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

RUF

Reaching students on campuses
across the United States

RUF International

Reaching international students on
campuses in the United States

RUF Global

Reaching students on campuses
around the world

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).

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.

1973
1976

The first RUF Intern is hired to serve at the University of Southern Mississippi.

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.

1979
1980

The RUF Internship program was officially launched

The first RUF Summer Conference was held at Laguna Beach Christian Retreat Center in Panama City Beach, FL.

1981
1981

The first RUF Staff training was held at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi

Mark Lowrey becomes the first RUF National Coordinator. 

1982
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.

The first official RUF International campus was started at Clemson University 

1989
1996

Marvin Padgett becomes the second RUF National Coordinator.

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.

1997-1998
1999

Rod Mays becomes the third RUF National Coordinator.

RUF grows to 50 ministries across the country with more than 40 RUF Campus Ministers and more than 20 RUF Interns.

1999
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.

RUF’s footprint expands outside of the US when the first RUF Global is established at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

2005
2007

Elbert McGowan starts the first RUF on an HBCU campus at Jackson State University. 

RUF expands to 96 campuses ministries .

2009
2010

Indelible Grace plays a sold-out “RUF Hymn Sing” event at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN

RUF expands to 120 campuses ministries 

2012
2014

Tom Cannon becomes the fourth RUF National Coordinator.

The RUF Campus Staff program was officially formed to offer women in the PCA a place to serve college students across the country. 

2015
2019

RUF ministries now span 5 continents as new RUF-Global ministries start in Japan, Senegal, and Spain.

Will Huss becomes the 5th RUF National Coordinator 

2020
2020

The first West Coast Conference was held in San Diego, California with students from 17 campus ministries in attendance. 

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.

2023