Called Into Work

What does it mean to "Enter the ministry"?

Let's stop talking about “entering the ministry.” The way we use those words widens the false gap between “sacred” and “secular” and between “clergy” and “laity.” The phrase confuses Christians.

How God Used Workplace Stress to Stretch Me

During my first year as a state employee, I began to see how God uses job-related stresses in transforming us to become like Christ. I'll never forget the lesson. Although painful, it produced fruit.

How Long Will Your Work Last?

You've probably seen this little snippet from a poem: “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past; only what's done for Christ will last.” Over the years, these words have been read and heard so often they seem almost biblical. But are the words true? It all depends on how you understand them.

Hospital Janitor Turns Job into Ministry

A friend of ours works in a department that raises funds for a large hospital. While helping her to develop a workplace testimony, I visited her office. She mentioned how a Christian janitor had noticed she seemed exhausted. How could he could pray for her? Might he share her need—without her name—with other believers in the hospital? She agreed. Hearing this much, I wanted to learn the rest of the story. So, with her help, I arranged a meeting with the janitor.

Encourage Others with Your Workplace Testimony

Have you heard a “workplace testimony”? Like diamonds, such testimonies are rare but valuable. A workplace testimony is a report from one Christian's work world that encourages other believers to see and carry out God's purposes in their own work world and lives. If you were to develop a workplace testimony, where could you use it to encourage? Wherever Christians gather—in church assemblies, small group meetings or even over coffee with one or two others. The impact of such reports often amazes me.

How to Begin Mirroring God in Your Workplace

Just the thought of reflecting God can overload our imaginations. How do you go about imaging an infinite Person? And the idea of mirroring him in your workplace raises the question: Where would you even begin?

Does God Value Your Work Itself?

“Work itself has no ministry value according to the Christians I've talked to.” This idea seems widespread among believers, as Patrick Klingaman reports in his book, Thank God It's Monday. Hold on! What is “ministry”? It's serving. But is it limited to service done in or for a religious organization? Or does it include serving God's Kingdom purposes in the world?

Witnessing: Does One Size Fit All?

As a state employee, I once saw a scene that made me cringe. A Christian co-worker had trapped another employee in the corner formed by the hallway wall and a Coke machine. And into that captive audience the believer was pounding home the gospel. In the years since, I've asked myself: “What forces drive some Christians to such insensitivity in witnessing?”

Free Study Guide Now Available for SERVING CHRIST IN THE WORKPLACE

You may now download from this website a 12-unit study guide for the book, Serving Christ in the Workplace. The free guide can be used in a variety of ways (for example, by adult Sunday school classes, home study groups, cell groups or individuals working alone).

Are We Exporting Our Faulty Workplace Vision?

The meltdown of the USSR opened the door for a massive influx of western missionaries. But according to theologian Darrell Cosden, this burst of missionary activity communicated not only the Good News but also some bad news for Russian believers in ordinary jobs.

From a Missionary:

Last week, I spoke with a multi-talented Christian woman. Daily work for her has included nursing, computer programming, administrative work for a mission board overseas, and contract administration here in the United States. Her story brings into focus a double-mindedness in the way our evangelical traditions have taught us to think about work.

When the Boss Says "Go" and God Says "No"

If you work for and among unbelievers, you've probably faced the dilemma. Perhaps many times. Your supervisor asks you to say or do something that—if you complied—would compromise your Christian convictions.

The Hunt for Fellow Believers

Over coffee, a Christian friend recently told of his fear he was beginning to think and talk like the unbelievers in his workplace. So far as he knows, no one else in his job-related circle has made any commitment to follow Christ. Although he meets with other believers evenings and weekends, most of his prime-time hours isolate him from other members of Christ's body.

Taking God to Work?

After reading the sentence, I stopped to scan it again. As one of a series of thought-stimulators in the study guide for a book, it asked readers to, “Describe three ways that you currently take God to work (or school) with you.” Hmmm. Does God really need me to take him to my workplace?

Connecting with Other Believers on Purpose

How can you intentionally identify other believers in the workplace? Doing so will probably take you out of your comfort zone. That's true in just about any work-world environment. But connecting with believers in a military setting can present even greater challenges—challenges the rest of us can learn from.

A Sales Director's Integrity Test

In sales jobs, the pressures to leave straight paths and take more profitable shortcuts can take the Christian into the red zone. One believer (we'll call him Frank), who works as a regional sales director for a global pharmaceutical firm, recently felt the force of that temptation.

A LITTLE LIGHT GOES A LONG WAY

The children's song, “This Little Light of Mine,” urges us to let it shine everywhere. But as a grownup in the workplace, I can easily think of my little light as even smaller. How can such a tiny flicker ever penetrate into the gigantic corporate bureaucracy all around me? Troy, a friend of mine, works for one of those giant corporations. He is one of around 35,000 employees in an international timber products firm. Yet he and a few fellow Christians have found a way to let Christ's light in them shine even there.

Respect for Co-Workers—a Mark of Love

We nod our agreement with Jesus' command to love our neighbors as ourselves. But the test comes as we live with those workplace neighbors day after day, week after week, year after year. Does their less-than-Christian behavior erode our respect for them?

