Data Evangelists: Integrating Faith and Data Science Education for Lifelong Impact

Abstract: As data shapes more and more decisions in communities, organizations, and public life, statisticians and data scientists must be prepared both to analyze and communicate data responsibly and relationally. This paper introduces the identity of a data evangelist as a framework for forming students and practitioners for a meaningful vocation. This manuscript presents three necessary qualities of an effective data evangelist: a love for data, an understanding of data, and a desire to share the power of data with others. These same qualities describe the spiritual vocation of the Christian evangelist when considering the gospel as the main focus of work. Viewing oneself as a data evangelist forms a calling that outlasts any single job title or technical career path. The paper offers concrete course assignments, readings, video resources, and community-engagement strategies for cultivating these qualities in data science education, as well as ways that working practitioners can carry the same identity into a workplace with no classroom to structure it. The result is Christian data practitioners and students who carry the identity of an evangelist for the gospel into whatever technical role they occupy over a lifetime of vocational change.