Our mission … to boldly go where no minister has gone before! Buckle in – it’s church at warp speed!
Warp speed was introduced to the world through the fictional genius of Star Trek. Traveling at speeds faster than the speed of light – it’s been a necessity in almost all science fiction works since Star Trek. And yet, the science behind has remained impossibly elusive … that is, until now.
Scientists at NASA now believe that traveling at warp speed just might be attainable (at least in theory). The process would involve creating a bubble around the spaceship, altering the nature of space-time outside, while leaving the ship in tact as if nothing happened. Much work needs to be done, of course, but the news is enough to make geeks and nerds everywhere just a bit giddy.
Check out this great video of NASA’s Harold “Sonny” White after the jump. Then read on to find out what a discovery like this might mean for your ministry!
[tentblogger-youtube A0jrjhTt8YY]
So the question becomes, what do scientists traveling at warp speed have to do with your church? Well, there are several things, really. It’s no secret that science and religion have had there conflicts over the years, but that doesn’t mean science doesn’t have a place in church discussions. Quite the opposite: many faithful Christians are yearning for an honest conversation about the two.
So here’s some ways of doing that:
1) Short-term study on science and religion.
I actually led one of these a couple years ago at the church I was at. It was a 4-week study looking at theological issues arising from various scientific principles. The first was on Creation vs Big Bang. The second was on Creation vs Evolution. The third looked at history and archaeology and the Bible. And the fourth looked at bioethics (that is, ethics in medical sciences). We had such a large turnout the first week that we had to break it into two groups. People were craving just this sort of discussion … everyone from scientists who wanted to hold both their scientific worldviews and their faith together to traditionalists who wanted to be able to talk more confidently about the issues to thinking people in the middle that wanted to hear honest conversation that wasn’t afraid to tackle some tough issues. It was one of the best studies I’ve ever done.
2) Sermon series on science and religion.
If you like the idea above but are too anxious about the comments that might come forth (we had to be especially careful with moderation in our study), a sermon series might be a great alternative. You can control the conversation, keeping it theological yet engaging, and still stimulate great conversation afterwards in hallways and around dinner tables. Plus you can do some cool graphic stuff for sermon series promotions.
3) A panel discussion.
Here you would have multiple voices – ideally from different view points (maybe a pastor, a scientist, a professor, etc), and let the audience “listen in” on their conversation. This keeps the dialogue more honest yet helps to moderate conversation.
4) A blog series.
Similar to a sermon-series, this would let you link to helpful resources online and keep the discussion archived for future visitors/members that might otherwise have missed out.
What other ideas do you have?
When was the last time you merged science and religion into your church?
Did it take off? Was your church going at warp speed?
Leave a comment and let us know!
Josh Wagner says
I hate it when people act like science and religion are incompatible. God does not play dice with the universe, to quote someone famous. They do mix, and well, I think.
MGalloway says
The other thing about this discussion is that there is a long history of scientists who used their faith or even the Bible as a starting point for their discoveries. An example list can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christian_thinkers_in_science
Likewise, combining science fiction with issues of faith opens up all sorts of interesting discussions.