughout the world. These are most commonly found in secular colleges and universities to cater to students of particular religious beliefs where the institution is not affiliated with, cannot endorse a particular religion, or hire its own religious ministers. These are sometimes affiliated as registered student organizations of their local university.

The need for pastoral services in secular universities can be traced back to the writings of John Henry Newman advocating for societies of Catholic students to be established at secular universities in England. The rising popularity of public universities in many parts of the world over sectarian private universities also necessitated a need for Christian ministerial services for students. At the same time Christian churches in the vicinity of colleges and universities may provide worship and ministerial services to local students.

In the United States there are about 250 Catholic Newman Centers that minister to Catholic students at public universities. They trace their origin to the Newman movement and are ministered by laypeople, local parishes, or religious institutes. More recently, lay apostolates such as the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS), established in 1997, are ministering to and re-evangelizing Catholic university students and young adults.

Protestant Christian and Ecumenical groups following their establishment also created ministries especially focused on evangelizing students. One most recognizable group is Cru, originally known as Campus Crusade for Christ, a non-denominational Christian ministry established in 1951 on the campus of UCLA which has ministries in over a thousand universities. Various other evangelical groups have world-wide networks of campus ministries including the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, World Student Christian Federation, and The Navigators. Established Protestant denominations also have equivalent student fellowship groups directly affiliated with their church:

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