Gotham Alum Balances Nonprofit Consulting and Ministry to Love Her City to Life

Some people are born to wear multiple hats. Nicole Rowan is one of them.

An ordained pastor in North Nashville, owner of a nonprofit consulting business, and landlord liason for Metro Nashville’s HOPE Program assisting renters impacted by COVID-19, Rowan has what you might call “eclectic” work interests. Possessing advanced degrees in business management and business administration, Rowan previously worked as an executive leader for the YMCA for over 15 years.

identifying the disconnect

As Rowan tells it, her nonprofit leadership experience with the YMCA ignited her passion for supporting nonprofits with strategic planning. So passionate, in fact, that Rowan’s expertise and excitement led her to leave her position with the YMCA at the end of 2018 to launch her consulting business, Press Play On Purpose Consulting, specifically serving nonprofits.

As Rowan explains, oftentimes there is a disconnect in nonprofit organizations between the strategic goals established by senior leaders and the ability of the employees to implement the solutions. “What leaders have established,” says Rowan, “doesn’t always work on the ground level.” 

Rowan is energized by helping these nonprofit organizations rethink their strategic planning processes. “It’s about understanding the nonprofit is a business,” shares Rowan, “and still has to operate as a business at the end of the day.”

redeeming difficult work relationships

“ Our difficult work relationships are often a mirror for something that we don’t see in ourselves, and in many ways, we’re also mirrors for other people.”

At the same time she was launching her business, Rowan joined Gotham, NIFW’s nine-month faith and work leadership program. Gotham, shares Rowan, helped her to discern where God was calling her based on her experience, gifts, and interests. “Gotham helped me understand that I wanted to help businesses with a direct social cause,” says Rowan.

Beyond helping her solidify her business model, Rowan also shares that her Gotham experience helped her in the trenches of her work. Once her consulting business was up and running, Rowan recognized an area where she needed the light of the Gospel to be shed: difficult working relationships.

Rowan’s perspective shifted after working through one particular exercise in Gotham which helps participants identify “sandpaper people” in their work and leads them through a process of examining where personal sin or idols may be showing up in the relationship. Ultimately, the exercise is aimed at seeing the Imago Dei in the other person and allowing God to intervene to redeem the relationship and change our own hearts in the process.

As Rowan explains, “In those times we’re often focused on complaining about the other person, rather than considering and seeing how you’re showing up, where sin might be present, and what that can teach you.”

This countercultural approach to also looking at ourselves rather than only blaming the other person is fueled by the Gospel’s command to love our neighbor as ourselves. “Our difficult work relationships,” echoes Rowan, “are often a mirror for something that we don’t see in ourselves, and in many ways, we’re also mirrors for other people.”

spiritual formation within community

While she emphasizes that her nonprofit consulting work offers her chances to minister to others daily, “even if it’s not done overtly,” Rowan also has served as an ordained minister at a church in North Nashville for over five years. 

Discussing Gotham’s impact on her role as a church leader, Rowan shares that the program and its emphasis on both theological study and devotional practices “increased my fervor to be consistent with different forms of devotion, and to listen to God on a daily basis.” 

“...We may not know how the work God has us doing today may be preparing us for our next assignment later in life.”

A significant lasting impact of Gotham, says Rowan, was how it helped her establish a habit of leaning on God in her work and outside of it, asking God, “What might you be saying to me in this moment?”

Rowan also adds that the Gotham curriculum helped her to become more aware of and open-minded about other Christian traditions and practices. With a diverse Gotham cohort coming from a variety of Christian traditions, Rowan said the friendships she developed were formative in helping her expand her view of what worship means to other people.

These friendships Rowan formed in Gotham are still important to her today. In fact, when Rowan was officially ordained as a pastor last year, she was able to invite ten people to the in-person ceremony. “Five of them,” says Rowan, “were friends from my Gotham cohort.”

EQUIPPED FOR GOOD WORKS

As Rowan’s life is a testament to, we may not know how the work God has us doing today may be preparing us for our next assignment later in life. What we do know is that God is the one who equips us to do those good works that He has prepared in advance for us to walk in (Ephesians 2:10). 

Or, as Eugene Peterson puts it in The Message translation, “God creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.”

Rowan is embracing the work that God has invited her to join Him in. Whether she is serving her congregants, supporting a nonprofit, or helping renters impacted by COVID-19, Rowan is steadily loving her city to life—one day at a time.

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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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Gotham Alum Leverages Leadership Role to Build Community of Women at Work

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.
”

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.

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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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A Vocational Prayer for Parenting on Mother's Day

Heavenly Father, 

Today we honor the vocation of parenting. On a day when our Western culture celebrates mothers, we too recognize the hard work of parenting and the holiness of its nature. We also note the pain that Mother's Day can surface for some, including those who long for children, have lost a child, have lost their mothers, or are estranged in a mother-child relationship.

Family is one of God’s ordained structures to promote human flourishing, and the importance of family is clear from the first pages of Scripture to the last. Being a part of the family of God allows us all to experience multiple roles, as children of God our Father, as brothers and sisters in Christ, and as spiritual parents to younger believers. Please give us godly community in which to raise our children up in knowledge of and love for You. 

 To be able to influence and mold children, about whom Jesus said, "Let them come to me," is an honor and privilege.  It can also be a great joy.  Parenting -- whether as biological parents or as "spiritual" parents, allows us to reflect some of the most beautiful parts of God’s character, including more “maternal” attributes such as His love, His discipline, His kindness, His fairness, His mercy, His creativity, and His nurturing. 

Yet the difficulties and complexities of parenting can overwhelm both us and the children whose lives we steward. When we are tempted by the need for perfection and performance, may our children remind us of the gifts of laughter, joy, and adventure. The conflicts are many - their tantrums and our desire for peace; their mess and our yearning for order, their focus on the present and our obsession with looking to the future,  their desire for autonomy and our worship of control. 

 We pray for a posture in our homes, our church, and our world that welcomes children, and encourages us all toward a childlike faith and reliance on you, Father God. 

 Fill our homes with laughter, grace, memories, moments of collective weakness, and moments of unexpected joy. Help us point our children to You first, as we pray out loud together, repent to each other, laugh with each other, and cry with each other.

 Parent us first, so that we may parent through the endless well of patience, wisdom, and peace You promise us in your Word. 

 For all of this we give you thanks in Jesus.

Amen.

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Why Faith and Work?

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.  

gospel

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.

kingdom

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.  

mission

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.

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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.

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How One Gotham Alum Confronted Culture's Expectations Surrounding Work

What do you expect from your work?

Do you see work as a curse to be endured? A way to make ends meet? A path to self-fulfillment? 

It was 2018, and Roscoe Mayberry had just completed a move to Nashville earlier that spring. In the midst of learning the ropes of a new, unfamiliar role at the manufacturing company he’s been at for the last twenty years, Mayberry joined Gotham, NIFW’s faith and work leadership program, at the encouragement of a mentor. Prior to joining the program, Mayberry had been wrestling with the above questions surrounding work, faith, and his own sense of vocational futility. It was then, in Gotham, where he dove deeper into these questions that had been burdening him.

work and stewardship

Mayberry entered Gotham with a sense that his work “wasn’t needed.” In his eyes, if there was a vocational hierarchy, his corporate job at a Fortune 500 company was near the bottom. In conflict with culture’s expectations of work as the path to lasting joy, Mayberry was experiencing more frustration than fulfillment. 

As a part of the Gotham curriculum, participants develop a holistic theology of work to apply to their own industry and role. “Threaded through Gotham,” says Mayberry, “was the idea that we’re still called to be stewards of our work and faithfully engage it even if it doesn’t bring this deep satisfaction that culture tells us work should bring.” 

Reflecting on the expectations so many of us place upon our work, Mayberry remarks, “I think that’s a deep cultural issue that we currently have: this false notion that our work should make us happy.” For Mayberry, Gotham provided a setting for him to work through his personal questions surrounding his own vocational expectations. “My biggest paradigm shift in Gotham,” he explains, “was learning that thorns and thistles exist in every job. Ultimately, that shifted my mindset to where the discontentment I experienced in my work led me into deeper prayer with the Lord.”

“I think that’s a deep cultural issue that we currently have: this false notion that our work should make us happy.”

Over time, Mayberry explains that he learned how even difficulties at work have a redemptive purpose. As he says, “I think frustration around our work takes us deeper into prayer and into deeper reliance on God’s sovereign providence. There’s a lot that can be gained in your relationship with God through the frustrations of your work.”

While work is by no means all doom and gloom for Mayberry, he explains that the Gotham curriculum and community helped him make sense of his own experience at work. Frustration at work isn’t the mark of a second-rate worker, but a natural by-product of the fall. Holding the tension of not expecting work to be one’s ultimate fulfillment, while also seeking fulfilling work is a lifelong struggle for any Christian.

the cadence of community

Mayberry describes his work background as “blue-collar” and questioned whether his work experience would fit within the Gotham program. However, as he explains, “My cohort had more diversity in the industries represented than I expected. I found that my work experience was a good fit within the program, even as I transitioned to a more “white-collar” role.”

Corresponding with his move to Nashville, Mayberry entered Gotham in search of meaningful community. As he shares, one of the most impactful aspects of the program was the cadence of the community itself—meeting on a weekly basis with other people who were pursuing Jesus in the workplace. Says Mayberry, “Gotham really provided a good foundational bedrock as I moved to Nashville as far as establishing friendships and community.” 

This accountability and consistency provided Mayberry a space to engage with important questions surrounding his spiritual and professional life. Grounded in this shared purpose, Mayberry found it was the diversity of the group that proved to be its greatest strength and the factor that impacted him the most. 