Compassion for Co-Workers

The story caught the nation's attention last month. Shopkeeper Mohammed Sohail was just closing up when a man with a baseball bat rushed in demanding money. When Sohail grabbed a gun, the man dropped to his knees, pleading for mercy and saying he had no money. What happened next made national news.

Joining God in His Work Where You Work

By now Henry Blackaby's words in Experiencing God have become well known: “Find out where God is working and join him.” Doing so requires us to exercise faith on three fronts.

WORKING FOR FRUIT THAT WILL LAST

On some 6,000 acres in southeastern Washington, Ralph and Cheryl Broetje grow apples and cherries. But, says Ralph, “We’re interested in bearing fruit that will last. “We’re working on the production of fruit and how it’s doing in terms of people. It’s our work, call and passion all in one.” Cheryl agrees. “We believe we’re marketplace ministers,” she says.

Let's Stop Reinventing the Wheel

Q: What's wrong with this picture?

Why Do We Meet as Believers?

1543: The sun orbits the earth. Really?

2009: The church meets to worship. Really?

Much of Life Takes Place at Work

Recent events in the news plus a personal experience added up to one of those aha! moments for me. For days, the media focused our attention on the shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, and at the Gateway Center in Orlando, Florida. Other than murder and injury, what did those tragedies have in common?

God's Salt Strategy and the Work World

Salt. It's within easy reach at most dinner tables. It's also found abundantly in just about every region of the world—whether in saltwater, soil, or rock. Jesus said his followers are the “salt of the earth.” What did he mean?

Do Spiritual Gifts Apply Where You Work?

Does God give you gifts of his Spirit for use only within your local congregation? Or does he also give those gifts to make you able to serve him in your everyday work?

God is in My Workplace

A few days ago Debbie LaFever, a woman in the small group that meets in our home, brought us up to date on her adventures as a Christ-follower in a public school. Her workplace testimony encouraged us all. So I asked her to write it up for this website.

Airport Security and the Scattered Church

What can the church learn from all the recent focus on airport and airline security?

Cultivating a "Seeking Eye" in the Workplace

In my Dec. 31 blog, I wrote that all Christians need to be “eyes and ears, priests and pray-ers, salt and light” on the job. Jeff Morgan responded by noting how this points up our need for awareness: “I see tasks not people,” he wrote. “But once given pause, I see the missed opportunity to connect. How do I orient myself daily to have such a seeking eye?”

Christ at Work in a Bakery

Eugene Peterson's book title assures us that Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places. Apparently those places include bakeries. A close friend of ours (she prefers to remain anonymous) told us how Christ met her and a co-worker in the bakery department of a grocery store. Here, in her own words, is her story.

Showing our Faith by What We Do

The official-looking envelope from the Department of Licensing reminded me of something I no longer look forward to—my birthday. So, more than a month early, I drove to the licensing office. There, in addition to a new license, I'd get a fresh insight into serving Christ in the workplace.

Religious Ruts in Your Work World

Can you think of anything more powerful than the Word of God? Nine times Genesis 1 explains creation with the words “God said.” Psalm 33:9 sums it all up: “…he spoke, and it came to be.” Jesus, the God-Man, drove evil spirits out of people “with a word.” And he even now is “sustaining all things by his powerful word” (Hebrews 1:3). What could possibly stand in the way of such power?

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 2

YOU HAVE HEARD: EVERYDAY NON-RELIGIOUS WORK IS SECULAR

This is the second in a series of articleson religious traditions that undermine the effectiveness of Christ-followers in the work world. The format for these articles echoes Jesus' method of exposing harmful religious traditions by saying, “You have heard…but I say to you….”

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 3

You have heard: Everyday Non-Religious Work is Secular (Read Part 2)

But Scripture Makes Clear: God's World is Not Split into Sacred and Secular Zones.

Seeing the world in sacred/secular terms creates half-hearted and double-minded workers. This comes from defective vision comparable to diplopia—double vision.

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 4

YOU HAVE HEARD: WORK IS PART OF GOD'S PUNISHMENT FOR SIN

“Why Work?” asks British writer Dorothy Sayers in the title of an essay. How you answer that two-word question is crucial. Many look to Genesis 3:17-19 for the answer . . .

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 5

YOU HAVE HEARD: WORK IS PART OF GOD'S PUNISHMENT FOR SIN

BUT SCRIPTURE MAKES IT CLEAR: GOD, THE WORKER, MADE US AS WORKERS BEFORE SIN ENTERED THE WORLD

You've seen those houses with lean-to's jutting from outside walls. A lean-to is merely an attachment, an add-on, not part of the original design. The tradition that work is part of God's punishment for sin teaches us to see work as a lean-to, something God tacked onto us after he made us.

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 6

YOU HAVE HEARD: YOU ARE JUST A LAYPERSON

Sue Mallory, in her book, The Equipping Church, admits: “I put off writing this book for a long time because I wasn't sure I had an audience or a right to speak. After all, I thought, I'm just a layperson.” What had held her back?

