RUF stands for Reformed University Fellowship and is the campus ministry of the Presbyterian Church in America. As a Christian student organization at University of Houston, we seek to know Jesus Christ in understanding the full meaning of the gospel of Jesus Christ and experiencing it in community with others. The purpose of RUF, therefore, is to build a community on the Houston campus that reaches students of divergent beliefs and doubts with the message of the gospel and equips them to love and serve Jesus and his Church.
“Reformed”
Our commitment as a campus ministry is to the centrality of what the Scriptures call “the gospel” (or, “the good news”). We hold to the historic Christian faith, especially as recovered and celebrated in the Reformation. This means we believe that through the Bible alone we can know that salvation comes by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, all to the glory of God alone.
“University”
Our intention is not to "speak at" the Houston campus. Rather, we want to enter in and be part of the university’s life. We are here for the convinced and for the unconvinced. We believe the university is a place where students learn, grow, and reach others in the midst of the campus, not in spite of it. The campus, then, is not reduced to a convenient pretext to do evangelism; rather, it is the place where God has providentially placed students to prepare for legitimate vocations after graduation.
“Fellowship”
Community is necessary for the Christian faith but RUF is NOT a substitute for the church. RUF is an expression of the church ministering on campus to reach and equip students. We want to see students engaging historic Christianity with one another on the campus – in large groups, small groups, and one-on-one; as well as in a local gospel preaching church.