“My Gotham cohort,” explains Mayberry, “had people from different backgrounds, working in different industries, from different church denominations, with different perspectives on work.” Considering the relative homogeneity of his background, Mayberry found that Gotham provided him a community of people who thought very differently from him on issues spanning from religion to politics. 

“Frustration at work isn’t the mark of a second-rate worker, but a natural by-product of the fall.”

This engagement in an ideologically-diverse community allowed him to develop meaningful friendships with people who shared different beliefs. As Mayberry explains, “The community of Gotham helped me to love others across ideological and theological differences, while at the same time sharpening and refining my own worldview.”

In addition to the weekly meetings, Mayberry also references the City Saturdays around Nashville as formative experiences, learning about the criminal justice system, healthcare system, music industry, and the history of the Civil Rights movement in Nashville. As a result, pushing back against the dangers of “ideological tribalism,” as Mayberry describes it, became an even deeper passion for him within his place of work.

a daily faithfulness

Currently still employed at the same company, and working part-time at Chick-Fil-A, Mayberry is excited for what lies ahead. He is discerning next steps towards a call to clinical counseling or vocational ministry, with seminary as a possibility. “My fellow Gothamites and teachers,” Mayberry explains, “helped affirm this calling I’ve long felt since Christ captured my heart some ten years ago in the most unusual of circumstances.” 

Steady faithfulness is often overlooked in a culture that prizes some work at the expense of others. In God’s economy, however, all work is a way of participating in the renewal of creation and restoring a fractured world to God’s original design. As Mayberry seeks to faithfully steward the role he’s been given, he knows that each day is a chance to do just that.

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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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Announcing: Foundations of Faith and Work

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.

what is foundations of faith and 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.

why foundations of faith and work?

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.”

who is this course for?

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.

how can You take the course?

There are two ways you can take Foundations of Faith and Work. 

1. 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. 

2. Register for Foundations of Faith and Work taught by NIFW. The first course through NIFW will begin in mid-May.

want to learn more?

For more information on the course, please contact us at info@nifw.org.

You can also visit the webpage for more details.

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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

Rethinking Conflict at Work

Workplace conflict carries a variety of connotations, depending on who you ask. Some employees thrive on it, others defuse it, and more may attempt to ignore it altogether. Regardless of your feelings about and attempts to manage conflict in the workplace, one thing is certain: conflict at work is inevitable.

In Romans 12:18, Paul writes that, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” While the call to unity is clear, Paul acknowledges that perfect harmony simply is not always possible. Anyone who has spent any time working on a team will recognize this reality. Whether it’s friction over a missed deadline or frustration due to unclear expectations, conflict at work is a daily reality—and a costly one. In fact, in the United States, 79% of workers experience unproductive workplace conflict, costing businesses $359 billion annually in lost time and productivity. If conflict at work is here to stay, can we leverage it for good?

“If conflict at work is here to stay, can we leverage it for good?”

Dr. Nate Regier thinks so. According to Dr. Regier, CEO and co-founder of Next Element, a global training advisory firm specializing in leadership communication, conflict offers us an opportunity to honor the dignity of our co-workers and create something new together. The key, according to Dr. Regier is “Compassionate Accountability®,” struggling with others through conflict. In his book Conflict Without Casualties, Dr. Regier outlines the process of effectively navigating workplace conflict through the Compassion Cycle, a model aimed at aiding employees to avoid typical drama roles and develop critical compassion skills instead. In this article, we’ll highlight seven important quotes from Conflict Without Casualties that will help you begin to rethink the way you engage in conflict at work.

engaging conflict redemptively

“Drama is the result of mismanaging the energy of conflict” (11). While every conflict isn’t necessarily intense, each moment of conflict at work involves people’s emotional needs and desires. Drama at work happens when employees struggle against each other to justify their behavior, while compassionate conflict is the process of relying on the compassion skills of openness, resourcefulness, and persistence to struggle with others.

“Compassion is the result of people taking ownership of their feelings, thoughts, and behaviors, and choosing to spend the energy of conflict pursuing effective solutions that preserve the dignity of all involved” (12). At the heart of our working relationships should be remembering that all of our co-workers are made in the image of God. Our conflict at work, then, offers us an opportunity to engage in such a way that affirms people’s inherent dignity and worth.

“Compassionate Accountability® is the process of holding someone (including yourself) accountable while preserving their dignity” (50).  John 1:14 says that Jesus came “full of grace and truth.” Dr. Regier’s concept of “Compassionate Accountability®” mirrors this and wisely highlights that loving our co-workers will require both grace (compassion) and truth (accountability). As. Dr. Regier explains Compassionate Accountability® involves honoring other people’s emotions and boundaries (including your own) while pushing back against any drama-inducing behavior.

“Compassion is the engine that turns conflict into a creative force” (50). Dr. Regier regards conflict as not merely something to be mitigated or reduced but rather leveraged for the flourishing of individuals and organizations. This reminder of the creative potential inherent in conflict reminds us that in and of itself, conflict is not bad.

“Compassion without accountability gets you nowhere. Accountability without compassion gets you alienated. Blending the two is the essence of leadership” (66).  Leaders may believe that compassion is the opposite of accountability, which simply means punishment for wrongdoing. However, such a narrow view of leadership limits the potential of every employee. The key is to hold both compassion and accountability together.

“Behind most drama roles are latent or misused positive qualities” (168). Empathy is at the heart of conflict handled effectively. This quote reminds us to look for the gifts people (including ourselves) may possess, even as people contribute to unwanted drama at work. As an example, Dr. Regier explains that behind every “Rescuer” (one who offers unsolicited advice) may be someone who is highly “Resourceful” (one who can come up with many solutions to a problem).

“Leading self and others out of drama with Compassionate Accountability® starts and ends with emotional responsibility” (172). The emotional reality of conflict, naming and owning what we’re feeling and what is important to us, and asking the other person to do the same, is critical. Emotional responsibility, as Dr. Regier reminds us, helps us move from a blaming culture to one of healthy accountability.

assessing your own conflict at work

Reflect on a few diagnostic questions adapted from Conflict Without Casualties to help you gauge your current conflict attitudes and patterns at work.

• What is your relationship with conflict? How have you experienced it in the past?

• Do you tend to fall into any predictable patterns of conflict, either at work or outside of work? 

• What does unproductive conflict (drama) cost you personally and professionally? Consider the emotional, psychological, and social consequences. 

• What’s a recent example that comes to mind when you were involved in productive conflict? What about unproductive conflict? What sticks out?

• What gifts do you bring to managing conflict at work? What difficulties do you have with navigating workplace conflict?

• When have you experienced or witnessed creative conflict that generated a new idea or innovation?

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Watch a recording of “Conflict Without Casualties: Finding Creation Amidst Differences” with Dr. Nate Regier on Thursday, April 8.

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Working Moms: The Crushing Toll of the Pandemic

When Covid-19 first appeared in the headlines a year ago, we had no idea how it would upend our lives–particularly the lives of working parents. The foundation of our daily lives shifted dramatically, leaving us dangling over a precipice but still holding on to things that must go on, like school and work. We’re walking a tightrope while juggling babies and diaper changes, preschool tantrums, science homework, Zoom school, Zoom meetings, work deliverables, and we still have to get dinner on the table and laundry washed (definitely not folded though). We try to fill the missing gaps of after-work social events with our colleagues, of ballet lessons and birthday parties with our kids. The inevitable quarantines put us further behind in school and work, and yet somehow the expectations on our output haven’t really changed. 

The gifts of remote work, like flexibility and working from home, have changed the game for working parents in recent years. But the downsides during an everyone-at-home-for-almost-12-months world? Forty hours of work (at least) a week plus hours a day of schooling per kid … the math doesn’t work. We were tired before and juggling too many things... I don't know about you, but something has to give. While the "primal scream" provides momentary relief it isn't the answer.

“The foundation of our daily lives shifted dramatically, leaving us dangling over a precipice but still holding on to things that must go on, like school and work.”

For the last 12 months, I’ve felt like I’m stuck in 7th grade algebra all over again. I cannot make x+y=z, no matter how many times I try. X (home) and Y (work) added together equal far more than Z. But Z is all I have to give. 

Work, inside the home and out, is a gift from God, a call that predates the fall in Genesis 3. And Scripture is full of examples of women who work outside the home. Shiphrah and Puah (midwives in Exodus 1), Deborah the judge (Judges 4), Huldah the teacher who interpreted the Scripture (2 Kings 22), Lydia the trader (Acts 16), Priscilla the tentmaker (Acts 18), Phoebe and Junia (Romans 16). 

Despite the seemingly insurmountable challenges of work during a pandemic, because God ordained work–for men and women–He goes before us in it. He goes before us in all things, promising us His presence. He doesn’t promise an easy road, even doing the work we are called to do. But in the challenges, He is there. 

THE “PRIMAL SCREAM” AND UNFETTERED FEAR

The New York Times recently published a series called “The Primal Scream,” which exposes the true cost of the pandemic on working moms. Just reading the first essay (“How Society Has Turned Its Back on Mothers”) brought forth a torrent of relief for me and many of my friends. I received links to the story from so many women who felt seen, heard, and validated. “We’re not alone,” the story told us. 

Whether you are working mother or father, or the leader/colleague/employee of one, the pandemic has changed the way you work. The illusion of full-time childcare has disappeared. Even for schools that have reopened, cycles of quarantine and exposure have made nothing routine. For families facing unopened schools or who have high-risk kids, virtual education is daunting if not impossible. Scenarios include keeping kids focused and on-track while they Zoom into a virtual classroom for 8 hours a day, or managing a course load of 6+ high school classes as the primary educator… often while also maintaining a part-or full-time job, not to mention the mental load of running a household. 