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 7

YOU HAVE HEARD: YOU ARE JUST A LAYPERSON

BUT SCRIPTURE MAKES IT CLEAR: YOU ARE SALT, LIGHT, SEED, AND MUCH MORE

Many words in the New Testament tell us who we are as Christ-followers. But nowhere does it call any of us by those disabling terms, “laypersons” or “laity.” R. Paul Stevens writes, “While we observe in the church today two classes of people [clergy and laity]…, we discover in the New Testament one ministering people….”

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 8

YOU HAVE HEARD: GOD'S ONLY PURPOSES IN “SECULAR” WORK ARE WITNESSING AND MAKING MONEY FOR LIVING AND GIVING (Read Part 7)

This religious tradition concedes that so-called “secular” work can have some religiously redeeming value. Okay, it says, so you hold a job that does not qualify as work popularly called “full-time Christian service.” Not a total loss. At least you can use it as an opportunity to share the gospel, to earn a living, and to make enough to support your church and cross-cultural missions.

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 9

YOU HAVE HEARD: GOD'S ONLY PURPOSES IN “SECULAR” WORK ARE WITNESSING AND MAKING MONEY FOR LIVING AND GIVING (Read Part 8)

BUT SCRIPTURE MAKES IT CLEAR: GOD SENDS YOU TO WORK TO REFLECT HIM AND HIS WORK

Why has God placed you where you work? He has done so not for just two but for a rich variety of purposes. This will be the first of several blogs on other reasons God deploys you into the work world.

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 10

YOU HAVE HEARD: GOD'S ONLY PURPOSES IN “SECULAR” WORK ARE WITNESSING AND MAKING MONEY FOR LIVING AND GIVING (Read Part 9)

BUT SCRIPTURE MAKES IT CLEAR: GOD USES WORK-RELATED STRESSES TO FORM CHRIST IN YOU

Jesus tells us, “In this world, you will have trouble” (Jn. 16:33). Much of that distress occurs in the work world. Is it possible that encountering that trouble is one of God's reasons for sending us into that world?

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 11

YOU HAVE HEARD: GOD'S ONLY PURPOSES IN “SECULAR” WORK ARE WITNESSING AND MAKING MONEY FOR LIVING AND GIVING (Read Part 10)

BUT SCRIPTURE MAKES IT CLEAR: YOU AND OTHER BELIEVERS AT WORK ARE TO SERVE EACH OTHER

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 12

RELIGIOUS RUTS IN YOUR WORK WORLD: PART 12

YOU HAVE HEARD: GOD'S ONLY PURPOSES IN “SECULAR” WORK ARE WITNESSING AND MAKING MONEY FOR LIVING AND GIVING (Read Part 11)

BUT SCRIPTURE MAKES IT CLEAR: YOU'RE THERE TO MAKE THE GOOD NEWS APPEALING

A few years ago, during the boom years of real-estate sales, a new business emerged—home staging. A seller hires the home stager to put forward the best features of the house. According to one expert, “Staging a home can make a huge difference in how it's perceived by prospective buyers.” Is there a lesson here for Christ-followers in the work world?

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 13

RELIGIOUS RUTS IN YOUR WORKPLACE: PART 13

YOU HAVE HEARD: GOD'S ONLY PURPOSES IN “SECULAR” WORK ARE WITNESSING AND MAKING MONEY FOR LIVING AND GIVING (Read Part 12)

BUT SCRIPTURE MAKES IT CLEAR: YOUR WORK HELPS CARE FOR WHAT GOD CREATED

The other day, while speaking to encourage a group of Christians in their work, I asked them to discuss this question in teams of two: What would the world lose if no one did the kind of work you do? As it happened, one of the teams included a police officer and a firefighter.

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 14

YOU HAVE HEARD: GOD'S ONLY PURPOSES IN “SECULAR” WORK ARE WITNESSING AND MAKING MONEY FOR LIVING AND GIVING (Read Part 13)

BUT SCRIPTURE MAKES IT CLEAR: WITNESSING—A SERIOUS (NOT THE SOLE) PURPOSE

For a toddler, Kai had a way of capturing hearts. We had known his family well before he was born. One Sunday, as my wife worked in the church nursery, she couldn't help noticing again his gentle, kind spirit. “Kai,” she said, “I love you!” Instantly his body recoiled . . .

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 15

RELIGIOUS RUTS IN YOUR WORKPLACE: PART 15

YOU HAVE HEARD: GOD'S ONLY PURPOSES IN “SECULAR” WORK ARE WITNESSING AND MAKING MONEY FOR LIVING AND GIVING (Read Part 14)

BUT SCRIPTURE MAKES IT CLEAR: GOD APPLAUDS (NOT JUST ALLOWS) WORKING TO EARN

A flight attendant said, “The Great Commission is what we're called to. It is the number-one reason that God put us here. We need a job just to make our house payments and pay the bills.” In Your Work Matters to God, Doug Sherman and William Hendricks use this quotation to illustrate what they call the “Mainstream Model” of Christian thinking. In this view, the primary reason for working is to evangelize. The “just” in the quotation downgrades earning to a bothersome necessity.

