Nashville Institute for Faith + Work
The Nashville Institute for Faith and Work is excited to announce the 2023-2024 class for The Gotham Fellowship! Please join us in praying for each of our Fellows as we kick off the year together with an Opening Retreat on August 25 & 26th.
For twenty years, I have been coaching people through career changes. Some of them have been laid off, and others simply want to move on to something different. I, myself, made a career change some years ago when I decided to leave consulting and become a Career Coach. I had been traveling for four years Monday through Friday, and I needed to have a better life balance, get back to my Christian connections in Chicago, my weekly prayer group, a small group Bible study, and just time for myself.
So, I took control of my work life.
I quit.
This was the question that faced me at the ripe age of 6 in preparation for a first-grade career day where we were tasked with dressing up in the wrappings of our future dream careers. Some kids miraculously already knew what they wanted to be, and I’m sure some of them are fulfilling that same calling all these years later. Others gave themselves permission to envision incredible dreams of becoming astronauts, sports superstars, or world leaders.
But for me, this was the stuff of nightmares.
I’m six years old and you want me to decide what I want to be for the rest of my life!? Let’s just say I had whatever is the first-grade equivalent of an existential crisis.
But what should we do with the time that is given to us? It’s a sacred question. One that holds with it both an incredible weight and a certain mystery. Our vocations will consume a significant portion of our adult lives. Don’t we want to spend them well? Don’t we want our work to matter?
As the Advent season approaches, we at NIFW want to provide resources for you, your colleagues, family, and friends to prepare well for our celebration of Christ's coming. With holiday parties, end-of-the-year celebrations, and the overall hustle and bustle of the season, Advent is often over before we even realize that the season has begun.
Our hope is that these resources will help you to pause and reflect on how the coming of Jesus changes everything – how we live, how we relate, and how we work. May these resources guide you to Jesus and encourage you with hope throughout this Advent season.
Join us on Thursday, November 17th for our Work On Purpose Panel Event, “Cultivating Community and Meaning Through Business,” where we will hear from leaders and entrepreneurs in the Marketing, Tech, Supply Chain, and Business communities for a conversation focused on the impact of cultivating community and meaning through business in an age of superficiality.
Meet Event Panelist, Josh Miller, Chief Product Officer at 5by5 Agency. 5by5 Agency is a Nashville digital marketing agency delivering clarity, reach and results to those who work where life change happens. The following post shares language from 5by5 on the cultural values that guide 5by5 in their mission.
Join us on Thursday, November 17th for our Work On Purpose Panel Event, “Cultivating Community and Meaning Through Business,” where we will hear from leaders and entrepreneurs in the Marketing, Tech, Supply Chain, and Business communities for a conversation focused on the impact of cultivating community and meaning through business in an age of superficiality.
Meet Event Panelist, Dr. Hannah Stolze, Associate Professor of Supply Chain Management at Lipscomb University and Executive Director of the Wheaton College Center for Faith & Innovation. Dr. Stolze is an author, teacher, speaker, and academic with a focus on sustainable supply chain management and the intersection of faith and business. The following post was originally shared on the Denver Institute for Faith and Work blog and is reposted with the permission of the Denver Institute for Faith and Work. To learn more, visit DenverInstitute.org, or @DenverInstitute on social media.
Join us on Thursday, November 17th for our Work On Purpose Panel Event, “Cultivating Community and Meaning Through Business,” where we will hear from leaders and entrepreneurs in the Marketing, Tech, Supply Chain, and Business communities for a conversation focused on the impact of cultivating community and meaning through business in an age of superficiality.
Meet Event Panelist, Peter Court, Co-Founder and CEO of Tether. Tether is an app leveraging technology to develop spiritually mature and deeply connected Christians. The following post shares language from Tether on the vision that guides the company in its mission to cultivate authentic community for God-honoring purposes!
The Nashville Institute for Faith and Work is excited to announce the 2022-2023 class for The Gotham Fellowship! We are excited to have a representation of 8 churches and 7 industries in this year’s Cohort. Please join us in praying for each of our Fellow’s as we kick off the year together with an Opening Retreat on August 26 & 27th!
