How will the Church in the 21st century “equip the saints for works of service” (Eph. 4:12) for the vast challenges we face in the world today? This seems overwhelming at first blush. But then I remember that God’s people are touching every area of our cities through their daily work, and it’s the Church’s privilege and responsibility to send…
Category: Unsolved Problems
Theologies of Public Life
First in a series. The Holy Grail of the faith and work movement is to figure out how to bridge the gap between having the insight (God cares about work) and actually giving it the central place it ought to have in the church’s doctrine and discipleship. Mark Greene was right at Lausanne in 2010 when he said that the good…
Unambiguously Bad Idea: The Universal Basic Income and the Gattaca Future
Third in a series. I’ve already argued that a universal basic income would empower racism and build the wall in the short term. Some further reflection on why it would do these things will help us imagine what it would do in the long term. We are already moving rapidly in the direction of a future in which large, impersonal bureaucracies…
Talking About Privilege, Part I: Who Chose Your Vocation?
Have you ever noticed what stupid questions we ask little kids? Like this one: What’s your favorite color? How does a kid answer that question? Let’s say she’s a girl, and let’s say she chooses pink. Maybe an adult responds, “That’s a pretty color, just like you!” Or say she chooses blue. Someone responds in a confident tone, “That’s a…
Unambiguously Bad Idea: The Universal Basic Income and the Wall
Second in a series. Our chapel series here this semester is on reconciliation. This week, among other things, the sermon invoked Bonhoeffer’s “cheap grace” and exhorted us not to seek a “cheap reconciliation.” I’m thinking about that as I sit down to explain why the universal basic income will not only give more power to racism, but also build the Wall…
Unambiguously Bad Idea: The Universal Basic Income and Racism
First in a series. A couple of speakers at the Faith at Work Summit presented the public policy idea of a Universal Basic Income as if it were unambiguously good and it had no downsides that needed to be mentioned, implying that all good people on both sides of the political aisle were, or should be, in favor of it.…
Faith and Work for Retirees: Serving Those in a New Season of Work
By Luke Bobo. Reprinted from Made to Flourish. When we think about retirement, we often think of men and women enjoying a season of leisure and rest — golf resorts, taking grandkids on vacation, and, most importantly, not working. But does the retiree still need a vision for how to spend their time in a way that benefits others through…
A Restaurant With a Mission: Stories From BAM Global, Part 1
With this post we begin a new series of excerpts from the book BAM Global Movement: Business as Mission Concept & Stories by Gea Gort and Mats Tunehag, with the kind permission of Hendrickson Publishers. Through working in my business, I’m experiencing more of God,” says Faouzi Chihabi. “I have my faith in my head and heart, but now it’s also flowing through…
Book Review: The Artist and the Trinity
On any list of my favorite authors, Dorothy Sayers is near the top. I’ve been a fan, especially of Lord Peter and Harriet Vane, for years. I still remember walking into a used book store Before the Internet to see if they had any more copies of her mysteries. When I told the proprietor what I was searching for, he…
Why Hidden Work Matters to God
By Courtney Ressig. Reprinted from Made to Flourish. When you ate your breakfast this morning, did you think about the person who bought the groceries that made your morning possible? What about your clean clothes or mowed yard — did you notice the person who did those things? Maybe you are that person, but maybe you are married to that…
The Green Room 