RUF Expands to 123 Campuses
Reformed University Ministries (RUM), through its written informational report, offered a number of the organization’s 2008 highlights:
RUM, working in partnership with area presbyteries, continued its growth with the addition of six new campus ministries, raising the total to 123 nationwide.
The most recent to join the Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) family in 2008 were: Western Carolina University; University of Tennessee, Lynchburg; University of Alabama-Birmingham; University of Pittsburgh; and University of Minnesota. RUM also anticipated four new U.S. campus ministries being established during 2009.
Among other 2008 highlights for RUM, which serves as the umbrella for a variety of university-related PCA ministries, was the hiring of a new director of operations to go along with two assistant coordinators, three area coordinators, and a director of development.
RUM’s report to the General Assembly underscored that its mission extends far beyond perpetuating campus ministry—it is ultimately about enriching the Church. More than 55 former RUF campus ministers serve within the PCA as church planters, associate pastors, assistant pastors, and denominational staff. RUM also has added a church-planting track to its training curriculum to assist former RUF campus ministers now planting churches, as well as current campus ministers interested in church planting in the future.
In May 2008, RUM sponsored its 28th Summer Conference in Panama City Beach, Fla., including students from more than 200 colleges and universities. The featured speakers were Jack Howell, pastor of Trinity Presbyterian in Norfolk, Va., and Howard Brown, pastor of Christ Central in Charlotte, N.C.
Reformed University Fellowship International is heading the PCA’s effort to reach out to international students on campuses within the United States. Its goal is to prepare students who have been involved in the ministry during their time in the U.S. to continue living for Christ as they return to their own nations and begin building His Church among their families and friends.
Reformed University Fellowship Global goes one step further, partnering with Mission to the World and other mission agencies to establish RUF ministries on campuses around the world. To date, partnerships have been established with universities in Mexico City and Trujillo, Peru.
At a time when academic institutions provide an environment, according to one scholar, where “the autonomous self … is the arbiter of what constitutes truth and reality,” RUM sees this as “a tremendous opportunity,” said the report. “Because students are often asked to look to their own minds as the ultimate authority on truth … we can not only summon the courage to say that there is absolute Truth but also lovingly connect with those who disagree. Many testify in later life that their college years were the time when they seriously considered Christianity.”
To download RUM’s in-person report to the Assembly, please click here.
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Ivan Lambert
Witner Haven, FL
May Jesus become increasingly famous on USA college campuses.
May God use this ministry to develop the PCA's next generation of deacons, elders, pastors, husbands, fathers, wives, and mothers.