By Colleen Derr, president; reprinted from the Oikonomia Network. Wesley’s students serve as basketball coaches, 7-11 managers, junior high teachers, YMCA directors, corporate executives, chaplains and health care providers as well as church planters, pastors, church leaders and missionaries. Our students live in 29 different countries, speak many different languages, and are connected to over 60 different Christian denominations. What…
By David Williamson. Being “house bound” or “grounded” by Covid-19, I started cleaning out old files and came across two newspaper articles that I had been saving, about shoes. The two articles had two very different vantage points: one, a manufacturer; the second, a shoeshine provider. This led me to remember a familiar old spiritual about shoes, and how all…
By Denise Daniels and Mark D. Roberts, reprinted from Made to Flourish. Over the past three years, I (Denise) have been working on a research project called Faith at Work: An Empirical Study, which collected data from individuals across the United States. My colleagues and I wanted to understand how everyday people think about faith and work. We also sought to learn…
By Sarah Heynemann, reprinted from the Salt & Light Australia Daily Devotional. It’s a pretty difficult time to be giving bad news to patients in the hospital at present. A young patient presents with a seeming innocuous musculoskeletal complaint and leaves hospital the recipient of an advanced incurable cancer. How do you relay this news with compassion and empathy at any…
By Lisa Slayton, reprinted from The Wholeness Journey. There is a marvelously breathtaking moment when we watch the trapeze artist flying through the air as she releases one swing and looks suspended, seemingly weightless, high above the ground before she reaches to grab onto the next swing or the hands of her partner. While it fascinates us to watch, we…
By Fletcher Lowe, reprinted from Living God’s Mission. Over two thousand years ago, Paul said it this way: “Equip the saints for ministry.” (Ephesians 4:12) Sixty-six years ago, the Second Assembly of the World Council of Churches, fleshed it out: The real battles of faith today are being fought in factories, shops, offices, and farms, in political parties and government agencies, in countless…
By David Gill, reprinted from The 313. Ellen Ruppel Shell is professor of journalism at Boston University and a widely-published author. The Job is one of the very best books (of many dozens) assessing the changing work and employment scene. Part One is about “Our National Jobs Disorder.” It used to be argued that technology is flattening organizations and has liberating, empowering…
Reprinted from the Salt & Light Australia Daily Devotional. It was wonderful to be invited into the Reserve Bank of Australia, an august institution which helps to regulate our economy. Its values are integrity, respect, excellence, intelligent inquiry and promoting the public interest.I had just finished talking about how we should remove the sacred-secular divide, live out our faith at…
By Jim Grubs, reprinted from Minding the Gap. If you are a person who is active in the pursuit of integrating the beliefs and principles of faith, and specifically those of the Christian tradition, into work, then I’m guessing you’ve likely run into some significant opposition at your worksite. In fact, this may almost be a daily occurrence for you.…
Reprinted from the Oikonomia Network. I’m grateful to write this seminary spotlight on behalf of The Commonweal Project at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. I benefited from The Commonweal Project as a new student at Southern, grew with it through my MDiv, and now, get to serve it as its managing fellow. I started at Southern in fall of 2014, and…
