From Crusaders to Urban Saints - including an interview with Howard Thompson

This year sees the centenary of the start of the Crusaders’ Union, which has been very influential in the lives of many lads and girls for Christ.

The story actually begins in the spring of 1900 when a missionary named Albert Kestin was walking through North London on a Sunday afternoon. As he walked he prayed for the young people he saw. They looked at a loose end and bored, and he felt that there was a great need for a new initiative to reach such youngsters for Christ.

Encouraged by friends, Albert started meetings for boys in Crouch End where he was temporarily living. All boys were welcome, whichever church they attended, and especially if they didn’t go to church at all. Albert coined the name ‘Crusaders’ for his Bible class, after seeing a picture of a medieval crusader with the caption ‘Be strong’.

Starting to grow

From that first meeting, on April 1 1900, the work started to grow and over the next few years a number of Crusader groups came into being, mainly in the London area. Albert’s friend Herbert Bevington moved to Brighton in 1904 and soon a class started there. By 1906 there were 11 independent groups who kept in touch with each other sharing news and prayer requests. There were about 600 boys regularly attending Crusader classes and the Crusaders’ Union was formed on March 29 that year. The Crusaders’ purpose was officially stated in 1907 as, ‘The advancement of Christ’s Kingdom amongst public and private schoolboys, with the promotion of all that tends towards Christian manliness’.

While the all-boys Crusaders’ Union was growing from strength to strength, a number of classes for girls were starting, although there was virtually no contact between boys’ and girls’ classes, and it was many years before mixed classes came into being. The Girl Crusaders’ Union was formed in 1916 when 22 classes were listed.

Moving with the times

Since those early days a century ago, Crusaders has had to move with the times. It has recently announced that, from January 1 2007, it will have a new name: Urban Saints. Its present executive director, Matt Summerfield, says that Crusaders still seeks to be ‘a pioneering missionary movement uniting and equipping leaders to reach non-Christian youth with the exciting and life-changing truths of biblical Christianity.’

EN interviewed Howard Thompson who is much involved with Crusaders in the Guildford area to see what happens on the ground in a real-live Crusader group these days….

EN: What is Crusaders and how did you first get involved?

HT: Crusaders’ aim is to ‘reach young people for Jesus Christ, engaging them in effective Christian living’. We aim to engage those youngsters who are not hearing about Jesus in a relevant way.

Our way of working has always been to grow relationships with youngsters by doing the things they enjoy, like camping, sport, games, etc.

I began when a Guildford leader asked my mother whether I would like to come to a Whit camp in 1960 and I so thoroughly enjoyed the messing about on the river, and splitting a feather pillow on my tent leader’s head in a pillow fight — feathers everywhere! — that I immediately signed on for summer camp.

EN: Did you become a Christian through Crusaders? How?

HT: I came through by seeing the attractive and ‘full’ lives of leaders and older lads, and also the fact that these were real men who could take you on in a bundle, play hard at sport, and yet talk with unembarrassed enthusiasm of their own personal relationship with Jesus. I was persuaded to start looking at the Bible for clues as to who Jesus was/is and make my own mind up. After a year of Bible reading and helpful teaching, I had made the transition from questioning to faith, and was prepared to be known as a Christian, even if it proved at some cost.

EN: Where is your Crusader group?

HT: Currently I am Crusader Field Worker for 16 Groups in West Surrey, and I also help Paula, my wife, run the Normandy group nearby.

EN: Tell us about your residentials. What is their purpose?

HT: At Guildford Boys, we have house parties every term for one or more of the three sections, Juniors, Inters and Seniors. We also have an all-group camp at Whitsun half term at Waverley Woods, near Farnham, and a fortnight’s summer camp on a site near the sea — Polzeath, St. Davids, Moelfre (Anglesey). Our aim is to live alongside lads, sharing our fun and joy in life and also to share our faith together — in fact our strap line for Guildford is ‘lads and leaders learning together’. We have a very active programme, which this year includes, canoeing, wide games, surfing, team challenges, go-karting, beach games and a challenging programme of teaching alongside all this, with tent chats every night in small groups giving lads a chance to honestly share where they are in their walk with Jesus. All in all, a very physical camp, and a great time all together — I wouldn’t miss it for the world.

EN: Over the years, how have things changed in running a Crusader group?

HT: Whatever helps leaders to come alongside young people and deepen their friendships can form part of the group’s activities. The style of teaching has become more interactive and obviously use of videos, games with a purpose, and more interactive discussions are more in style today, although the Bible is still central. A new Energize website has been developed with a wide range of teaching themes and approaches for all ages. Each group is still free to run its own programme depending on the kinds of young people who come.

EN: Have you a story of any lad which particularly stands out for you?

HT: Peter Jeffrey, the current Chairman of the National Exec, came to Guildford Boys as a rebellious and difficult youngster. I was his first tent leader and he was difficult to motivate and very self-centred. In time Jesus got hold of him and changed his heart — he now devotes himself to Crusader work both locally, in the area and nationally, in addition to having a very demanding job. He is also one of my very best friends. There is no way I could have changed Pete from being such an obnoxious youngster, but I know a Man who can, and did! Jesus is the same yesterday, today, for ever, and is in the business of restoring lives, even the most unlikely.

EN: What are the challenges ahead for Crusaders as a movement?

HT: To reach a whole generation largely unaware of what God has done for them in Jesus. Currently around 10% of young people are within gospel earshot. We are changing the name to ‘Urban Saints’. We are exploring use of modern communications and materials for reaching them, as well as for equipping and supporting our leaders (check out the website www.crusaders.org.uk) We also have a programme for developing leadership right through the teenage years and beyond, which includes serving in summer mission teams (REACT), short term trips overseas (CRUSOE), as well as helping on a Crusader Holiday, or the less glamorous but essential task of running one of the 450 local groups in the UK. We need God’s hand to guide us.