Faith and Work News ~ Links to Interesting Articles

• Confused at Work? You’re Not Alone. Missy Wallace writes “Pastors and their congregants share something surprising in common that is now obvious for the first time in generations: they are all confused about work.”
• What Does Ecclesiastes Teach Us About Work? Russ Gehrlein shares helpful quotes from Ecclesiastes that he included in his excellent book Immanuel Labor – God’s Presence in our Profession: A Biblical, Theological, and Practical Approach.
• Why Work? Hugh Whelchel writes “The purpose of our work is to reweave shalom. God created a world made for shalom and then filled it with his image-bearers and told them to go and make more shalom because the more God’s creation works like it was supposed to, the more he is glorified. We taste God’s shalom in this world as we bring flourishing to those, he has called us to serve in our families, our churches, our communities, and in our vocational callings.”

Click on ‘Continue reading’ for:

• More links to interesting articles
• The Top 10 Faith and Work Quotes of the Week
• My Review of 150 Essential Insights on Leadership by John Maxwell
• Snippets from the book Work and Worship: Reconnecting Our Labor and Liturgy by Matthew Kaemingk and Cory B. Willson

• 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).
• Grow the Leadership Team. Mark Miller discusses the second of the three practices for “Betting on Leadership”, Grow the Leadership Team.
• Proverbs, Wisdom and the Benefits of Good Work. Gage Arnold writes “To work wisely is simply to be steeped in the skill of Godly living and forged in the fires of his refining grace. It’s with this in view that Christians can faithfully serve their work and hone their own hearts and hands to be shaped by the life-giving precepts of the Lord.”
• The 6 Types of Working Genius. Listen to this episode of the Faith Driven Entrepreneur podcast where Patrick Lencioni shares the model behind his new assessment The 6 Types of Working Genius. Lencioni believes that to be successful and fulfilled in your work, you must tap into your gifts. But that can’t happen if you don’t know what those gifts are.
• The Power of Words in the Workplace with Kathleen Edelman. Andy Stanley writes “As a leader, your words have everything to do with how you lead and how the people you lead experience you. And it’s your temperament that determines what words you say and the words you want to hear. On this episode of the Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast, Kathleen Edelman and I discuss why having a better understanding of your temperament’s natural strengths and weaknesses will have an impact on improving everything from team trust to team chemistry and productivity”.
• 5 Truths Working People in Your Church Need to Hear. Daniel Darling shares some key points for pastors to remember when they encourage their congregation in their work.
• The Call to Mastery: Randy Alcorn. On this episode of The Call to Mastery with Jordan Raynor, Raynor talks with Randy Alcorn, author of Heaven, about the difference between Heaven and the New Earth and what it means for our work, the two excellent questions Randy asks when evaluating requests for his time, and how the hope of the gospel is getting Randy’s wife Nanci through the fight of her life.
• The Call to Mastery: Matt Perman. On this episode of The Call to Mastery with Jordan Raynor, Jordan visits with Matt Perman, author of What’s Best Next, to talk about his rich theology of “Gospel Driven Productivity,” why we shouldn’t “let go and let God,” but rather “trust God and get going,” and the important difference between “following your passions” and “following your interests.”
• Don’t Let the Negative Narratives Keep You From Flourishing. Mark D. Roberts writes “People in the third third of life have prodigious potential for flourishing, that is, for experiencing personal well-being while making a meaningful difference in the world.
• 5 Lies of Productivity Christians Must Avoid. Reagan Rose writes “Productivity is important for Christians because we service a productive God who has given us work to do. But Christians must pursue productivity as Christiansand be wary of the subtle lies which can lead us astray.”
• Bob Yarbrough, the Lumberjack and Theologian: On Working Hard. On this episode of Working with Dan Doriani, Dr. Doriani and Dr. Yarbrough, both of whom I enjoyed classes with at Covenant Seminary, chat about what it looks like, regardless of your station, to work heartily, as for the Lord. Straddling the worlds of white-and blue-collar vocations, Dr. Yarbrough demonstrates, both through his own experiences and his study of the New Testament, a vision of work that is rooted in discipline and endurance.

