Faith and Work News ~ Links to Interesting Articles

• Six Ways to Practice Sabbath. Tim Keller writes “I suggest that you should be sure to get six kinds of Sabbath rest. All of these represent different kinds of breaks from ordinary work that can refresh and enrich.”
• Mentoring in the Third Third of Life. Mark D. Roberts writes “Mentoring isn’t the same as training, teaching, or supervising. It’s not just passing on skills, knowledge, or even wisdom. Rather, mentoring involves a deep relationship, one in which shared experience and mutual learning are key.”
• Women & Work Podcast: Courtney Doctor. On this episode of the Women & Work Podcast, Courtney Doctor, Director of Women’s Initiatives for The Gospel Coalition, answers questions from Courtney Moore and Missie Branch.

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 ~ Working in the Presence of God: Spiritual Practices for Everyday Work by Denise Daniels and Shannon Vandewarker
• Quotes from the book Working Blessedly Forever, Volume 1: The Shape of Marketplace Theology by R. Paul Stevens

• 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).
• IFWE’s Top Ten Blogs for 2024. Jacqueline Isaacs shares IFWE’s top ten articles from 2024, including two articles each from Russ Gehrlein and John Pletcher.
• Unleashing Business Leaders in the Church. Joshua Nangle writes “How can church pastors unleash business leaders in their churches for the equipping and advancement of the body?”
• My Top Ten Articles of 2024 and Annual Reflection. Our friend Russ Gehrlein writes “Rather than this being a summary of what “I did,” I want this to be an opportunity to showcase what “God did.” God did some amazing things in my writing in 2024.”
• Leadership in a Single Verse. Dave Kraft writes “My most basic, and simplest, definition of leadership is: A leader is a person who takes people from where they are to someplace else.” He sees this definition clearly laid out in a single verse (Exodus 32:34), regarding Moses and what God communicated to him.
• A Christian Trial Lawyer: A Conversation with Christopher Frost. Christopher Frost is a trial lawyer and an elder in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). On this episode of Working with Dan Doriani, Christopher joins Dan to talk about trial law, which isn’t (usually) like what we see on TV. In this episode, Christopher explains how his faith challenges him to honor everyone, advocate for his clients, and uphold the truth even when the stakes are high.
• Why Pastors Need Accountability (with Paul Tripp). On this episode of the You’re Not Crazy podcast, Ray Ortlund and Sam Allberry welcome Paul Tripp to remind pastors that gospel-centered ministry and personal growth thrive in community, where accountability and mutual encouragement combat spiritual blindness and isolation.
• Voices from the Workplace: Investing with Matt Monson & Brandon Roop. The Faith & Work Podcast has started a new series Voices from the Workplace, where they explore various industries through the lens of leaders and experts who see their careers as a key way to serve others and fulfill God’s purposes. In this first episode, they focus on the Investment Industry, examining how professionals approach equity and treasure with intentionality and faith. Guests include Matt Monson, Partner and Portfolio Manager at Sovereign’s Capital, a faith-driven investment fund, and Brandon Roop, CFP®, CRPS®, Vice President, Senior Investment Advisor, and Partner at Donaldson Capital Management (DCM). Matt and Brandon discuss how their faith informs their decisions in managing investment funds, helping others view their finances through a biblical perspective, and shaping the next generation of leaders in the industry.
• Be Content Where God Has Placed You. Scot Bellavia writes “In stages of life where God does things differently than we would, we must trust God, knowing his greatest purpose is to bring glory to himself.”

