By Jim Grubs, reprinted from Minding the Gap. The story is told about the little boy who was sitting on his grandpa’s lap when he asked, “Grandpa, when did we begin competing?” (This kid was very advanced.) Grandpa replies: “It all began at the very beginning of creation when the first people were playing in the field. They were having a…
By Darrell Yoder, reprinted from the Oikonomia Network. Note: Appropriately for the new pandemic reality, this update comes to you via video. A transcript, with links to the resources discussed in the video, is provided below. Hey, my name is Darrel Yoder. Greetings from Grand Rapids Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I serve on the faculty here and provide…
By Laura Cerbus, reprinted from the Salt & Light Australia Daily Devotional. It’s not a classroom I’m used to. I’m seated at a long table, chairs gathered around. No orderly desks lined up facing a whiteboard. Instead, we’re set up in the middle of a community space. Toys litter the room, a kitchen opens onto our space, glass walls reveal the gymnasium…
By David Williamson, part five of a series. The revised script, the new drama of life post-Genesis 3, starts to be played out. Chapter 4 of Genesis begins with a comforting and hopeful statement: In spite of sin and God’s judgement, God’s grace enables Eve to bear a child. Indeed, all work, all labor, all production should be with the understanding…
By John Terrill, reprinted from Made to Flourish. I recently watched with interest CBS Sunday Morning’s featured segment on Bob Ross, the unlikely, yet iconic television personality who, through his 12-year PBS show, The Joy of Painting, inspired Americans from 1983 to 1994. Ross – a denim-clad folk hero with a permed afro bigger than life – was a soft-spoken teacher…
Reprinted from the Chalmers Center. Adapted from When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor…and Yourself, 37-44 Is your church called to help the materially poor in your community and around the world? Most Christians would answer “yes,” but not nearly as many would also root that call in the very mission of the church, seeing it rather…
By Andrew Parris and Don Pope, reprinted from Christian Business Review. Citations have been omitted. Part four of a series. Christian Parallels to Lean Wisdom Given the Japanese manufacturing context of the development of Lean, a Christian leader may be reluctant to adopt Lean personally or in a Christian ministry, out of fear that Lean is only for manufacturing or is culturally or…
By Lisa Slayton, reprinted from Tamim Partners. It has been just over a year since the world changed dramatically. And it has been a hard year, challenging each of us significantly. It has also been a year that has allowed some time to reflect and re-imagine, releasing things that need to die away and creating space to bring new things…
By Jeff Haanen, reprinted from the Denver Institute for Faith and Work. Part two of two. Read part one here. “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble,” writes the author of Psalm 46. “Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth gives way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their…
By Fletcher Lowe, reprinted from Living God’s Mission. Over the years in the parishes I have served, I have been visiting members where they work. The conversations usually go: What do you do here? What is the Sunday/Monday – the faith/work – connection with what you do here? This latter question is, for most all of the church members, the first time that…
