Faith and Work News ~ Links to Interesting Articles

• Disagreeing Without Losing Your Soul: Gavin Ortlund, Apologist and Podcaster. Podcaster, pastor, apologist, and author Gavin Ortlund joins Dan on this episode of the Working with Dan Doriani podcast to explore what it looks like to disagree with charity in an increasingly polarized world. Gavin unpacks the difference between persuasion and manipulation, why genuine listening requires openness to being wrong, and how to hold theological conviction with humility.
• 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).
• What Unique Platform Has God Given You to Glorify Him? Randy Alcorn writes “Whether you are a grocery clerk, an assembly line worker, a salesperson, a nurse, a flight attendant, a stay-at-home mom, or a professional athlete, or whether you have a primary ministry of prayer or encouraging people, God has given you a unique platform.”

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 ~ Pastoring for Monday: Help Your Congregation Integrate Faith and Work by Matt Rusten
• Quotes from the book Working for Better: A New Approach to Faith at Workby Elaine Howard Ecklund and Denise Daniels

• A Leader Worth Following. My book A Leader Work Following: 40 Key Leadership Attributes and Applications to Master is available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions. Read a sample of the book (found under the book cover in the above link).
• The Most Meaningful Work. Daryl Dash writes “Think about the big projects you want to complete, the big books you want to read. There’s not much time left. Devote yourself to what’s costly and what lasts.”
• Living the Gospel at Work. In this panel from TGC 25’, moderated by Darryl Williamson, Bob Doll, Jessica Cicali, Chris Carneal, and Alex Harris discuss how Christians can go into the marketplace to advance the gospel. They talk about how to showcase Christ’s character through your work ethic, business practices, and relationship dynamics.
• Voices from the Workplace: More than the Bottom Line with Chris Festog. On this episode of the Faith & Work Podcast, Ross Chapman interviews Chris Festog about the role of faith in financial leadership, stewardship, and everyday work. They explore how Christian principles can transform our approach to work, leadership, and responsibility. Chris also discusses his new book, The CFO Advantage: Elevate Your Role From Financial Technician to Visionary Business Leader.
• What Does the Gospel Have to Say About Your Work? Dan Doriani writes “To see how the gospel shapes our work, we must understand God’s original plan for work and see how we have fallen short of it.“
• The Drama of Work. This episode of the Teach Us to Pray podcast is the first of four episodes on the “Drama of Work”. The first act in the drama of salvation is creation, and praying Psalm 8 teaches ingrains in us wonder and dependence on the Creator. Hosted by Jeff Hoffmeyer, Denver Institute’s Vice President of Advancement and Theologian in Residence, this podcast seeks to focus on the practice of prayer through scripture as a primary way to know, trust, and rest in God in our daily work and life.
• WORK – The Dignity of What You Do. Patrick Morley writes “Every vocation is holy to the Lord, and our daily tasks can be acts of worship when done with the right heart.“
• When Your Dream Dies, Find a New Dream. Russ Gehrlein writes “I invite you to join me on a journey through the three phases of my career: from matheducation to ministry and to the military. While my dreams to pursue the first two careers were similar, I can now say with confidence that my third and predominant career was never a dream, but God used it in a mighty way. What He did for me, I believe He can do for all of His children who trust Him.”

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Top 10 Faith and Work Quotes of the Week

• We glorify God when we use our talents joyfully and effectively. Dan Doriani
• Our character determines how we act when no one else is looking. Dee Ann Turner
• Jesus came into this world not as a philosopher or a general but as a carpenter. All work matters to God. Tim Keller
• A calling is our contribution to society, the labor that makes our lives matter. At best, it draws on our gifts and experiences and becomes our life’s work, the task God prepared us to do. Daniel Doriani
• Servant leadership means putting others before yourself. Dee Ann Turner
• There is no ideal place to serve God – except where He has set you down! Eric Alexander
• We give the bulk of our energy to ordinary work. We make a difference when we do ordinary work well. Daniel Doriani
• Retirement is the chance to pick up the strands of your calling that might have been latent during your career and develop them more fully into your life’s work. Jeff Haanen
• All managers can – and really should – view their work as a ministry. Patrick Lencioni

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FAITH, WORK, LEADERSHIP BOOK REVIEW:
Pastoring for Monday: Help Your Congregation Integrate Faith and Work by Matt Rusten. IVP. 194 pages. 2026
*** ½

Matt Rusten is the President of the Made to Flourish, an organization that exists to close the gap between Sunday worship and Monday work. This book is written for pastors to help their congregations integrate faith and work, which has long been a passion of mine. Nine years ago, I presented a seminar at our church denomination’s General Assembly titled “Helping Our People to Connect Their Faith to Their Work and Callings”.