The Nashville Institute for Faith and Work is excited to welcome Lauren Brett as the NIFW Program Coordinator!
Lauren comes to NIFW with a rich background of education and experience in Ministry and Higher Education Administration, as well as a deep passion for Faith and Work integration.
A graduate of Lee University (B.S. Children's Ministry) and Geneva College (M.A. Higher Education), Lauren comes to Nashville from Anderson, SC where she has served at Anderson University as a Residence Director, Course Instructor, and most recently, Director of Student Involvement and New Student Programs.
Prior to her time in Anderson, Lauren lived in Chattanooga, TN where she served as Children's Ministry Director at Sojourn Community Church as well as in an Administrative role at McCallie School.
Director of NIFW, Josiah Leuenberger, shares about Lauren:
"We are grateful for how God has drawn together Lauren and NIFW for this next season of ministry and we are excited for all she will add to the NIFW ministry team! Lauren's organizational skill set, heart for people, and proven ability to invest in others to serve God in their areas of opportunity will be a significant gift to the NIFW community."
And a brief word from Lauren Brett:
"I look forward to serving as the Program Coordinator for the Nashville Institute for Faith and Work! The heart and mission of NIFW – ”to equip, connect, and mobilize Christians to integrate their faith and their work for the flourishing of Nashville and beyond” - is a mission that I deeply believe in. It is my desire to support NIFW participants to this end. I look forward to serving NIFW participants as they learn about being engaged, global citizens who impact the world for the good of their neighbors and the glory of God."
Please extend Lauren a warm welcome and pray for her as she relocates to Nashville and joins the NIFW Staff in late August!
Friends and supporters of NIFW,
It is with great excitement and gratitude that we are able to announce Josiah Leuenberger as the new Director of the Nashville Institute for Faith & Work (NIFW).
Deeply passionate about whole-life discipleship and faith and work integration, Josiah has served in ministry in a variety of capacities over the last nine years, most recently serving as a Campus Leader for Orchard Hill Church — Strip District in the Pittsburgh area. Before his ministry work began, Josiah coached Track and Field and Cross Country at East Tennessee State University and Milligan College from 2009 to 2012.
Josiah holds a B.A. in Communication Arts and Science from Grove City College and received his Masters in Kinesiology and Sports Studies from East Tennessee State University in 2011. Josiah also completed his Master’s of Arts in Christian Ministry from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in 2020.
Josiah plans to relocate to Nashville with his wife, Brittany and daughter, Schenley in the new year with a start date in mid-February.
Jonathan Payne, Chair of the NIFW Commission, said this about Josiah:
"I'm thrilled to have Josiah join the NIFW team. He has a love for and belief in the church, a passion to see the depth of the Gospel applied to all of life, and a breadth of experience that will serve NIFW well, as we continue to equip and encourage people across our city to embrace their day-to-day work as a critical venue for Gospel truth."
Here is a brief note from Josiah:
“I am beyond excited to become the next Director of the Nashville Institute for Faith and Work! NIFW is a ministry that has cultivated gospel transformation in the lives of so many people and enhanced the flourishing of the city of Nashville in real and tangible ways. The opportunity to serve with the NIFW team to help people take new steps and next steps in living on mission in their work in response to the gospel is one that I take on gratefully and wholeheartedly.”
Please join us in welcoming Josiah to the NIFW team, and pray for Josiah and his family as they plan to relocate to Nashville in the coming month as Josiah steps in to lead NIFW into its next chapter.
You can direct any questions you may have to Trevor Pavey at tpavey@christpres.org.
Sincerely,
Trevor Pavey, Senior Director of Ministry Support, Christ Presbyterian Church
Jonathan Payne, NIFW Commission Chair
If we’re not careful, Advent can breeze by us and, in a blink, Christmas is here. Amidst our gift exchanges and travel plans, how can we make room to practice the presence of God and engage the story of Christmas with fresh eyes?
While we could never list all of our favorites, below is a list of suggested Advent-related resources for you to enjoy and dwell on this year.
Accompanied by original works of art by the author, this is a creative, thoughtful book that takes you through the Incarnation by witnessing to the vulnerability of Christ’s birth through the eyes of those involved.
