Doing ministry at a secular university can be challenging at times. As someone who went through the Religious Studies program at Mizzou, I know that sometimes the perspectives students get from the university can make us feel like Christianity doesn't have any viable responses to the challenges they pose to faith. Our churches may have not hit on a textual criticism approach to the Bible. They may have not hit on the geological challenges faced with a seven day creationist theology. And maybe our spiritual mentors or families never walked us through the philosophical and logical arguments that make us raise an eyebrow to certain claims within the Bible.
Those and countless other challenges that our students face are some of the things we try to walk through them together. Our college years, after all, should be times when we ask ourselves the big questions. They're defining years and if Christianity doesn't have much of a voice on campus, well, it can be hard to come to faith or stay rooted in a church if students don't hear what God has to say about theology, biology, philosophy or whatever they study.
Another church in town really helped us out in inviting Reasons to Believe, a Christian organization aimed at helping people see Christianity's voice in the sciences. They aim to help people see "where science and faith converge". We hosted an guest speaker event last Friday night and had the same man, Dr. Ken Samples, share with our students this Sunday.
The time helped us to engage students in the challenges they are faced with in assistance with someone who is more equipped to handle those questions. It was a great time and we're thankful for the opportunity!
Check them our at reasons.org
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