Faith and Work News ~ Links to Interesting Articles

• Mere Christians: Anne Beiler (Founder of Auntie Anne’s). On this episode of the Mere Christians podcast, Jordan Raynor visits with Anne Beiler, founder of Auntie Anne’s about how Christ redeemed Anne after horrific trauma and abuse, how her trauma gave her purpose and ambition for Auntie Anne’s, and how to stop overcomplicating the presence of God.
• Seven Principles about Spiritual Gifts for Our Work. Art Lindsley writes “The work of the Holy Spirit in the world has several implications for Christians and their work. Whether working in creation or regeneration, the Spirit constantly empowers us to carry out the callings God places on our lives.”
• How Can I Evangelize My Employees? Miranda Carls responds to the following question “How do I share the gospel with my employees without pressuring them because I’m the boss?
• When Work Becomes an Idol. When does work become an idol? How do you know when something has crossed the line from a good thing into the territory of a “God thing?” In this episode of The Faith & Work Podcast, enjoy an interview with Lauren Gill, writer, actress, and Director of the Global Faith & Work Initiative at Redeemer City to City, on these questions concerning matters of the heart.

Click on ‘Continue reading’ for:

• More links to interesting articles
• The Top 10 Faith and Work Quotes of the Week
• Faith and Work Book Review ~ Workship 2: How to Flourish at Work by Kara Martin
• Quotes from the book Agents of Flourishing: Pursuing Shalom in Every Corner of Society by Amy Sherman.

• Do People Know That Their Work Matters to God? Russ Gehrlein writes “Does your Soldiers’ work matter to God?” I asked this question to a group of U.S. Army chaplains assigned to a training post where I serve. I wanted them to think deeply about this.”
• 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).
• Christ Our Sabbath Rest at Work. On this episode of the Ask Pastor John podcast, John Piper responds to the question that reads in part “At the very end of APJ 658, you called Christ our ‘eternal rest,’ and that means, you said, ‘pervading all our work . . . we are restful in Christ.’ Can you explain this to me? How is Christ our Sabbath rest even while we are working?”
• Called Together: Women, Work & Calling. Joanna Meyer shares this excerpt from her new book Women, Work & Calling.
• Mere Christians: Jen Wilkin and JT English. On this episode of the Mere Christians podcast, Jordan Raynor visits with Jen Wilkin and JT English, authors of the new book You Are a Theologian about how everything we do is an act of theology.
• Something of First Importance. Luke Bobo writes “I believe our current crisis of vocation lies with this simple truth: we have forgotten, buried, or forsaken something of first importance—our primary call.”
• How Our Earthly Labor Embodies Heavenly Good. John Pletcher writes “Looking back on that first job, I wish I had grasped at least one or two heavenly threads about our human labor. Through contemplating the beautiful biblical story, we discover there truly is heavenly good in our earthly labor!”

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Top 10 Faith and Work Quotes of the Week

• God expects every employee to serve his employer as if that employer were Christ Himself. Russ Gehrlein
• We give the bulk of our energy to ordinary work. We make a difference when we do ordinary work well. Daniel Doriani
• Whatever our specific calling, God has uniquely and divinely equipped each of us to perform this work assignment to His glory. Luke Bobo
• All managers can – and really should – view their work as a ministry. Patrick Lencioni
• If work is to find its right place in the world, it is the duty of the Church to see to it that the work serves God. Dorothy Sayers
• Work of all kinds, whether with the hands or the mind, evidences our dignity as human beings—because it reflects the image of God the Creator in us. Tim Keller
• In our Christian subculture, at home work is praised as good and faithful work. But if you find your hope and identity in folded laundry, a spotless refrigerator and children who praise you from the rooftops, you have misplaced affections regarding your work. Courtney Reissig
• God calls leaders to be servants. And we are to lead our organizations from good to great by serving, by giving credit to others when success occurs and by accepting the blame when failure ensues. Dan Allender
• We are to see work as a way of service to God and our neighbor, and so we should both choose and conduct our work in accordance with that purpose. Tim Keller

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FAITH AND WORK BOOK REVIEW:

Workship 2: How to Flourish at Work by Kara Martin. Graceworks. 237 pages. 2018
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This is the follow-up to the author’s excellent 2017 book Workship: How To Use Your Work To Worship God. Section 1 of the book includes practical wisdom for the workplace. Section 2, which I found most helpful, provides information for churches about responding to the needs of workplace Christians in their congregations.
The book covers a wide variety of subjects regarding work, including hospitality, work-life balance, humility, servanthood, beauty, ethical issues, rest, play, bullying, conflict, toxic workplaces, non-selfish ambition, unemployment, the Proverbs 31 woman, and the future of work. Again, the section that I found most helpful was on helping churches equip workplace Christians. There is much information of value to pastors and church leaders in this section. The author writes that the weekly gathering of the church is the appropriate time of preparation for the scattering of the church Monday to Friday.
Each chapter ends with a prayer and a helpful “Taking it Further” section.
The book includes two appendices:
Appendix 1: Interview Preparation Guide, which is an excellent resource for churches interested in interviewing workplace Christians.
Appendix 2: Mentoring Program, in which the author shares a mentoring program based on the spiritual disciplines she described in her first Workship volume.

Workship 2 is a nice complement to the first volume, and I recommend reading and applying both.

Below are a few helpful quotes from the book:

• Hospitality is the generous welcoming of guests or strangers. It is about creating a safe and friendly place to build relationships and do work.
• In offering hospitality, we are bearing witness to the character of God, and also giving a glimpse of the coming kingdom.
• The first step to achieving work-life balance is to ensure that we have a right attitude toward work, and life, as gifts from God to be used in his service as acts of worship.
• A toxic workplace is not just a place routinely impacted by sin. It is a place that negatively impacts people to such an extent that it hardly seems sustainable. It goes against God’s vision for business, which is the flourishing of the workers and of innovation in products and services that add to creation.
• Sometimes, I think we get sucked into thinking we have one great calling that God is drawing us to, and that our role is to guess what that calling is. In truth, I believe we have a calling to many different roles, in private and in public life, and God calls us to honour him in all those roles.
• Work is that which you do with purposeful intent, paid or unpaid, seen or unseen. God is interested in all work which might not be valued economically, including prayer, character formation, and worship in everyday life.
• This is the challenge for all church leaders — the task of equipping their congregations well for the work they do throughout the week, paid or unpaid.
• Mentoring is significant for helping all age groups to remain connected with faith and church, but it is especially pivotal for millennials.
• There is an opportunity for every Christian worker to see themselves as an informal chaplain, offering hospitality, care, and counsel within the workplace.

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

We are reading Agents of Flourishing: Pursuing Shalom in Every Corner of Society by Amy Sherman. Sherman is also the author of Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good, a book I first read in my “Calling, Vocation and Work” class at Covenant Seminary.
Every corner, every square inch of society can flourish as God intends, and Christians of any vocation can become agents of that flourishing. In this book, Sherman offers a multifaceted, biblically grounded framework for enacting God’s call to seek the shalom of our communities in six arenas of civilizational life (The Good, The True, The Beautiful, The Just, The Prosperous, and The Sustainable).
This week we look at Chapter 8: The Just and Well-Ordered Flourishing in the Realm of Political and Civic Life. Here are a few helpful quotes from the chapter:

• Injustice is fundamentally about the abuse of power.
• God’s will is that his people deal with one another and with others in justice.
• Justice is a central, irreplaceable component of a flourishing community.
• There is no shortage of arenas today where the Christian church can seek to encourage needed reformations in the sphere of politics and civic life.