This helpful book is broken into three parts and an Epilogue:

Part 1: Why Prioritize Work at Church?

Part 2: What Does Discipling Workers Entail?

Part 3: How to Shepherd Workers

Epilogue Prioritizing Vocational Discipleship and Mission: A Case Study

In this book, the author offers reliable models and paradigms on how to close the Sunday-to-Monday gap in a local congregation. He tells us that sometimes the Sunday-to-Monday gap means workers feel their Sunday gathering at church does nothing to affirm or commission them in their daily ministry. He tells us that he wrote the book to help pastors reimagine and inhabit a new way for local churches to form Christians who follow, represent, and commune with Christ amid their daily work. He writes that there are meaningful paradigms and practices that pastors can adopt to help the entire people of God embrace the task of mission in whatever area of work they serve.

Among the topics covered in the book are several different workplace scenarios, the major dominant narratives of work of our age, the biblical story for work, how work forms us, workplace pressures, unique discipleship challenges and possibilities inherent in several vocations, how to preach with workers in mind, vocation groups, career transitions, starting a new role, mentoring, unemployed and looking for work, retirement, gratitude, and the fourfold movement – from unenchantment, to enchantment, to disenchantment, to reenchantment – approximated in the life of Qoheleth in the book of Ecclesiastes.

This is an informative and practical book by someone who has years of experience in helping pastors close the Sunday-to-Monday gap. Highly recommended.

Below are 10 helpful quotes from the book:

• Work and its discipleship implications should be an important focus of all churches.
• A distinctive Christian approach to faithfulness at work shows up as love demonstrated by selfless service to others.
• Wherever we find ourselves at work, we should make it our ambition to spend our lives in service to others.
• Pastors play a pivotal role in helping people imagine new ways to participate with the Spirit, adopting practices in the context of their work that conform to the way of Jesus, bringing praise and glory to God.
• Preaching with an eye toward workers is not only vital but also one of the most effective ways that preachers can practically shepherd their congregations.
• Work is one of the most common themes to come up in the letters of the New Testament.
• Work – like few other things, and because it requires so much of our time, effort, hopes, and relationships – can become central in our lives. All the other facets of our lives become anchored in it.
• For retirement, in God’s design, is simply a changing season to embrace new opportunities for meaningful contribution to others.
• God is forming us into the likeness of his Son, Jesus, by his Holy Spirit, in and through our daily work.
• Pastors play a pivotal role in helping people imagine new ways to participate with the Spirit, adopting practices in the context of their work that conform to the way of Jesus, bringing praise and glory to God.

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

Working for Better: A New Approach to Faith at Work by Elaine Howard Ecklund and Denise Daniels

Please join us in reading this book on faith and work.

From the Amazon description:

“In a world where workplaces are becoming increasingly diverse, Working for Better by Elaine Howard Ecklund and Denise Daniels offers a timely guide for Christians navigating the modern faith-at-work landscape. Drawing from over twenty years of research and personal insights, Working for Better presents a groundbreaking exploration of how to express Christian faith in professional settings without compromising beliefs or alienating others.

Through detailed studies involving focus groups, surveys of more than 15,000 workers, and interviews with over 300 individuals, Ecklund and Daniels identify five key tensions in the faith-at-work movement. With compelling stories and practical applications, Working for Better addresses the need for Christian workers and leaders to adapt to cultural shifts, offering guidance for a more redemptive presence at work. Each chapter concludes with thought-provoking questions for individual reflection or group discussion, making this book an essential resource for anyone seeking to integrate faith with their professional life. Whether you’re a Christian worker, workplace leader, or pastor guiding others, Working for Better invites you to consider how to flourish in a rapidly changing world.

As workplaces continue to evolve, the ability to maintain one’s spiritual values while contributing positively to the organizational culture becomes ever more crucial. Working for Better not only equips readers with the wisdom and tools needed to face such challenges but also inspires them to become agents of change, promoting a more inclusive and harmonious work environment.”

This week, we look at Chapter 8: Restricted Roles for Women. Here are a few helpful quotes from the chapter:

• We find that across all types of Christian churches and denominations, women who work are less supported in their professional endeavors than men.
• We argue that churches both create and perpetuate cultural understandings of gender that influence not only the experiences people have at church but also the experiences they have in the workplace.
• More often than not, the male clergy we interviewed chose not to provide the same support for working women that they do for working men.
• Across all church types, we heard from women congregants and pastors who confirmed that churches support male and female workers differently.
• It surprised us that in both traditional and more progressive congregations there are similar mechanisms disadvantaging women who work.
• Our research uncovered numerous examples of congregations and their leaders failing to support and sometimes even hindering women’s workforce participation by neglecting to provide pastoral support for women, not treating working women’s concerns as mainstream, or not considering women’s work schedules.