“If you supervise a working mother (or father), think really creatively about how you can support them.”

The hardest part of the stories and statistics is this: there’s not actually a way to relieve the pressure, at least not in the short-term. Long-term, systematic structures that keep women (especially minority women) in low-paying retail or hospitality jobs can be reexamined. Income disparity between men and women, paid parental leave, and loosening of historically fixed working hours and arrangements can all be addressed. But now? Going into month 12 of a global pandemic? How do we survive physically, mentally, and emotionally?

WHAT WE CAN DO

What was so striking about the New York Times’ piece is that it exposed the desperation working women and mothers face. Its name, “the primal scream,” unpacked the social, emotional, and economic cost of this pandemic specifically on mothers. 

Here are some simple ways to encourage the working women in your orbit:

1. Ask “How are you doing?” Let them vent, and listen without offering suggestions. They are tasked with the impossible right now. 

2. Offer to help. Send a takeout gift card, or offer to take their kids to the park for an afternoon. Drop off a hot, healthy meal. Offer to Zoom with their children to read a story, or virtually tutor an older child in a difficult subject.

3. If you supervise a working mother (or father), think really creatively about how you can support them. Encourage them in their work and praise them for juggling work and home so well. Don’t pretend like their home lives don’t exist, or that they aren’t trying to manage a household with children during a global pandemic. Ask them what they need from you in order to succeed at work and at home. 

WHAT JESUS OFFERS THE WEARY

Finally, as people of faith, the call to the workplace is often much bigger than bringing home a paycheck. It engages us into the world that God loves so much, and asks us to be ambassadors for Jesus in the places we live, work, and play. 

Scripture doesn’t offer us a formula for keeping everything together during a world-changing global pandemic, a financial crisis, and the revealed disparities between working men and women. But it does offer us rest. 

“His presence is as sure as the sun that rises every morning, and it is as steady as a spring rain.
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In Matthew 11:28–30, Jesus says this: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Jesus offers us rest for our weary souls. He listens. He loves. When everything is falling apart, when the world has literally shifted beneath us, He never changes. His presence is as sure as the sun that rises every morning, and it is as steady as a spring rain.

Try taking a few minutes today to see how Jesus loved you today. Can you see how He gives you strength and mercy each morning? Thank Him for His presence in the most difficult moments in your day. Draw near to Him, and He promises to draw near to you (James 4:8). 

Jesus invites us to a peace that transcends our circumstances. But He also offers us eyes to see those around us who need love and mercy. Seek to be refreshed by Him, and seek to refresh others through Him, as we continue in this long and hard season.

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White Introspection and Black History Month

Lifting the veil

As a white woman who grew up in a very small town in the Appalachian mountains of southwestern Virginia, the trials and tribulations of my African American brothers and sisters seemed far away and frankly, I was unaware in my protected world. Perhaps you have a similar perspective based on your childhood. I can imagine many of us have history that influences how we perceive the current opportunity gaps in the United States and beyond.    

I am slowly becoming more aware of the disparities in our country. This past year I have intentionally intensified self-examining myself and my heart. Jesus has been a merciful leader in this journey of discovering my thoughts, feelings and opinions.  

I never considered myself a racist, prejudiced, privileged. Perhaps as a woman, I was on the receiving end of prejudice and inequity and lack of inclusion. And while this may be true, it was nothing like what I now see and understand to be my privilege. A few years ago, a program I was in provided the opportunity to visit the Nashville Jail and moved me into a different level of awareness. I had a realization that things really were different, the playing field not even. Yet, while I felt convicted and informed, I did not do much differently. It was too hard. Still, the feeling of injustice and “how could this be” remained with me.

Then, a friend and mentor introduced me to a local African American Pastor. At Cracker Barrel over breakfast, as he shared his hard-earned wisdom and experiences, the veil across my eyes lifted a little more. I told him “I’m not jumping in, I’m scared and I don’t know what to do— it’s too big. But, I am not walking away. I want to keep talking and see where God takes this.” Graciously, he agreed.  

Then, this past year’s continual tragic violence against people of color captured the attention of the nation, and a greater sense of urgency rose within me. I read Be the Bridge by Latasha Morrison with a book group and invited my pastor friend to speak to us. Ultimately, that experience resulted in the two of us creating a very small Racial Justice Resource Group that started meeting in June. We are still meeting, and the group recently agreed to a mission: to change how the world sees and treats communities of color. It is a place where I am deeply challenged, convicted, and hear truths that remind me that my heart still has much to learn.

I rarely leave these meetings feeling uplifted. Rather, I leave them knowing I have so much to learn, lament, repent, confess and ask forgiveness for. In the face of this intense self-reflection, I move forward in God’s grace and with the promise of hope. I have always shied away from suffering, particularly if I could reason it out, or move on to something more rewarding (meaning in my control). Jesus is not letting me move on. He has placed within me a desire to be like Him, to love my neighbors and all that requires of me. I have no idea where this is going and I am okay with that, because He is in the lead. 

I tell you all this because what I often hear from others, as I also said, is, “I don’t know what to do. It’s too big.” My desire is to encourage you to either take a first step or to keep moving forward, enter into conversations, read, have courage, and pray for God to open doors. He has blessed me with a friend who, for some reason, is willing to patiently walk with me.  

I never felt the effects of my whiteness. I have felt the consequences of being a woman and all that carries, but for many years I never connected my whiteness and privilege. Now, I know that in my heart, as a white woman, I am unfairly privileged in America because of the color of my skin. It has taken me a long while to accept this, and it is a grossly unjust fact.

Taking a Step

Importantly, February is Black History Month. It is also Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent, a new season in the church calendar. You may know Shrove Tuesday as Fat Tuesday, a day of self-examination that rolls into Ash Wednesday. 

Ash Wednesday is significant because it marks the start of the Lenten period leading up to Easter. The ashes, placed by some denominations, symbolize both death and repentance. During Lent, Christians show repentance and mourning for their sins, the very sins Christ died for. Lent is a time to come face to face with how we as individuals and as a people have fallen short; in other words, our great need for grace.

If you are white, perhaps this Black History Month will be a time for you to examine how you can understand more about the experience of people of color, acknowledge where you feel uncomfortable, break down some walls, and seek to know who are outsiders and insiders in your life and why. You will see from these words that I am woefully in need of further self-examination, of amending my still safe place of ignorance and denial. I do so very much need Jesus in my struggle to live out the Scriptures, to be like Him, to see the world as it is and not how I wish it to be.  

I share this final prayer with you in the hope that it may speak to you and encourage you to continue doing the work of co-creating with God in pursuing a world that is just for all people made in His image.

a prayer for faithful action

Save us, O Lord, from being idle bystanders–looking on. Enliven us to attempt to understand the dilemmas of a broken world, and be willing to act. Give us compassion for the lost and confused, the weary and the oppressed, those different from me and confused like me. Save us from slick and simplistic answers to this problem, which offer words but no real help. Unsettle us, and move us on from viewing the plight of sin-scarred people, to actions that promote spiritual and inward healing and liberating forgiveness. Cleanse our lives, that they may be instruments worthy of conveying your truth of abundance, generosity, equality, inclusion, and everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord. We ask this in His name. Amen.

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Below are a few resources that myself and our team at NIFW recommend for leaning in and learning how to engage faithfully in promoting racial justice both within and outside the walls of work: 

• The Color of Compromise: The Truth About the American Church’s Complicity in Racism — Jemar Tisby

• How to Fight Racism: Courageous Christianity and the Journey Toward Racial Justice — Jemar Tisby

• I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness — Austin Channing Brown

• Be the Bridge: Pursuing God’s Heart for Racial Reconciliation — Latasha Morrison

• Race and Work — Karyn Loscocco

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"Dispelling Diversity Myths At Work" Facilitates Gospel Conversation About Racial Equity and Inclusion

God’s call for Christians to do justice permeates every aspect of our lives, including our work. However, the American workplace has been a source of injustice, with racial minorities experiencing workplace inequality across every industry. At Dispelling Diversity Myths at Work, attendees engaged in a virtual conversation about how to seek more equitable workplaces, led by Dr. Christina Edmondson, Pastor Mika Edmondson, and Pastor Daryl Fitzgerald, leading voices in the field of Christian racial justice.

The event explored the prevailing myths that corporate diversity culture perpetuates and identified ways to promote racially equitable workplaces. Drawing on the truth of the Gospel, the panelists highlighted how the kingdom of God breaks down barriers to equity, requires us to fight against injustice, and celebrates the diversity of God’s people. We encourage you to watch the webinar recording to hear the whole conversation, but below are a few key takeaways from the event, including several convicting quotes from our panelists.

Galatians 3:28 spotlights a painful consequence of sin—unequal access along race, class, and gender lines.

Pastor Mika used Galatians 3:28-29 as a scriptural example of why Christians should engage in conversations surrounding diversity and inequity in the workplace. Paul commands the Galatians to break down race, class, and gender barriers in the name of the Gospel, for “you are all one in Christ Jesus.” However, as Pastor Mika pointed out, that doesn’t mean that these barriers will not continue to exist in the culture around us. In fact, as he explained, “Sinful disparities is the default, so we have to bring a kingdom pushback” to issues of racial justice in the workplace.

“When we perceive ourselves as “color blind” or make “color blindness” a goal, we have to pretend that we don’t see an aspect of another human being in order to value them.” — Dr. Christina Edmondson

Dr. Christina outlined that although statements such as “I don’t see race” or “I only hire the best people for the job” are an attempt at racial tolerance, Christians are called to something higher and more beautiful, in which cultural difference is not only acknowledged but valued. “Color blind” hiring practices minimize the painful reality that hidden racism embedded in our country’s history has caused opportunity to be unevenly distributed to people of different races. In order to promote more equitable workplaces, Dr. Christina suggested creating a strategic plan to intentionally hire diverse candidates, such as recruiting from local historically Black colleges or universities with graduates who work in your specific industry.

