Christian Organizations Exist at Vanderbilt!
For me, college was a time to explore faith and make it my own. Back at home, I attended church for most of my life, but it was only when I came to Vanderbilt that I really started to grasp the story of the Gospel. Joining a campus ministry radically transformed my understanding of and affections for God, and my life has changed drastically! So if you were to ask me for one piece of advice, I would highly highly highly recommend to you: throw yourself into the community of a campus ministry!
There are more Christian organizations than the ones that I have just listed, but here is a wee sampling:
The BCM at Vanderbilt Place
Meetings: Thursdays at 8:15 PM at the BCM building.
Mission Statement: We seek to know Christ through Bible study, prayer, and discipleship and to make Christ known through outreach, community service, and missions. The focus of the BCM is evangelism, discipleship, and connection to the local church.
We kind of made a fantastic music video during our Spring SPOTS trip to Chicago.
Cru at Vanderbilt
Meetings: Wednesdays at 7:30 PM at Alumni Hall.
Mission Statement: We are a caring community passionate about connecting people to Jesus Christ.
Nashville Navs
Meetings: Wednesdays at 7:00 PM at Stevenson.
Mission Statement: To know Christ and make Him known.
RUF
Meetings: Wednesdays at 8:00 PM in Benton Chapel.
Mission Statement: We seek to spread the “gospel” (the good news of Jesus Christ) through ourselves and into the campus by word, deed, and lifestyle. We believe the gospel is what brings about personal change, social healing, and cultural renewal.
One awesome thing is that all of these ministries do not compete with one another; in fact, cross-ministry friendships are rampant! Need proof? If you scroll back up to the BCM and Cru pictures, a lot of the same people show up in both photos!
If you were wondering, there also exists Christian Greek Life! Check out BYX or Phi Lamb if you’re interested!
All of these organizations are super duper awesome, and if you’d like to ask me any questions about them, I can try to answer them for you or direct you to somebody in that specific ministry!
September 3rd, 2014
Would love to see Vanderbilt Catholic back on Campus as a sign of true commitment to authentic diversity.
September 6th, 2014
Hi Elizabeth! Vanderbilt Catholic is still here too! It is called University Catholic now, and here is their website if you want to check it out (http://universitycatholic.org/about). They are thriving in the Frassati House and still have great events!
March 16th, 2015
Hi. Can someone explain the difference between each of these Christian groups? Which denominations do they each represent? I’m not sure what CRU stands for, or BCM or RUF. Can you please help? thanks!
April 3rd, 2015
Hi Gayla! Thanks for your question. These Christian groups different in terms of their styles of organization and worship. CRU used to be known as “Campus Crusade for Christ,” BCM is the Baptist Collegiate Ministry, and RUF is the Reformed University Fellowship! If you would like to know more about their statement of beliefs, I would shoot an email to them through their websites! Hopefully this answers a few of your questions.
April 23rd, 2015
BCM is Baptist Collegiate Ministries so it is affiliated with Baptists but accepts people of all denominations into their group I believe. CRU is non-denominational and I am not sure about RUF
April 5th, 2017
This is superbly late but maybe it will help 🙂 Cru stands for Crusades for Christ, is a bit smaller than Navs/RUF. RUF has a lot of people in it in Greek Life, has a Bible study that meets on different days than large group. Navs has their large group and Bible Study’s on the same day. Navs has an emphasis on discipleship and evangelism, and has lots of outside opportunities such as going to Cummins Waterfall, etraining (equipping students in ways to live out faith on campus authentically), etc. RUF has a wonderful teacher, Richie. Navs has different people speak each week on staff, students (really helpful panels and topic series like sexuality, race, etc.), and more! There is something really unique about Navs called prayer corners, where during worship, there are students offering to pray for people, which is such a blessing! RUF has a summer conference with other schools. Cru has a lot of summer missions opportunities. Navs has SMS or STP, Smoky Mountain Summer/Summer Training Program where students work at Dollywood and learn more about God. It has a huge and meaningful impact on many students! Cru has a branch that uniquely reaches out to students in Greek Life, which is also really wonderful! I have been to most of them, and have friends in all of these! They are all wonderful! 🙂 <3 There is also Every Nation, which is a great ministry as well! Hope this helps anyone! 🙂