Faith and Work News ~ Links to Interesting Articles
- How Do I Think Wisely About Relocating My Family? Russ Gehrlein responds to the question “Moving closer to his work seems like it would honor his employer and set us up for the future. But we hate to give up the community we have. How can we think about this with biblical wisdom?”
- Why You Shouldn’t Do What Makes You Happy with Jordan Raynor. On this this episode of the Crush Your Career podcast, Dee Ann Turner is joined by serial entrepreneur, speaker, podcast host, and best-selling author Jordan Raynor, to discuss how to find the “why” in your work and the purpose in your job.
- 5 Ways to Love Colleagues Remotely. Whitney K. Pipkin responds to the question “How can I share the love of Christ with people I never see?”
Click on ‘Continue reading’ for:
- More links to interesting articles
- The Top 10 Faith and Work Quotes of the Week
- My Review of Change Your World: How Anyone, Anywhere Can Make A Difference by John Maxwell and Rob Hoskins
- Snippets from the book Work and Worship: Reconnecting Our Labor and Liturgy by Matthew Kaemingk and Cory B. Willson
- Why Faith & Work? (Part 2) – Work. Jeff Haanen shares the second article of a three-part series on “Why Faith & Work?”
- Here’s How You Can Develop a “Work as Worship” Mindset. Chris Chancey writes “Work may be written and preached about as if living your faith at, in, and through work is as easy as flipping a switch, but that’s just not the case. The truth is, “work as worship” is a mindset that must be cultivated over time.
- The 10,000 Rule in the Christian Life. Trevin Wax writes “In the end, whether or not you think the 10,000 Hour Rule is true or false, there’s no question that committing to hard work, engaging in deliberate practice, and getting a head start makes a difference. Whatever you set your mind to, do it to the glory of God and the good of the people around you.”
- Are You Free to Be Whatever You Choose? Greg Ayers writes “We can only be what we were created to be, given the unique talents God has gifted us with. It’s a big lie if you’re told otherwise.”
- Enjoying the God-Given Gift of Work. Lee Truax writes “Exercising and enjoying the God-given gift of our work—the expression of our skills and talents in proper perspective—is our great privilege from God. It is in the infusion of our work with our faith that allows us to enjoy and reflect the pleasure of our God.”
- “I Worked Harder”: Recovering the Christian Work Ethic. Robert Yarbrough, who I enjoyed a class on Jeremiah with at Covenant Seminary a few years back, profiles the work ethic of the apostle Paul.
- Bringing the Great Commission into All Aspects of Our Lives. Hugh Whelchel writes “It is in the work we do in these four secondary callings, paid and unpaid, that we have the opportunity to bring about flourishing and positively impact the communities around us for God’s Kingdom. Our obedience to our primary calling to Christ can be seen working itself out in our secondary callings in these four distinct ways.”
- Called to Lead. My book Called to Lead: Living and Leading for Jesus in the Workplace is available in both a paperback and Kindle edition. Read a free sample (Introduction through Chapter 2).
- 7 High Costs of Leadership Every Leader Should Pay. Ron Edmondson writes “Leadership can be expensive. If we desire to be leaders, it will likely cost us something – maybe even something we value greatly. There are high costs of leadership that every leader should be willing to pay”.
- Leaders Make Peace. Howard Graham writes “If you are a leader, you are in the peacemaking business. And, if you’re leading well, you will have conflicts that need to be resolved.”
Top 10 Faith and Work Quotes of the Week
- God calls every disciple to full-time service. We deny that some work is sacred and some secular. Dan Doriani
- If God exists then every good endeavor, even the simplest ones, pursued in response to God’s calling can matter forever. Tim Keller
- Wherever God calls you, he accompanies you with love, grace, wisdom and power. Paul Tripp
- Work is always going to be a disappointment to each of us because of sin. Russ Gehrlein
- Your calling, when you find and embrace it, will result in the merging of your skills, talents, character traits, and experiences. John Maxwell
- In the end our greatest influence may come not from our vision, our preaching, our leading, or our achievements—but through our weakness. Scott Sauls
- Your hope for what you’ll face today is not your gifts and capability, but your Savior’s presence, power, and compassion. Paul Tripp
- Whether our lot seems humble or exalted, let us work with all our heart, for the Lord knows and rewards all faithful labor. Dan Doriani
- Mission includes our secular vocations, not just church ministry. Tim Keller
FAITH AND WORK BOOK REVIEW:
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This is not your typical John Maxwell book. First, it is not specifically about business leadership, teamwork or professional development. Second, it is co-written with Rob Hoskins. The book was written to encourage and equip the reader to be a catalyst for transformation in your family, workplace and community, through eight streams of influence: government, education, business, religion, media, arts, sports, and healthcare. They tell us that transformation is possible for anyone willing to learn and live good values, value people, and collaborate with others to create a positive values culture.