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 16

YOU HAVE HEARD: GOD'S ONLY PURPOSES IN “SECULAR” WORK ARE WITNESSING AND MAKING MONEY FOR LIVING AND GIVING (Read Part 15)

BUT SCRIPTURE MAKES IT CLEAR: GOD SENDS YOU INTO THE WORK WORLD FOR MANY REASONS

What difference does it make if you think you're in the work world just to witness and to earn? Peer through the eyes of Lisa, a bank teller who has come from a church tradition in which evangelism trumps all.

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 17

YOU HAVE HEARD: TO REALLY SERVE GOD IN YOUR WORK, GO INTO FULL-TIME SERVICE

BUT SCRIPTURE MAKES IT CLEAR: ALL CHRISTIANS ARE CALLED TO SERVE GOD FULL TIME

"We shape our buildings,” said Winston Churchill; "thereafter they shape us.” In a similar way, we fashion religious terms that from then on have the power to mold our thinking for generations. Case in point: the phrase "full-time Christian service.”

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 18

YOU HAVE HEARD: STAY CLEAN BY AVOIDING THE WORK WORLD

BUT SCRIPTURE MAKES IT CLEAR: PENETRATE THE DARK WORK WORLD AS A LIGHT (Read Part 17)

"The workplace is no place for a Christian woman,” said one pastor. "It is too hard to be spiritual there. . . . Stay out of the world.” You don’t often hear this stance toward the work world expressed so openly. But even if not stated outright, the attitude continues to smolder in many places. Just the other day, I came across these words on a website:

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 19

YOU HAVE HEARD: TO GO TO CHURCH, ATTEND A WORSHIP SERVICE

BUT SCRIPTURE MAKES IT CLEAR: YOU REMAIN IN CHURCH WHILE YOU WORK (Read Part 18)

Ruts pose two hazards for a bike rider. One, they're hard to get out of. Two, they take control of the steering. The words "go to church” create similar risks for Christ-followers.

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 20

SUMMARY AND SIGNIFICANCE OF SERIES: PART 20 (Read Part 19)

Just over four months ago, I began posting these blogs on "Religious Ruts in Your Workplace.” Before we leave that theme for other workplace topics, let's briefly review what we've covered. These articles have identified seven religious traditions that affect our daily work. As I listed them for an overall look, a fresh insight emerged.

Your Help, Please

Can you help me? Your insights and experience would help me as I create a seminar for pastors and church leaders.

Readers Respond

Wow! None of my blogs has ever received as many comments as the one last week. In it, I asked: "How can pastors and church leaders incorporate workplace-preparedness into the DNA of their church life?” The responses would, I hoped, help me create a pastor-oriented seminar. Did they ever!

The Church Needs Reports from the Front

"Mind the gap!” Those recorded words warn passengers in London's subway not to step into the void between the platform and the train car. In its paper on marketplace ministry, the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization quotes those words as "an apt analogy for the gap between Sunday and Monday.” What can close the Sunday-Monday gap?

The Church Needs Reports from the Front

We had heard from our friend, Jackie, how she was seeing God at work in her government job. I asked if she'd care to develop a front lines report. She agreed, so I prompted her thinking with a few questions.

Korean Student: "Christian Workers are Like Orphans"

Some welcome news came last week. The Bakke Graduate University (BGU), Seattle, accepted me as a D.Min. student. The full name of the program: Doctor of Ministry in Transformational Leadership for the Global City. I plan to specialize in the theology of work—a BGU strength. Why this—at my age?

Clarifying Last Week's Post

One of the responses to last week's post came from a dear friend and brother, Henry Paasonen, who recently "retired” after years of missionary service in both Germany and France. He commented on this quotation I had inserted from my book, Job-Shadowing Daniel: "In your so-called ‘secular' work, you can do what no pastor or missionary could ever do.”

Meshing Sunday and Monday

A month or so ago I wrote that reports from the front lines offered one way to close the gap between Sunday and Monday. In this and the next several posts, we'll explore more ways to bridge that chasm.

Meshing Sunday and Monday: Sermons

This week the U.S. Labor Department reported that the unemployment rate has stagnated at 9.6 percent. Despite small gains in the private sector, we lost 95,000 jobs last month. Especially hard-hit: public schools. The news triggered countless stories in the media. How many sermons will refer to it?

Meshing Sunday and Monday: Public Prayer

Think back. When did you last hear prayer in a church service for those in so-called "secular” work? I can recall many publicly offered prayers for missionaries in other countries or for pastors who were ill or traveling. But rarely, if ever, have I heard such prayer in a gathered congregation for....

Meshing Sunday and Monday: Commissioning

When Daniel Rooney arrived in Ireland as the U.S. Ambassador, what would always remind him of the importance of his work?

Meshing Sunday and Monday: Workplace Visits

This continues a series suggesting a number of ways to relate what happens in our church services on Sundays to life in our workplaces on weekdays. This post proposes another way to shrink that distance—pastoral visits to the workplace.

Meshing Sunday and Monday: Workplace Groups

In the October 2 post, I suggested a two-pronged strategy for meshing Sunday and Monday. The second part called for "encouraging believers to gather even when scattered.” One way to carry that out: promoting the formation of workplace groups.

