By Jim Grubs, reprinted from Minding the Gap. Over the last decade and more, the metaphor of “The Bus” has become popular within many of our business, service and educational organizations. It, indeed, has been a helpful way to look at both organizations and individuals within the organization. Questions such as “What is the purpose of the ‘bus’?”; “What direction is the…
By Klaus Issler; part three of a series. Reprinted from the Oikonomia Network. When friends learned I was studying lending in the Old Testament, some asked: What about “payday loans”? Let’s see how the Old Testament’s teaching about loan ethics applies to this controversial practice. As we have seen, one component of Old Testament generosity for the working poor is loans to…
By Sarah Heynemann, reprinted from the Salt & Light Australia Daily Devotional. The path forward would seem obvious, if only I knew how many months or years I had left. Tell me three months, I’d just spend time with family. Tell me one year, I’d have a plan (write that book). Give me 10 years, I’d get back to treating diseases.…
Reprinted from the Salt & Light Australia Daily Devotional. I recently received an email from a young woman who said the following: “Your work was instrumental in helping me break through the barrier between my faith and work. I realized I was blocking God for fear he’d destroy my career goals, because I thought they were pride based. Now I…
By Klaus Issler; part two of a series. Reprinted from the Oikonomia Network. What implications can be drawn from the Old Testament Torah teaching on lending and interest passages (Exodus 22:25, Leviticus 25:35-36, and Deuteronomy 23:19-20)? The previous article in this series showed how access to loans without interest is an important component of generosity and compassion for the working poor in…
By Lisa Slayton; part five of a series. Reprinted from The Wholeness Journey. Myth #4 may be the hardest one of all to tackle. It is the myth that our worth is determined by our accomplishments and performance as well as by the approval of others. We often confuse calling and performance. Are we being productive? Are we delivering results? Are…
By Matt Rusten; reprinted from Made to Flourish. Joanne is a shop owner. Her small store is filled with hand-crafted decorations and gifts that bring beauty and lift the spirit. People love entering her shop, and for the last eight weeks of the year, there is a palpable buzz in her store as festive shoppers mine for holiday treasures, with…
By Klaus Issler; part one of a series. Reprinted from the Oikonomia Network. The question of what the Old Testament has to say about lending money at interest has engaged the attention of Bible scholars for centuries. In a recent series of articles, I presented a case that the three passages in the Torah on lending money at interest (Exodus 22:25, Leviticus 25:35-36 and Deuteronomy…
By Robert Martin, reprinted from the Salt & Light Australia Daily Devotional. Years ago, when I was employed as a marketing analyst, my boss warned against “paralysis by analysis.” He was cautioning against spending so much time analyzing that we never actually made a decision or took any action. This is the idea raised in Ecclesiastes 11:4-5: 4 Whoever watches…
Adapted from the Oikonomia Network. The schedule is packed at Karam Forum 2020, so register today to attend this catalytic and connecting event! We’ll be meeting January 3-4 in Atlanta to refresh our community of collaboration, and hear from leading voices including Rich Mouw, Charisse Jones, Greg Jones, Rachael and Jacob Denhollander, Jules Martinez and many more – the list of speakers is…
The Green Room 