Welcome to the Scholar’s Compass retreat breakout group guide! Below you’ll find small group readings and a discussion guide for three breakout sessions. Wherever you are on the path to connecting your work and your beliefs, we invite you to take the next step with Scholar’s Compass.

Session 1: Being All of Yourself: Why Connect Your Faith & Your Academic Work?

Small Group Reading: Glory-Seeking Ministry in the Academic Life, by W. Brian Lane

Small Group Discussion Guide: 

Here’s a quick guide to exploring in small groups. If you’re having a fantastic discussion of one point, feel free to spend longer on it even if you don’t get to everything.

Introductions: Each person please say your name, field area, and a snack you enjoy.

Choose a Notetaker: If your retreat is collecting ideas in a Google doc, choose someone to take some notes and share the insights of your group.

Reading: Take 5 minutes to read the Scholar’s Compass entry silently together & write a few personal notes on what stood out to you.

Discussion Questions: 

1. Each person please share: What is one thing that stood out to you as you read?
2. The author describes how much he loves physics. What is one thing you love or enjoy or are good at in your academic career? This could be something large like a whole field area or something very specific like studying a particular protein or teaching a particular kind of poem.
3. Do you feel that the thing you love/enjoy/are good at reflects something important about who you are? If so, how?
4. Have you ever thought about how that particular thing might connect to your faith/spirituality/values? If so, what are some of your ideas on how? If this idea is new to you, can you think of one way those things might connect?
5. If time: Dr. Lane says that we can connect faith and academic work both by seeking how God’s glory is revealed in his created world, and by helping our students develop as image-bearers of God. Which do you find easiest to imagine doing in your own work? What might it look like?

Session 2: How Many Ways Can You Be a Christian Scholar? Connecting Faith & Your Field

Small Group Reading Options:

Humanities: Learning Scholarly Virtues from The Iliad, by Bethany Hebbard (previously Bethany Bear)

Natural Sciences: Creativity That Delights, by David Vosburg

Social Sciences: Integrating Faith & Archaeology, by Eline van Asperen

Engineering: Words of Authority, by Deryck Chan

Small Group Discussion Guide: 

Here’s a quick guide to exploring in small groups. If you’re having a fantastic discussion of one point, feel free to spend longer on it even if you don’t get to everything.

Introductions: Each person please share your name, field area, and one funny misunderstanding of your field you’ve seen in tv/movies/books.

Choose a Notetaker: If your retreat is collecting ideas in a Google doc, choose someone to take some notes and share the insights of your group.

Reading: Take 5 minutes to read the Scholar’s Compass entry silently together & write a few notes on what stood out to you about how this scholar connects their work & their beliefs/values.

Discussion Questions:

1. Each person please share: What is one thing that stood out to you about how this scholar connects work & their beliefs/values?
2. Do you identify with anything about how this scholar connects beliefs/values & work? Could you imagine anything they said being a model for how you connect spirituality and academic work?
3. How is your experience different from this scholar’s? What might be an alternate way that you could imagine connecting your own beliefs and academic work?
4. As you think about the questions included in the entry, how might you start to answer them?

Session 3: Hopeful Thriving, Long-Term Impact

Small Group Reading: Thanksgiving: Expect the Unexpected, by Alice Brown-Collins

Small Group Discussion Guide: 

Here’s a quick guide to exploring in small groups. If you’re having a fantastic discussion of one point, feel free to spend longer on it even if you don’t get to everything.

Introductions: Each person please share your name, field area, and one you’re looking forward to right now

Choose a Notetaker: If your retreat is collecting ideas in a Google doc, choose someone to take some notes and share the insights of your group.

Reading: Take 5 minutes to read the Scholar’s Compass entry silently together & write a few notes on what stood out to you about how this scholar connects their work & their beliefs/values.

Discussion Questions: 

1. As you cultivate long-term hope, what is one thing you currently hope for in your work?
2. What is one thing that feels too big to hope for in your work right now?
3. Could you imagine God doing something that exceeds your hopes in that area of your academic work? If you aren’t sure what you think about God, what might give you more hope for good things happening through your work?
4. If you imagine your work 30 years from now, what would be one possibility that feels like a really big hope?
5. Is there a small step you could take toward strengthening your sense of hope? Some ideas might include conversation with other people, asking people for their stories of hope, prayer, etc.

Followup Opportunities:

Join InterVarsity’s Emerging Scholars Network for more support on connecting faith and your academic life.

Order the Scholar’s Compass booklet for a semester of weekly readings from the series (including the ones above).

Note: If you are a GFM Northern California 2022 Grad Winter Conference Participant, you will be receiving a copy of the booklet as a followup gift. If you wish to order extra copies, you can do so at the link.