The author’s motivations for the book were twofold. First, they wanted to motivate and equip the reader to make a difference right now in your community. Second, they wanted to encourage the reader to change your community with others. They tell us that when this happens, there is potential for a movement to be birthed.
Throughout the book, they share stories of change that they have observed in several communities as a result of their organizations OneHope, EQUIP, and the John Maxwell Leadership Foundation, many of them in countries outside of the United States, such as Guatemala.
A key concept discussed in the book is that of transformation tables, which they discuss in detail. The most dramatic, penetrating, and long-lasting changes the authors have seen have come around a table with a small group of people. They tell us that if you want to help people to transform their lives, then you will want to learn how to gather small groups around a table and get them talking about good values and how to apply them to their everyday lives. They state that learning good values using transformation tables helps people to live better lives. When this happens, the possibility of alleviating poverty, disease, hunger, illiteracy, and other problems within a community increase.
Other topics discussed in the book are being a catalyst for change, collaboration, values, starting a movement, trust, transformation conversations, storytelling and hope. The authors point you to the ChangeYourWorld.com website for additional resources.
Below are 20 helpful quotes from the book:
- To help others live a better life, you don’t focus on their problems. You focus on positive solutions that provide a better way for them to live.
- The people who change the world are those who want to and don’t wait to.
- When you add courage to your leadership, then you create opportunities for change, which in turn changes culture.
- The biggest gap between failure and success is the distance between I should and I did.
- To lead change, to be a catalyst, you have to believe you can make a difference.
- When you become a catalyst for change, one of the most significant things you can do is invite others to join you in the cause.
- Now is the time to do something. It’s okay to start even when you don’t have all the answers. Do what you know to do.
- The change cycle goes like this: I experience something so life-changing that I change. I share something so life-changing that you change. We facilitate something so life-changing that others change.
- It can be deeply satisfying to be part of something larger than yourself.
- Transformation begins with influence, and influence always flows from the top down, like a waterfall, not upward. For transformation to happen, the leaders must be involved.
- The bottom line is that transformation begins in an individual, grows in community, and impacts a society. But the process always starts with partnerships based on common ground.
- The ultimate goal of any movement is to create a better future.
- You cannot make a difference or change your world in a positive way unless you build everything you do on good values. They are the single most important part of any transformational movement.
- Values are principles that guide your decisions and behaviors. Nothing impacts your life every day more than your values.
- Transformation is a just cause worthy of commitment.
- There are few things in life more important than valuing people.
- What you do, why you do it, and how you do it are based on your values.
- No matter what you want to do—whether it’s raising a family, building a business, or changing your world—you need to develop trust. That comes only with good values.
- You may be able to impress people from a distance, but you can impact them only from up close.
- If you don’t measure what you’re doing, you won’t be able to get your great idea to give you the results you desire.
Faith and Work Book Club – Won’t you read along with us?
Drawing on years of research, ministry, and leadership experience, in this new book Matthew Kaemingk and Cory B. Willson explain why Sunday morning worship and Monday morning work desperately need to inform and impact one another. Together they engage in a rich biblical, theological, and historical exploration of the deep and life-giving connections between labor and liturgy. In so doing, Kaemingk and Willson offer new ways in which Christian communities can live seamless lives of work and worship.
This week we look at the first section of Chapter 6: The Psalms Singing God’s Work Into Ours. Here are a few takeaways from this section:
- The Psalms have a unique ability to directly engage the vocational longings of workers—both ancient and contemporary.
- A worker can’t understand the place or purpose of their work in the world until they learn to sing, pray, and meditate on God’s work in the world.
- The truth is Western Christians don’t always like the idea of almighty God working intimately at their side. For a variety of reasons, we much prefer the distant god of the deists. We prefer a god who commanded us to work in Genesis 1 and then politely left us alone.
- The Psalms depict God faithfully at work in the world alongside the worker.
- God’s work gives meaning to ours.
- Human work must be responsive to God’s work, and that is why worshipers must continually rehearse God’s works in song.