Religion professor receives grant for class on science and youth ministry

Dr. Jason Lief, religion professor at Northwestern College, recently received a $5,000 grant from the Science for Youth Ministry Initiative to develop a course on faith and science for Northwestern College’s youth ministry curriculum.

Lief will develop the course during the fall semester. In the spring, students enrolled in the new course will study both religion and science as they prepare to gather information from local congregations about the ways in which they engage science in their ministry and mentor young people with questions about the seeming conflicts between Scriptural and scientific revelation.

 “The culmination of the students’ learning and research will be the creation of a high school youth group curriculum that will be offered to churches,” says Lief. “It will include documents, presentations and videos that can be used by pastors and youth leaders to guide conversations on the relationship between faith and science. Northwestern students headed into church and parachurch ministry will gain practice framing controversial topics in ways that cultivate good discussion and open dialogue.”

Lief is a 1996 graduate of Northwestern College and earned a master’s degree at Wheaton College and a doctorate at Luther Seminary. He is the author of several books, including “Poetic Youth Ministry: Learning to Love Young People by Letting Them Go.”