SBC has entered into partnership with Durham University to serve as the Eastern Asia regional hub for the “Equipping Christian Leaders in an Age of Science” (ECLAS) project (see https://www.eclasproject.org/), supported by a six-million-pound grant by the John Templeton Foundation. The project runs from 2023 to 2027 and will expand the ten-year ECLAS project globally. SBC will serve as one of four regional hubs that includes Poland, Kenya, and India. Each regional hub will receive ?200,000 (about S$336,000).
Our principal, Rev. Dr. Clement Chia, and the ECLAS project director and former principal of St. John’s College (Durham University), Rev. Dr. David Wilkinson, signed the Memorandum of Understanding on 27 Nov 2023 at SBC. I will serve as the Eastern Asia regional hub director.
The Eastern Asia regional hub will support projects in South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Singapore. Each country will have three project components:
- There will be a national survey of Christian leaders and churches to understand the attitudes and perceptions of science for their region.
- One or more churches will develop projects that will equip Christian leaders and their members to better understand the role and relationship science has with the Christian faith.
- One or more seminaries will develop projects that will train students in understanding the partnership of science with churches in the revealing God’s glory.
Church projects can receive grants of up to ?5,000 (about S$8,400) and seminary projects can receive up to ?9,000 (about S$15,100). The long-term outcomes will be publicly available resources in their own languages.
The relationship between science and faith is dynamic and varies geographically. For example, with UK scientist-theologians such as Drs. Alister McGrath and John Polkinghorne, science is generally seen as a partner in understanding God and his creation. In contrast, the attitudes toward science among US evangelical Christians is generally negative in view of the evolution/creation debate and as evidenced by responses to vaccines during the recent pandemic.
Unfortunately, there has been little research on the attitudes and perceptions of science are held by Majority-World Christians. Hence, the ECLAS project will be instrumental in understanding how science is perceived by Asian Christians and in educating their leaders and churches on science’s role in faith.
If you are interested in submitting a proposal for a church project, seminary project, or both, please contact me at samlaw@sbc.edu.sg.
