OUR HISTORY

Campus Outreach was founded in 1978 in Birmingham, AL at Briarwood Presbyterian Church. The ministry began with one full-time staff person spending time at Samford University seeking to impact students’ lives with the good news of the gospel. This approach was fruitful and led to further campus expansion and then to regional expansion, with Campus Outreach going to First Presbyterian Church in Augusta. This model of multiplying campuses and then franchises, with each franchise under the authority of a local church, has continued to grow so that there are now 28 franchises and over 100 campuses being staffed worldwide.

In 2008, Grace Presbyterian Church partnered with Campus Outreach staff to begin the Central Illinois region at Bradley University and has since expanded to Eastern Illinois University, Illinois State University, Illinois Wesleyan University, and the Bourbonnais area.

HISTORY OF CAMPUS OUTREACH

Campus Outreach began as the dream of a local church pastor in Birmingham, AL to reach college students at smaller campuses traditionally underserved by campus ministries. In 1978 an evangelistic outreach began to students at Samford University. The ministry quickly spread as students transferred to nearby colleges to pursue the vision of reaching students on campuses where there was no current evangelistic work underway.

Since 1978, this vision of reaching spiritually lost students has led Campus Outreach to launch 23 ministry franchises in the US and 13 ministry locations in 10 other countries. God has enabled over 55,000 students to encounter the gospel of Jesus Christ at evangelistic events, provided intensive leadership training to over 30,000 young leaders, and deployed over 15,000 alumni into a lifetime of service to Christ.

CONNECTION WITH THE CAMPUS OUTREACH NETWORK

Through partnership with the local church, Campus Outreach is locally led. But through participation in the Campus Outreach network, Campus Outreach is also globally connected. Our network of 36 locations in 11 countries creates incredible opportunities for growth, service and collaboration.