Duke University
Join us Tuesdays at 8pm in White Lecture Hall on East Campus!
Contact
Duke RUF is a community of students at Duke learning together from Jesus and the Bible what it means to love God and love others. Our mission is to reach students for Christ and equip them for a lifetime of service to God and to the world. But we are also a community where you can belong before you believe. We exist for the convinced and the unconvinced, the sure and the skeptical. If you at all find yourself interested in exploring the claims of Christianity, learning about Jesus and the Bible, exploring big questions around meaning, significance, existence and God, or are just looking for a community of friends to connect with, we’d love to have you check us out!
Join Us
Large Group
Monday Night Dinners
Freshmen Women’s Small Group
Freshmen Men’s Small Group
Upperclassmen Men’s Small Group
Upperclassmen Women’s Small Group
Co-ed Small Group: Heart and How of Spiritual Discipline
Connect
Follow us on Instagram: @dukeruf
Join our Groupme: https://groupme.com/join_group/61324931/8CYJK3pD
Meet Our Team
Matt Mahla
Matt is a native New Englander, growing up just outside of Boston. For college he decided to try something new and headed south to attend Vanderbilt University. At Vanderbilt, Matt grew tremendously in his faith in Jesus through the presence of RUF and a strong community of Christian friends. He also met his wife, Bethany. They got married shortly after college and moved to Charlottesville, VA, where Matt served as the RUF intern at the University of Virginia and Bethany worked at a start-up pharmaceutical company. After an unexciting year in an office job for Matt, the Mahlas moved to Boston for Matt to attend Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and for Bethany to teach at an urban charter school through Teach for America. The Mahlas had Vance in 2016, and Elise followed after in 2018. Matt graduated from Gordon-Conwell with a Masters of Divinity and an MA in Counseling and worked for a year as a social worker in Boston. He became the RUF Campus Minister at Duke in 2018.
Matt’s favorite part of being the campus minister is hanging out with Duke students - he says it every week in large group! So hit him up for lunch, coffee, a run, the driving range, anything. The whole family loves to have Duke students over, so definitely head to their house for a Monday Night Dinner. When not on campus, you can find Matt exploring new places with Bethany, chasing after his kids, running, cooking, getting depressed watching Vanderbilt sports, or chipping plastic golf balls in his yard in hopes of one day actually being good at golf.
Sean Han
Bethany Mahla
Bethany grew up in Peachtree City, GA, driving a golf cart along the town’s 100+ miles of golf cart path. For college, she ventured by car to Vanderbilt University where she studied East Asian Studies and Communication. Her time at Vanderbilt was one of exponential growth in her faith in Jesus through the ministry of RUF and a community of close friends. One of those friends was Matt, and they were married shortly after graduating. Together they've lived in Charlottesville, VA, Boston, MA, and now Durham, NC. In Charlottesville, Bethany worked for a start-up pharmaceutical company, and in Boston, she taught 5th grade at an urban charter school while earning a masters degree in education from Boston University. Bethany and Matt have two kids, Vance and Elise, to whom they give credit for widely expanding their knowledge of Pokémon and soccer. Bethany considers it a great privilege to share the love of Jesus with college students. Her other joys are deal-finding and flowers of all types.
John Ahlin
John is from East Lansing, Michigan, (go green) and graduated from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor (go blue) with a degree in math, economics, and data science. He grew up in the church, but through RUF in college began to realize how incredible the grace of the Gospel actually is, which led to a deep desire for others to experience God's grace too. John is thrilled to serve as an Intern at Duke University, his dream school, and has completely forgiven them for rejecting him a few years ago. He enjoys playing most sports, playing very involved board games, trying to pick out songs by ear on the piano, and overanalyzing many things in life.
Jane Jackson
Jane was born and raised in the mountains of Asheville, NC, with her parents, older sister, and older brother. She graduated from North Carolina State University in the Spring of 2026, earning a B.S. in secondary science education and a B.A. in chemistry. NC State's RUF is where Jane met her fiancé, Nicholas, and they are planning to get married in December 2026! In her free time, Jane loves to bake, paint, and have tea with friends.