A classic series of Advent devotions written by theologian Walter Brueggemann that highlight the abundance of life that God has offered to us in the life of Christ.
A new, contemplative worship album of Advent songs featuring artists like Liz Vice, Jonathan Ogden, and Page CXVI.
This devotional invites us to focus anew on what it means to live faithfully in the time between Christ’s first and second comings and to consider how Christ’s first and second comings make a difference in our work.
From pastor and author Tim Keller, Hidden Christmas is a short book that helps us reimagine the significance of Christ’s birth as central to the Gospel narrative.
This book from pastor and author Russ Ramsey features twenty-five readings contextualizes Christ’s birth within the larger biblical arc and helps us understand how Christ’s birth was the fulfillment of God’s promises.
This anthology edited by Nancy Guthrie features works from Martin Luther, Charles Spurgeon, Joni Eareckson Tada, and more.
This poetry anthology features Advent reflections and original poetry from Malcolm Guite that help illuminate the wonder and beauty of the coming of Christ.
Want more resources from NIFW? Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. You can also find more resources from NIFW on our blog and resources page.
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Editor’s Note: The following video was produced by The Global Faith & Work Initiative, a ministry of Redeemer City to City.
At NIFW, we believe that God has called us to be agents of renewal in every industry, ushering in the kingdom of heaven here on earth. In doing so, we accept the call of being God’s ambassadors of reconciliation to a hurting world (2 Corinthians 5).
As a mother and travel advisor, Nashville Gotham Alum Christie Holmes had witnessed a particular gap in the travel industry: travel experiences for the whole family. At the same time, Holmes recognized how families often travel to other countries without truly engaging the culture or the people who live there. Passionate about cross-cultural engagement, Holmes wanted to foster a deeper connection between people and the places they visited, as well as within families.
With an overarching goal of creating “global citizens,” Holmes founded Global Community Travel, which provides customized travel plans to over 35 different international destinations with a focused emphasis on family connection, sustainability, and community engagement. To foster purposeful travel, Holmes and her team provide pre-trip engagement materials to help families learn about the history, values, and customs of the culture that they are traveling to before they go.
The five-minute video below tells Holmes’ story of developing Global Community Travel, her desire to instill deeper curiosity into travelers, and how the image of God is at the heart of her work.
Cultural Renewal in Travel: Gotham Alumni Christie Holmes
Editor’s Note: The following video was produced by The Global Faith & Work Initiative, a ministry of Redeemer City to City.
At NIFW, we believe that God has called us to be agents of renewal in every industry, ushering in the kingdom of heaven here on earth. In doing so, we accept the call of being God’s ambassadors of reconciliation to a hurting world (2 Corinthians 5).
Nashville Gotham Alumni Thomas Hunter and Sheriff Daron Hall saw the criminalization of mental illness in their jail system in Davidson County as an area of brokenness. Hunter, who serves as the Community Engagement Director within Davidson County Sheriff’s Office, worked alongside Hall to create a new system where those detained presenting with mental illness were given the opportunity for treatment at their Behavioral Care Center instead of being jailed.
The video below tells their story of developing the Behavioral Care Center and the “why” behind their efforts. We honor the work of Hunter and Sheriff Hall and hold this up as a God-glorifying example of cultural renewal that seeks to extend mercy and care to those in need of it.
Cultural Renewal in the Criminal Justice System: Gotham Alumni Thomas Hunter
If you’ve been following along with us on social media over the last few months, we at NIFW have been providing weekly recommendations of some of our favorite resources on faith, work, and culture. This blog is our way of having all of our recommended resources in one place, making it easier for you to add a few (or all!) of these to your reading/listening list as you wish.
While there are a number of recommended resources we love but didn’t have space to post about, you can always check out our newly-updated resources page for other recommendations not listed here. If you’re looking for a specific resource, feel free to reach out to Cameron Presson, NIFW’s Content Specialist. We hope you find encouragement and wisdom for your work in these resources!
Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work (Tim Keller & Katherine Leary Alsdorf)
Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good (Amy L. Sherman)
Surprised By Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church (N.T. Wright)
Culture Making: Recovering our Creative Calling (Andy Crouch)
Race, Economics, and Apologetics: Is There a Connection? (Luke Bobo)
Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life (Tish Harrison Warren)
He Saw That It Was Good: Reimagining Your Creative Life to Repair a Broken World (Sho Baraka)
You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit (James K.A. Smith)
Work and Worship: Reconnecting our Labor and Liturgy (Matthew Kaemingk and Cory B. Willson)
Want more resources from NIFW? Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. You can also find more resources from NIFW on our blog and resources page.
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We are excited to introduce you to the 2021-22 class for Gotham, our nine-month faith and work leadership intensive. In this year’s class, we are excited to have a representation of 6 churches and 10 industries, and we can’t wait to kick off the year with our Opening Retreat on August 13 and 14.
Get to know our new Gotham class below!
Dear Lord,
Thank you for every public servant involved in governing our cities, our states, and our country. Help them to see that they are Your servants first and foremost.
Give our leaders grace to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly before You. May they defend the oppressed, protect the virtuous, and discipline wrongdoers. Please give them wisdom to enact laws and regulations that foster an environment where every citizen can flourish spiritually, socially, and physically.
Father, You are the Just Administrator. We pray for those who collect taxes, protect neighborhoods, enable commerce; for those who enforce regulations for housing, building safety, and the environment; for those who ensure our roads are safe, manage budgets and citizenship rights, and our right to vote. Help them to understand the value of their work before You. Show them that they are functioning as nothing less than Your servants, carrying out Your purposes for the well-being of every citizen. Keep them from abusing their power or exploiting their position for anything other than for the common good of all citizens. May they do their work well and as an act of service to You.
While exercising our responsibilities as citizens to speak up for righteousness and stand up against evil, teach us how to honor and pay our debt of love toward those with whom we disagree. Keep far from us rebellious attitudes and hateful and snarky speech, unbecoming of a child of God. May no critical word leave our mouths that has not been spoken humbly before Your throne as we pray fervently for those who serve in government.
Lord we confess it is hard to see to see through this current climate. And each of these workers stands in the middle of it – endeavoring to do good work. Remind us that each person working in these sectors is created in Your image, and remind these workers they have an opportunity to work toward truth, beauty. and justice even though it can seem overwhelmingly dark at times.
Thank you, God, for seeing every act, hearing every word, and knowing every motive of every person. There is no unspoken thought, no political payoff, no back-room deal, no hidden motive which escapes Your notice. You are the all-knowing, perfect, and righteous judge.
Lord, allow disagreement to help us flourish rather than wither, come together rather than divide. Lord, help us find third ways of framing things – ways that bind rather than tear apart.
Lord, thank You for Your dominion and reign over every living thing and over the entire universe. There is not one square inch of creation over which you do not cry, “Mine!” Nor is there any leader’s heart beyond Your reach. We ask for You to accomplish Your divine will through these workers, no matter their commitment to follow You. Lord, turn their hearts to accomplish Your will. Whoever our leaders may be, we ask You to turn their hearts so that Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth--in our country, states, and cities--as it is in heaven.
This we ask in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, who regularly and beautifully summons order out of chaos.
Amen.
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Editor’s Note: This prayer was originally written by Missy Wallace, Founder of NIFW and current Vice President & Executive Director of the Global Faith & Work Initiative.
Dear Lord,
As we come to You to honor vocations as a way our people serve You in the world, we are thankful for those who feel a calling to start new things - new businesses, new products, and new initiatives.
Entrepreneurs are like artists - and perhaps more than any other vocation have the opportunity to model what God did in Genesis: create something out of nothing, bring structure out of chaos, and hope to call it good. Lord, it is a great honor to create things, and that creative gift comes from You. We thank You for those with the wiring, the risk tolerance, and the willingness to create. We ask for Your help with the incredible stress and isolation that can come from this calling as they dream about products and processes, adjust plans, seek funding, serve customers, create cultures, and find ways to achieve sustainability.
Lord, we know that like all, entrepreneurs are broken and they also work in broken systems. We ask for forgiveness for the the particular areas of brokenness that can plague entrepreneurism - such as confusing aspiration and reality, over-work, greed, and treating people transactionally. Please protect these workers from these pitfalls and forgive them when they make their work their idol.
