Explore God is a citywide campaign that was launched this fall to prompt conversation about topics that people often times avoid.

According to the Explore God website, the creators want to investigate difficult questions relating to God, purpose, suffering, Jesus, the Bible and religion with “deep, intelligent and nuanced answers.”

This campaign has brought over 340 Austin area churches together and led to the creation of many discussion groups in Austin, including one on St. Edward’s University’s campus. 

It is funded by an anonymous donor and is the reason for the billboards around town prompting people to ask questions about God and faith. The website provides resources for curious believers and non-believers alike to learn more through videos and articles.

Junior Elissa Stanton heard about Explore God at her church, Hill Country Bible Church, on the University of Texas at Austin’s campus. The pastors of churches, like Hill Country, gave a sermon about one of the seven major questions the campaign stressed each week. These questions include: Is there a God? Does life have purpose? Is the Bible reliable? Is Christianity too narrow? Is Jesus really God? Why does God allow pain and suffering? Can I know God personally?

After hearing about it at church, Stanton wanted to bring a discussion group to St. Edward’s. Since Stanton is a leader of the on-campus group Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), she brought the idea back to her fellow leaders.

“I know St. Edward’s is full of students with all different perspectives on God. I wanted people to have the opportunity to talk about their faith and seek truth in a respectful environment,” Stanton said.

FCA sponsored weekly Explore God discussions, but they emphasized that anyone was welcome. To join in on the weekly discussion and bible study, you did not have to be an athlete or even a Christian.

“People have a lot of questions whether they are Christians or non-Christians,” Stanton said.

The group had their final meeting on Nov. 12 where they discussed the question: Can I know God personally?

“I’ve liked it a lot because I’ve been able to meet different people with different perspectives, and it kind of opened my mind to different ways of thinking,” Loren Kelly, another leader for FCA, said.

FCA leaders led each of the seven meetings and prompted questions, showed a video from the website and related the group’s discussion back to scripture.  

To Kelly and Stanton’s delight, the other people that came to the discussion groups opened up more than the two expected, and the group was able to explore the topics through varying perspectives.

“I found a safe place to talk about my faith,” junior Morgan Mays said. “Also, discussing the harder questions about our faith in a group helped me realize that we all face similar challenges in our daily walk.”

The website is adapted for anyone who has questions about God. To attempt to answer these questions and to provide helpful material about these tough topics, the website gives perspectives from pastors, rappers, comedians and everyday people from around the world.

The website is designed to enhance discussions not only within churches, but also online with its thousands of followers on Facebook and Twitter. It also plans an online event every Monday so that people can share their thoughts from home.

“You can also talk to someone one-on-one about it. It’s not just for churches or discussion groups,” Stanton said.