Upper House is partnering with Science for the Church, a new national initiative that is building a movement of Christian communities using science to invigorate the church.

Can engaging science in your ministry be beneficial? Can bringing science to your church bring renewal? Too often, science is perceived to be a barrier to faith, but in fact, scientists and churches have much to learn from each other. Join us for a half-day workshop to help Madison-area ministry professionals, church leaders, and scientists correct several misperceptions around faith and science and consider ways that a more thoughtful engagement with science can actually strengthen communities of faith.

In addition to hearing from practicing scientists, pastors, and veterans of faith and science integration, join us for breakout sessions to tackle questions like:

• Why should the church support science as a vocation?

• How do we better engage emerging adults on the crucial issues of science and technology?

• Where do we find tools and strategies for engaging science in our churches?

Program Schedule

8:00-8:30am — Coffee and Welcome

8:30-8:40am — Worship

8:40-9:45am — Plenary Session

10:00-10:45am — Breakout I

10:55-11:40am — Breakout II

11:40-12:15pm — Lunch Presentation and Closing Worship

Lunch will be provided.

Greg Cootsona co-leads Science for the Church and is a scholar, pastor, and author. He is Lecturer in Religion Studies and Humanities at Chico State University. Previously, he served 18 years as a Presbyterian pastor in New York City and Chico, California. He has authored multiple books, including Creation and Last Things (WJK, 2002) and Mere Science and Christian Faith (IVP, 2018).

Darrel Falk is Emeritus Professor of Biology at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego where he has been based since 1988. In 2009, he, along with noted geneticist, Francis Collins and others, founded BioLogos, an organization dedicated to showing the compatibility between mainstream science and the Christian faith.

Nydiaris Hernandez-Santos has worked as an immunologist at the National Institutes of Health, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is currently pursuing her Masters in Divinity at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

Jim Kirk is an Associate Pastor at Geneva Campus Church in Madison. Jim was born in southern California and spent his high school and college years in Asheville, North Carolina. He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina-Asheville (B.A., Philosophy), Westminster Theological Seminary (M.Div.), and the UW-Madison (M.A., Hebrew & Semitic Studies). He loves living on Madison’s northside with his wife, Linda, and their three children.

Drew Rick-Miller co-leads Science for the Church, where he is the lead editor of their weekly blog. He serves as a consultant helping scientific and religious organizations better engage science and faith, including work with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Fuller Seminary, and Biola University. Previously, he managed a portfolio of grants engaging religious audiences with science during more than a decade with the John Templeton Foundation.

Lea F. Schweitz is a writer, Christian nature educator and nature play consultant. After receiving her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, she spent more than a decade as the Director of the Zygon Center for Religion and Science and as a tenured professor at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. The through-line of her vocational path has been the consistent call to teach folks to love the wild, both in the movement of the Holy Spirit and the seasons of Midwest living. Currently, she is working on a book on spiritual practices to connect city folks to the nature in their neighborhoods and the Creator God present in it all. For more, see her blog, www.wildsparrows.com.