John Templeton Foundation Science for Ministry Initiative

In early 2008, the John Templeton Foundation invited Asbury Seminary to join 30 other institutions, most of them colleges, universities and seminaries, in applying for funding to participate in its Science for Ministry Initiative. In the past, the Templeton Foundation has generously funded research and academic work related to the relationship of religion and science. But the Science for Ministry Initiative is the first of several new steps that will fund the exploration of faith and science for the particular purpose of enhancing the practice of ministry.

Dr. Ellsworth Kalas, who was then serving as President of Asbury Theological Seminary, asked me to join Dr. Larry Wood and Dr. Brian Edgar from our faculty, along with Dr. Mike Peterson from Asbury College, to begin working on a grant proposal. In March, we were invited to attend an introductory conference offered by the Templeton Foundation, and then began our work. We submitted the proposal in November, 2008, and were officially notified of its approval in February, 2009. We were awarded one of six grants, along with Princeton Theological Seminary, Calvin Theological Seminary, St. John's University, Collegeville, MN, Regent College, Vancouver, BC, and the Fermi Institute. The amount of the grant is $350,000 for a three year period.

We were very thankful and excited for this opportunity, which is the first grant to Asbury Seminary from the Templeton Foundation. When we were invited to submit a proposal for the Science for Ministry Initiative, it was noted that Asbury has a large number of alumni and friends who follow closely the work of the seminary and are very supportive of its mission. It was also pointed out that Asbury Seminary has a long history of educating men and women for a variety of ministries that serve the whole Church. Finally, we were singled out for our demonstrated excellence in the use of technology and distance learning in theological education.

You may be wondering how we arrived at the name Q3. Let me explain. The Templeton Foundation has long held international conferences that have brought together scholars from many fields of study to explore the "Big Questions" surrounding the meaning of life and the world. For this reason, we settled on the letter "Q." In addition, our grant extends for a period of three years, so we are going to explore together Q to the third power - or Q3. What is important for you to know is that everything we have planned for this program has been done with you, our alumni and friends, in mind. This is not a program for scholars, but rather is for pastors, youth ministers, campus ministers, educators and counselors. Our purpose is to serve you, to assist you in coming to better understand the ways of God in and with the world, as revealed in Jesus Christ and in Creation; world of all that is, which has been made and held together in Christ, who is God's Eternal Word made flesh.

In other words, we are inviting you to participate in an exciting adventure that has all the characteristics of our Wesleyan heritage of "practical divinity." Knowledge is not simply for its own sake, but for pursuing a life guided by God's truth and goodness as revealed in Christ, Holy Scripture and God's good creation. It is significant for us, as Wesleyans, that one of Wesley's longest works addressed the relationship of the Church's Trinitarian faith and the emerging discipline of science in the eighteenth century. Our hope is that you will be able to do this kind of work in your ministry, a kind of "intellectual evangelism" among church members and to those beyond the church, a ministry that is solidly grounded in both the knowledge of God and knowledge of the world. There is a great need in our time for men and women who will bear witness to a "faith that seeks to understand itself" in addressing the big questions being presented to us by the world.