A provocative article about the hashtag #ThanksForTyping recently appeared on the website Ministry Matters: It had started with a few tweets by Bruce Holsinger, a literary scholar at the University of Virginia, noting that the acknowledgments in older academic work often included the author’s wife for her work in typing the manuscript. In some acknowledgments, the unnamed wife did much…
Category: Integration with the Church
Collective Impact: The Missing Piece of the Faith-Work Puzzle
What will the faith and work movement look like in 2067? What are we doing today that could genuinely last for 50 years, and even reshape American culture? These are tough questions. Not only because 50 years is such a long time, but it forces us to think not only of our own organizations, but the larger networks across the…
First Presbyterian Church of Houston Announces “Project Flourish” to Renew the City
This press release came across our desk a few days ago and we thought it was well worth bringing to your attention. — TGR First Presbyterian Church of Houston (www.fpchouston.org) has unveiled Project Flourish, a creative invitation to the community to help bring fresh ideas to the issues that face a major metropolitan city like Houston. Through Project Flourish, First Presbyterian…
Book Review: The Church and Work: Ecclesiological Grounding of Good Work
What does one say about yet another book in the never ending sea of books that discuss the integration of faith and work? Well, The Church and Work: The Ecclesiological Grounding of Good Work is distinctive for a few reasons. The book was written by Joshua Sweeden, dean of the faculty and associate professor of Church and Society at Nazarene…
Catching Up With Ken Barnes
A few weeks ago we reprinted a post from the Oikonomia Network by Ken Barnes about the beginning of his tenure at the Mockler Center at Gordon-Conwell. We caught up with him recently for more details. TGR: How are things going since you wrote that article for ON? KB: Things continue to move along. I’m very happy with the growth of the Ockenga Fellows program and the center itself. Our primary goal…
Missionaries in a Mercenary World: The Fusion of Faith and Work
In my previous post, I introduced a new framework for thinking about how people maintain and overcome boundaries between faith and work. I proposed we consider two simple categories: overlap and separation—states that may obtain in spite of our intentions to integrate or segment faith and work. In this post, I consider the first category of overlap: fusion. By fusion,…
Book Review: Glory In the Ordinary – Why Your Work In the Home Matters To God
I have the privilege to read many fascinating books that discuss different facets of faith and work. I am particularly drawn to books that discuss neglected parts of the conversation. Glory In the Ordinary: Why Your Work In the Home Matters to God by Courtney Reissig is one such book. This book responds to the need for content directed toward stay-at-home…
New $1.5 million grant to fund national research on faith and work
Rice just announced this grant in late April: The comprehensive study will focus on U.S. workers and will comprise a broad-based national, random-sample survey of approximately 12,000 people from multiple religious traditions and no religious tradition. Research will explore faith at work as well as religious discrimination. It will include focus groups with both professional and working-class participants and as…
I Desire This For My Sisters, Too: Book Review of A Woman’s Place by Katelyn Beaty
By Melissa Lee Emerson When my pastor mentioned that he had just read and endorsed a manuscript about women and work, I naturally had to ask him to tell me more. I almost stopped listening after he told me that the title was A Woman’s Place, but I stomached the visceral reaction, asked for an extra dose of grace, and…
Full-Life Discipleship at Gordon-Conwell
By Kenneth Barnes There are few things more daunting to an academic then returning to one’s alma mater to give a talk. When that talk is part of an interview for a teaching position however, the emotional stakes are even higher. That was my experience when I visited Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary nearly thirty years after graduation to deliver a lecture…
The Green Room 