God’s Salt Strategy and the Work World

After my last post, I spent two weeks in Kingston, Jamaica, in a course offered by the Bakke Graduate University (BGU) of Seattle. What I saw there brought to mind what Jesus said about salt.

A Popular Website Asks: Why Hold a Job?

This question headlined the web page: "What is the purpose of working or holding down a job?” Naturally, given the theme of this website, it caught my attention. What kinds of answers would the readers of Yahoo! Answers come up with?

Meshing Mission and Monday

Workplace ministry. I use the term, yet it can be misleading. Too often it seems to imply bringing church-like activities—Bible studies, prayer meetings, and so on—into the office or job site. So I welcomed the following words by David J. Bosch in his book, Transforming Mission...

How One Pastor Changed His Thinking about the Church

Hands that work well require a fit body. In a similar way, believers who work well need a healthy church. The other day, I dusted off a book I had read years ago, one that drove home that point.

Our Calendar and the Worth of Work

Imagine a world with no calendars. Let’s say you want to invite several friends to a New Year’s Eve party. Naturally, you hope they’ll all show up on the same evening, namely the one just before the New Year begins. But you have no calendar. How will you word the invitation?

Your Church's Diamond Mines

George Peck’s father, a "devout Christian,” worked as an Australian coal miner. According to Peck (in the first chapter of The Laity in Ministry), his father "brought to bear upon his life in the mines the Christian faith that he professed.” But troubling thoughts kept nagging at him.

"Hello. What Do You Do?"

You’ve just been introduced to someone you don’t know. Typically, he or she may open the conversation by asking, "What do you do?” In other words, "What is your work?” Some of us take the question in stride. Others see it as demeaning.

Connecting the Daily Work Dots

Remember how, as kids, we connected numbered dots to see a picture take shape? As adult Christians, though, how many of us are not seeing a vital picture because we have not connected the dots between our daily work and God’s "Creation Mandate”?

The Work Placed in Our Hands

As last week’s blog stated, many of us have not "connected the dots” between our daily work and God’s "Creation Mandate.” Mandate. That’s not a word you usually hear during lunch with a friend. A mandate is . . .

Danger: People at Work

The old signs, "Danger, Men at Work,” got repainted. The gender-neutral signs say "Workers Ahead,” or simply "Workers.” That’s okay with me, but could we keep the word "danger”? Perhaps, "Danger: People at Work.” Why? Because any work can be dangerous to spiritual health when we turn it into something other than what God intends it to be.

Collar Color Conversation

The conversation in the restaurant took an unexpected turn. My wife and I were enjoying a noon meal with some Christian friends we’ve known for years.

Your Workplace: Hill and Lamppost

As my wife and I drove north on I-5 the other day, our windshield framed the Seattle skyscrapers. Borrowing a sentence from Jesus, I stated the obvious . . .

Check Out the Theology of Work Project

Whether paid for it or not, you probably think often about your work. Does God think about human work? And if so, what does he think about it? What does the Bible say about work? That’s the question behind the Theology of Work Project . . . .

Don't Try to Work from a Canoe

The other day a friend sent a link to a blog that began with the comical story of two couples canoeing on a lake. The first couple pull their boat to the dock and step out. The other couple park their craft alongside the first. The man in the second canoe steps one foot into the first, intending to use it as a bridge to the dock. But . . .

Go to Work as a Fruit Grower

Witnessing on the job. The thought of doing so frightens many Christians in the work world. A blogger recently asked: "How do I take my public stand for Christ without coming across as some preachy weirdo?”

Merchant-Missionaries from China

Nearly a month has passed since posting my last blog. The reason: preparing for and spending nearly two weeks in China. I went as one of a group of graduate students from various nations, visiting Beijing, Xian, and Shanghai. During that visit, and from reading books on China associated with that course, I learned some encouraging facts about workplace ministry there.

Workplace Radio

Several men had gathered for our once-a-week Bible study. As usual, the passage and the study guide questions sent our conversation in several directions. Somehow the subject of living out our faith in the workplace came up.

Is the Church Overloading Our "Special Forces"?

The raid of Osama Bin Laden’s hideaway—and his death—grabbed and held lenses and microphones for days. To my surprise, the work of the U.S. Navy Seals suggested an analogy relating to the church and workplace ministry.

Stewarding Your Job

You see the flash card for less than a second. The word on it: Stewardship. Quick—say your first thought. What does that word mean?

A Call for Help

Can you help me with a project? I am seeking to identify difficulties believers encounter in living out their faith on the job. What dilemmas, stresses, or unanswered questions do Christians face in the world of everyday work? What do they struggle with?

Is Your Job too Small?

"Most of us . . . have jobs that are too small for our spirit,” Nora Watson told Studs Terkel, who quoted her in the introduction to his book, Working (p. xxiv). "I think most of us are looking for a calling, not a job,” she said. Nora’s words must have struck a nerve, because other writers by the hundreds continue to quote them.

