Bristol University Christian Union

Living and speaking for Jesus in Bristol University

Our Vision

BUCU is a Missionary Community, and as a CU we are;

 

United and Rooted in the Gospel to Encourage and Equip one another to Live and Speak for Jesus Christ

 

Why we exist

We believe that as students at Bristol University we are in a unique position to share the good news of Jesus Christ with other students and are therefore committed to evangelism as Christ's ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20) so that every student can have at least one opportunity to respond to the gospel.

The good news of the Christian faith is that although as humans we fail to meet God's perfect standards and deserve punishment, Jesus Christ, God's son became a man who lived a perfect life, was crucified and then rose from the dead after three days. Through this event of God's loving mercy, those who believe in Jesus are forgiven for all their sin and accepted by God as perfect and blameless in his sight. (1 Peter 3:1)

CU Central meetings and Hall CUs exist for us to encourage to each other in living and speaking for Jesus Christ, whilst at University. We believe in one church and the importance of students' involvement in church in order to be built up and encouraged as part of the body of Christ.  As we are not a church, we do all we can to encourage students to get stuck into a local church in Bristol (We have a lot of good ones).

Our Beliefs

As a Christian Union (CU) we are committed to the evangelical basis of faith of the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship (UCCF) outlined below. We stand for these truths and want to make them known. We believe them, strive to live by them and so want all our activities to be consistent with them. We do this by asking all speakers to assent to this brief statement when accepting an invitation to a CU event. This is not an exhaustive statement of Beliefs and we realise that some Christians may not fully agree, but for ourselves, these are the central truths of the Christian faith as we discern them in the Bible:

  1. The God Head - There is one God in three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

  2. God is Sovereign - God is sovereign in creation, revelation, redemption and final judgement.

  3. The Scriptures - The Bible, as originally given, is the inspired and infallible Word of God. It is the supreme authority in all matters of belief and behaviour.

  4. Man's Fall - Since the fall, the whole of humankind is sinful and guilty, so that everyone is subject to God's wrath and condemnation.

  5. Jesus our Lord - The Lord Jesus Christ, God's incarnate Son, is fully God; he was born of a virgin; his humanity is real and sinless; he died on the cross, was raised bodily from death and is now reigning over heaven and earth.

  6. Jesus our Redeemer - Sinful human beings are redeemed from the guilt, penalty and power of sin only through the sacrificial death once and for all time of their representative and substitute, Jesus Christ, the only mediator between them and God.

  7. Salvation - Those who believe in Christ are pardoned all their sins and accepted in God's sight only because of the righteousness of Christ credited to them; this justification is God's act of undeserved mercy, received solely by trust in him and not by their own efforts.

  8. The Holy Spirit - The Holy Spirit alone makes the work of Christ effective to individual sinners, enabling them to turn to God from their sin and to trust in Jesus Christ.

  9. The Holy Spirit - The Holy Spirit lives in all those he has regenerated. He makes them increasingly Christlike in character and behaviour and gives them power for their witness in the world.

  10. The Church - The one holy universal church is the Body of Christ, to which all true believers belong.

  11. The Second Coming - The Lord Jesus Christ will return in person, to judge everyone, to execute God's just condemnation on those who have not repented and to receive the redeemed to eternal glory.