RUF ≠ Church.

"RUF is not Church."

I heard my campus minister at Mercer say that more times than I can remember while I was at Mercer. He even told us that if we had to choose between going to RUF and Church that he would prefer us to go to church. Frankly, that made no sense to me whatsoever. I had no idea what he was talking about or why he would rather me go to church than improve the attendance of RUF Mercer's large group meetings, soI brushed it off as a misunderstanding. But by the 328th time he said it, I finally began to contemplate what it actually meant for me as a college student.

You see, I and many of my friends considered our RUF Wednesday night meetings to be the equivalent of going to Church. It contained the primary elements of a church service: announcements, singing, and preaching. But RUF was even better because we didn't have to get up early, put on uncomfortable clothes, go to Sunday school, or mingle with people who were different than us! Who needed the Church!? We had everything a church could offer served up on a silver platter and delivered to us by our own personal campus minister!

Then a though occurred to me, "What happens when I graduate and can't go to RUF anymore?" I was filled me with fear and anxiety. "Once I am done at Mercer what will I do? I will have to go out into the real world and be a real Christian with other Christians who are not just like me." That is when the words of my campus minister rung clearly in my ears and I began to understand that RUF really is not Church. Once I understood this and had some eye-opening talks with my campus minister, I also discovered that the whole purpose of RUF was not simply to give me fun, wholesome things to do while I was at college, but actually to prepare me and send me off from college as a mature Christian who would participate in, love, and nurture the Bride of Christ. Now I embrace this wholeheartedly and encourage everyone to question whether they have a proper understanding of their place and purpose as a part Christ's body.

So what is the Church, why is RUF not the Church, and how are they connected?

In order to answer these questions we have to go to the Bible.

What is the Church?


Christ is the founder and head of the Church. This is clearly stated by Paul in Colossians 1:18 when he writes of Jesus, "He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent." The unique aspect of the Church is that it is the only Christ established institute recorded in the Bible.


So the first thing we must understand about the Church is that Christ is in charge. He calls the shots and the purposes of the Church must be aligned with the purposes of Christ.


After Jesus founded the Church He gave authority over it to the apostles before He ascended into Heaven. From this point on it was the responsibility of the apostles to seek Christ's leadership through the counsel of the Holy Spirit as they made decisions regarding the Church. I will provide a short, but by no means exhaustive, list of these decisions here:

1. The establishment of Elders and Deacons over individual churches
2. The practice of meeting together for regular worship
3. A commitment to engaging the culture and preaching the Gospel
4. Faithful participation in the sacraments of baptism and communion

These decisions set the tone for the Church and have, rightly so, remained in place from their day of establishment onward. Mark Driscol gives a great definition of the Church on the Mars Hill site:

The local church is a community of regenerated believers who confess Jesus Christ as Lord. In obedience to Scripture they organize underqualified leadership, gather regularly for preaching and worship, observe the biblical sacraments of baptism and Communion, are unified by the Spirit, are disciplined for holiness, and scatter to fulfill the Great Commandment and the Great Commission as missionaries to the world for God's glory and their joy.


Why is RUF not the Church?

Now that we have a working understanding of what God intends the Church to be, let's take a look at why RUF cannot be held on equal ground with the Church. 

For starters, the Church was uniquely established by Jesus Christ, RUF was not. While RUF is a ministry of the Church created to accomplish particular goals of the Church, it does not have the same power or authority that Christ granted the Church. 

Secondly, RUF does not baptize people or serve communion. Each of these sacraments are given to the Church alone by the authority of Jesus Christ. Therefore, only in the context of the Church should they be served or participated in.

And lastly, RUF is a ministry that ministers to people in only one particular life-stage, college. This means that it is a place that one will be at for, at most, 4-6 years. Once people graduate college and move onto the real world, they can no longer attend RUF and must find a Church, which ministers to people of all ages in all stages of life.

How is the Church and RUF connected?

One of the most attractive things to me about RUF is that they understand that they are not the Church. They are a ministry of the Church committed to serving the Church in every way possible. 

RUF also understands that its purpose is not simply to give college students something fun to do as a means to deter them from the temptations of university life, as so many campus ministries do. RUF desires to reach students for Christ, give them a deeper understanding of the Gospel, cultivate a love for the Church and God's people, and equip them to live for Christ not just in college, but for the rest of their lives! Don't believe me? Check out RUF's website here.

So, as an RUF intern, if I am faced with a student who says he must choose between going to Church and going to RUF, I will joyfully and confidently tell him or her to GO TO CHURCH!

Agree? - Disagree? - Leave a comment and join the conversation!