Work is tough. Work is also a source of joy. Is it one or the other or both? The products of work destroy the environment, hurt people, and do violence to the worker. At the same time, they can develop the potential of creation and improve human life. Work can evoke soul-sapping sins. But work can also be a means of spiritual growth. How can we live with this tension?

Relationships are often treated as personal and private. We have shown they are much more than this. They are vital to spiritual development, they are fundamentally important in our workplaces, and they even reflect on our relationship with God.

For the Christian in the workplace, the relationship issues take on an added dimension. The Christian is called to demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit, even at work! We know that every person is made in the image of God and is worthy of our respect. We also know that every person is deeply affected by sin, and we ourselves are so affected. In addition to all this, the Scripture reminds us that the way we treat another person reflects our relationship with God.

It is not an exaggeration to state that modern and ancient civilization would not exist without the development of trades and crafts throughout world history. From the building of cities and their infrastructure to the simple daily use of a spoon and bowl, crafts and trades are not only integral to our daily life but is evidence of what it means to be human and made in the image of God. And yet, too often we place this topic in the realm of the secular, failing to recognize crafts and trades are not only foundational to our very existence but are indeed at the very heart and character of God.

Let me introduce you to a strange word. “Ortho” in Greek comes from the word orthodoxos. We use a derivation of the word in English when we go to an orthodontist to get our teeth straightened. So ortho means straight. The Greek word doxos means glory and honour of the truth of God. So, orthodoxy means straight truth, straight belief, or straight doctrine—belief that lines up with Scripture. Orthodox belief is designed to be a blessing to everyday life, and, at the same time, to bless and worship God.

I always sensed some kind of a blockage in my ministry as a preaching pastor when seeking to communicate a missional vision to people in the marketplace. Despite my attempt in sermons to stress that the meaning of mission was not limited solely to evangelizing their peers who were conveniently trapped in the goldfish bowl of their workplace, inevitably someone would come up to me afterwards and say, “Great sermon, pastor, thanks for giving us a kick in the pants to evangelize more in my workplace.”

My reflection on 1 Thessalonians chapter four was preceded by Jim Hirtle’s two sons speaking movingly about their father. He was and is a beautiful person, filled with the grace of God and the fruit of the Spirit. He died in faith, hope and love. Of the three Christian virtues, faith hope and love, the one most possibly needed today is hope.

To achieve its God-sent purpose, a church must engage with its surrounding socio-economic and cultural environment. It does this mainly through its members who are immersed, by and large, in the world, Monday to Friday. It does this because the whole church is on a mission, and the mission of God is wholistic, or integral, as is commonly called today.

I, too, am technically a layperson “as people call it”—meaning unordained. Admittedly, this is a controversial title. Here is why: frankly, the church today, by and large, doesn’t get the fact that the laity has been abolished! It does not get what it means to say “we are his people,” his one people, and “the sheep of his pasture,” the world (Psa 100:3). The New Testament teaches the revolutionary truth that the people of God are living and working under the New Covenant rather than the more dualistic older covenant.

In this part 2, Adrian Di Franceso concludes that we would be wise to acknowledge both realities simultaneously—both a fruitless toil under the sun and a fruitful vocation under heaven, fluxing and flowing to various degrees in different seasons. Sometimes it becomes worse before it becomes better, and sometimes we need to leave where we are or persevere through it, but the principle remains no matter the brokenness, pain, and suffering, there is always the possibility for redemption and renewal in God’s Kingdom.

There are a myriad of reasons why work is broken but what if God offers us redemption and renewal for the present brokenness of work? What if we need a better theology and Christian vision of work that will help us reconcile this seemingly inescapable brokenness? Is it possible for all of us in our work contexts, broken as they are, regardless of industry, field, or practice, to experience our work as an enactment of God’s renewal in the world? My argument is that it is not only possible but a promise that all of us can experience God’s redemption in our work, no matter how tarnished or broken, made possible by Christ’s inauguration of his Kingdom in the world.

In this article, Dr. Stevens writes that the nature of true spirituality is that it is essentially gratuitous.  But the New Business Spirituality invites a recovery of the great theological truths which fired the entrepreneurship of Jews, early Christians, Catholics and Protestants, and all peoples of faith.

The most important factor in keeping the church and the kingdom of God together is the person of Jesus Christ. He is the King of the Kingdom and he is the Head of the Church. In this article, Dr. Ross Hastings discusses on the theological issue of Church and Kingdom.

We are called to see the world through the eyes of the Incarnation, able to know more completely what is and what isn’t, what matters and what doesn’t. And as a congregation we are remembering these weeks by focusing on work, which is most of your life and mine; and yes more deeply its meaning in the idea of vocation. For all of us that has been a great gift, an unusual gift because the Church as Church rarely thinks aloud about work, which is strange given that it is most of what the people of God do week after week.

The equipping task has been misunderstood as enrolling people into the ministry of the church, making them assistant pastors, rather than preparing them for their Monday to Friday ministry in the home, workplace, the hospital and medical clinic, the university, and elementary school.

A business does not operate in a vacuum but is the recipient of shared cultural and intellectual wealth and is accountable to the community. As a major influence on life in today’s society, business has a responsibility to reflect on what that means. It is strategically positioned in society to express justice, covenant community and stewardship.

Today humility is seldom extolled as a virtue worth pursuing. The opposite carries the day with the constant siren call to self-promotion. In this timely and important article, Christina explores the temptations and strengths of the artist-leader, probing a common challenge in the church for this role, examining Jesus’ example, and finally, discussing ways to practice humility with God.

Servant leadership is that strange, enigmatic, self-contradictory, even oxymoronic combination of words, like “fried ice” or “falling upwards.” How can one be a servant and a leader at the same time?

How can we cultivate our friendship with God? Is friendship simply a gift of God that we can receive and enjoy, or does it require the vigorous application of various spiritual and physical exercises? In this paper, Matthias argues that cultivating our friendship with God requires relinquishment from a “grasping spirit” and reception of his lavish love as a response to his unconditional, first love for us.

And because vocation is written into the very meaning of being human, our vocations are therefore integral to who we are, to why we are, and to what we do with our lives— even as they are integral to the work of God himself.