Ministry Matters - Faith & the scientific senses: observation | Purpose & Reductionism

This week's issue of our MinistryMatters newsletter features three resources in a series we're calling "Faith & the Scientific Senses." We've created these pieces in partnership with Lawson Bryan, a retired United Methodist bishop with training and lifelong interest in the relationship between faith and science. This series offers you reflections and tools for using the scientific "senses" in your ministry, so that the gifts we find in using our capacities for reason and rational thinking can help deepen our faith. Let us know how you are able to put these resources to use in your ministry!

What if we thought of ourselves as scientists with the church as our laboratory? Faith & the scientific senses: Observation by Lawson Bryan   While many people are finding renewed interest in this new era of space exploration, those within the Christian tradition have special reason to embrace this news. The Christian tradition and its focus on a creating God who engages with creation has long incentivized people developing skills of observation, and the sciences that arose out of deploying such skills on the natural world. Read here

How does the perception of a purposeful creation inform and influence our own lives? Faith & the scientific senses: Purpose by Lawson Bryan   We've considered how the Christian faith supported the development of modern science by promoting a view of the universe as God’s good, orderly creation. This encouraged scientific exploration as a way of “thinking God’s thoughts after him.” The goal of this series is to consider how the scientific method can be a refreshing resource for our life together as Christians. Science begins with paying attention. And yet, paying attention is also one of the keys to life in Christ. Read here

How do we inappropriately narrow our scope of faith and belief? Faith & the scientific senses: Reductionism by Lawson Bryan   Reductionism means taking a large subject and boiling it down to a manageable size but losing important aspects of the subject in the process. By inappropriately narrowing a field of inquiry, reductionism creates a situation in which important data is no longer considered. Read here

Moving from despair to new life hope in your sermon this week Revealing the light of God's love in worship this week

More sermon notes on this coming Sunday from one of our best resources