“When it comes to the workplace, I can add value to you and you can add value to me.” — Pastor Daryl Fitzgerald

One myth in corporate diversity culture is the myth of “cultural fit.” Sometimes, companies are hesitant to hire employees from diverse backgrounds because they are concerned that new hires will not fit in with their company culture. As Christians, we believe that all people are made in the image of God and therefore have inherent dignity, worth, and value. Thus, in our workplaces, we must move from considering the “cultural fit” of a new employee and instead value the “cultural add” that an employee brings, as Pastor Daryl shared. Additionally, Pastor Daryl pointed out that as Christians, we need to move from treating individuals in our workplace transactionally to considering individuals relationally. This perspective will not only provide kingdom value, but we know from research that investing relationally in diverse teams will actually add productivity and marketplace value to companies.

“People are not boxes to be checked, they are people to be learned from, listened to, and loved.”— Dr. Christina Edmondson

Often, when it comes to conversations surrounding diversity in the workplace, we can arrogantly assume that we have “arrived” in terms of racial awareness. However, Dr. Christina pointed out that power and arrogance tend to go hand in hand, which allows those in positions of power to ignore continuing issues of racism in their workplace since they have met certain goals or targets. As Christians, we should approach these issues with an honest perspective on our own brokenness and a willingness to be held accountable when we fall short. Dr. Christina offered several practical ways to seek accountability for equity in the workplace, including engaging in evidence-based diversity training, seeking out objective data and outsider perspectives about racial equity in your company, and creating strategic plans to pursue equitable hiring policies. 

“Diversity, equity, and inclusion is hard, time-consuming work. But it’s worth it, especially when we have an eye on the Kingdom of God.” — Pastor Daryl Fitzgerald

Pastor Daryl ended the conversation with a powerful reminder that work involving racial equity is difficult but worthwhile work. As he reminded us, “Achieving equity is going to take years to develop because there have been years of inequity.” This is not a conversation that can be neatly tied up with a 5-step action plan, but you can faithfully work towards racial equity in your work today. One place to start, Pastor Daryl suggested, was to commit to investing in at least one relationship outside of your own culture.

Thank you to all who attended “Dispelling Diversity Myths at Work,” the first of a series of events about how to be a faithful catalyst for flourishing in your workplace. Be on the lookout for information regarding our next event that will continue to focus on issues of racial equity at work. Additionally, take a look at our resources page for further resources to help you continue to engage in promoting racial equity and inclusion at work.

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Miss the webinar or want to watch again? Click the button below to watch a recording.

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How to Discern God's Will for Your Work

For people across the world, 2020 was a year fraught with difficulty. The economic effects of the pandemic were drastic. Millions of people lost their jobs as businesses were shut down, while other workers labored long hours to meet the demands placed upon them. Parents with children were forced to make difficult decisions about how to best balance their work and family responsibilities. Many lost medical benefits as well as their source of income.

As a result of all this rapid and unexpected turbulence, many had to reevaluate their employment. Where does a Christian turn when he or she is forced to quickly find a new job or another line of work? How can we discern our calling and figure out God’s will for our lives in times like these?

You may be asking yourself, “Am I in the right job?” or “Am I using my God-given talents productively?” These questions are not new ones. However, they might be more urgent now.

Even though these may seem to be the worst of times, I want to emphasize some of the basic and unchanging elements of my biblical and practical theology of work: God leads and provides for His children, we must listen to God’s voice, God is present in every aspect of our work, and God is faithful.

God leads and provides for His children

One of the principles about work is that looking for employment is always going to be a spiritual journey for a Christian. We will grow in faith as we see God lead us and provide for us.

Jesus said, “Seek first the Kingdom of God” (Matt. 6:33). This is always the place to start. Before you open up that job search engine, start with prayer. Ask the Lord of Hosts to guide you in this process.

How does God normally do that? You must spend some time reading the Bible, pray continually for wisdom, and trust Him to lead you. He promises that He will (e.g., Ps. 25:12, 32:8; Prov. 16:9). It does not mean, however, that the road will be straight or without trials and tribulations along the way.

Lee Hardy, in The Fabric of This World: Inquiries into Calling, Career Choice, and the Design of Human Work observes, “Career paths are rarely straight. Typically they are afflicted by detours, unmarked intersections, forced exits, blind alleys, and cul-de-sacs.” Part of your success in finding a new job will be to accept your situation as a God- approved detour. God could be using this pandemic to guide you into a more fulfilling career path.

Listen to God’s voice

Another important tenet in the biblical perspective on work is the idea that we must carefully listen when God speaks to our hearts. 

Ben Witherington, in his book, Work: A Kingdom Perspective on Labor, observes “We do not simply choose our vocations. We are led to them, and this implies that we must be open to hearing from God what He is calling us to do in life. Even when we have been called and gifted to do something, God does not simply leave us to our own devices. Rather, He guides us and steers us in our work.”

How does God guide those He loves in their career journey? Often, He speaks to our hearts in a still, small voice.

I think that many of us are discouraged from following our hearts as Christians. Verses such as Jer. 17:9, which warns, “The heart is deceitful above all things” have been used to dissuade those of us with active imaginations to stop justifying fleshly behaviors that are driven by our wayward emotions.

“Another unchanging truth that is foundational to a biblical view of work is that God is present in our work, from start to finish.”

 However, those of us who have accepted God’s free gift of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ receive a new heart (See Eze. 36:26 and 2 Cor. 5:17.)  It is through this transformed and spiritually-refocused heart that God will guide us. It is true, we should not follow our heart all the time, as it can deceive. But we do need to listen for God to speak to it.

Listening to how God speaks to our hearts first involves examining how God designed us. We do this through some honest and realistic self-assessment. Ask yourself these kinds of questions: What type(s) of work has God equipped you to do well, based on your interests, skills, accomplishments, and experiences? What have others noticed regarding your gifts?  What are you most concerned and passionate about? 

God is present in every aspect of our work

Another unchanging truth that is foundational to a biblical view of work is that God is present in our work, from start to finish.  There is a clear connection from Genesis to Revelation between God’s presence and human work which I call “Immanuel labor.”

Whenever God called His people to do something, either great or small, He always reminded them that He was present to give them the strength, wisdom, and peace to press on and complete the mission. 

During these turbulent circumstances, God may be preparing you to begin another chapter in your life. If you are forced to or decide to find new employment, God will be with you. If you decide to stay where you are, He is still with you. He will give you wisdom to make the best decision in His time.

God is always faithful

The last unchanging principle of a theology of work that is applicable now is closely related to the last one. Based on the attributes of God, His promises that He has made over the centuries to His children, and His standard mode of operation as revealed in the Old and New Testaments, we know without a doubt that God is indeed faithful. This gives us peace, patience, and power during any and every trial.

There is an old hymn I sang for the first time as a young college student, “Great is Thy Faithfulness.” This song is based on verses in Lamentations 3:22-23. It has great applications to a theology of work. As I recently meditated on the chorus to this song, it reminded me of God’s enduring attributes, particularly His commitment to His children.

Great is thy faithfulness, O God our Father

Morning by morning new mercies I see

All I have needed thy hand has provided

Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me

When we remain in God’s presence every day, not just on Sundays, but on Mondays through Fridays at our workplaces, we do see His mercies. These are some of the most challenging times of our lives. There seems to be no end in sight to this pandemic and its destruction among all of us. And yet, our experience as Christ-followers is that God has always been faithful. There is no end in sight to that great truth, either. Great is His faithfulness!

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Looking for further help in your job search? Learn more about NIFW’s Career Navigator program, featuring ten weeks of virtual job search group training with live coaching.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Russell Gehrlein is the author of "Immanuel Labor - God's Presence in our Profession: A Biblical, Theological, and Practical Approach to the Doctrine of Work." Russ is a former youth pastor and a junior/high school math and science teacher. In 2006, he retired from over 20 years active duty in the US Army in the rank of Master Sergeant. He currently works as a Department of the Army civilian at the US Army Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear School in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.

You can read more of his work on his blog, “Reflections on Theological Topics of Interest”, at www.regehrlein.wordpress.com.

NIFW 2020 Year in Review

John 1:5 (ESV)

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

In 2020, we have been forced to reckon with the darkness of tragic racial violence, a polarizing election season, and a global pandemic that has left millions of people disoriented and unemployed. The author of Eccesiastes reminds us that there is “a time to mourn and a time to dance” (Ecc. 3:4), and this past year has held many reasons for mourning. However, Christmas is a time to celebrate the incarnation of Christ, which promises that we do not mourn nor dance alone, but rather that through both, Christ is “Immanuel”— “God with us.” 

We are deeply grateful for your support and prayers during this challenging year, and we thank God for the integral role you play in our story and His larger unfolding story for creation. Below is a snapshot of what this year held for the Nashville Institute for Faith and Work (NIFW) and a look forward to what’s ahead in 2021.

This year, NIFW welcomed new members to the team to help us broaden programming, develop content, and expand our reach into the Greater Nashville area and beyond. Rose Wynne Brooks was announced as the new Executive Director; Caroline Davidson joined the team as Program Director for Gotham, our flagship faith and work leadership intensive; Dr. Paul Lim, our Gotham pastoral teacher, joined as a Senior Advisor for Program Content; Cameron Presson was hired as a part-time Content Specialist; and Anna Brown serves as our Nashville Fellow in the role of Communications and Operations Coordinator. Check out our staff page to learn more about each member of the team.

