Seasons of Surrender in Our Service

By Pam Tinsley, reprinted from Living God’s Mission. I love the fall colors. There’s something mystical in the way that the leaves on deciduous trees slowly fade from deep green to brilliant shades of yellow, orange, and red. Sometimes I’m not sure what’s more spectacular to behold: a swathe of bright yellow aspens against the backdrop of pine trees or…

Lost Jobs, Found Church

By Greg Forster, reprinted from the Gospel Coalition. The march of technology is relentless, and it is always both creating and destroying jobs. It brings many blessings—spiritual and material—but also great costs. For example, seven of Fast Company’s “Ten Most Endangered Jobs of 2014” are classic blue-collar jobs—mail carriers, meter readers, drill press operators, and so on. I’m surprised they left out…

On Partnership

By David Gill, reprinted from the Bay Area Center for Faith, Work & Tech. In the Genesis accounts of creation, we read over and over that what God created was “good” and even “very good.”  But at one important place, we hear God saying something is “not good.”  “It is not good that man should dwell alone” (Gen 2:18). God…

What Does the Bible Say about Finance?

Reprinted from the Theology of Work Project; lead contributor Leonard Van Drunen. Does finance contribute to the flourishing of society and to serving fellow people? The chairman of the United Kingdom Financial Services Administration argues that significant parts of banking are “socially useless.” Laura Newland, a recent Duke University graduate, in the New York Times bemoans graduates going to work in…

Being a Christmaslike Worker

By David Walker, reprinted from the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity. A month from now, the halls will be decked with boughs of holly, and we’ll be singing “Joyful, all ye nations rise” as we celebrate Christmas Day. For many, it’s an opportunity to press pause on our work and focus on the wonder of the incarnation. For others, Christmas…

Global Goodwill, Local Control

Reprinted from the Oikonomia Network. The vision of the Economic Wisdom Project is summarized in twelve “elements” that provide starting points for thoughtful, biblically informed understanding of contemporary opportunities and challenges. For a handy guide to the twelve elements, download this one-page summary, taken from our EWP vision paper “A Christian Vision for Flourishing Communities”: Below is an excerpt from the paper “Twelve Elements of Economic…

Hope Exchange in Jackson: From Relief to Development

Reprinted from the Chalmers Center. Levi and Kateri Gill met while serving with a jobs training program that created employment opportunities through a wood shop and a local coffee shop. This work not only set the course of their personal lives, it also deepened their commitment to serving their community.   Levi told us, “The wood shop grabbed my heart for…

Mistakes Are Allowed

By Demi Prentiss, reprinted from Living God’s Mission. My extended, blended family is, probably like many other similar families, repeatedly in the throes of learning how to be with one another.  Lately, we have a mantra to fall back on when things get tough: “We are allowed to make mistakes.”  That’s not designed to avoid accountability, or foster a laissez faire attitude…

On Saltiness

By David Gill, reprinted from the Bay Area Center for Faith, Work & Tech. When things around us—in our country, our workplace, our neighborhood, our school—seem to be sinking or spinning in the wrong direction, it is tempting to want to grab the steering wheel and impose our insight and leadership on the situation. We might wish (or even attempt)…