A typical Ratio Christi campus group is made up of students who want to go deeper into the study of the intellectual framework of the Christian faith, said Schenker. In addition to hosting weekly meetings, Ratio Christi offers training for other student ministries and Christian faculty members.

The popularity of a college student group primarily focused on defending their faith in Jesus on university campuses throughout the U.S. and world has increased dramatically in the last year.

While operating in the mostly secular environment of college academia, including students and professors, a Christian apologetics alliance known as Ratio Christi (Latin for “reason of Christ” or the “rationality of Christ”) is aggressively seeking and placing apologists on campuses to lead student chapters.

This movement comes at a time when Christian leaders such as prominent evangelical Chuck Colson say atheist – or nontheist – groups are on the rise on college campuses. Colson recently praised Ratio Christi in a column he wrote, expressing his joy at knowing the group is “working to reclaim the intellectual battleground on college campuses.”

“Colson is well aware that the battle for the mind is centered around the university,” Ratio Christi President Rick Schenker told The Christian Post. “Secular thought dominates most educational institutions. Christian students are ridiculed and openly humiliated by fellow students, and sometimes even faculty, for believing in God, the Bible and Jesus Christ.”

Schenker said his group went from 12 to 65 chapters within less than a year. The biggest challenge the organization faces is funding the rapid growth and expressed interest of other “supported missionaries” or chapter leaders.

“We tried to slow it down, but the inquiries keep coming … mostly from apologists who want to open a chapter,” he said. “This became overwhelming after we started a ‘supported missionary’ program that seeks to place apologists on campus as full time missionaries.”

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