Work can be Worship by Max Lucado
Jesus’s word for frustrated workers can be found in the fifth chapter of Luke’s gospel. Peter, Andrew, James, and John made their living catching and selling fish. Like other fishermen, they worked the night shift, when cool water brought the game to the surface. And, like other fishermen, they knew the drudgery of a fishless night.
While Jesus preaches, they clean nets. And as the crowd grows, Christ has an idea.
He noticed two boats tied up. The fishermen had just left them and were out scrubbing their nets. He climbed into the boat that was [Peter’s] and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Sitting there, using the boat for a pulpit, he taught the crowd. (vv. 2–3 msg)
Jesus claims Peter’s boat. He doesn’t request the use of it. Christ doesn’t fill out an application or ask permission; he simply boards the boat and begins to preach.
He can do that, you know. All boats belong to Christ. Your boat is where you spend your day, make your living, and to a large degree live your life. The taxi you drive, the horse stable you clean, the dental office you manage, the family you feed and transport—this is your boat. Christ shoulder-taps us and reminds:
“You drive my truck.”
“You preside in my courtroom.”
“You work on my job site.”
“You serve my hospital wing.”
To us all, Jesus says, “Your work is my work.”
“You preside in my courtroom.”
“You work on my job site.”
“You serve my hospital wing.”
To us all, Jesus says, “Your work is my work.”
Our Wednesdays matter to him as much as our Sundays. He blurs the secular and sacred. One stay-at-home mom keeps this sign over her kitchen sink: Divine tasks performed here, daily. An executive hung this plaque in her office: My desk is my altar. Both are correct. With God, our work matters as much as our worship. Indeed, work can be worship.
Peter, the boat owner, later wrote: “You are a chosen people. You are a kingdom of priests, God’s holy nation, his very own possession. This is so you can show others the goodness of God” (1 Pet. 2:9 nlt).
A priest represents God, and you, my friend, represent God. So “let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus” (Col. 3:17 msg). You don’t drive to an office; you drive to a sanctuary. You don’t attend a school; you attend a temple. You may not wear a clerical collar, but you could. Your boat is God’s pulpit.
From Cure for the Common Life
Copyright (W Publishing Group, 1998, 2001) Max Lucado
From Cure for the Common Life
Copyright (W Publishing Group, 1998, 2001) Max Lucado
Labels: Devotional, Max Lucado, Work as Worship Conference
Continue reading 'Work can be Worship by Max Lucado'
Helping Rebuild Hati one Business at a Time
Evelien de Gier moved to Haiti 28 years ago from the Netherlands to work for a picture-frame production company. Her vision had three objectives. First was to create desperately needed jobs for Haitians. Second was to generate money for missionaries working in Haiti. Third was to witness good deeds to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
In a country brimming with obstacles, the greatest obstacle Evelien faced was from Christians who did not affirm her call to business.
The moment she and her husband, Kees, stepped foot into business, they experienced harsh critique. In many Christian circles — including peers in mission, community development, advocacy or humanitarian work — people questioned why those suffering in poverty around Evelien needed something like a picture frame.
“Nobody seemed to see the direct connection between consistent income for our employees and the call of business people to facilitate that income,” Evelien says. “To me, providing employment is the most obvious and effective way a Christian can care for the poor.”
Evelien struggled for years with the dichotomy between “traditional ministry” and business. In churches around the world there is hierarchy of holy activities, with missionaries and pastors at the top, educators and social workers in the middle, then business people somewhere near the bottom.
Many Christians do not see how business can be a holy activity on par with the vocation of pastor, Evelien says. But she came to the conclusion that helping people work themselves out of poverty through business is a biblical mandate.
“Yes, Jesus fed the 5,000 with a few fish and breads, but on another occasion,” Evelien notes, “he told his disciples to put their nets out on the other side of the boat, and that was hard work when their nets got so full.”
She points to another example in the Book of Ruth where “owners are instructed not to work their whole field but to leave the edges for the poor to work, and yet many people these days tend to work the whole field, bag the excess, and then hand out the bags to the poor.”
Evelien did not grow up with a passion for business. She studied and practiced physical therapy in the Netherlands. But other passions and interests began to emerge: building capacity in those around her, practicing stewardship, accountability, and leadership. “It all seemed to fit the vocation that God was calling me to — business,” she says.
She met her husband when both were leaders at a Christian youth camp. They courted for four years, married in 1982, and one year later moved to Haiti and began producing and selling picture frames.
In 2003, Evelien and Kees joined a good friend in launching another company, Maxima S.A., in Port-au-Prince to produce wooden cabinetry and caskets. By 2009, they employed 59 Haitians.
The Port-au-Prince earthquake in January 2010 killed more than 200,000 Haitians and displaced a million more. With no more demand for cabinets and caskets, the team at Maxima got creative. Their business took on a mission — to put homeless families back into homes. They repurposed their production equipment to manufacture houses and took contracts from large NGOs like World Vision and Tearfund.
Sixteen months after the earthquake, Maxima has manufactured homes for 5,000 families. To fulfill these orders Maxima increased its number of employees from 59 to 275. Those 275 jobs provide for more than 1,300 people (it’s estimated the 1 full-time job provides for 5 people, and in Haiti that ratio may be higher).
More orders are on the horizon.
“It’s been a crash course for over a year and I feel like I’m being molded by the Potter’s hand,” Evelien says, “but my story is no superwoman story. I avoid ever thinking that I myself have come this far alone. I am a product of what so many people around me have done for me and my family, using their talents to help me build mine. I try to do the same for others. This is the body of Christ.”
