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So, what is RUF?

The SHORT VERSION

RUF is about Jesus. It's about knowing Him better, enjoying Him together, making Him known, and watching Him rule.

We meet for large group on Tuesday nights at 7:30 in the Cave Common Grounds. This semester we're looking at Paul's Letter to the Romans.

The LONGER VERSION:

Reformed University Fellowship is the campus ministry of the Presbyterian Church in America, but students from lots of different backgrounds are involved, and everyone is welcome. RUF exists at ETSU to reach students for Christ and equip them to serve. We want to help students come to know Jesus Christ and to mature in their relationship with Him. There are three main truths from the Bible that we emphasize to help us mature:

SCRIPTURE                                                                                             

The Bible is the Word of God and is authoritative, sufficient, and relevant for all of life.

JUSTIFICATION

Those who trust in Jesus Christ are now righteous and perfect in God's sight because Jesus, who is truly God and truly human, OBEYED in their place, SUFFERED for their disobedience, DIED in their place, and ROSE AGAIN in their place. God "imputes" or credits the perfect record of Jesus to those who trust in Him. It's God calling sinners righteous without lying. It's called justification, and it's good news.

SANCTIFICATION

Those who trust in Jesus have been brought into a real, spiritual union with Him by the Holy Spirit and are now (though still sinful) in a real sense dead to sin and alive to God in Him. They have been set apart from sin to God in union with Christ. Though all Christians will continue to sin throughout their lives, the Holy Spirit will continue to work in them to give them power over sin and conform them more and more into likeness to Jesus in His love for God and for others. This is called sanctification, and it’s also good news.

WHAT DOES RUF DO?

FOUR GOALS OF RUF

What does maturity in Christ look like? What do we want students to experience in their lives? We believe the maturity that Christ brings into the lives of Christians can be expressed in four main goals that overlap and feed into one another: Growth in Grace, Fellowship and Service, Evangelism and Missions, and a Biblical Worldview.

LARGE GROUPS

At our weekly large group we sing, pray, and hear God speak to us through His Word on Tuesday nights at 7:30 in the Cave Common Grounds. But another kind of large group we do is throw parties. Jesus is into good parties. Look at how He describes the Kingdom in the Bible. We believe our parties are a great way for people to make new friends and enjoy existing friendships. And we want to hang out with people who wouldn’t normally be drawn to a campus ministry.

SMALL GROUPS 

In small groups we seek to have our lives shaped by the Word of God as we get to know each other better, share concerns, and ask questions. We hope you'll find that we take your questions seriously as you wrestle with God's Word and its implications for your life. If you don’t know what you believe but are curious to look into who Jesus is for yourself, hang out with us. This semester we hope to get a group together that feels the same way you do.

ONE-TO-ONES

The Lord Jesus Christ uses RUF to send pastors to the college campus. One of David Balzer's privileges as an RUF campus minister is to get to know you better and to be there for you, to walk with you in the ups and downs of your time here at ETSU. Please feel free to email him at dbalzer@ruf.org or call his cell phone at 423-963-9174. But David isn’t the only one who does one-to-ones. You’ll find new friends in RUF who will do the same thing for you as you run the race together.

D TEAMS

The Discipleship Teams, or D Teams do much of the work of this ministry and are organized according to the four goals of RUF: Growth in Grace, Fellowship and Service, Evangelism and Missions, and Biblical Worldview.  D Teams are opportunities to discover and use your spiritual gifts in RUF and in the local church and to promote these goals at ETSU. 

MINISTRY TEAM 

The RUF ministry team meets once every other week to learn about the RUF philosophy of ministry as a whole, reflect on the RUF ministry at ETSU, and help coordinate the D Teams.

To learn more about RUF go to www.ruf.org