We help learners explore the connections between God’s world and Word through our innovative “side-by-side” approach to science and biblical faith, which:

  • incorporates hands-on, minds-on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) activities into each Bible lesson;
  • talks about God’s creation in evolutionary terms; and
  • draws on the best biblical scholarship to tell the Bible stories of Genesis in their original context, rather than trying to superimpose a scientific worldview on the biblical text.

We believe that the first step in helping children experience the harmony between science and biblical faith, is giving them regular opportunities to practice them together, facilitating a natural “side-by-side” experience.

And, when we say “science” we mean not just nature-themed activities or mixing stuff up, but activities that utilize scientific thinking—making predictions, testing hypotheses, and drawing conclusions. So, for example, rather than creating a chemical reaction for students to “ooh and aah” over, a Discovery & Faith lesson would invite learners to make predictions about the reaction, to compare their predictions to what they observed, and to draw conclusions. We use this approach even in our preK-Kindergarten lessons—as seen in our sample lesson, Tower Talking Trouble!, which asks learners to consider “How easy or difficult do you think it will be to knock down your tower?”

Second, unlike other Christian education curricula for children, Discovery & Faith lessons talk about God’s creation explicitly in evolutionary terms—that means understanding that the natural world was formed in deep time, changes over time, and has been granted creative freedom within the bounds of natural laws, analogous to God-given human free will.

Lastly, and most importantly, we use Bible storytelling methods that tell the stories of Genesis in their ancient near East context to capture the timeless biblical truth as it was intended for its original audience (see our Tower Talking Trouble! sample lesson). The stories of the Bible emerged millenia before science existed as a human endeavor. Perceptions of conflict between the two often are rooted in the misapplication of the Bible as a science text or, more commonly, the mistake of trying to interpret the Bible through our scientific lens. Instead, a more conservative and accurate reading of the Bible tries to understand what the original author was trying to say to his audience, in the context of when and where they lived and what they assumed about the world around them. Discovery & Faith children don’t ask “What does this Bible story mean?” Instead, they ask, “What did the author of this Bible story want to tell the people of that time and place? How does this apply to me today?”

We invite you to learn more about our resources and how they can be applied in your Christian education setting.