Faith and Work News ~ Links to Interesting Articles

• Called to Lead Book. My book Called to Lead: Living and Leading for Jesus in the Workplace was recently released. The book is now available on Amazon for all Kindle devices and Kindle apps.
• Grief, Hope, and Work in a Time of Pandemic. Gage Arnold writes “Even amid a pandemic, our need for work and our need to continue the Genesis 1:27 cultural mandate of being fruitful and multiplying still holds fast. While the work may look different, the promises of scripture stand firm amidst the shaking of our own infrastructures and idols of comfort.
• Work is a Way to Love Our Neighbors. Watch this message from Katherine Leary Alsdorf, founder and former executive director of Redeemer Presbyterian’s Center for Faith & Work, and co-author with Tim Keller of Every Good Endeavor.
• God’s Presence with Moses. Russell Gehrlein, author of Immanuel Labor-God’s Presence in Our Profession, writes “Having a good understanding of what it means to be a coworker with God as He works through us to meet the needs of our customers, fellow employees, subordinates, and supervisors makes all the difference in how we approach our own jobs every day, no matter what job we have.”
• JOB vs. CAREER vs. CALLING: What’s the Difference? In this video, Paul Sohn explains the difference between a job, career and calling. Often, we use these words interchangeably but the actual meaning of them are quite different. At the end, Paul shares tips on how to transform your job into a calling.
• The Simple, Effective, and Free Path to Loving Your Work. Everyone needs three things in order to love their work. This episode of the At the Table podcast with Patrick Lencioni addresses job fulfillment, employee satisfaction, and what managers need to give the people they lead.

Click on ‘Continue reading’ for:

• More links to interesting articles
• The Top 10 Faith and Work Quotes of the Week
• My Review of “The Economics of Neighborly Good: Investing in Your Community’s Compassion and Capacity” by Tom Nelson
• Snippets from Os Guinness’ book “The Call: Finding and Fulfilling God’s Purpose For Your Life”

• 7 Suggestions for 50+ Year-Old Leaders to Find a Second Wind. Ron Edmundson writes “We have placed so much energy investing in the next generation of leaders that we’ve left a ton of leaders my age wondering how to remain relevant and useful”.
• How Can I Trust God in My Husband’s Job Loss? Ann Swindell writes “No matter how our lives change, the constancy of Christ is sure. God ‘does not change like shifting shadows’ (James 1:17), but remains stable and steadfast when everything else is in transition. We can cling to him and know that he has a plan for us, that he will provide for us, and that we are stable and secure—eternally—in him.”
• Mops, People and the Soul’ of Your Firm. Greg Leith writes “Since God intensely values each person, we should serve the people we lead, seeing them as ends, not means, in accomplishing work.”
• Seven Quotes to Encourage You in Your Work. Greg Ayers shares seven quotes from Wayne Gruden’s book Business for the Glory of Godto encourage you in your work as you seek to imitate and honor Christ in all that you do.
• Best Books to Find Your Calling.  Watch this video from Paul Sohn as he shares his top 5 books that will help you find your calling and purpose.
• Vocation in a Time of Precedented Uncertainty. Noah Toly writes “Among the many casualties of these current risks and future uncertainties is sure-footed conviction about our vocations. Why would we continue to invest time and attention in the same things that captured our imaginations before the pandemic? Where does our work fit into questions about the future of the global economy, the possibility of environmental integrity, the pace of scientific discovery, or the scale of global charitable giving? How can our own sense of calling withstand such massively scaled issues?”
  

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• May we ask every day, “How can I represent the values of my King in my home, at my work, to my neighbor, in the issues of the day, in the way I use my time, energy and money, as I make decisions etc.” Paul Tripp
• Awakened to our deepest gifts and aspirations, we know that consideration of calling always has to precede considerations of career and that we can seek the deepest satisfaction in work only within the perspectives of calling. Os Guinness
• To violate the rhythm of work and rest eventually leads to chaos. Tim Keller
• In order to best glorify God and love others through our vocations, we must do our work with excellence. And we can’t do our most excellent work until we discern the work God has created us to do most exceptionally well, and then, once we’ve found it, focus on becoming a master of that craft. Jordan Raynor
• Do not be discontented with your calling. Whatever God has made your position or your work, remain in that, unless you are quite sure that He calls you to something else. Let your first concern be to glorify God to the best of your ability where you are. Charles Spurgeon
• Leadership is not an innate, mystical gift; rather, it is a learned ability to influence the attitudes and behavior of others. Tony Dungy
• Following Christ means viewing our entire life (including our work) as service to God and others rather than as a means of getting something from this world. Jordan Raynor
• The best thing you can do is to keep your nose to the grindstone, to remember that it takes a lot of work to hone your gift into something useful, and that you have to learn to enjoy the work—especially the parts you don’t enjoy. Maybe that’s the answer to a successful career. Andrew Peterson
• God created you with unique gifts and ignited the passions He put in your heart for a reason—don’t let fear steal your opportunities and leave you on the sidelines wishing you’d tried. Do what you believe you were created to do. Bob Goff
  

