God is one Being existing in three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. God is the Sovereign, the Creator and the Sustainer of all things. God is the source and end of all truth.

Jesus Christ is the eternal begotten Son of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit, and of the Virgin Mary, truly God and truly Man. Through Christ’s perfect life, death, resurrection and ascension, He accomplished a decisive victory over sin for His people and established His Kingdom among men. The Lord will return personally and visibly in glory and triumph to the earth for the consummation of this age and His Kingdom and to bring to pass the final judgment.

Man was created in the image of God as a rational, moral and spiritual being. Man sinned in Adam and fell with him in his first transgression. Man’s fall affected him spiritually, intellectually and physically leaving him in a state of complete depravity. He is restored as a gift only by the renewing grace of the Holy Spirit and the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ. God is the initiator and completer of this work and is sovereign throughout both salvation and sanctification. Man’s response to God’s offer of salvation is repentance from sin and faith in the atoning work of Christ.

The Scriptures are the written Word of God, inerrant in their original writings, the infallible authority by which He directs and governs all activities. Both the Old and New Testaments reveal God’s covenant of grace and are therefore applicable to believers today.

The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Godhead, eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son, coming into the world to reveal and glorify Christ and to apply the saving work of Christ to people. He convicts and draws sinners to Christ, imparts new life, continually indwells the believer from the moment of spiritual birth. To believers He brings fullness of life, empowers them for godly living and equips them for service and witness to Christ.

The Church is composed of all people, living and dead, who have been joined to Christ through placing their faith in Him alone. The visible church, in teaching the Scriptures, administering the Sacraments and exercising discipline to its members, is God’s ordained vehicle for leading His body, the people of God, in worship of the Godhead and in fulfilling Christ’s mission to make disciples of all nations. God instructs His people to assemble together regularly for worship, edification and encouragement.

Historically, Campus Outreach has staffed smaller campuses that are strategic for ministry. A typical large university has anywhere from 25 to 40 religious organizations on campus, and smaller schools often have not been targeted by these ministries. The schools we target have significantly fewer religious organizations, so focusing on these campuses has proven to be an effective way to reach students with the Gospel.

Campus Outreach also believes in a strong relationship with the church. Each regional ministry is under the authority and leadership of a local church body, which provides a crucial source of accountability, leadership, and resources. Staff members and students of campus ministries in other cities and towns become involved in local churches.

Campus Outreach has found that the most effective way to grow big is by staying small. Campus Outreach is actually made up of more than 20 independent “franchises” throughout the world. Once a franchise grows large enough, it launches new staff members to a new campus in another location. From there, Campus Outreach seeks out a local church to “adopt” Campus Outreach as its college ministry. Once a church agrees and after a period of testing and transition, the new host church assumes all authority and oversight for that franchise. So in essence, Campus Outreach is a collection of more than 20 college ministries of individual churches that share a common vision and strategy but with no central headquarters or central authority.

Finally, we believe the best spiritual training takes place in the context of relationships. Rather than relying on a program or Bible-study curriculum, we emphasize the importance of life-on-life relationships – one individual sharing his or her life with another.