We recognize that entrepreneurs have the incredible opportunity to bring redemption to the world in the way they love people, places and systems to life. Whether it is the way they care for suppliers and customers, choose policies that honor the integrity of employees, or find ways to seek a redemptive edge in all processes, we ask for your Spirit to infuse their labor. We ask that each entrepreneur see their undertaking as a way to love and worship You as they create.
Lord, we thank You for each and every entrepreneur in our city - because the best way to change culture is to create new culture, and entrepreneurs are creators. We ask You to use them as part of Your story for Nashville and beyond. We ask that they know that You are their ultimate Savior, not what they create.
In Your Son’s name, we pray.
Amen.
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Dear Lord,
As we come to You to honor vocations as a way we serve You in the world, we are thankful for all those involved in bringing structure out of the chaos around money - around assets and liabilities, around investing and borrowing, around valuing and extracting, around managing cash, around counting, measuring and profiting.
Lord, may we remember that a man can only serve one master. Finance, more than any other vocation, evokes feelings of confusion to some Christians. Finance very much reveals elements of God’s character around order and structure. Like God, healthy finance can allocate needed resources across time, and across heterogeneous groups of people. Like God, finance depends on promises. Like God’s creation mandate, finance increases human productivity from sharing resources socially for mutual benefit.
But like all systems and industries, the fall and our sin has impacted finance. Finance can be associated with greed and extortion. It can be manipulative and opaque. It can serve the rich and leave the poor behind. It can seem the source of all power. But we know, Lord, that You can and do and will redeem all things in Your creation. May those of us who work in finance see clearly the role we can play in the redemption of the finance industry.
Lord, we pray for each and every person working in this very important function of our economy. Whether they are running the spreadsheets, assessing the credit, selling the services, or orchestrating the deals, may their work reflect Your beauty, truth, and goodness. May they know that their work matters. How could companies run, employees get paid, houses and companies be bought and sold without the order of finance?
Lord we ask Your blessing on each and every worker in finance. We pray that Your Spirit allows them to be present to the role You would have them play as they point to You in the way they love people, places and things to life.
As we your people go to work even this week, we pray that the outworking of the gospel be always evident in our work, that our service as a worker might be ever reckoned and received as service first rendered unto You, O Christ.
And we ask all this in the name of your Son,
Amen.
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Editor’s note: This article was originally written and published as the first post in a three-part series on “Why Faith and Work?” by the Denver Institute for Faith and Work. You can read the original article here.
It was a Sunday afternoon. I walked out my back garage to toss the trash. I opened the green can, heaved in the white plastic bag, and breathed in … the stench of smoke. As I shut the can I moseyed out to my driveway to investigate. I looked up in the sky. The sun was a dull yellow, filtered through an unnatural cloud that covered the horizon. Smoke from the worst wildfires in Colorado history hung like a lingering ghost. Ash slowly fell around me and the street in my neighborhood was completely empty.
As I turned to walk back inside I heard something. It was a song coming from a truck around the corner. As I paused and peered through the sullen glow, I saw an ice cream truck, driving as if children were going to happily skip outside, eager for an afternoon treat. Yet none emerged from their homes, sequestered by their parents from the pandemic. The truck jingled by, as if from the set of a post-apocalyptic movie.
What a fitting metaphor for our world today, I thought. Our society is burning and our consumer culture offers us an “ice cream cone” to forget our troubles. Of course, as we grow, the “ice cream cone” changes: new car, job promotion, dinner parties, binge watching endless movies in our homes. But each can be a thin veneer that masks what each of us senses: the world we live in is frightfully broken. So many of us live a life distracted by entertainment, but we sense internal emptiness and desolation, one that spreads from souls to jobs to cities.
We long for a deeper hope that can animate our working lives.
“We long for a deeper hope that can animate our working lives.”
Why faith & work? Of all the pressing causes in our world, why care about this one, especially in a time of growing economic disparities, decaying social trust, and the shrinking of the church? Why invest time, attention, and resources in a vision that prioritizes both historic Christian faith and its influence on our daily work?
In this first of three articles, let me suggest three theological truths that open up new horizons for the meaning of Christian faith for our work and world today.