Throughout the challenges of 2020, our expanded team continued to invest in established programs even as we had to transition to a virtual format. We are incredibly grateful for the 2019-20 Gotham class, who completed the program this spring. We welcomed the sixth Gotham cohort in the fall, and God has been at work in this year’s class. The members of the Entrepreneur Support Group have continued to faithfully meet for spiritual formation and support through the unique challenges of business leadership in 2020. Read a Q&A with a member of ESG here.

We offered new programs to help equip people to love God and serve their neighbor at work. In light of the economic impacts of COVID-19, we are partnering with the VOCA Center to offer a new program titled Job Search Navigation. As a result of the commitment put into the group, a few members have already been offered job opportunities; read a Q&A with two participants of the program here. Additionally, we will launch a new faith and work program titled Foundations of Faith and Work that will accommodate people’s busier schedules. We are encouraged by the feedback we received from a pilot class we taught this fall, and we are excited to bring this program to the Greater Nashville area in 2021. 

Like everyone else, our event plans pivoted in light of COVID-19 to a virtual format. In advance of this year’s election, we partnered with faith and work organizations across the country to offer The Politics of Neighborly Love, which brought together over 700 people across the country to discuss how Christians can faithfully engage the political sphere in today’s moment. We were grateful to be able to host Peace Over Performance: Centered Leadership in Disorienting Times, a leadership webinar featuring executive coach Amy Balog, and 12 Job Search Fails, a webinar to help job seekers strategically refine their job search.

As we thank God for His faithfulness amidst the challenges of 2020, we trust that 2021 will bring new challenges and new opportunities, and we are committed to being a faithful resource for you as you co-create with God to advance His Kingdom here on earth. We will be launching new programs and have a number of exciting events that we hope will encourage you in your work, including an emphasis on pursuing racial and economic justice through your daily work. If you aren't already, follow us on social media (@NashFaithWork) to keep up with what’s happening at NIFW in 2021.

It has been our joy to partner with you as you seek to faithfully engage the world through your daily work. We’re grateful for all of you who make this work possible, and we pray that you experience God at work in 2021 in new ways.

Where is God in Your Job Search?

Genesis 37-50

missing god in transition

Jane is struggling with her career and her faith. She has spent the last two years piecing together part-time work while looking for a full-time job with benefits. The process has been frustrating, with lots of effort and very little to show for it. The waiting is wearing on her faith. She wonders, "Why hasn't God provided a job? Is God even with me in my search?” Like most of us, she believes in the promises that God will care for us, provide for us, and lead us. Yet on her darkest days, she wonders if her faith makes any difference and wonders if anything is real on the other side of the invisible.  

Ryan is trying to discern the work that is right for him. He is four years out of college. His current job sucks the life out of him. He wonders how he got here. If he has a calling, a God-defined plan for his work, he assumes he must have missed it. Unlike Jane, Ryan believes the fault is 100% his own, some flaw in his spirituality or practice. Like Jane, he is discouraged and feeling that he has somehow lost his way vocationally, and God is as hard to find as the way back.

So, where do we find God in our job search? How do we recognize Him, align with Him, and draw strength from Him when the road ahead is unclear? In this piece, we look to the life of Joseph, son of Jacob, to help us regain our foundation in Christ amid the upheaval of vocational change. Through the story of Joseph, we see that God is with us in the present, the past, and the future.

THe story of joseph

We meet Joseph in Genesis chapter 37, and he is the dominant character from there through the end of the book. Joseph is Jacob's 11th son, the favorite, smart, and yet precocious. He was born to be a shepherd but ended up being the prime minister and head of agriculture for the superpower of the day, Egypt. Joseph's life and work journey was a roller coaster ride. 

Already prized as the favorite son, Joseph returned from the pasture and spoke poorly of his brothers to his father. Joseph’s father decided to signal his favor towards Joseph by making him a robe of many colors. This act of favoritism sent his brothers into a fit of rage and jealousy. Then, Joseph had two dreams that he shared with his brothers and family in which he was reigning and ruling over them. When Joseph shared the dreams with his brothers, it pushed them over the edge, and they sold him as a slave. Joseph was purchased by a man named Potiphar in Egypt and forced to work in his household. As a result, Joseph went from favored son to human property in a foreign land. 

“Comparison to others, self-criticism, and impatient frustration rob us of God’s presence when we are engaged in job search and transition.
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Before long, Joseph rose through the ranks. He had the wisdom to solve problems. He had high integrity and was trusted. Within a short time, he achieved the household manager's role, second in command to the owner. Then, another reversal happened. Potiphar's wife became infatuated with Joseph and tried to seduce him, to which Joseph refused. She accused him of rape, and he lost everything again as he was thrown in prison. Joseph went from top of the house to prisoner, fearing for his life.

But Joseph did well in prison. He was favored in the eyes of the warden and eventually ran the facility. The warden did not worry about anything because Joseph was in charge. Finally, Joseph is introduced to Pharaoh and given a role in the royal court and national administration. His story has what we might call a happy ending, yet it was a grueling journey. 

meeting god in the present

A phrase is repeated several times in Joseph's low points, at the places where he had to start over: “God was with him.” God was with him by delivering strength and favor in the present. When we hit roadblocks in our careers and job search journeys, God is still with us. Jesus promised to be with us to the end of the age (Matt. 28:20). As the psalmist writes: “I will fear no evil because you are with me” (Psalm 23:4). God doesn't always promise relief from the circumstances, but He does promise His presence.  

How do we connect to His presence?

1. We get quiet enough to hear the whispers of the Spirit in our hearts, reminding us that we are sons and daughters of God (Romans 8:15-17).

2. Whether our work is persevering in a less than ideal job or while searching for a full-time job, we offer it to God. Our work is our offering to him. We know He sees our work. We know He will reward us for our honest work (Colossians 3:23-24).

3. We find reasons for rejoicing. Paul said to rejoice in the Lord always (Philippians 4:4). In all things, give thanks. There are causes for gratitude despite the trials. Find them.

meeting god in the past

“The good works God has planned for you include your daily work—the actual activities you do, the people you touch, and the income you generate.”

How did Joseph keep going through the dramatic reversals in his circumstances? His hope must have been fueled by the ways God had cared for and provided for him in the present. His hope was stoked by the way God had met him in the past. His brothers originally planned to kill him but sold him instead. Potiphar could have had him executed, but he was left in prison instead. God was sovereign over him. 

Perhaps more significantly, God revealed to Joseph, in the form of dreams, the future he had for Joseph. When he was young and full of himself, Joseph did not handle this information well—he held it over his brothers. But in all those days working in Potiphar's house or administering the prison, he must have wondered, how will these dreams come to be? How will God fulfill his plans for me?

God has been with you in your past.  

1. He has given you talents and abilities with which to serve others and make a living (1 Peter 4:10, Deuteronomy 8:17-18).

2. God has rescued you from sin and difficulties. God has provided you with opportunities to learn, to work, and to impact others.

3. As we reflect on the past, we may find that God has given us a strong sense of burden, purpose, and ability to impact a defined group of people in a specific way.

meeting god in the future

The future. Anxiety is fear on fast forward. We worry about what will or will not be. How do we meet God in the future? As an older man, Joseph reflects (Genesis 48-50). As he forgives his brothers, he says, "What you intended for evil, God intended for good” (Genesis 50:20). God can take our world's brokenness, our industry, and our souls and work out a plan for good. God's plan defined Joseph's future.

God has a good plan for your future. In Ephesians 2:10, Paul writes that, “We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which He has prepared for us to do.” The good he has intended is not limited to church volunteers and missionaries. The good works God has planned for you include your daily work—the actual activities you do, the people you touch, the income you generate. Cling to this!

God has a plan for your work future. The hard part is this: God will let you know what that plan is when you need to know it. Comparison to others, self-criticism, and impatient frustration rob us of God's presence when we are engaged in job search and transition.  

God’s presence and plan for your future impacts how you work and wait.

1. When you visualize your future, have hope knowing that God will be there with you—no matter your circumstances.

2. We can trust that God, as the author of our story, has a better plan for our work than we could possibly imagine, even amid present uncertainty.

3. We can let go of our need for control even as we diligently seek our next assignment, knowing that it is the Lord who directs our steps (Prov. 3:5-6).

god’s presence in our search

Where is God in your job search? He is with you. He is with you in your past, in your present, and your future. He sees the beginning and the end. He knows what's next. He invites us to do our part in seeking opportunity, humbly receiving feedback, and diligently seeking His next assignment. He is the caller, and we are the called.

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Seeking further help in your job search? Check out our Career Navigator program in partnership with the VOCA Center.

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Working Faithfully Beyond Election Day

No matter your political affiliation, you have probably highly anticipated the results of this Election Day. As Christians we acknowledge that our allegiance is to God’s kingdom, not a candidate or political party. However, one way that we participate in God’s work here on earth is through our political engagement. As Election Day comes and goes, how do we continue to work towards God’s greater kingdom, regardless of political outcomes? 

On September 17th, 2020, The Nashville Institute for Faith and Work and the Denver Institute for Faith and Work partnered with other faith and work organizations across the country to present The Politics of Neighborly Love: Christian Citizenship in a Divided Age, a national forum on how Christians can engage faithfully with politics. Below is a clip from the event featuring one of the panelists, Stephanie Summers, CEO of the Center for Public Justice.

In the following clip, Stephanie answers the question “How does your faith influence your work at the Center for Public Justice?” Her answers provide a practical framework for living out your faith in the days and weeks following the election. Additionally, they encourage all of us to remember that alongside faithful and thoughtful political engagement, our day-to-day work is a powerful avenue for participation in God’s kingdom. Included below is the video clip as well as a guided reflection to assist you in considering: How does integrating your faith and work allow you to serve your vocation, neighbors, and city beyond Election Day?

