Tonight, we kick off another year of SHIFT at UCF. Since last semester, we have been able to meet in the Student Union on Monday nights. Typically, Monday is one of the more high traffic days on campus, and the Student Union is obviously a great centralized location to have a college Bible study on campus.
Because we have a high view of God’s word, both in terms of its authority and truthfulness, we focus on studying the Bible together. Because of the various pressures students face on campus from other worldviews, we want to ground our thinking in Scripture.
And yet, we also want to contextualize our ministry to a college campus. One particular way in which students are challenged in college is through coming to terms with scientific understandings of the world that seem to clash with Scripture. In particular, it may seem outdated to think that Genesis presents a true account of the world, especially in the early chapters.
To tackle that head on, this fall we are going to study the early chapters of Genesis together. We are doing that in light of the historical ways Christians have read Genesis. But we are also reading Genesis in light of modern scientific understandings. Not in such a way that we need to re-read Genesis to fit a scientific paradigm. Rather, we want to be attentive to what is clearly affirmed in the early chapters of Genesis, what is less clear than usually thought, and how one might have a high view of Scripture and a healthy respect and understanding of modern science.
I’ll be picking back up my blog series on Genesis and continue to work through resources that help us understand Genesis, modern science, and all the issues that intersect both fields of study.
We ask that as we move deeper into fall, you might consider praying for our ministry on campus. Pray both for our faithfulness to our calling, and that God might bring fruit in the lives of these students during this pivotal point in their development. Also, if you know a student who might benefit from this kind of on-campus opportunity at UCF (even if they’re not a UCF student), send them my way!