Katherine Lee isn’t comfortable settling for the status quo. A self-described achiever always seeking ways to improve processes and systems, Lee has spent her entire career in employee benefits, working within a variety of roles. Currently, Lee finds herself in a sales role at Hub International, the fifth largest insurance brokerage in the world. “My career,” says Lee, “is ever changing. I’ve never been bored.”
bridging the gap
In 2018, Lee joined the Nashville Institute for Faith and Work’s Gotham Leadership program at the recommendation of a trusted friend. While she came into the program with an “open mind,” what Lee says she sought was “personal transformation.”
Before Gotham, Lee says that she struggled with connecting what she believed about God to her work life. However, Lee explains that the curriculum and community of Gotham “helped bridge the gap by helping me identify my blindspots and biases where my view of and approach to work wasn’t aligned with my theology.” As someone naturally competitive and “doing-oriented,” Gotham assisted Lee in her development of a more balanced theology of work that included both a commitment to excellence and an ability to rest securely in God’s grace, regardless of outcomes.
Indeed, apart from the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, our default theology of work is often shaped by traditionally Western ideals of self-gratification, individualism, and hyper-productivity. This is why it’s critical for Christians to actively assess our assumptions and practices towards work and test them against the claims of Scripture. Doing so, says Lee, has helped her to look for the redemptive possibilities within her workplace.
content as cultural renewal
As a woman in leadership that also spent time away from her career raising her two children, Lee is more than familiar with the challenges women face in balancing professional and personal priorities. After further researching the disparity between female and male leaders within her industry, Lee became energized to find ways to encourage women within her sphere.
“For the Christian, the doctrine of the Imago Dei means that all people—and thus all work—have inherent dignity before the Lord. ”
As a part of her Gotham Cultural Renewal Project, Lee began strategically utilizing her regional leadership role within the Hub International Women’s Network, working with a team of leaders to regularly deliver content and resources on a global and local level to employees, with a focus on encouraging women in their professional and personal lives.
“The goal,” Lee shares, “is to see the brokenness of women who want to excel professionally, and to support and engage them in order to empower them.” Importantly, Lee notes, this conversation intentionally includes men, whom Lee recognizes have a critical role in this ongoing work.
While Lee works in a corporate setting, she recognizes the importance of the platform that God has given her to be able to Biblically encourage others. Accordingly, Lee attempts to ensure that the resources she and her team shares “align with a Biblical theology of work” rather than “a worldview shaped by worldly standards.” Says Lee, “The question I ask myself is, ‘How can we take the content or monthly theme and make sure we’re redemptively delivering that content?”
community, diversity, and the dignity of work
While Lee has long had a passion for empowering and connecting women, her experience within her Gotham cohort, particularly with the other women in the group, inspired her further to take tangible steps towards mending the brokenness she saw in her workplace and industry. “I gained so much,” says Lee, “from being in a cohort with the variety of women and the different stages of life that we were all in.”
“Cultural renewal is never over until the new heavens and the new earth come back.
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Acknowledging the bias that gets directed both at working mothers and stay-at-home mothers, Lee shares how the Gotham community helped her to develop a deeper appreciation for the value that everyone brings through their work—both paid and unpaid. “It’s about recognizing what the world has said that doesn’t match up with our theology,” says Lee. For the Christian, the doctrine of the Imago Dei means that all people—and thus all work—have inherent dignity before the Lord. No person’s work is more important than another’s.
the power of connection
Today, Lee continues to utilize the Hub International Women’s Network to encourage women to excel both at work and outside of it. “The biggest impact my project has had,” says Lee, “is connecting women to each other and to others within our organization.” Rather than allowing competition or biases to divide, Lee is bent on uniting women.
While Lee celebrates the impact God has allowed her project to have on women in her company, she recognizes the work is ongoing and ever-evolving. Ultimately, she knows that ultimate redemption is in God’s hands, not hers. “I see ways in which systems are broken, and I see growth, but I know there is so much more. Cultural renewal is never over until the new heavens and the new earth come back.”
Until then, may we, like Lee, steward our work in such a way that tilts the world just a little closer to God’s vision of wholeness and perfection.
Learn more about Gotham, NIFW’s faith + work leadership program designed for Christians seeking to steward their role for God’s glory & the common good.
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