In this excerpt, Stephanie shares three ways that her faith informs her work: confidence, perseverance, and seeing all people as image-bearers of God. Regardless of the job, we can apply these principles to better love God and our neighbors through our work.

1)Confidence: “Knowing what God intends as the end of the story means that every day we can trust God for the results of our work in a world that is still marred by sin.” 

As Stephanie explains, “God is not hampered in accomplishing what God intends,” which frees us to work without the pressure of believing success is entirely up to our performance at work. Instead, our ultimate hope is in the perfect plan of redemption that God is authoring. 

Q: How does knowing that God’s plans cannot be “hampered” encourage you in your work and in your political participation? How does knowing the end of the story offer you confidence grounded in something other than your own performance?

2)Perseverance: “Perseverance is the persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.”

Stephanie says that because the Christian faith provides a robust explanation of sin, we should not be surprised when we encounter brokenness and systemic injustices in our industries. We are called to participate in the slow, costly work of addressing brokenness in our work, and our perseverance in this area is one way that we bring about God’s kingdom here on earth.

Q: How could perseverance transform both your work and engagement with politics? In what areas of your industry or community do you notice brokenness the most, and where could you begin to partner with God in redeeming these areas? 

3) Image-Bearing: “Because God created every human being to bear God’s image, this means that every human possesses fundamental dignity and worth.”

Stephanie shares that a Christian approach to work is grounded in the doctrine of the image of God. The reality that all people are image-bearers means that our vocations must be aimed at  serving those around us, rather than seeing people as a means to an end or our relationships as transactional. 

Q: How might recognizing all people as image-bearers change the way you work? How does the concept of image-bearing change the way you relate to those with different perspectives than your own? 

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How Job Search Navigation Equips People to Pursue Employment

The economic impact of COVID-19 has created a pain point for many people in their work, whether that means being met with furloughs, hiring freezes, or sudden changes in the nature or pace of work. To help people pursue what’s next in their careers, Nashville Institute for Faith and Work (NIFW) is offering the Job Search Navigation program in partnership with the VOCA Center, featuring ten sessions of virtual job search group training with live coaching from career experts.

The next two cohorts will meet on Mondays or Tuesdays beginning November 9th and 10th. NIFW had a conversation with two participants of the program about their experiences in the program and the insights they received for successfully job searching today.

Nashville Institute for Faith and Work (NIFW): How did you feel going into the program, and how do you feel now having completed it?

Chad H. (CH): Coming into the program, I was nervous because job searching is a hard process, and I’m not always sure where to start. I knew having coaches would get me out of my comfort zone in needed areas such as changing my resume or refining my elevator pitch. After completing the program, I feel confident in the job search process. The coaches gave me great feedback, and I’m currently connecting with people and applying for jobs.

Niki F. (NF): I was extremely eager to learn more about my skills and how I could apply those to the job search. I came out of the Job Search Navigation program with a better sense of my innate God-given professional gifts, options for new career paths, and a toolbox full of skills that I can implement to land the next opportunity.

NIFW: How are you more equipped to navigate a job search now than when you first started?

CH: I have a better understanding of my strengths and skills to talk about in an interview based on my assessment results. Also, I feel more confident in building a strong resume, knowing which stories to talk about in interviews, and how to use LinkedIn to target and network.

NF: I am better able to articulate my talents, define my path forward, and secure a position within a company that I believe in. My original career path felt like it was circular with no way forward. Now, my path feels more defined, and I feel equipped with the tools needed to move forward.

NIFW: What job search challenges did you encounter during the process, and how did the training help you to address them?

CH: The question I was wrestling with during this process was whether I wanted to stay in my current industry, and if not, what field or industry I should pursue work in next. I had to do the work of narrowing down my industry options, which I was able to do through talking to different people and companies. Eventually, my career assessment results reaffirmed for me why I enjoy the type of work I’m currently doing.

NF: My biggest challenge was focused around having too many career options to pick from. I eventually realized that the informational interviews that were suggested were ways I could narrow that list. Once I made that connection, I was able to move forward.

NIFW: How did the group aspect of the training help support you in your job search?

CH: People gave great feedback and encouragement in our breakout sessions, helping me refine items such as my value propositions and resume. The group sessions were also a safe place to discuss the areas where each of us were struggling.

NF: The group aspect of the training was a huge motivator! It was great getting to know others that were walking through similar struggles and learn from them. Being able to rehearse my value proposition weekly with the group gave me confidence to do that outside of the group as well.

NIFW: What were your biggest takeaways that you learned in the program?

CH: Based on the different career assessments, I learned what my strengths and abilities were, which was reassuring and gave me confidence in understanding what field of work I should pursue. Additionally, learning how to tweak my resume when applying for jobs was vital information.

NF: My biggest takeaways from the program were learning that networking is essential (something I did not want to believe), developing a deeper knowledge of my God-given gifts through different career assessments, and being reminded throughout the process that God is for me.

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Interested in learning more about the Job Search Navigation program? Click the button below to learn more and apply today.

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A Vocational Prayer for Healthcare Workers

Our Great Physician, 

You are creator and sustainer of our bodies, minds, and souls. Your Word says that you knit each of our bodies together in our mother’s womb. We know that you, like our medical providers, care deeply about our physical health. Thank you for the doctors and nurses, physical therapists and lab technicians, and all those who serve as your hands and feet to bring healing to the sick and the hurting. 

Remind us, Lord, that every patient who walks into a hospital or medical office is your beloved child, made in your image. May the care with which our healthcare providers practice medicine reflect the dignity of those they treat. In the busyness of appointments, surgeries, rounds, and other duties, help them remember they are agents of your grace to the suffering. 

Father, our doctors and nurses are all too familiar with the physical pain, sickness, and suffering of others. As they grow weary of meeting the brokenness of this world with compassion, we ask you to renew them. Fill them with your healing presence, your patience, and your heart for the hurting. God of all comfort, be near them as they minister to the suffering, so that they might be able to meet their hurting patients with the abundant comfort that you share with us in Christ. 

Lord, we know the day’s tasks pile up far too quickly. Charting. Expenses. Appointments. Meetings. Procedures. Our healthcare workers are under pressure to meet administrative and financial expectations alongside their medical duties. Sustain them in the balancing act between efficiency and care. Give them your wisdom, that they may know when to linger and when to move on. Remind them that they are not alone in their responsibilities, and give them the freedom to rest in you, Lord, the source of all healing. 

God, we know that you are making all things new, and that you intend to fully restore us, body, mind, and soul, when you return to be with us. Until that day, give us the vision to work towards the wellness of our neighbors, the perseverance to faithfully care for the hurting, and the wisdom to provide excellent treatment to those charged to our care. 

Amen.

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The Hope of the Gospel for Our Stress at Work

Psalm 3:3

But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.

COVID-19 AND OUR COLLECTIVE STRESS PROBLEM

Stressed. Tired. Exhausted. Anxious. 

America has been reckoning with the cost of hyperproductivity long before 2020. However, the myriad effects of the pandemic— job loss, fragile employment status, complications for working parents, and forced changes in nearly all industries—have only further exacerbated our problems with stress. In a survey conducted by a mental health provider, nearly 7 in 10 employees indicated that the pandemic is the most stressful time of their entire professional career. According to this same study, 88% of workers reported experiencing moderate to extreme stress over the past 4 to 6 weeks. At face value, the situation is bleak at best. 

“Beyond the cheap platitudes and bumper sticker slogans, what is the firm hope that the Gospel provides for our anxious hearts as we work in a broken world? ”

However, as Christians, we know that our ultimate hope is found not in our circumstances but in Jesus Christ. Despite this truth, it can be difficult for Christians to apply this hope to their daily work.

How does God’s redemption story for our work offer us a respite from the day-to-day grind that leaves us catching our breath? Beyond the cheap platitudes and bumper sticker slogans, what is the firm hope that the Gospel provides for our anxious hearts as we work in a broken world?

THREE TIMELY ENCOURAGEMENTS FROM SCRIPTURE

God has a better story for our work than the frantic busyness of the world around us. We find deep-seated comfort in the unchangeable truths of the Gospel. Here are three realities that offer us a rest in the thick of our weariness.

1) God uses our difficulty at work to teach us child-like dependence on Him.

In God’s original design for work, one of the primary ways we imitate our Creator is through our labor. While our work is now plagued by “thorns and thistles” (Genesis 3:18), these difficulties are the clay with which God forms us. Paul famously writes these words in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10: “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

“Our tendency is to minimize what is hurting us without considering how it is forming us.”

The great reversal in the last verse runs counter to how we often think in the Western world. We act so pain is to be avoided at all costs. Our tendency is to minimize what is hurting us without considering how it is forming us. However, as Paul explains, the pathway of discipleship runs through our day-to-day frustrations and failures, including at work, not around them.

What if we began to embrace this at work? How might we experience our jobs differently if we saw our stressful sales quotas, demanding deadlines, and even our failures as opportunities for God to teach us to depend solely on Him? While believing this won’t make our stress immediately disappear, this perspective on our challenges will allow us to see the redemptive value of work even on our most difficult days. In moments of disorientation, our facades of self-sufficiency are torn down, and we come face-to-face with our child-like dependence on God. 

2) Your ultimate value is not in your productivity at work but in your identity as God’s beloved.