Seeing Past the Walls

We speak of "going to church.” But if you "go to work” the next day, are you still in church? The New Testament calls the church the body of Christ. Does a bodily part—an elbow, an ankle—slip into the body one day and out of it the next?

When Words Get Out of Shape

"We shape our buildings,” said Winston Churchill; "thereafter they shape us.” It’s also true that we shape our words—and then they shape us.

What is the Theology of Work?

"I wasn’t aware that there is such a thing as work theology.” Those words, written by a Christian graduate student, no doubt reflect the position of countless believers.

Work: God's and Ours

Why work? The question has several answers, some on target and some off. Bottom line: we work because God is a worker—and he made us in his image. So working becomes one of the main ways we reflect God’s likeness in the world. But that raises a question.

Thanking God for Pete Hammond

I met him only twice before his death in 2008—once when he spoke in our church gathering, and again when he visited our hometown. But God, through Pete Hammond, encouraged and affirmed me all out of proportion to those rare in-person meetings.

Will Our Work Ever End?

"Will we work in heaven? If not, what will we do?” Pete Hammond (see last blog) ends with these questions on the "Jobs Are:” page in his Lessons, Prayers & Scripture on the Faith Journey.

Are Profit and Greed Identical Twins?

You don’t have to listen or read very long these days before finding the words "profit and greed” smeared together like peanut butter and jelly. I recently heard a musician singing the complaint that, "with profit and greed we destroyed our land.”

Newbigin on the Work World

Believers from the work world gather Sunday after Sunday to listen to their pastors. What if pastors could listen to those believers describe the challenges, opportunities, frustrations, and questions they face on the job? For the past several weeks Leroy Hurt and I have been planning a county-wide forum to create just such an opportunity.

Rethinking Handwork

We hear a lot these days about "knowledge workers.” One Harvard professor says, "The future belongs to knowledge workers.” Americans, writes Glenn Reynolds in a Popular Science article, "increasingly disdain manual labor.” In this thought-climate, Paul’s instructions to first-century Christians seem almost quaint . . .

Work Takes My Mind Off God

Imagine the difficulty in doing your work wholeheartedly if you’re afraid focusing on the job distances you from God. To think that way pits your work against your walk with God. It seems as if the job competes with your faith for your attention.

Appropriate Workplace Witnessing

One question from the forum described in the previous blog asked: "What is appropriate in workplace witnessing?” There is, of course, no bumper-sticker answer to that. God has given us his Holy Spirit as teacher and guide to make us able to navigate all areas of our lives—including our witness at work.But two statements by Jesus—which at first seem to cancel each other out —may help us hear the Spirit of God more clearly as we seek to make our workplace witness "appropriate.”

Relating the Gospel to Work-World Cultures

How are believers in very different cultures to authentically live out the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ in their workplaces?

Old Book, Current Message

Of all people, we Christians should prize old books. After all, the most recently written parts of our Bible are nearly 2,000 years old. I’ve just finished reading a book authored 40 years ago . . .

Bringing Your Work to Jesus

In a world of 7 billion, what difference can your work make?

Don't Retire . . . Redeploy

In recent conversation, a medical doctor mentioned how often he has seen those who retire from their work die shortly afterward. His comment was in line with a Shell Oil company study which found that people retiring early at 55 experienced twice the death rate of those who retired at 60. Why? Many factors probably explain this, but one of them may well be the loss of purpose.

Getting Beyond Status Quo

The other day, I googled on the phrase "jobs on everyone’s mind” and received 1,150 hits. When it comes to work, people worry about it, watch movies about it, spend their best waking hours doing it, love it, hate it, and politicize it. And people talk about work everywhere—except in most churches.

Work-World Christians Unaware of Resources

A survey of 60 Christian employees made up the research core of my just-completed DMin. Dissertation. One of the 41 questions asked: "Are you aware of any resources that provide instruction and encouragement for believers in the 21^st century work world?” More than 60 percent (37) said . . .

Book Review: The Integrated Life

In last week’s blog, I promised to review some of the books now available as resources for Christians in the work world. A day or so later, I received an email suggesting that I review The Integrated Life by Ken Eldred. That book is part of my library—so here goes. . . .

Book Review: Taking Your Soul to Work

What do you do if your work is suffocating your prayer life? That’s how Alvin Ung described to Paul Stevens what was happening to him. "Paul,” he said, "do you really think it’s possible to grow spiritually while I’m working in my crazy, relentless job?”

Book Review: The Work of Our Hands

How should churches and Christians respond in our era of high unemployment? Taking its title from Ps. 90:17, The Work of Our Hands answers that question with current examples of action.

Billy Graham: God is Working in a New Way

Billy Graham believes God is "working in a new way” today. In The Next Christians, Gabe Lyons quotes what the aging evangelist told him at the Graham home in Montreat, North Carolina.

Your Work--the Work Itself--Speaks

The other day at the gym, a friend who serves as a pastor told me of a "profoundly spiritual experience” he had had the day before. He said, "It wasn’t at church, or during a quiet time alone with my Bible . . .

Separation of Church and Work

We’ve all heard the words, "separation of church and state.” Many seem to think the American founding fathers wrote the phrase into the Constitution. Thinking that way is not only wrong, it’s harmful. The separation of church and work is also wrong—and also harmful.