---

• Christian leaders, guided by the wisdom of God’s Word, must set before people goals that honor God and serve others. And indeed, the best leaders are those who can paint a compelling picture of the future, who can say, “This is the world I want to see. Who’s with me?” Tim Keller
• Our vocational successes are not luck. There is no such thing as luck—period. It’s God’s providence. John Piper
• The most powerful kind of leader is one who uses his or her authority ultimately to serve the ones being led. Tim Keller
• Retired people who are truly happy have sought creative, useful, God-honoring ways to stay active and productive for the sake of man’s good and God’s glory. John Piper
• Work—and lots of it—is an indispensable component in a meaningful human life. It is a supreme gift from God and one of the main things that gives our lives purpose. But it must play its proper role, subservient to God. Tim Keller
• We long for what we do to grow out of who we are, for our occupation(s) to be rooted in our vocation. That is the hope of everyone’s heart. Steven Garber
• Leadership heals what is broken by uniting what was fragmented. Tim Keller
• Because we bear God’s image, work is necessary for our flourishing and also for the fulfillment of our calling as God’s workers in God’s world. Scott Sauls
• God wants you to value workmanship over success. He wants you to take enormous pride in work well done and give far less thought to how much money the work makes. Tim Keller

---

FAITH AND WORK BOOK REVIEW:
Working in the Presence of God: Spiritual Practices for Everyday Work by Denise Daniels and Shannon Vandewarker. Hendrickson Publishers. 257 pages. 2021
***

The authors of this book tell us that by using spiritual practices in the workplace, we can begin to be attentive to the ways in which God is already present – speaking and acting. They write that whether you find your work mundane or interesting, physical or intellectual, by incorporating spiritual practices into your daily working rhythms, you too can be shaped by God’s transforming hand. Their hope is that through engaging in the practices in this book, your everyday work will become a form of prayer, incarnated and offered to God as a pleasing sacrifice.
The authors write that the point of spiritual practices is to be made into the likeness of Christ, for the sake of our neighbor. Whatever your job, the first step in engaging in spiritual practices at work is for you to become aware of the rhythms of your specific work. Knowing your own work rhythms can help you identify where in your workday or workweek you can incorporate the different spiritual practices that are discussed in the book.
The book is divided into the following major sections:
Part One: Orienting to Work
Part Two: Engaging in Work
Part Three: Reflecting on Work

Among the spiritual practices covered in the book are liturgy of commute, surrendering the calendar, reading scripture at work, affirmation of calling, confession at work, lamenting work, and sabbath. With each practice there are stories from some who have experienced the practice. Each chapter ends with “Questions for Reflection and Discussion”.
I enjoyed this helpful book about spiritual practices we can use in the workplace.
Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book:

• What we consider “work” is that which God has called you to do for his glory, in a particular place and time, for the sake of loving those around you.
• Your commute is shaping you whether you know it or not. How you begin your day will affect how you go about your work.
• God is in your ordinary work and workplace whatever that space is for you.
• When you surrender your calendar, you open up yourself to letting go of your expectations for the day and allowing your schedule to be shaped by God’s intentions for your work.
• Reading Scripture in your work or office space, however, can dramatically change not only how you read Scripture but also how you think about and engage in your work.
• You need to see your occupation in the light of the God who called you to this work—to see it as a vocation, a divine call.
• Your work is meant to serve others.
• Confession in relationships, work, and our vocations is a central practice to being a disciple in the workplace.
• Practicing the Sabbath allows us space to reflect on the ways God is at work and the opportunity to engage in relationships with others.
• Solitude can bring the rest, clarity, and connection we need to keep going forward in our work.
• The Sabbath provides time to reflect on God’s goodness: to recognize your blessings, and to be content in your circumstances.
• Worship should not be divorced from our work: in fact, we should offer up our work to God.

---

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

We are reading through Working Blessedly Forever, Volume 1: The Shape of Marketplace Theology by R. Paul Stevens. In this volume, the first of three, Stevens explores the shape of marketplace theology, its posture and methodology. Marketplace theology is the science of working blessedly forever.

This week we look at Chapter 2: Doing Marketplace Theology from Below. Here are a few helpful quotes from the chapter:

• The marketplace is an arena for growth in faith, growth in the knowledge of God and God’s purpose in and through work.
• All our work in the marketplace, provided it is good work, enters into God’s ongoing work of creation, sustaining, redemption, and consummation.
• The word of God in the Psalms is this: you can bring your entire experience to God.
• A truly biblical theology of the marketplace must include head, heart, and hand—exactly what a kingdom theology of the marketplace provides.