For many of us, the idea that work is done both with and for God may feel foreign when living in a Western culture that prizes individualism and self-sufficiency. It’s no wonder that “stress” and “work” have become almost synonymous in our culture. When our schedule stares back at us in the morning, what do we need to be reminded of to find our strength in God? While producing excellent work is a way that we can honor God and love others, if this pursuit of excellence leads us to equate our worth with our output, we will be crushed under the weight of expectations we’ll never fully live up to. It’s not the desire for excellence that is the problem: it’s our obsession with it. 

“It’s not the desire for excellence that is the problem: it’s our obsession with it. ”

Rather than attempting to outwork the problem, we need a Gospel-centered way of approaching our work. By understanding that we are God’s beloved, made in His image, we can stop the exhausting cycle of trying to prove ourselves through our work and instead find our deepest sense of value in the presence and love of God. We are called to work faithfully, not perfectly. Intentionally reminding ourselves of these realities—in other words, preaching the Gospel to ourselves—helps us step out from under the weight of our own expectations. When our heads are cast down, eyes focused on the tasks ahead of us, it is God who is the lifter of our head (Psalm 3:3).

3) The End of the Story is Redemption.

It can be exhausting to work in a broken world. The effects of the fall are not just individual but also systemic, and for many, we experience stress at work because of the growing list of wrongs that need to be made right. As Christians, we are not afforded the option of turning a blind eye to the brokenness. Whatever it is, we must acknowledge what is broken in our industry, who it affects, and how it affects them. 

Work, given how important it is, can feel overwhelming in the face of the fractured realities that we encounter. While the conviction to address brokenness is Biblical, believing it’s all on our shoulders is not. What if we worked with a vision of eternity in mind? For Christians, this means that we can work knowing how the story ends. The ultimate end, or telos, of the world is in perfect harmony under the rule and reign of God. There is great encouragement to be found in knowing that all things will be made right as God’s kingdom is realized, even as we lament that things are not yet this way and work to change that.

As Stephanie Summers explains, “Knowing what God intends as the end of the story means that every day we can trust God for the results of our work in a world marred by sin.” God’s story of redemption is being weaved every day through our daily work, and we are invited to participate in it, trusting in the end of the story rather than believing we have to achieve it on our own.

THREE QUESTIONS FOR SELF-REFLECTION

Our beliefs can either help alleviate or further exacerbate the stress we experience at work. Below are a few reflection questions to ask yourself to help ground you in truth in the moments you need to be reminded of it the most.

1. What am I feeling right now, and how can I offer these emotions to God in prayer?

2. What am I believing right now, and how might my distorted beliefs be contributing to my stress?

3. What is true about myself, about my work, and about God in this moment?

Our deepest worries at work matter deeply to God. We can find comfort in a Savior who does not casually dismiss our fears or chide us for our anxieties. Instead, God’s intimate response to our stress is that He promises to be with us in the midst of it. 

As A.W. Tozer writes, “God never hurries. There are no deadlines against which he must work. Only to know this is to quiet our spirits and relax our nerves.” We are invited to find deep rest in our unhurried God as we work faithfully in the world.

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The Meaning of Peace Over Performance

We are excited to present to you “Peace Over Performance: Centered Leadership in Disorienting Times,” a webinar with executive coach Amy Balog on Thursday, October 15th from 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. CT.  The pandemic has exacerbated the challenges of leading in today’s world, and the event will center around a refreshing approach to leadership that relies on the peace of Christ as the fuel to our performance in our daily work.

As the founder of ConnextionPoint offering executive coaching and leadership development for teams and organizations, Amy is an experienced coach and consultant who has worked with a wide range of clients including Fortune 500 Executives. Below is a preview of our October 15th event written by Amy focused on the paradigm of “Peace Over Performance” and its significance for today.

I am delighted to be invited to present next month’s webinar Peace Over Performance: Centered Leadership in Disorienting Times with my friends at the Nashville Institute for Faith and Work. 

I am often asked about the phrase peace over performance – what does it imply? And why say peace over performance? Does this mean performance isn’t important?  

“Yet our performance needs the fuel—the duet—of our peace, now more than ever.”

THE DUET OF PEACE

First, let me say that performance is a good thing. With the strides of performance, we experience life-giving energy in wins and build confidence in our God-given gifts and talents. Our performance creates valuable momentum personally and for others we lead and love.  Yet our performance needs the fuel—the duet—of our peace, now more than ever.    

When I speak of peace I am referring to access to the inner peace that Jesus spoke of in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you.” We may rarely consider Christ’s peace within the same vicinity as our performance. Many of us have learned how to survive in a world which has become increasingly competitive, volatile, and divided. Working diligently to meet our commitments in our careers and as leaders at work and home, we hone our ability to operate with a hyperfocus on performance – sometimes at great personal and spiritual cost. Without realizing it, the demands of the environment around us envelop our view of our worth and tax our faith. We experience living within our performance without the fuel of God’s peace.  

FINDING PEACE AMIDST DISORIENTATION

And now at this extraordinary time, we are moved beyond disruption and into the realities of a deep disorientation. Before 2020 it seemed as though most challenges were limited to our own life; we recovered from our own setbacks and clamored back to a world we knew. Today, the seismic events of the pandemic and fracturing tensions that laid in wait within the fault lines of society have come to our door. For many of us, these events have destabilized our careers, life plans, and what we always trusted in our leadership in ways unimagined.

To recover our center in today’s disorientation, we need the fuel line of peace. Once our peace has a true command of our performance, practical and invaluable shifts become available to us in our leadership and vocational work. The shifts (which will be explored in the webinar) include:

• We avoid overidentifying with our work and find our worth in Christ, rather than in our performance.

• We shift from the tyranny of perfectionism in our work that leads to self-judgment, and instead lead with grace both for ourselves and others.

• We practice the mechanics of self-compassion that help us to rewrite the performance narratives we’ve constructed for ourselves or that culture has taught us.

The peace that surpasses all understanding offered to us in Christ is abundant. It is God-designed and created. This peace offered to us is accessible and tangible, and can transform how you experience the moments when you are challenged at your core—when your greatest leadership is required. 

We can know peace not as the world gives but as Christ gives.  

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To watch a recording of the Peace Over Performance webinar, click here.

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Citizenship is Our Common Calling

Editor’s note: This post originally appeared in Capital Commentary, a publication of the Center for Public Justice. Stephanie Summers joins us as a panelist for “The Politics of Neighborly Love” on Thursday, September 17th, 2020.

While our primary calling is to the person of Christ, we all have other callings on our lives that are oriented around our discipleship to Jesus.

For many Christians, our citizenship can best be characterized by the hope that it is somebody else’s job. I am regularly told what I should do or not do to “fix our broken government,” where government is always the adversary, the sole arbiter of our society’s disagreements, or the chief provider for the common good. I am more frequently told that when one looks at the extent of injustice in the world, being a responsible citizen seems overwhelming and futile.

A core part of our vision at the Center for Public Justice is to equip citizens to understand that citizenship is our common calling. Our citizenship responsibilities are a direct response to the command to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God as articulated in Micah 6:8 and throughout Scripture. Yet God’s good invitation to citizenship in political community has become an invitation many dread receiving.

Can we rediscover God’s good purpose for citizenship? Can we respond to God’s good invitation to citizenship with joy?  Here’s why we can say an enthusiastic “Yes!” to what it means to serve our neighbors as citizens and to see citizenship as our common calling.

Let’s start at the beginning.

“Our citizenship responsibilities are a direct response to the command to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God...”

CREATION

God created the world. All that God created was good, including the natural world and human beings.

The story of creation is a story of development and order. Right from the beginning, God created humans with the capacity to take part in the continuing process of cultivating human culture.  God then commanded humans to fill and cultivate the earth, and their response is the ongoing act of further developing the potential of what God created. Culture unfurls as humans respond to God, bearing God’s image by using the capacity God has given them for modeling the creativity of God, working together to build families, to develop art and theology, and to fashion a physical world characterized by homes and architecture.

Unlike many familiar political narratives, political communities in this understanding don’t begin with human will or a social contract. It is true that God did not establish explicit political communities at the creation. But the mandate to humans to cultivate culture means that the genesis of political communities is found here. God’s authority over creation remains ultimate, yet God gives humans some responsibility over what has been made.

Corwin Smidt reflects on this in a discussion of traffic lights, “Even in the sinless garden, there may well be a need for some kind of state authority that would, for example, make decisions as to where to install traffic lights and determine how those at such intersections should proceed. It would not be wise to allow traffic lights to be put up by anyone who wished to do so. Such actions may not be morally wrong (sinful) per se, but the ability of individuals to install random traffic lights could well result in confusion, frustration, and possibly chaos.” Smidt goes on to describe the need for this type of structure within a political community to “establish rules related to the use of traffic lights” (e.g. a uniform color scheme), as well as the need for this authority to rightly bear the responsibility to “have its rules followed” such that when all members of a community follow these justly established rules, the whole community flourishes.  Concern for our neighbors is the animating principle of such a structure. But sinless neighbor love, exercised only by individuals acting in isolation, is not sufficient to coordinate such a system. Structures of governance within just political communities make manifest love for all our neighbors.

We were made by God with the capacity to bring order to creation. The responsibility humans are given by God to further develop creation points to the foundations of the political community. By implication, humans bear the responsibility to establish political communities – where governments are accountable to citizens and citizens are under government authority – and where both are accountable to God, so all that God brought into being flourishes.

CORRUPTION

Yet all that God made was corrupted by evil.

Humans did not obey God’s directions. Human rebellion meant that every relationship human beings were part of was distorted by sin. Human beings’ relationships with God, with one another, and with the rest of the created order were affected.

While God chooses to give the goodness of the created order and enables all humans to participate in further developing all that God created, the potential of government authority was distorted as a direct result of human rebellion. After human rebellion, the task of any potential government within a political community could no longer be limited to promoting good so that all citizens and the created world would flourish. It became necessary that any potential government also restrain evil and at times compel citizens to conduct themselves in ways that are good.