Your Long-

Your Long-Term Mission

Happy Labor Day! The U.S. Dept. of Labor website says, "Labor Day [singular] . . . is a creation of the labor movement.” The Bible says labor days [plural] are a creation of God: "Six days you shall labor and do all your work” (Ex. 20:9). Not one, not two, but six out of seven days are labor days. That’s more than 300 each year.

In Two Minds Over Money

John C. Knapp writes about "the Christian community’s long-standing ambivalence about money.” Yet he goes on to say that, "the subject of work cannot be fully addressed apart from the making and spending of money.” (How the Church Fails Businesspeople, pp. 45, 67). Some of our double-mindedness arises from an uneasiness over the disparity between haves and have-nots.

Sacred vs. Secular Work: Damaging Divide

"I think people don’t like to talk about this divide very much.” Those words from a student in response to a question I posed to two online classes on Work, Calling, and Human Dignity. The "divide” to which he referred is the gulf between so-called "sacred” and "secular” work. The question to which he responded: "What effect does the sacred/secular divide have on how Christians often perceive the dignity of work?”

Sacred vs. Secular Work: Loss to Kingdom

In the last blog, I focused on several responses of doctoral and masters students in my online classes to this question: "What effect does the sacred/secular divide have on how Christians often perceive the dignity of work?” This post continues on the theme of "loss” so often expressed in their answers to that question.

Sacred vs. Secular Work: Loss to Individuals

The last two posts reported on how doctoral and masters students responded to the question: "What effect does the sacred/secular divide have on how Christians often perceive the dignity of work?” The word "loss” sums up their responses—loss not only to the gathered/scattered church and to the Kingdom of God, but also to individual believers.

The Largely Untapped Potential of the Workplace

How can Christians in the workplace make the gospel attractive (Titus 2:10) to unbelievers? Think of it this way. The voice on a radio commercial urges you to spend $19.95 on a filter pitcher. An hour later you watch a TV ad that shows the same unit turning a rusty stream from a faucet into crystal-clear water. Which message are you more likely to trust? We’ve known since kindergarten that show-and-tell works far better than tell-by-itself.

AT THE CORNER OF CHURCH AND WORK

It’s time to create a new intersection. Back in 1974 when I wrote Secular Work is Full-Time Service (now published as Serving Christ in the Workplace), I was not aware of any other books on the connection between faith and the workplace. Since then, however, literally thousands have become available. Just this year (2012), for example, quite a number of new books have appeared.

Church-from-Scratch: Centrifugal (Part 1)

After reading my last blog on living out faith in the workplace, a reader emailed me with the following challenge: "If you could create it from scratch, what would a church look like that fully embodied a proper theology of work and really empowered its members to be ministers in the workplace? What would it do? Would it even resemble the traditional church and its meetings, practices, etc.?”

Church-from-Scratch: "Each Othering" (Part 2)

To build the theology of work into its DNA, a church-from-scratch should settle on the New Testament’s reason for gathering: to build up, spur on, equip, and encourage one another. By contrast, our church traditions lead us to think we assemble to worship.

Church-from-Scratch: Word-Work (Part 3)

Good work must be founded on God’s word. So in the from-scratch church, instruction on what Scripture reveals about work would take its proportional place in the menu of teaching about what Christians are to believe and to do.

Church-from-Scratch:

Church-from-Scratch: Resources (4)

Leaders of a church-from-scratch don’t have to begin from scratch with the theology of work. A bumper crop of biblically sound resources on the subject is now available. Books by the thousands, videos, websites, magazine articles, and more. In this blog, I’ll include a brief description and a link to just a tiny sampling of resources.

Church-from-Scratch: Leadership (Part 5)

In an email, a reader asked about "the governance structure of the from-scratch church.” No pat answer will do here. The Old Testament lays down precise arrangements and rules for the priesthood. But New Testament directions for church leadership are far less structured and more open to interpretation. Even so, I believe its instructions and practices offer some wisdom for those who wish to build the theology of work into the DNA of a church-from-scratch.

Church-from-Scratch: Work-World Windows (Part 6)

The from-scratch church would make room in main weekly meetings for those from the workplace to bring reports from the "front lines.” Here, employers and employees would have opportunity to help others in the church family see their jobs as serving God.

Church-from-Scratch: Public Prayer (Part 7)

The church-from-scratch should pray publicly for those God has placed in the work world. Think back to your own experience in church meetings. You’ve probably heard prayers for a variety of needs: healing, finances, building projects, pastors and missionaries, church programs, safe travel, and so on. But how often have you heard prayer for those in so-called "secular” work?

Church-from-Scratch: Music to Work By (Part 8)

Now and again, to help incorporate the theology of work into its DNA, the newly planted church should sing of God’s gift of human labor. Granted, there aren’t many such songs. To the surprise of some, a few workplace-oriented hymns have been around for a long time.

Christmas Work

The virgin birth of Jesus was clearly the work of God. Yet he did this work within a setting prepared by the work of human beings. As we celebrate Christmas, the story of the God-Man’s birth can remind us that God uses our work in doing his work.