The word simply means “good news.” In the ancient Roman empire, Caesar had his own euangelion, whose reign through military strength was thought to be the guarantor of peace and prosperity. One ancient coin even called Caesar a “Son of God.”
Yet a small group of Jews said that there was another gospel. They claimed that a carpenter from Nazareth was the true Son of God, not Caesar. They said that though he was crucified as a criminal, he had been raised from the dead by God and freely offered forgiveness of sins and eternal life to any and all as free gift. And the essence of this “Son of God” was not power to conquer his enemies but love. Even for one’s enemies.
Fast forward to 21st century America. Today we’re used to hearing the word “gospel” in reference to gospel music or to the notion of “getting saved.” In many conservative Protestant circles, believing the “gospel” means soul salvation: Jesus died, I receive forgiveness, and I go to heaven when I die. Yet this version of the gospel would have seemed very strange to the early Christians. The apostle Paul believed there were four essential elements to his “gospel”: the incarnation of God himself in the person of Jesus (Romans 1:2), the crucifixion of Christ for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:2-3), the resurrection of Christ for our salvation and the salvation of the world (John 3:16; 2 Corinthians 5:19), and the Second Coming of Christ to judge the world and ultimately restore the world as God had originally intended it (Romans 2:16).
In our modern world, we’ve reduced the “gospel” to an individual, private experience involving only me and God. But this is a severe reduction of the breadth of the historic Christian faith. The truth is that sin is much worse than we thought. It has not only infected my heart, but has spread like a cancer into workplaces, industries, cultures, and cities. But the good news, the gospel, is also much better than we thought: Jesus is healing not just our souls but also those same workplaces, industries, cultures, and cities (Colossians 1:20). Indeed, he is not just light for my heart, he is the Light of the World (John 8:12).
Why, then, should we care about work?
Teaching kindergarten, practicing law, manufacturing air filters, serving tables: work is the public arena in which the breadth of the gospel can heal our fractured world. When George Washington Carver discovered new uses for the peanut, he listened to the voice of God for scientific discovery. When Bach wrote symphonies, he did so soli Deo Gloria — for the glory of God. And when the salesperson wonders if he’s wasting his life in retail, it’s the good news that crowns him with glory and dignity, even in difficult circumstances.
Christians have been entrusted with a spark of good news — one that claims salvation is far bigger and deeper than we had once thought.
The central message of Jesus’ own earthly ministry was about the Kingdom of God (Mark 1:14-15). To Americans who are used to electing their highest political authority to office, talk of kings and kingdoms can seem strange. Yet it’s a common theme in the Old Testament (Psalm 10:16; Isaiah 37:16; 2 Chronicles 20:6). And Jesus insisted on emphasizing it, even commanding his people for all generations to pray, “may your kingdom come, and your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).
“Work is the public arena in which the breadth of the gospel can heal our fractured world.”
What does the Kingdom of God have to do with our work? First, saying that Jesus is the very highest authority both in your life and in the world is a deeply political, and public, commitment. Every nation, as well as every company, school, or hospital, has a set of values. Immediately, the Christian comes into any work situation first being a citizen of another country (1 Peter 2:13-17). That means when working at Amazon or at the local gas station, some of your values align with your workplace; others are different. This stubborn declaration that Jesus is king over all means your work is a contested arena between His Kingdom and the kingdoms of this world (Revelation 11:15). Each meeting, each project, each task, each relationship takes on a new significance in an age-old battle between darkness and light (Colossians 1:13). Whether you’re in politics, business, or education, the Kingdom of God makes every Christian a reformer.
But second, and more importantly, Jesus is inviting us into a new reality. I’ve often heard Protestants speak of “building the Kingdom.” But this is not how Jesus speaks about the Kingdom. He simply calls people to enter and receive the Kingdom (Matthew 7:21, 23:13, 25:34). That means, there is no work to be done. Simply receive the gracious gift of living in a new creation, partaking in the divine nature, and resting in the “easy burden” of the way of Christ. Work is the sphere of life in which we live, day-to-day, in the fullness of the life of God (John 10:10b). Rather than believing spiritual matters are just for church, spiritual depth and joy can spill over into your daily work.
