Wondering what it might look like to use your experience as a Christian in science to serve outside of a CU context? Below, Jack Alderson from God and the Big Bang shares some of the brilliant opportunities that exists to speak about science and faith in schools, inspiring teenagers to consider Jesus for themselves.
From my experience at university, I know how studying a science degree can raise big questions about how the Christian faith connects to the constantly evolving world of scientific research. As a microbiologist, I would often find myself in awe at the incredibly microscopic detail of God’s creation. Yet sometimes the overtly secular tone of a lecture might leave me wondering how exactly God fits into this complicated biological picture.
I have always enjoyed the opportunity to think deeply about how my faith shapes the scientific work I do. After all, the Bible tells us to “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15, NIV). However, no matter how much thinking I did to prepare an answer for the compatibility of science and my faith, it often felt as though opportunities to share these answers were few and far between. If, like me you are a student and you’re finding yourself wanting more opportunities to share your faith with your science colleagues, then you will be glad to know that this is exactly where God and the Big Bang comes in.
God and the Big Bang
God and the Big Bang is an organisation that has been visiting primary and secondary schools to discuss the compatibility of science and faith for the past 10 years. Through interactive workshops, we explore how combining science and faith can help us to get better answers to life’s big questions. Whether it be about the Big Bang, or climate change, the students get the exciting opportunity to work with scientists of faith as they discuss and debate topics that they often don’t get a chance to learn about in their regular science and RE classes. Over the past 12 months alone, we have worked with over 6,500 school students in England, Scotland, and Wales.
“I used to think that science had all the answers, now I think both God and science have answers”
Reimagining curiosity
One of the key elements about a God and the Big Bang day is that we are encouraging children to be curious and to not hide away from questions about God and science that they don’t yet have answers to. Often, the school curriculum doesn’t leave room for children to combine critical thinking with creativity and imagination. However, throughout the course of our activity days, it becomes clear that young people are wrestling with challenging science-faith questions, and they need opportunities to ask such questions. We can see this in the pre- and post-workshop surveys that we do which gauges how the student’s attitudes towards science and faith change across the day. The quotes you’ll see across this article are taken directly from the student’s surveys at the end of a God and the Big Bang day.
“I loved that today made me think about everything deeply”
In my opinion, the most exciting part of the day comes right at the end where we gather all the students together for a Q/A session where they can ask any question about science and faith to our team of scientists. This session usually lasts for 30 minutes, but when young people get to explore the compatibility of science and faith, their curiosity runs wild, and the questions keep flying in after the session ends.
As someone who was a scientist before becoming a Christian, it really excites me that we can offer young people the opportunity to think critically about these topics. I came to faith whilst studying at university after meeting a fellow science student who was passionately motivated by their Christian faith. I realised through chatting to them that I had never thought twice about the implications of science without God. I’m grateful now to have my life shaped by Christ, but I only wish I could’ve had the opportunity to explore science with faith sooner in my life. It’s amazing that through God and the Big Bang I can be on the opposite end, encouraging students to consider faith in God.
“I used to think that believing in God or following religion didn’t make sense. Now I think that it is understandable why people believe science isn’t the answer to everything”
Equipping Christians to pursue science
These workshops are a fantastic witness of faith, but they can also be a great encouragement for Christian students to pursue science when they might otherwise have doubted it to be a “Christian” career. This was recently exemplified by George, a recent biology graduate from the University of Oxford. Whilst at school, George was unsure about how compatible his faith was with science. That was until the God and the Big Bang team visited his school. Six years later, George is now a confident science-faith communicator who has worked with us to share his faith with current school students.
“I used to think that God could only be learned about in RE. Now I think God can be learned about in science too”
George’s story reflects the other exciting side of God and the Big Bang’s work. We are always on the look-out for people to provide training and speaking experience as part of our school’s teams. If you are looking to develop your science-faith communication skills to witness to your university colleagues, then there really is no better way to learn than to be challenged by the big questions of school students!
How can I get involved?
We would love to give paid speaking opportunities to Christian University students studying sciences. You do not need to have previous public speaking experience, just be willing to learn and we’ll help you to develop your science-faith communication skills. You can find out more here on our website and if you’re interested in getting involved, please contact us at jack@gatbb.co.uk.
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