I have personally been part of a “faith at work” movement since 1966 as a junior at the University of California at Berkeley when I began a lifelong quest to understand the relationship of God and my faith to the history I was studying and to the public school teaching I envisioned doing. I have sketched my personal journey in a brief essay “My Faith at Work Journey” (forthcoming at www.davidwgill.org and by request to my email address).
While my experience over these sixty years has been broad and has included interaction and collaboration with many individuals, groups, ministries, and institutions, I need to say that I am by no means knowledgeable about everything or everyone in the movement. I am sure that some of what I long to see is already happening somewhere. While I was based in Chicago, Boston, and Bordeaux for periods of years, and while I have read widely in movement literature, I have mostly worked from my longtime and current home on the West Coast in Oakland and Berkeley, California. And while I have often enjoyed meeting with other movement leaders, including at various faith at work conferences, my primary orientation and my faith at work “laboratory” has been with practitioners of all kinds: in-the-trenches workers. What follows is from that vantage point and experience. What follows represents my concerns and my necessarily-limited perspective. It is an appeal for a sort of agenda going forward, not a negative criticism looking backward.
But let me begin with a huge positive and grateful recognition of the expansion of our movement in recent decades. Faith at work resources and personnel were limited back in the 1960s and 1970s; today there are countless individuals and organizations pursuing faithful presence in our workplaces and the literature has exploded. The “Faith at Work Summit Conferences” beginning in Boston in 2014 have had robust attendance by hundreds. The new Bay Area Center for Faith, Work, and Tech, by itself gathered over 300 people to two recent area summit conferences. In my opening remarks at the Dallas Summit in 2016, I challenged us that the movement was “too pale and too male.” Ten years later I am delighted to see a much larger participation by women and people of color. This is all good.
Here, though, are some of my concerns, grouped in three categories. I appeal for efforts in addressing the following. Some of the following I wrote about in my 2020 “non-best-seller,” Workplace Discipleship 101: A Primer, but I am hoping that many others with their own platforms will address these matters and bring it all to a broader audience than I ever could. I have bold-faced some of the key terms.
A Deeper, Broader Theology & Ethics of Work and Technology
We cannot take for granted the need for a solid, up-to-date, insightful historical and sociological account of work and its tools and methods. What is happening? What is changing? What lies ahead? We must not be naive or simplistic as we address work and the workplace today.
But the critical, core contribution Christians can make here is in the theology and ethics of work. What does God have to say about these matters? This is the God above all gods, the God who created and loves everyone on the planet, the God of creation, of earth, sea, and air, of makers, users, and stakeholders alike, of wealthy and poor, of employed and unemployed, of powerful and powerless, and of those present and those to come. What does this God have to say about the truth and reality of work (theology) and about the right and good way in which to participate in it (ethics)? This God has spoken and still speaks through nature and culture but above all and uniquely in Jesus Christ and Christ-centered Scripture, the living, incarnate Word and the written Word recognized by the Church and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
It is not enough to pick and choose among a few texts to arrive at an adequate, faithful theology and ethics. For example, it is not enough to affirm human creativity and innovation based on the Genesis accounts, without seeing how God qualifies it by its collaborative nature, its utility and beauty, its dominion under God within boundaries of time and space, and the central risk of seizing ethical judgment of good and evil for ourselves rather than listening for God’s judgment of what is good. The fall is not just about seeking on our own for knowledge per se but specifically for an autonomous ethical knowledge of good and evil—for our work and beyond.
And beyond the theology and ethics of the Creator and creation, walking in God’s ways in our work will require focused attention on God’s work as Sustainer, Wisdom-giver, Justice/Righteousness-advocate, Redeemer/Healer/Liberator/Savior, and Finisher. God is not just Creator, but Prophet, Priest, and King. Not just Lord of the inner life of piety and spirituality at work but the Lord of thought and action, not just Lord of generic work but of specific domains like health care, law, engineering, farming, manufacturing, homemaking, child-rearing, education, and the arts, Lord of the unemployed as much as the employed.
All of this can be found in the command and example of God in Jesus Christ and Scripture. But it is also critically important to recognize that all humans (not just believers) are created in the image and likeness of this God, whether they know it or not. God’s reality as the ultimate Worker is embedded in human beings and, despite our finitude and fallenness, remains a key to overcoming the dehumanization of so much of today’s work. Aligning with God’s work is not just about faithful obedience and doing God’s will but expressing who we were all meant and designed to be, and helping others to do the same.
So too, we must not neglect the theological insight into “how good work goes bad,” how Eden deteriorates into Babel and Babylon in our work. To blame it on individual “sin” is only the first, simplest thing to say on a topic addressed in detail from Genesis to Revelation. A deeper theology is necessary, broadened out to include the principalities and powers at work in our institutions, structures, and practices.