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FAITH AND WORK BOOK REVIEW:

The Economics of Neighborly Good: Investing in Your Community’s Compassion and Capacity by Tom Nelson. IVP Books. 192 pages. 2017
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The author’s previous book, Work Matters: Connecting Sunday Worship to Monday Work is one of my favorite books on integrating faith and work. He writes that far too little has been written or taught about how theology and economics seamlessly intersect. As a pastor, he realized that he had been spending the majority of his time equipping the congregation he served for the minority of their lives. He calls this pastoral malpractice. This pastoral malpractice was impoverishing his congregation in its spiritual formation and gospel mission. He tells us that neighborly love requires that we wisely and intentionally integrate faith, work, and economics for the glory of God and the good of the world.
In this book he addresses the following questions:

• What does the Bible say about economics?
• What does a life of fruitfulness look like?
• What role do Christian leaders have in nurturing the economic well-being of their congregations and organizations?
• What about the economic well-being of the cities where they minister and serve?

Themes covered in the book are economics, work, wealth, poverty, economic injustice, human flourishing and generosity.
He finishes this challenging book by asking the reader “When it comes to faith, work, and economic integration, how are you and your church doing? Are you thoughtfully addressing the Sunday-to-Monday gap?”
Below are 10 of my favorite quotes from the book:

1. A primary way God designed us to love our neighbors is for us to do our work well, and from our work to have the capacity to be generous to neighbors in need.
2. If we have compassion without capacity, we have human frustration. If we have capacity without compassion, we have human alienation. If we have compassion and capacity, we have human transformation. We have neighborly love.
3. Jesus teaches us that neighborly love speaks into the collaborative work we do every day. He insists that our neighborly love should fuel economic flourishing.
4. Jesus came not only to save us from our lives of sin but also to save us for lives of flourishing and fruitfulness.
5. You cannot help your neighbor well if you do not understand economics well, because human flourishing and economic flourishing go hand in hand.
6. Doing our work well matters to God and to our neighbor. The best workers make for the best neighbors.
7. Whether our work is paid or not paid, our work is to glorify God, honor others, and add value to their lives.
8. No matter what our vocational calling is, whether our work is paid or not, our contribution of productivity is a vital manifestation of the flourishing, fruitful life from which we serve and love others.
9. A vital part of spiritual formation is growing in economic understanding, financial management, work productivity, and generosity.
10. One telling sign of resurrection power in any local congregation is that Sunday worship is understood as being closely connected to Monday work and the economy.

Faith and Work Book Club – Won’t you read along with us?

The Call: Finding and Fulfilling God’s Purpose For Your Life by Os Guinness is the best book on calling for the Christian that I have read. The first time I read it was in Dr. Douglass’s wonderful “Spiritual and Ministry Formation” class at Covenant Seminary in 2013. In 2018, on the 20th anniversary of the book, Guinness published a revised and updated edition.
This week we’ll look at Chapter 21: Combating the Noonday Demon. Here are a few takeaways from the chapter:

• Calling is the best antidote to the deadly sin of sloth.
• Any contradiction between our callings and our careers condemns us to be square pegs in round holes.
• Careers that express calling are as fulfilling as careers that contradict calling are frustrating.
• Challenged, inspired, rebuked, and encouraged by God’s call, we cannot for a moment settle down to the comfortable, the mediocre, the banal, and the boring. The call is always to the higher, the deeper, and the farther.
• Awakened to our deepest gifts and aspirations, we know that consideration of calling always has to precede considerations of career and that we can seek the deepest satisfaction in work only within the perspectives of calling.