So isn’t CU just a church on campus?

No! We’d love for you to come along to CU, but don’t want you to do so instead of church… CU exists alongside church to complement the Church’s mission to share the Gospel with all people. If you are interested, there is a paper on the UCCF website which outlines the CU/church relationship in great detail.

If not – here’s the general idea…

CU is not church because:

* CU leaders aren’t chosen to be teachers of the Word. Church leaders are. Therefore, church leaders have spiritual authority and CU leaders do not.

* CU, however close a community it may be, is not a church unit. It doesn’t meet all year round, the membership changes significantly each year, almost all members are the same age and we don’t perform the sacraments (communion, baptism etc). We’re still family in Christ, but are not the same as a church.

* CU ministry is very specialised – CUs only work with students. A church has a much broader ministry.

If you are a Christian we strongly recommend that you join a local church – we would go as far as to say that you must. But we would also LOVE you to join CU. By working together, we believe we can share the gospel more effectively, and it’s also a great encouragement to meet other Christians on campus during the week.

So if you only have time to go to church or CU, go to church! But we would love you to make time for both. It’s worth it!