ABOUT
Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) is a campus ministry that reaches college students from all backgrounds with the hope of Jesus Christ. College is a time when beliefs are explored, decisions are made, and lives are changed. We invite students into authentic relationships and the study of God’s Word. Through the ministry of RUF, students discover the love of Christ, find their significance in God’s redemptive story, and engage in the life of His church.
Our Ministries
Our beliefs
We believe that God is at work renewing all things. We embrace our need for Christ, the authority of Scripture, and the mission of the church to reach all people with the hope of the Gospel. This motivates our hearts for God and our love for college students.
Our Vision
Our vision is to equip college students during their most formative years, preparing them to sustain and grow the church for years to come. We seek to engage and disciple the next generation of leaders so that when they graduate, they enter the world bolstered by Gospel truth, ready to live as servant-leaders in their churches, jobs, families and communities.
Our Story
1973
The first Reformed University Fellowship officially launches. The ministry begins on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi. It is created by Mark Lowrey and affiliated with the newly formed Presbyterian Church in America (PCA).
1973
In January of 1973, Mark Lowrey and two other men in ministry, Jimmy Turner and Ford Williams, gather 75 college students from the University of Southern Mississippi, Mississippi State University, and Delta State University for the first RUF conference in Cleveland, MS. They discuss ideas about growing this new, biblically-based group into an organization that could minister on college campuses around the nation.
1976
The first RUF Intern is hired to serve at the University of Southern Mississippi.
1979
The mission, vision, and guiding principles for RUF campus ministries are approved by the PCA. The goals in this “Manual for Campus Ministries” include growth in grace, evangelism and missions, fellowship and service, and a biblical world-and-life view.
1980
The RUF Internship program was officially launched
1981
The first RUF Summer Conference was held at Laguna Beach Christian Retreat Center in Panama City Beach, FL.
1981
The first RUF Staff training was held at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi
1982
Mark Lowrey becomes the first RUF National Coordinator.
1987
RUF launches its first ministry in Texas on the campus of Texas A&M University. As of 2021, there are more RUF ministries in Texas than in any other state.
1989
The first official RUF International campus was started at Clemson University
1997-1998
RUF expands to the West Coast and the Northeast, starting ministries at Harvard, NYU, the University of California – Santa Barbara, and the University of Washington.
1999
Rod Mays becomes the third RUF National Coordinator.
1999
RUF grows to 50 ministries across the country with more than 40 RUF Campus Ministers and more than 20 RUF Interns.
2000
Indelible Grace, a community of songwriters and musicians in Nashville, was started by Kevin Twit, the RUF Campus Minister at Belmont University. They lead a movement to restore the historic practice of writing new melodies to old hymn texts.
2005
RUF’s footprint expands outside of the US when the first RUF Global is established at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
2007
Elbert McGowan starts the first RUF on an HBCU campus at Jackson State University.
2009
RUF expands to 96 campuses ministries .
2010
Indelible Grace plays a sold-out “RUF Hymn Sing” event at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN
2012
RUF expands to 120 campuses ministries
2014
Tom Cannon becomes the fourth RUF National Coordinator.
2015
The RUF Campus Staff program was officially formed to offer women in the PCA a place to serve college students across the country.
2019
RUF ministries now span 5 continents as new RUF-Global ministries start in Japan, Senegal, and Spain.
2020
Will Huss becomes the 5th RUF National Coordinator
2020
The first West Coast Conference was held in San Diego, California with students from 17 campus ministries in attendance.
2023
RUF marks 50 years of reaching and equipping students, celebrating with a Hymn Sing by Indelible Grace at the PCA’s General Assembly in June.