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Top 10 Faith and Work Quotes of the Week

• Whenever we work, we imitate God’s creativity. Russ Gehrlein
• In America, leaders compare and compete so they will personally flourish. In Jesus, leaders sacrifice and serve so others will flourish. Scott Sauls
• What wisdom would the Bible give us in choosing our work? First, if we have the luxury of options, we would want to choose work that we can do well. Second, because the main purpose of work is to serve the world, we would want to choose work that benefits others. Tim Keller
• God Himself is a worker. He didn’t create the world and then retire. Consider Christ’s activities as a carpenter and later as an itinerant preacher: fishing, sailing, meeting people, talking, teaching, eating—connecting with His disciples and doing His life’s work. Randy Alcorn
• Jesus came into this world not as a philosopher or a general but as a carpenter. All work matters to God. Tim Keller
• To know why you work, you must discover your unique strengths and then spend the rest of your working days offering those strengths to your employer. That is what you are designed to do. Cheryl Bachelder
• There is no ideal place to serve God except the place in which He has set you down. Alistair Begg
• As Christ-followers, we are compelled to pursue excellence in each of our callings in life. Jordan Raynor
• A sense of calling should precede a choice of job and career, and the main way to discover calling is along the line of what we are each created and gifted to be. Instead of, “You are what you do,” calling says: “Do what you are.” Os Guinness

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FAITH AND WORK BOOK REVIEW:

150 Essential Insights on Leadership by John Maxwell. Harvest House Publishers. 173 pages. 2021
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This book contains some of John Maxwell’s best quotes pulled from a few of his early and obscure books, as well as from talks given at the annual convention of the Christian Booksellers Association. Each chapter of the book begins with a passage from the Bible.  The book can be easily read in one sitting.  Overall, the book is not worth purchasing unless you can find it at a very low price.

Here are a few of the quotes that I found most helpful:

• You can’t borrow somebody else’s VISION. It must come from INSIDE of you.
• Only a CLEAR PICTURE of who you are and where you want to go can help you PRIORITIZE what you need to do. We all make choices. Clarity of VISION creates clarity of PRIORITIES.
• We cannot ACHIEVE our wildest dreams by REMAINING who we are.
• The key to ELEVATING yourself in business is to go above and beyond EXPECTATIONS whenever you’re asked a question or given an assignment.
• The FEAR of rejection or failure creates INACTION.
• You will never CHANGE your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your SUCCESS is found in your DAILY ROUTINE.
• It takes TIME to become worthy of followers. Leadership isn’t learned or earned in a MOMENT.
• One of the reasons leaders need courage and character is that SACRIFICE is often a crucial part of LEADERSHIP.
• In the most difficult of times, COURAGE is what makes someone a LEADER.
• No one can be GIVEN the right to lead. The right to lead can only be EARNED. And that takes time.
• One of the IRONIES of leadership is that you become a better leader by SHARING whatever power you have, not by saving it all for yourself. You’re meant to be a RIVER, not a reservoir. If you use your power to EMPOWER others, your leadership will EXTEND far beyond your grasp.
• INTEGRITY will take a leader farther than any other quality.
• The MEASURE of your character is what you would do if you were sure NO ONE would ever find out.
• While your CIRCUMSTANCES are beyond your control, your CHARACTER is not.
• Leadership isn’t about POSITION. Leadership is about using your INFLUENCE exactly where you are.

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

Work and Worship: Reconnecting Our Labor and Liturgy by Matthew Kaemingk and Cory B. Willson

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 complete review of the book, looking at Chapter 12: Worship That Scatters Workers and the Epilogue: Rethinking Monday. Here are a few takeaways:

• Gathered worship in the sanctuary must become scattered worship in the streets.
• The sanctuary’s ability to shape and scatter workers is critical to the health and mission of the church.
• Like a good map, corporate worship can orient a worker who is wandering. It can plant them within the larger context of God’s life and work in the world.
• The worshipers’ knowledge that they are not alone, that the community prays with and for them, can have a profound impact as they disperse toward Monday. It is from a prayer-filled community that they move toward a prayer-filled vocation.
• Corporate worship can ordain and commission worshipers toward their work in the world.
• The benediction must repeatedly remind workers that they are called not to a “moment” of worship but rather to a life of worship. The benediction marks not the end of worship but its beginning.
• Daily spiritual practices of prayer, worship, and liturgy for Monday are clearly critical. Workers need to learn how to practice the presence of God on a daily basis as they move through their workplaces.
• Workers need spiritual guidance on how to habitually draw near to God, listen to God, and faithfully worship God in and through their daily work. This requires spiritual wisdom and practice.
• Empowering the vocational mission of the laity in the city through the ministry of the word and sacrament is the pastor’s mission.
• In order for church leaders to serve the priesthood of believers, they will need to become more conversant with the working lives of people in their communities.