Finally, we need a much deeper theology and ethics of not just the process and purposes of work, but also the tools and methods used to accomplish that work. Today this means a theology and ethics of technology, seen not just as machines but tools, techniques, and methods. These are not neutral but ambivalent (many-sided) at best. We must not allow any escape from responsibility by those who create or deploy them. Any perspective that suggests that all tools and methods are somehow neutral evades reality as well as the guidance of God. Technological appropriateness is not judged only by effectiveness (especially in a short-term quantifiable calculation) but by alignment with God’s ways and by impacts on workers, users, and stakeholders (all those affected). For Christians, tools and technologies must be subordinate to godly purposes and guidelines and remain under the divinely-mandated dominion and stewardship of human users. We must not yield our dominion under God and become (as Thoreau warned) “tools of our tools.” We must not yield our leadership and responsibility to any sort of artificial intelligence. Tool Yes, master No. Say it loud! Who is exploring this among faith/work/tech leaders today?
Along with technique/technology, our approach to ethics (right and wrong, good and bad/evil) needs to resist the pattern of “Enlightenment rationalism plus Bible verses.” The typical structure and methods of Enlightenment rationalist ethics (moral philosophy and theology alike) bracket out purpose, agent character, and community in a search for abstract universal rules and decision-making procedures for specific, isolated cases. Philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre and theologian Stanley Hauerwas, among others, point us toward a much more robust, true, and workable approach. Some tech analysts today are arguing the same case, in effect “teeing up” a huge opportunity for Christian voices. We must not stay trapped in a failed Modernity when it comes to ethics.
In short, we have a commission from God to be very much “in the world,” this world, this time in history. We must pay attention, continually grow in our awareness of its reality, even in our love for this world and its people, appreciating how God is already at work near and far, outside of Christians as well as through them. But out of faithfulness to God and love for this world (including our co-workers, customers, clients, and creation itself) we must not just be conformed (shaped by) this world but “be transformed by the renewing of our minds so we can know and live out the will of God, that which is good, pleasing, and perfect” (Romans 12:2). The task is huge, the impact is potentially major—but only if we more deeply understand that alternative “salt” and light” of Jesus and Scripture. We don’t stop at “No” to ungodliness but proceed to God’s amazing “Yes.” We can light a candle, not just curse (or conform to) the darkness. Deep biblical theology and ethics, form as well as content, is the foundation.
A Broader Audience and Constituency
I have already praised our movement for its greater inclusion of women’s and people of color’s voices. But I still would call for a much wider, respectful hearing of other voices—and a commitment not just to learn from but serve as widely as possible. Here is what I mean.
We need to learn from not just academics and faith and work ministry leaders but workers and practitioners themselves, from the trenches. As my colleague Al Erisman, has well put it, we must not be satisfied with just “trade show” conferences where ministry leaders talk only among themselves. We need to very intentionally include worker/practitioner voices. Os Guinness and others have pointed out that the Old Testament word for “to know” (yada) means not just cognitive awareness but living participation and engagement. The same word is used for “knowing the commands” and “knowing one’s wife” (“Abraham knew Sarah and she conceived and bore son Isaac”). So too, knowing the command means practicing it not just reciting it. James reminds us to “show our faith in our work.” Paul calls us to “know fully God’s will” precisely so we can “walk (not just think) worthy,” further growing in knowledge in the process (Colossians 1). Knowing and doing are inextricably related. That’s why our movement must learn from the doers, not just from some elite group of presumed “knowers.” It’s also why leaders must enter the working context, even as participants, not just observers, to deepen their understanding.
There is much to learn about faith and work from Luther, Calvin, Catholic encyclicals, and other classic voices and traditions. But we must pay more attention to the Black Church and other traditions (like the Anabaptists and Amish) which, often of necessity, practiced (and continue to practice) a more holistic faith that includes concerns for the work, economics, education, and well-being of their members (especially in their marginalization from official channels of support by governments and majority institutions). There is much to be learned, especially for congregations committed to faith at work. Let’s be more inclusive here.
It has long been attractive in our movement to hang out with CEOs, executives, and successful leaders. Well and good in itself, but we are called to serve the whole Body of Christ. This includes workers, employees, and volunteers of all kinds, in all jobs, at all levels. We can’t just focus on business and tech leaders. And while for-profit business occupies most workers, we must pay more attention to those in the professions like health care, law, science, education, and the arts. Why don’t we learn from and collaborate more with the Christian Medical and Dental Society, Nurses Christian Fellowship, Christian Legal Society, National Association of Christians in Social Work, American Scientific Affiliation, and the like? These fellow members of the Body of Christ are sometimes way ahead of us on the faith at work integration path. Where are they at our conferences? We also need to highlight the work of volunteers—parents, child-care workers, many tutors, and the list goes on. “Work” is not defined by being paid but by “effort in thought and action to make something or deliver some service.”
Finally, I appeal to our movement to pay attention to those preparing for work (students) and those in need of some (or better) work. There are some good efforts to reach out to students at various educational stages but most of our focus is on those already employed. This remedial education of workers needs to be robustly joined by efforts to train people for faith at work while in school or vocational training at all levels.