Humans still bear the responsibility to establish political communities — where governments are accountable to citizens and citizens are under government authority and both are accountable to God — but these political communities now hold the capacity for governments and citizens to be agents of malfeasance.

But this is not the end of the story.

RESTORATION

God sent Jesus Christ the Lord of all to redeem all things. Jesus’s death and resurrection provided the way in which all things– humans, institutions, and the physical world– will ultimately be reconciled to God and to one other. Until that day, every bit of what God made is under God’s authority, and the call on all human life is to recognize Jesus’s reclamation of all that God created. This call is not for a return to a way of life that looks like the days before distortion. While the biblical narrative begins in a garden, it ends in a city.

Fulfilling God’s calling for us in God’s world means reforming what has been distorted, starting with the world as it is right now, and lining it up with God’s good intention and purpose. This is true for every area of life: our families, our churches, our schools, and our businesses, each one with different God-given purposes to fulfill.

It is also true for our work as citizens in our political communities, which must be lined up with God’s good intention and purpose.

“Fulfilling God’s calling for us in God’s world means reforming what has been distorted, starting with the world as it is right now, and lining it up with God’s good intention and purpose.”

SERVING AS CITIZENS

Many Christians know what it means to serve others in tangible ways– ways that are easily understood and applied based on the teachings of Scripture to serve one’s neighbors or to serve the least among us. For example, church members might be tutors in a school whose students may not have a parent at home to help them understand and complete their assignments.

But it is often much harder for us to understand what it means to serve our neighbors or the least among us when it comes to our political communities.  Continuing with the previous example, it is harder for tutors to begin thinking like citizens.

Yet consider how at the most local level of political community, citizens might respond to God’s invitation. Citizens begin raising thoughtful questions about the quality of the facilities that affect the children they tutor. Shaped by an understanding of God’s intent for the unfolding of culture and knowing the importance of understanding and interpreting God’s word, these citizens begin to invest time in understanding and discussing what structural factors are at play. They examine where potential injustice resides and what should be done about the current state of the political community so that it begins to resemble the just political community God intended. They begin to fulfill their calling as citizens, participating in the unfolding of the political community. In some cases, this may mean advocating for reforms, or working to help shape new laws and administrative structures and processes that ensure a more just political community for all.

CITIZENSHIP AS OUR COMMON CALLING

Much of what has been said here has laid out the foundation for a Christian response to God’s call to citizenship. This extends to considering the well-being of all our neighbors as well. In this, we must recognize that we share the political communities we are developing alongside those with whom we have deep disagreements regarding our understanding of what it is to be human, the responsibilities of government, and the purpose of our political communities. However, we must do the hard work of remaining committed to the development of political communities that extend justice to all.

This also means that God invites us as citizens to examine our political communities with a critical, but hopeful vision. We must work together to animate, scrutinize, advance, and, when needed, correct through reform our political communities. God invites us to promote public laws that recognize and protect human responsibilities that are independent and distinct from government.  Our vision should be that government, whether local, state, or national, makes room for the full breadth of culture to unfurl, so that families, churches, businesses, schools, voluntary associations, and the like develop and fulfill their own God-given responsibilities.

Citizenship is our common calling. In calling us to citizenship, God invites us to develop our abilities to accurately discern the well-being of our political communities. In calling us to citizenship, God also invites us to examine the relations of our political communities to those of other nations in God’s world.  In so doing, we tangibly respond to God’s calls to do justice and to love our neighbor.

Citizenship is a calling for a lifetime, one where generations build upon the work of previous generations.  In the same way that God invites and equips us to develop the potential of the church and families and art and science and countless other elements of God’s world, God invites us to develop just political communities so all that God made flourishes.

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Hear more from Stephanie at “The Politics of Neighborly Love” on September 17th.

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The Joy of Surrender: An Entrepreneur’s Journey Through Leading a Business

Nashville Institute for Faith and Work recently sat down to talk about life as an entrepreneur with Erick Goss, co-founder of Minno, a faith-based media platform for children that includes streamable shows as well as a children’s publishing group. Drawn from the Greek verb “to abide,” Minno exists to help parents disciple their children in the digital age through Gospel-centered content for kids. 

Before co-founding Minno in 2018, Goss attended the Naval Academy and ended up working as a Pentagon Spokesperson after originally intending to become a Helicopter Pilot. After acquiring his M.B.A. from the University of Michigan, Goss spent seven years at Amazon working in different roles as a Senior Manager of Marketing, Books, and Magazines.

Desiring to “take the excellence of Amazon and infuse it with the kingdom of God,” Goss eventually became Co-CEO of Creative Trust Ventures, where he worked closely with VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer in the development of Buck Denver Asks...What’s in the Bible? In late 2018, Goss and his business partner bought the assets to Creative Trust Ventures and JellyTelly, which Goss also co-founded, forming Minno.

The conversation with Goss that is abbreviated below centers around the difficulties and joys of being an entrepreneur, how his faith fuels and gives shape to his daily work, and the role that NIFW’s Entrepreneur Support Group (ESG) has played in his life as a leader. If you are interested in learning more about the Entrepreneur Support Group, our program that offers a confidential space for CEOs to gather for mutual encouragement and practical support, you can learn more and apply here. Applications are now open; the next group will start in Fall 2021. Email info@nifw.org with questions.

Nashville Institute for Faith and Work (NIFW): When developing the idea for Minno, what needs did you identify and how does Minno step into those gaps?

Erick Goss (EG): For me, Minno is about what it means for the kingdom of God to show up in the world of media and technology. In late 2018, while I was working in children’s Christian media, I felt the Lord saying to me that Christian parents don’t have the type of resources they need to help children grow as Christians. At the same time, I began to realize how difficult it was for Christian creatives to find people to market and produce their work. The heart of Minno is: what can we do to create a platform to help Christian families find life in Christ?

NIFW: How has your walk with God influenced and re-oriented your approach to entrepreneurship over time?

EG: Like many entrepreneurs, I used to operate with a sense of, “I know what I need to do today and how to get it done.” Over time, I’ve realized that while I can try to take control of my work, in reality it is the Lord who makes good works for me to walk in (Ephesians 2:10). Instead of telling myself, “This is what I’ve got to get done today,” my perspective has changed to now ask, “What is God going to reveal today?” I’ve moved from a perspective of agenda to one of revelation. I want to partner with God in my business, because ultimately it’s not my business anyways—it’s His.

NIFW: As an entrepreneur, how does your faith inform the way you think about your work when it comes to performance and outcomes?

EG: To me, performance for the Christian means being faithful to those good works that God has created for me to do today. One of the phrases that I carry with me is: “Outcomes belong to the Lord; my job is to abide.” To be clear, God cares deeply about excellence. However, my approach to outcomes is that while I may not always get the result I hope for, I want to be faithful with the process. The question is, can God still be good to me if what I want doesn’t happen?

NIFW: What are some of the unique challenges that entrepreneurs face as CEO?

EG: First, most entrepreneurs embrace the idea that everything is on their shoulders. When things aren’t going well in the company, oftentimes it is the founder who becomes the target, and that hyper-responsibility becomes a heavy burden to bear. Second, when you become an entrepreneur you immediately put yourself at risk of isolation. You face a unique level of risk involved in your venture, and yet in many smaller founder-led companies, CEOs can carry a sense of, “I’m supposed to figure this out by myself,” and so they don’t pursue the community that they need.

NIFW: Why is isolationism a significant problem in the lives of entrepreneurs?

EG: Culturally, we celebrate the independent entrepreneur. Most entrepreneurs don’t have community, and they don’t seek it out because they don’t feel that permission to do so. Having community matters, though, because discerning God’s will is a community activity, and the Lord provides wisdom through others. 

NIFW: How has being a part of Entrepreneur Support Group helped you navigate the emotional and practical challenges of entrepreneurship?

EG: One of the best parts is the ability to say, “I’m thinking about making this decision, what do you all think?” Most entrepreneurs don’t get the chance to ask that question, because it can be seen as weakness or self-doubt, and yet the reality is that the life of an entrepreneur most times is self-doubt. Additionally, I’ve found it hugely helpful to have people around me who understand the pains of being a CEO, from having to make hard personnel decisions to dealing with disgruntled investors. It’s a blessing to know I’m not alone in those challenges.

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Learn more about NIFW’s Entrepreneur Support Group; applications are now open. The next group will begin in Fall 2021.

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ERICK GOSS BIO: 

Erick Goss is CEO and Co-Founder of Minno, a Nashville-based media and technology company focused on serving Christian kids and families through an ad-free subscription-video-on-demand platform, parent resource blog and children’s book publishing program, anchored by the best-selling Laugh and Learn Bible for Kids. Goss earned a reputation as an innovator in digital marketing at Amazon, where he was instrumental in the launch of Amazon’s first e-book and print-on-demand businesses, Amazon’s Visa Card, and the now-famous Super Saver Shipping program, and later as Chief Marketing Officer at Magazines.com.

This expertise, coupled with his passion for ministry, led Goss to co-found Creative Trust Ventures—where he ran JellyTelly and launched the best-selling video series Buck Denver Asks...What’s in the Bible?—a success that led him to create Minno. Beginning his career in the U.S. Navy, where he served as a helicopter pilot and later as a spokesperson at the Pentagon, Goss is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and has graduate degrees from the University of Michigan (MBA) and Troy University (MA). He is an Adjunct Professor for Digital Marketing at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management. Erick, his wife, and three daughters live in Nashville where they are active in their local church. Goss is also involved with the Nashville Institute for Faith and Work.