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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.

Jordan Henderson and the “Goal” of Integrity

By Hannah Rich, reprinted from the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity. As a football fan, it feels like there is an ever-lengthening list of reasons to feel conflicted about the sport. This summer, it’s been the Saudi Pro League, which has made headlines as a growing number of top international male players have signed lucrative deals to play in Saudi…

Running Out of Time for a Bigger Vision of Flourishing

Reprinted from the Oikonomia Network. By far the most enthusiastic feedback we received at Karam Forum 2022 was from the conversation between Helen Young Hayes of Activate Workforce Solutions and Denise Daniels of Wheaton College. Hayes described her revolutionary experience leaving the heights of Wall Street to start a business in Denver that hires workers on the margins who need…

Mutual Transformation in God’s Family

Reprinted from The Chalmers Center. People are not projects. Please listen to these words and take them to heart.  All human beings are made in the image of the living God. This means we are never merely projects defined by our economic statuses, our material possessions, or our vocations, graded on some scale of how well we are doing at life. Rather,…

MLK’s Call to “Rise Up” through Everyday Service

By Demi Prentiss, reprinted from Living God’s Mission. Those who know me have heard me quote the statistic that 99.2 percent of the church are laity. That is true across denominations in the U.S., and that means that all the clergy comprise less than one percent of the church.  Laity – just like the ordained – are called to exercise…

Review: Winter Stars

By Marda Quon Stothers, reprinted from The 313. Dave Iverson is a writer, documentary film producer/director, and PBS broadcast journalist. Despite his own diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease, he decided at the age of 59 that, of three siblings, he had the most flexibility and could move into his childhood home in Menlo Park to take care of his 95-year-old mother,…

Let’s Talk about Tentmaking

By David Williamson. Summertime reminds me of occasional trips in my younger days to the famous Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) of Northern Minnesota and Southern Ontario. I have great memories of leading groups of high-school kids into this rugged and beautiful country. This reminds me of the importance of tents – what they’re made of, how they’re made and…

AI: Neither a Creature Nor a Tool, But a New Reality

By Ben Chang, reprinted from the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity. “I think it’s important to think about GPT-4 as a tool, not a creature.” These were the words of Sam Altman, owner of ChatGPT, who recently announced the opening of his company’s first international offices in London. But is it adequate to view “artificial intelligence” as a mere “tool”? I’m not so…

EWP Talks on Spiritual Formation: A Vast Vision

Reprinted from the Oikonomia Network. Our collection of EWP Talks on Spiritual Formation will give your students a bigger vision of what it means to be formed in Christlikeness. Against the spiritual bankruptcy of rote “box checking,” haranguing people to go through the motions of religious works and devotional exercises, these videos offer a vast new way to think about how we…

Becoming Whole through Formative Practices

Reprinted from the Chalmers Center. Building God’s kingdom community means working to replace destructive formative practices with those that lead to true flourishing. The Ministry Design Principles we’re highlighting this week focus heavily on the relational aspect of poverty alleviation. After all, we are each innately relational beings with minds, affections, wills, and bodies, and we need to remember this…

Tell the Truth

Image: Witnesses to Truth, Abbot Lynn Bauman, 2023 By Brandon Beck, reprinted from Living God’s Mission. Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness,and minister your justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the…