Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Careers, Workplace and Religion
How can we bridge the divide between our faith and our work?

How can we bridge the divide between our faith and our work?

Last updated on: July 14, 2014 at 10:13 am by Made to Flourish

How can we bridge the divide between our faith and our work? 2014-07-14T10:13:41-05:00 Made to Flourish

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Bridging that gap is one of the main purposes of this blog. And recently at the Kern Pastors Network site Aaron Brockmeier was thinking about the same question:

Over the past year, through the encouragement of The Kern Family Foundation, I’ve been studying the integration of faith and work. I still have many questions, but as I mentioned in my previous article, I think this is a key and overlooked biblical teaching by pastors – especially me!

A leader in my church wrote this to me after I shared with him some of the resources on work and faith integration. “To be blunt, at our church at this point we have a huge gap in this area.” I’ve been the sole pastor at my church for more than five years, so I take responsibility for much of this division.

Aaron has four suggestions he’s trying to follow; if you’re a pastor, they’re worth reading (and if you’re not, they’re still worth reading, and maybe forwarding to your pastor. 🙂 ) First, two things to prepare yourself:

1) Engage theologically.

If you have not purposefully engaged and theologically wrestled with how work and faith fit together, begin to now.

One great resource for doing this is the new Biblical commentary on work being released in October by the Theology of Work Project. We try to point out others on this blog all the time, too.

2) Speak to all vocations.

As pastors, we need to be clear that all may not be called into vocational ministry, but all are called to be faithful in whatever vocation God has placed them. To do this, we must do more than just encourage people to witness to their coworkers. We must teach how Christians can faithfully live out their faith at work, whether as missionaries or as carpenters.

Then, two things to do:

3) Tell work stories.

….not just illustrations from the world of pastors and missionaries:

Unlike the topic of weather, unless you work with a very specific demographic, there is not a common vocation at your church. Consider the vocations of the people you pastor. Do your illustrations and stories reflect what they are familiar with, or just the work you know? Let’s be purposeful to tell a variety of stories so the homemaker, the truck driver, and the salesperson might find something in common when we speak as pastors.

4) Go to work.

Pastors visit hospitals–why not other places?

A pastor does not need to be bi-vocational to be able to do this. Many pastors do this when they make visits to hospitals and nursing homes, or partner with law enforcement and emergency services as chaplains. Those who pastor in smaller towns or communities probably engage in this naturally as their day-to-day life overlaps with their parishioners….. Purposefully seek out ways to visit your people at work. One simple way to do this is to limit meeting people at coffee shops or restaurants and instead, set up times to meet at their work locations.

This will, of course, also broaden the range of sermon illustration possibilities!

You can read the rest of Aaron’s post, and other resources for bridging the gap, at the KPN site. Image: KPN.

Local Church

faith-work integration

Previous Post

July 13, 2014

The business of doing good; how millennials are changing the corporate sector

Next Post

July 15, 2014 Join us at the Boston Summit

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Art Audio posts Bible and Work Book Review Books Budgeting Calling Common Good Community Development Conferences Discipleship Economics Entrepreneurship Ethics Faith and Family Faith and the Marketplace Faith and the Workplace faith and work History of Work and Vocation Leadership Local Church Meaning New Blogger News Prayer Relationships Seminaries Theology of Work Uncategorized Video posts Vocation Worship Resources

Select a Month April 2026 October 2025 September 2025 July 2025 April 2025 January 2025 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 May 2024 March 2024 February 2024 December 2023 November 2023 August 2023 July 2023 April 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 May 2022 April 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 June 2021 May 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 January 2020 December 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 April 2018 March 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What was rolled away from Jesus’ tomb?

Select your answer to see how you score.

A stone A wall A fence A door