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Author: The Green Room

Ever heard of a “green room”? It’s the room in a theater where actors and speakers can relax when they’re not on stage….talk to each other about what they really think, fix their makeup, get some coffee, and otherwise prepare for their next moment “on.” Well, this blog is the green room for the faith and work movement, where its leaders can kick off their shoes, grab a cup of coffee or a mug of tea, and talk heart-to-heart about where the movement’s come from, where it’s going, what’s working, and what’s not working. We hope you’ll join the conversation.

On Work as a Religion

By David Gill, reprinted from the Bay Area Center for Faith, Work & Tech. In her recent book, Work, Pray, Code: When Work Becomes Religion in Silicon Valley, Berkeley sociologist Carolyn Chen shows how work has become, in effect, a replacement religion for many tech workers. Church attendance is down and what takes its place is work, the source of…

Top Ten Teachings: The Bible and Work

By Andy Mills, reprinted from the Theology of Work Project. The Bible makes it clear that work matters to God. No matter what your profession or occupation – whether you’re a parent, a bus driver, an artist or an engineer – God cares about your work. Here are ten key points about work drawn from the Bible. They provide a…

Vocational Formation: What We Have Here Is a Failure to Integrate

By Chris Armstrong, reprinted from Humanism as a Way of Life. “What we have here is a failure to integrate” I’ve become convinced that Christians in America need help preparing for working lives that are marked by faith integration rather than compartmentalization. Even if we do think there is a work-faith connection – and an older “marketplace ministries” model has…

Community and Holiness: Sin

By Isabelle Hamley, reprinted from the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity. The LORD said to Moses, ‘Say to the Israelites: “When anyone sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands – If the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, he must bring to the Lord a young bull without defect as a sin offering…

Economics in the Bible: A Very Short Summary

By Scott Rae, reprinted from the Oikonomia Network. The Economic Wisdom Project is best known for our Economic Wisdom Project Talks, which are short, accessible, engaging and rich presentations suitable for use in classrooms and group discussions. But the EWP also features print resources, including our vision paper and our twelve elements of economic wisdom. Economic Wisdom for Churches, our EWP book, is a small volume…

Facilitation as Reconciliation: Adult Education and Poverty Alleviation

Reprinted from The Chalmers Center. Many poverty alleviation ministries include some type of training for their participants. Of course ministries would want to provide instruction in skills and habits that lead to long-term growth out of material poverty! Unfortunately, in some ways, people from Western cultural backgrounds are particularly ill-suited for the task of training people who are in material…

We Waited

By Pam Tinsley, reprinted from Living God’s Mission. We decided to wait. I’m so glad that we did. We were at an assisted living residence to break bread together – communion. And it seemed as though one thing after another was trying to prevent it from happening. First Michael, who had arranged for our worship space – for the Feast…

Pastors Visiting Workplaces

By Greg Forster, reprinted from The Gospel Coalition. Tom Nelson once preached a sermon series from a cubicle. I don’t mean he preached it in an office building. He set up a cubicle on the platform at the front of his church and preached a whole series on how to follow God in the workplace while sitting in it. The…

On Budget Ethics

By David Gill, reprinted from the Bay Area Center for Faith, Work & Tech. Our financial budget processes and decisions are very important to our ethics, not just to our bottom line. Our ethics are not just about delivering on our promises, treating our customers with respect, caring for God’s creation, and obeying the law. The ways we allocate and manage…

Leadership and Power in Philemon

Reprinted from the Theology of Work Project; lead contributor Darrell Bock. Weighing in at one mighty chapter, Philemon is the shortest book written by Paul and one of the shortest in the entire New Testament. Given its length, that this book made it into the canon seems initially surprising. And yet a glimpse at this short epistle begins to show us why—this little…