Faith and Work News ~ Links to Interesting Articles

• Principles for Leading an Effective Meeting. Dan Doriani writes “To manage meetings well, church leaders must tend to their organizational life together. We must heed some basic principles that can help us make sound decisionswith a good spirit and in a timely”
• Working with Dan Doriani: Tom Gibbs. On this episode of the Working with Dan Doriani podcast, Dan visits with Tom Gibbs, President of Covenant Theological Seminary.
• Is Our Ambition Being Used for God? Hugh Whelchel writes “If you are struggling with contentment at work, ask yourself what is motivating you. Are you seeking worldly or godly ends? What are the means you are using to reach those ends?”

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 ~ The Spiritual Art of Business: Connecting the Daily with the Divine by Barry L. Rowan
• Quotes from the book Working in the Presence of God: Spiritual Practices for Everyday Work by Denise Daniels and Shannon Vandewarker

• Mere Christians: Doug McKelvey. On this episode of the Mere Christians podcast, Jordan Raynor visits with Doug McKelvey, author of Every Moment Holy.
• Am I Getting Too Old for This? Reflections on Work & Retirement. Russ Gehrlein writes “I am convinced that God will lead us just as much at the end of our vocational journey as he has during the beginning and middle of it.”
• 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 Keys of a Mentor Leader Mindset. Nathan Whitaker shares 7 key principles of the mindset for mentor leadership that he and Tony Dungy highlighted in their excellent book The Mentor Leader.
• Working with Dan Doriani: David Bahnsen. On this episode of the Working with Dan Doriani podcast, Dan visits with David Bahnsen, author of Full-Time: Work and the Meaning of Life.
• Mere Christians: Joni Eareckson Tada. On this episode of the Mere Christians podcast, Jordan Raynor visits with Joni Eareckson Tada about the three things she plans to do when heaven comes to earth, how everything we do in this life either increases or decreases our capacity for leadership on the New Earth, and how our work can be “ingredients in God’s happiness.”
• Creating Work Environments That Lead to the Abundant Life. John Scott writes “What is the abundant life for our people? Growing, having great relationships, being excellent, and becoming who they are created to be.”
• Stewarding Your Commute Time Well. Jessica Schroeder shares some practical ways to steward your commute time well.
• We Need Qualified Leadership. Tim Challies reviews the revised edition of Biblical Eldership: Restoring the Eldership to Its Rightful Place in the Local Church by Alexander Strauch. He writes that he recommends the book “as near-essential reading for any man who is already an elder or who aspires to be one in the future.”

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Top 10 Faith and Work Quotes of the Week

• Mission includes our vocations and not just church ministry. Tim Keller
• When we are fulfilling our daily callings that contribute to the common good, when we care for our children or elderly parents, work as volunteers for a women’s shelter, render pro bono legal advice, we are the “masks” that God wears to love and serve our neighbors. Michael Horton
• It would be delightful to have abundance of skill to serve God but better still to have abundance of faith to trust in the Lord for skill and everything. Charles Spurgeon
• All of us need to stop feeling guilty about working an ordinary job. We all just need to take our faith to work, put it to work, and rest in His presence at work. Russ Gehrlein
• To violate the rhythm of work and rest eventually leads to chaos. Tim Keller
• Sabbatical is a way to structure time in early retirement to heal past wounds, seek God’s voice, and find God’s call for the next season of life. It’s the time to ask the honest question “God, what are You calling me to do in retirement?” Jeff Haanen
• Therefore, 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 among God’s people is always servant leadership. Timothy Witmer
• Real work is a contribution to the good of all and not merely a means to one’s own advancement. Tim Keller
• As a philosophy of leadership, servant leadership may be considered one option among many others; but as a theology of leadership, it is a mandate for all who call Jesus Lord. Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges

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FAITH AND WORK BOOK REVIEW:
The Spiritual Art of Business: Connecting the Daily with the Divine by Barry L. Rowan. IVP. 164 pages. 2023
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The author of this book has been a successful executive in several organizations. These forty short chapters and reflections are designed for those who seek meaning and peace even as they are called to live and work in the harshness of this world. The author tells us that this is a different kind of a book from most others we have read—it is intended not so much to be read as to be experienced. The book is an invitation into a conversation with God about things that matter. Each chapter includes stories and insights from the author’s pursuit of meaning in work and in life. Each chapter concludes with helpful reflection questions.

The book is organized into four parts:
PART 1 – Surrendered: Discovering Freedom in Submission to Jesus
PART 2 – Transformed: Learning New Ways of Thinking and Being
PART 3 – Realigned: Bringing Meaning to Our Work
PART 4 – Sent: Fulfilling God’s Will in the World

Among the many topics touched on in the book are humility, belief, trust, freedom, joy, fear, pride, contentment, time, relationships, achievement, competitiveness, stewardship, the divine design, reconciliation, shalom, abiding, money, the poor and eternity.

This book can be read as you would a standard book, or you could choose to read one chapter a day and work through the reflection questions. You could also read and discuss the book with others, using the free discussion guide available at the author’s website.

Here are fifteen of my favorite quotes from the book:

• God uses our work to do his work in us. And as we are transformed by him, he will transform the world through us.
• As we exchange our own plans for the plans of our Lord, it opens our eyes to see and pursue his call for our lives.
• Surrender is a lifelong process that continues its work until it has worked its way into every moment, every decision, and every action we undertake.
• The most radical way of living is in complete submission to God.
• The many hours we will work in our lifetime make our work one of the best places for the Master Teacher to do his work in us.
• My time is not my time. Like everything else in the universe, our time is under the lordship of Christ.
• The purpose of a to-do list is to prayerfully prepare our priorities so that at the end of a day, a year, or a lifetime, we can affirmatively answer the question Did I spend my time the way God wanted me to spend my time?
• There are no perfect jobs; there is only a perfect God. Our call is to express this perfect God in the work we are called to do, however imperfectly we might do it.
• Our view of life shapes our view of work, and we will never find meaning in our work until we properly understand the source of purpose in our life.
• Our call is to bring all of who we are to every moment of our lives.
• We can bring a life-giving or a life-draining perspective to any job. One inspires us; the other tires us.
• We don’t derive meaning from our work. Rather, we bring meaning to our work.
• Our greatest fulfillment comes from serving others—in all parts of our lives, including our business lives.
• I believe the greatest compliment that can be paid to a teacher is seeing those they teach become better than their teacher.
• God uses our work to do his work in us. And as we are transformed by him, he will transform the world through us.

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

We are reading Working in the Presence of God: Spiritual Practices for Everyday Work by Denise Daniels and Shannon Vandewarker. This book was recommended by the Nashville Institute for Faith + Work.

The Amazon description of the book reads in part:

“How do we invite God into our everyday lives? Working in the Presence of God discusses the incorporation of spiritual disciplines into the ordinary rhythms of everyday experience. God is already present and active, so by becoming aware of workday rhythms and focusing on where various spiritual practices might be implemented in our jobs, we can be transformed into Christ’s likeness through our work.”

This week we look at Chapter 2: Workplace as Holy Ground. Here are a few helpful quotes from the chapter:

• When you recognize that the place where you work is holy ground, you can invoke God’s blessing in that space and wherever your organization’s work is done.
• God is in your ordinary work and workplace, whatever that space is for you.