Andy Crouch said something provocative (well, more than one thing provocative) at the Redeeming Work conference here in the Twin Cities yesterday. By way of explaining why today’s Christians have been so blind to the spiritual significance of everyday work, Andy made this blunt claim: “We are missing chapters of our Bible.” Huh? Really? Is this like the extra Gnostic stuff Elaine Pagels has been telling us about? Nope. Andy says we’re missing the first two and the last two... Read more
Redeeming Work Twin Cities was full of pleasant surprises for me. For one thing, I’m a longtime fan of Ken Myers, founder/interviewer at Mars Hill Audio Journal. So I perked up when Andy Crouch used Ken’s concise definition of culture: “What human beings make of the world—in both senses.” The two senses, explained Andy, are these: First, culture is simply the things we make – material – chairs, furniture, pews, clothing, projectors, microphones, interstate highways. Even speech is an act... Read more
Yesterday morning at Art House North in St Paul, MN, the mixed audience of pastors and marketplace workers grabbed a coffee and muffin-the-size-of-your-head and headed for the pews of this unique space to begin a stimulating day’s conversation on faith and work, sponsored by Leadership Journal and the Kern Family Foundation. After musician and Art House North co-owner Sara Groves opened up with a simple worship song (if she were my worship leader, I’d never miss church!), Christianity Today Executive... Read more
Tomorrow in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Leadership Journal is sponsoring “Redeeming Work Twin Cities” at the Art House North to discuss faith, work, and the common good. If you can go–sign up now! Today is the last day to get the preview pricing of $99. If not–come back to this spot tomorrow where our senior editor Chris Armstrong will be live-blogging the event. See you there…..or here! Read more
Our friends at Church of the Resurrection in Wheaton, IL recently devoted five Sundays (yes, you read that right! over a month!) to the topic of work. Click on the links below to access the first four sermons: “Faithful,” Stephen Gautier “Positive,” Val MacIntyre “Productive,” Kevin Miller “Called,” Kevin Miller Or you can check out lots more uplifting sermons, and other information about “Rez” here. Read more
Recently Scott Samuelson, a community college professor, posted an article at The Atlantic under the provocative title “Why I teach Plato to Plumbers.” His argument is mainly about the importance of opening study of the liberal arts to all people, but it has important implications for integrating faith and work. He writes, Once, when I told a guy on a plane that I taught philosophy at a community college, he responded, “So you teach Plato to plumbers?” Yes, indeed. But... Read more
Recently on the Oikonomia Network, pastor Blaine Crawford pondered the white-collar orientation of many of his colleagues in the faith and work movement after returning from a recent conference: During the session, one of the speakers said that while we used to work to meet needs lower on this hierarchy, we now search for meaning, fulfillment, and purpose in our work ‒ the higher levels in the hierarchy. In Maslow’s terminology, we seek to become self-actualized. Implicit to his statement,... Read more
Those of you out there reading this blog have a number of things you want to hear about, we know….how to serve God in your daily work, how to build a better world through your work, how to find hope amidst unemployment and discouragement. We also know that at least some of you are interested in an occasional post on the “big picture” of not just faith at work, but faithful economics. As such, we want to let you know... Read more
Patheos Faith and Work Channel welcomes our newest blogger, J. B. Wood of “Shrinking the Camel.” J. B. is a businessman trying to bring his spiritual life and his business life together. Read more about his struggles and joys, and leave him a comment, here. We are excited to welcome J.B. to the channel. Stay tuned as from time to time we feature some of his work in this space as well! Read more
Recently, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship’s The Well website, a ministry for graduate and professional women, sat down with Christian banker Patricia Snyder to talk about how she serves God in her family and professional life. She described early influences on her calling: My father was a banker, and I always found it appealing that he knew everybody in our hometown. He knew all that was going on in the community. My first banking job, while in college, was stuffing bank statements one... Read more
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