Old Testament Scholar and framer of the Lausanne Covenant Dr. Christopher Wright popularized the term the Mission of God. When we hear the word “mission” we often think of missionaries overseas or paid Christian professionals sent by a church either to evangelize or serve the poor. Yet Wright makes the strong — and lengthy! — case that God himself has a mission. From the calling of Abraham and the people of Israel to the culmination of human history in the book of Revelation, God himself is initiating a grand project to restore his fractured creation (Genesis 3).
“Yet the breadth of gospel, the promise of a coming Kingdom, and a call to participate with God in his mission reframes how we live and work. ”
How, then, does this involve our daily work? The marvel of the grand narrative of Scripture is that God calls us — flawed, deeply broken human beings — into his purposes to heal and restore his world. This may include overseas work in microfinance. Yet it may be far closer to home. John Stott, the preeminent 20th-century missiologist, pastor, and author, believed our vocations are the central way we partake in “mission.” Police officers protect and serve, farmers feed their neighbors, teachers educate the mind, janitors and mechanics clean and repair our buildings. It’s through our work that we reflect Jesus’ own high calling “to serve, and not to be served” (Mark 10:45).
So, why faith & work? Ultimately, we live in a story of good news. Death is overcome. The darkness does not win. And God summons all people first to himself, and then sends them back into the world as his ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20).
In a time when it feels like our culture is burning and sending smoke into our nostrils and lives, our spiritual lives can feel desolate like an empty street on a Sunday afternoon. Yet the breadth of gospel, the promise of a coming Kingdom, and a call to participate with God in his mission reframes how we live and work.
This is good news indeed.
Looking for more resources to participate with God in His mission at work?
Learn more about our program offerings at the Nashville Institute for Faith and Work, including a new theology course called Foundations of Faith and Work and our flagship leadership program, Gotham.
Want more resources from NIFW? Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. You can also find more resources from NIFW on our blog and resources page.
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We are excited to announce the launch of Foundations of Faith and Work, a theology course available through NIFW or in partnership with your church designed to equip groups and congregations with a Biblical theology of work.
Foundations of Faith and Work is a 10-session course designed as an introduction to faith and work theology. The course is designed as a small group curriculum, with downloadable, highly engaging video teachings, facilitator and participant guides, and discussion questions.
Both theologically rich and accessible, Foundations of Faith and Work content was developed by NIFW’s Senior Advisor, Dr. Paul Lim, a divinity school professor with a Masters of Divinity from Princeton University and a Ph.D from Cambridge University.
For many of us, we will spend a majority of our lives at work. However, many Christians are dissatisfied in their work, and have not been taught how their work is an integral part of their worship. God has designed a better story for work than the one many of us are living.
Foundations of Faith and Work equips Christians as the “scattered church” to see their work has eternal value and purpose. Through this course, you will understand how the Gospel speaks into your job and industry, learn to serve others more effectively, and experience deeper meaning in your daily work as you sense God’s redemptive purposes for your vocation.
“This course,” says Executive Director Rose Wynne Brooks, “provides greater accessibility to all workers seeking to understand how their work, paid and unpaid, matters to God. Our hope is that the commitment level allows parents with young children, executives with limited margin, young professionals in career building mode, and retirees wondering what’s next to gain a foundational understanding of participating in God’s mission in their workplace, regardless of industry, job type, or career stage.”
Foundations of Faith and Work is for Christians that desire to see how their work—both paid and unpaid—is an essential way to promote human dignity and flourishing in the Greater Nashville area. This course is available to churches of all sizes, denominations, and locations.
There are two ways you can take Foundations of Faith and Work.
Bring the course to your church small group, Sunday school class, or adult learning course. NIFW will provide all the materials needed to offer the course, including downloadable video teachings, facilitator and participant guides, and discussion questions.
Register for Foundations of Faith and Work taught by NIFW. The first course through NIFW will begin in mid-May.
For more information on the course, please contact us at info@nifw.org.
You can also visit the webpage for more details.
Be notified when registration is open for Foundations of Faith and Work through NIFW
Learn how you can bring Foundations of Faith and Work to your church
