"Christ is more of an artist than the artists; He works in the living spirit and the living flesh, he makes men instead of statues." -Vincent Van Gogh

As a ministry, we strive to be:

Grace-centered

The grace of God is central to the Christian life. We are made right before God by His grace and we grow by His grace. As a community of believers, we are seeking to show others the grace God has shown us.

Historically rooted

As Christians we are surrounded by a great "cloud of witnesses" that have gone before us in the faith. By engaging and interacting with their stories, hymns and writings, our own faith is strengthened as we learn from their successes and failures.

Confessional

As Christians we are called to confess our faith before a watching world. Jesus commanded that the church not only make disciples but teach them "all I have commanded you." Our ministry is designed to apply the fullness of the truth of Scripture to the fullness and complexity of life. We refuse to dodge or minimize the real concerns of skeptics or the hurt of those who may have been burned by Christians or the church in the past. Our desire is for both the believer and the skeptic to say of our community, "Where have I ever been loved like this?"

A Community

RUF is not a place where you should expect to "attend meetings." We believe that the teaching and preaching of the Word of God are at the core of what we do, but that those activities take place in the context of a community. This community involves authenticity, admitting our sinfulness, asking questions of ourselves and others, taking risks in initiating and continuing relationships, forgiveness, an appreciation of our and others' gifts and using them in the body of Christ, in inviting others to join us, in having fun and taking road trips, in rejoicing and crying together.

Missional

The Great Commission of Matthew 28 is a command to the Church to go into the world and make disciples. That means we must always be missional as Christians--we should always be thinking in terms of the call to "leave." That means leaving the comfort of silence and speaking "the foolishness of the cross." The gospel is foolishness to the world because it is truly subversive and counter-cultural. And so in striving to embody the gospel in everything we do, we see the kingdom of God advance.

Lovers of Christ's Bride, The Church

RUF is not a church. But we are an arm of the church--RUF is the church going to the campus. A group of 16 churches (the Southern New England Presbytery) called, ordained and sent Joey to UConn not to "be the church" but to point students to the Body of Christ. We are called to love the Church because Christ loved her enough to die for her. The Christian life simply cannot be lived apart from the Body of Christ--the Bible knows no 'lone-ranger' Christians.

For the University

We are not here to conquer the university but to serve it and enrich it. We are here because we love UConn and want to see it transformed by the power of the gospel. That means loving our neighbors (and our neighborhood) by serving them as Christ served us, showing mercy and speaking truth. It also means that we are committed to the student's vocation--we believe the best way to advance God's kingdom in New England is to equip the next generation of intellectual and spiritual leaders here at the University to serve the churches and communities they will enter when they graduate. Our prayer is that we will produce missionaries of all kinds: kingdom-minded scientists, doctors, lawyers, journalists, teachers, musicians and artists who use their time and talents to serve God wherever He calls them, whether it's Hartford or Zimbabwe, maybe even both!

"Suaviter in modo, fortiter in re."

Martin Luther's patron Frederick of Saxony had this motto written on his coach. It means, "Gentle in Manner, Strong in Deed." This is what we strive to be as a community: warm, gracious, inviting, open and non-judgmental; yet holding strong convictions that come from our humble acknowledgment of the truth of Scripture.

Why "Reformed University Fellowship"?

Parents, click here for more info.

We are connected with Reformed University Ministries, the national campus ministry of the Presbyterian Church in America. Our fellowship at UConn is multi-denominational and we welcome both the convinced and the unconvinced.