Jarvis Christian University (JCU) is a private historically black Christian college in Wood County, Texas. It was founded in 1912. It had a total undergraduate enrollment of 867 in the fall of 2019. During the 2022-2023 academic year, Jarvis Christian College was renamed Jarvis Christian University with the unveiling of the new signage and logos on May 6, 2022. Jarvis was approved to begin offering graduate degrees. The first JCU graduate programs offered, an MBA and a Master of Science in Criminal Justice, began with online classes in January 2023.

The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. The denomination started with the Restoration Movement during the Second Great Awakening, first existing during the 19th century as a loose association of churches working towards Christian unity, then slowly forming quasi-denominational structures through missionary societies, regional associations, and an international convention. In 1968, the Disciples of Christ officially adopted a denominational structure at which time a group of churches left to remain nondenominational.