But what about people having trouble finding adequate (or any!) work? What about those losing their jobs to robots or downsizing? Increasing job churn and unemployment at nearly all levels and nearly all fields (usually due to technological and economic changes) will leave many without economic means, health care, housing, and dignity itself. Who in the faith and work movement is addressing this current and growing storm with transitional assistance, encouragement, and hope? A faith at work conference that focuses on the theology and ethics of technology without addressing the dislocation of workers by technology is failing to serve the whole Body of Christ and our neighbors. Are we helping people with small-scale entrepreneurship programs or just giving bigger, venture-funded tech start-ups our energy?
The un- or under-employed should be a major focus of a biblical faith at work movement.
A More Comprehensive and Practical Discipleship
The third area I want to challenge is what I call “workplace discipleship.” We need a deeper and more comprehensive approach to preparing, guiding, and supporting faith-full workers. It’s that concept of incarnation again, about doing it, not just thinking or talking about it.
I think sports provide a good analogy. It is foundational to understand the game, its purposes and flow, even its history. To succeed at the game it is essential to have also well-designed plays (within the rules!). This is like the theology and ethics of work (and tools/technology). I think this is all beautiful in itself and worth a lifetime of study. But the point is to play the game and do well. To succeed at the game requires conditioning and skill development. In basketball you must develop the skills of dribbling, passing, shooting, team-work, and following the coach’s leadership. And that in turn requires conditioning—capacity and strength to run hard through the fourth quarter, jump high, block or screen out an opponent, and so on.
My way of viewing the workplace discipleship playbook is to focus on (1) the work process itself, how to align our work with God’s work as Creator, Sustainer, Wisdom-giver, Justice-advocate, Redeemer/Healer/Liberator, and Finisher, (2) the worker’s personal character and behavior, setting an example at work, (3) offering positive, creative biblical ideas about work in the workplace, (4) appropriately sharing the good news about Jesus our Lord in the workplace context, and (5) appropriately and effectively responding in redemptive ways and overcoming evil with good in the workplace. As I see it, that is the faith at work playbook.
There may be other ways of describing the playbook but I am calling for a “thicker,” more robust approach than we often see. It is not just about (4), evangelizing co-workers or customers.
But to run these plays well requires preparation and conditioning. It will not work to teach the playbook and not the preparation. This is a major failure of Enlightenment moral philosophy and theology—it ignores the moral agent while proposing moral methods ad guidelines. This is why MacIntyre, Hauerwas, and others insist on a “virtue ethics” which emphasizes purpose, character, and community—not just rules and methods. The latter have a critical place but don’t succeed without the former.
The starting point for workplace discipleship, in my view, is commitment—not a casual interest but an intentional commitment to make Jesus Lord of one’s working life. In our preparation and shaping of workplace disciples this needs to be emphasized. Making and sharing with at least a few others one’s commitment to this adventure is not unlike conversion itself. A decision is important.
What follows from that commitment is a focus on developing one’s relationship with the living God. That requires spending time speaking and listening to God. How could we possibly be following God in our working life if we don’t talk to him about it? Denise Daniels and Shannon Vandewarker’s Working in the Presence of God: Spiritual Practices for Everyday Work (2019) is a great example here. But along with our prayers for guidance and strength in our work we need to learn how to listen to God’s Word to us on work—which means reading Scripture (not just sensing an extra-biblical spiritual force). Of course, we believe in the necessity and presence of God’s living Holy Spirit but this is the precisely the Spirit of Jesus and of the prophets and teachers of Scripture. Workplace disciples need to be taught how to read the Scriptures as well as how to pray. They cannot be ready to “play the game” if they are not habituated to the living relationship with God and his Word. This must not be missing from our literature and programming.
Another critical preparation has to do with partnership and teams. We live in a “bowling alone,” rugged individual” culture. The only thing declared “not good” in the first creation was for “one to dwell alone” without a helper. The crown of creation was the emergence of a helper. You know the message: Ecclesiastes praises the partnership of two or three who can pick each other up . . . David made a covenant with Jonathan as Ruth did with Naomi . . . Jesus sent his disciples out two-by-two, not one-by-one . . . Paul says “do not think of yourself more highly than you ought to think”—you have gifts but need those of others in the body of Christ both to resist conformity to the world and to discover the will of God (Romans 12:3-8). Are we shaping team- and partner-oriented workplace disciples? Do we show how to do this in practical terms? We need partnership both to discern God’s will and to carry it out.
We must not let workplace disciples think that they can do it alone.
In my opinion workplace disciples also need to be shaped as life-long learners, regularly seeking to broaden and deepen their knowledge, not just in their specific vocational area (all good!) but of history, culture, economics, and even literature and the arts. Out of this breadth comes greater wisdom and readiness to incarnate the truth of Scripture. Advice on study, reading, listening, viewing, travel . . . this is important for getting workplace disciples in shape for in action.
Clearly, the foregoing is not going to be the only way to outline a strategy for “getting in shape” for workplace discipleship but my call is to its importance. The preparation of the “agent” cannot be ignored in our proposals for the active of serving Christ at work.
Again, let me emphasize that I don’t mean to be negative or critical of all the great things that have been and are happening in our faith at work movement. I am just a longtime, aging, pioneer thinking of how we can get even broader, deeper, more faithful, and more impactful as we move forward. Over to you!
The Green Room 