As many of you know, this past year I served as Director of Tenth College Fellowship. My wife Erin and I are grateful for the opportunity we had to serve full-time in college ministry. It has been a significant year in our lives, during which we’ve been able to work out our sense of God’s calling. Our time at Tenth has instilled in us a deep love for both students and the church. It is this love for students that has taken us to Newark, Delaware, to start a new Reformed University Fellowship campus ministry at the University of Delaware. RUF is the church on mission to the campus. As a ministry of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), RUF sends ordained ministers to reach and equip students on the college campus.
Of 18,000 students at the University of Delaware, only 400 are involved in Christian groups on campus. That’s less than one quarter of a percent. Typically, when a population or group falls below 2% of professing evangelical Christians, they are considered a lost people group. This makes UD a necessary mission field to bring the gospel of Christ to lost people.
The college campus is one of the most strategic places in our current cultural moment to reach people with the gospel and equip them to serve Jesus and his church. It is where many begin asking the most important questions about life. They are all living together in one place where they are constantly bombarded by different worldviews and perspectives. Unlike almost any other time in their life, students have the time and openness to consider the claims of Jesus Christ and hear of the life he offers to all who come to him. RUF is a ministry that invests in students so that when they graduate they are prepared to serve God with their talents in their vocation and in the church.
Out of all the RUF’s in the country, RUF at UD is the closest to Philly (about 50 minutes by car). In fact, my last Sunday at Tenth I met one person who just graduated from UD and another whose brother will be attending UD this fall. Many students end up in Philly for jobs or graduate school after attending UD. Erin and I are thankful that we’ll be so close, and we hope to stay connected with Tenth. We look forward to any Tenth covenant children that may end up at UD and the students from UD that may end up in Philly.
We want to remain connected with our Tenth family, and I would love to tell you more about this ministry! Please email me at nick.owens@ruf.org to sign up for our prayer list or to receive our newsletter for more information. We hope to establish a broad network of individuals and churches that will support this local kingdom work prayerfully and financially. You can also visit our website at udruf.org.