Church-from-Scratch: Linking Believers in Similar Work (Part 9)

The newly planted (or the older) church should promote and help establish networks of believers engaged in similar occupations. Life in the 21^st century creates a far greater need for such linkages than in bygone eras. Working Christians in New Testament times knew nothing of the modern forces that isolate those in today’s workplaces.

Church-from-Scratch: Equipping Young People (Part 10)

Whether new or established, a church should prepare its young people to live as Christ-followers in the world of work.

Church-from-Scratch: Wrap-Up

An appropriate title for the previous ten blogs might be, "Weaving Theology of Work into Church Life.” The theology of work is what God has said about our daily work. Scripture has much to say about it and about its place in God’s kingdom purposes. In Every Good Endeavor, Timothy Keller and Kathryn Leary Alsdorf open Chapter One with . . .

Turning Daily Work into Ministry

If work is "ministry,” what does that look like? What shape should such ministry take in a paid job? In unpaid work? In the efforts of the entrepreneur? In the labors of a retired (redeployed) person?

Turning Work into Ministry: Part 2--Communing

How can you commune with God in a workplace full of people who don’t—and who may even oppose it? Is communing with God a good work best done in a "house of worship” where we enjoy the backing of everyone around us?

Turning Work into Ministry: Part 3--Communing

Communion with God in our work often takes us out of our comfort zone. For the Christian, both the Fall and our Redemption contribute to discomfort in the workplace.

TURNING WORK INTO MINISTRY: Part 4, Building Community

When you say "workplace,” does "community” come to mind? It’s easy to assume we leave community (gathered church, neighborhood) when we go to work. You may be thinking, "My work sure doesn’t feel like community!” But does God send you there to help build community?

Turning Work into Ministry: Part 5, Building Community

Last week’s blog on building community raised a question for a reader. Beyond practicing good manners, she wanted to know, what should go into seeking to build community and shalom into the workplace. In his book, Joy at Work, Dennis Bakke has identified one important community-building element. Bakke co-founded and served as the CEO of Applied Energy Services, a Fortune 200 global power company.

Turning Work into Ministry: Part 6--Building Community

In John 17 Jesus prayed for a oneness among his followers that unbelievers can observe. If that oneness is invisible to them, how will they come to know and believe the Father sent Jesus? A weekend gathering of Christians may and should enjoy great unity. But comparatively few outsiders will witness it.

Turning Work into Ministry: Part 7--Building Community

In our virtual-community age of Facebook and tweets, where do nearly half of us in America get most of our literal face-to-face time? On the job. There, we still read smiles and frowns, hear tones of voice, interpret gestures, and can actually touch each other. As those who recognize our God-assigned role of building community, we believers dare not overlook the opportunities right in our workplaces.

Turning Work into Ministry: Part 8--Building Community

Evangelism in the workplace. Some think it’s the only significant reason believers are there. No, say others, it’s out of place on the job. Is it all? Or is it nothing? Maybe it would help those taking either position to relate evangelism to the community-building called for in our original job description.

Turning Work into Ministry: Part 9--Stewarding the Earth

In my early teens Dad delegated to me the care of a half-acre of his 31-acre farm. The land was still his, but on "my” plot I did the work of plowing, discing, harrowing, planting, irrigating, weeding, harvesting, and marketing. The crop: Marblehead squash. Why did I feel so honored? Because Dad had entrusted something of his own into my care. I experienced the dignity of manhood as I managed what belonged to my father. That introduced me to stewardship.

Turning Work into Ministry: Part 10--Stewarding the Earth

Your work, stewardship, and the economy. What do they have in common? We talk a lot about the economy these days. But few know that our words economy and economics come from the New Testament Greek word for stewardship. For example . . .

Turning Work into Ministry: Part 11--Conclusion

This series of blogs has drawn its theme from the only time in the history of the planet when God’s will was done perfectly on earth as in heaven. That, of course, was the Genesis two-chapter account of the pre-sin era. In those chapters, we see our earliest ancestors getting—and beginning to carry out—our work assignments from God.

Where Was God in Boston?

"Where was God in Boston?” I googled those words—in parentheses for exact matches. In a split second I got more than 4,500 results. One Christ-follower wrote: "God really has done something about this. And his ‘something’ looks like a cross. It looks like an empty tomb. It looks like Jesus.”

A Searching Question about Your Workview

It was a penetrating question. It came to my attention this week through the course, "Taking Your Soul to Work.” Dr. R. Paul Stevens, author of many books that explore the biblical view of our daily work, had taught the course at Regent College, Vancouver, BC. I am in the process of adapting the material to teach as an online course for the Bakke Graduate University (BGU).

PINING ON THE JOB?

Midway through my undergraduate years in Wheaton College, I married Sharon Cole of Seattle. The day after our wedding in her hometown, we started the 2,000-mile drive to Illinois. For the next three years, we made our home there. Sharon worked in Chicago, while I completed my college degree. After graduation, I worked as an editor/writer for Scripture Press Publications. We returned to the State of Washington in 1964. Let me hasten to add at this point that Sharon has read and okayed what follows.