That body of Christ includes Evelien’s church, l‘Église de la Communauté Evangélique d’Haiti in a fast-paced middle class neighborhood of Port-au-Prince. The congregation is filled with Haitian doctors, lawyers, and business professionals who don’t just affirm her calling to business — they live out their own passion for business as she does.
“Take the doctors and therapists,” Evelien says. “They’ve been providing care to the poor in the countryside as volunteers this year, on top of the 70-hour weeks they work in their own for-profit clinics — clinics that provide jobs and fuel the economy.”
Once seemingly alone in her call to business, Evelien is now encouraged. “They used to hold us businesspeople as far away as they could,” she says. “The biggest surprise now is that organizations and churches are looking to us for advice, long-term strategic planning, discernment, and guidance! Something good is starting to happen here.”
Jacqueline Klamer is a writer with Partners Worldwide, a faith-based international business development organization based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Partners Worldwide has worked with Haitian businesspeople since 1999, connecting Haitian entrepreneurs and business owners in the SME sector with business training, access to capital, networking opportunities, and business mentors. Partners Worldwide is active in 20 countries.
Labels: Hati, Maxima, Partners Worldwide
Continue reading 'Helping Rebuild Hati one Business at a Time'
Charity vs. Enterprise with Robert Sirico of PovertyCures.org
Acton Institute is a big voice in the conversation that happens at the intersection of Work and Worship. If you haven't already, check out their website, povertycure.org. Love the site, how they lay out the videos and love a lot of the language of the mission.
It is time to move:
- From aid to enterprise
- From poverty alleviation to wealth creation
- From paternalism to partnerships
- From handouts to investments
- From seeing the poor as consumers or burdens to seeing them as creators
- From viewing the poor as recipients of charity to acknowledging them as agents of change with dignity, capacity, and creativity.
- From viewing people and economies as experiments to pursuing solidarity with the poor
- From encouraging dependency to integrating the poor into networks of productivity and exchange
- From subsidies and protectionism to open trade and competition
- From seeing the global economy as a fixed pie to understanding that human enterprise can grow economies
Continue reading 'Charity vs. Enterprise with Robert Sirico of PovertyCures.org'
Redeemer Center for Faith and Work in New York City
There's probably not a better example of a church that understands that Work itself can be such an incredible opportunity for worship than Redeemer in New York City. Take a look at this short video on what their church is doing validate and unleash the people in their church.
Redeemer Center for Faith & Work: Why Faith & Work? from Redeemer Video on Vimeo.
Continue reading 'Redeemer Center for Faith and Work in New York City'
Redeemer Center for Faith & Work: Why Faith & Work? from Redeemer Video on Vimeo.
Labels: Rdeemer New York City, Tim Keller
Continue reading 'Redeemer Center for Faith and Work in New York City'
Tim Keller on the Doctrine of Work and Rest
"Unless you find the Biblical doctrine of Work, you will never find rest." - Tim Keller
I enjoyed listening to an older message Dr. Tim Keller gave on the talk of work as Worship a while back.
It doesn't look like there's a church out there doing a better job unleashing their businessmen and women than what Redeemer is doing (You can check out their site at www.faithandwork.org.
When you get a chance, give it a listen.
It doesn't look like there's a church out there doing a better job unleashing their businessmen and women than what Redeemer is doing (You can check out their site at www.faithandwork.org.
When you get a chance, give it a listen.
Labels: Audio, FaithandWork.org, Tim Keller
Continue reading 'Tim Keller on the Doctrine of Work and Rest'
Hewlett Packard's taking Mission and Work Seriously
A friend passed along this video that Hewlett Packard put together. I think it was created just for an in house audience (but I'm sure they knew it would get out). It's pretty powerful. Friends have mentioned that their experiences have matched the support and the mission they see on this video (some are even in the video). This isn't a "business as mission" driven initiative from the top down. But many from HP are using this as an opportunity to use their time and talents to make a difference and are being supported by it. Take a look at this video that highlights HP's global efforts. They give away millions of dollars every year.
I thought it was encouraging to see their CEO at the end deliver the message "together we are redefining corporate success beyond creating value for shareholder to also creating a better world".
I thought it was encouraging to see their CEO at the end deliver the message "together we are redefining corporate success beyond creating value for shareholder to also creating a better world".
Labels: Hewlett Packard
Continue reading 'Hewlett Packard's taking Mission and Work Seriously'
JR Packer on Work and Worship
For those of you who aren't familiar, J. I Packer is a British-born Canadian Christian theologian. He is considered one of the most influential evangelicals in North America. Here's a quick sound bite on his view of Work being Worship that was captured by the team at High Callings.
Labels: High Callings, J I Packer, Work as Worship
Continue reading 'JR Packer on Work and Worship'
God gave me this idea for Business
So we ask them some apparently non-spiritual questions?
- Do you have any experience within this industry (whatever industry their idea fits within)?
- Do you have a business plan?
- How will you market it?
- Where is the capital going to come from?
- Do you know others with the expertise to help you?
Usually the import of their answer is something like this: "God gave me this idea. Therefore it will succeed." We often come away with the impression they think it will bring in a large amount of money for a minimum amount of effort, because, after all, God is in it.
In one sense, we have every sympathy with them. Jesus gave us an idea for a business out of the blue, and it has succeeded to the place where we have a team of people working for us leaving us free to do anything God asks us to do within the Kingdom. So we are convinced God is looking to give people an idea to "create wealth that he might establish his covenant" (Deut 8:18-- a verse we prayed for many months). He is looking to free people financially through business to work in the Kingdom. We know many people for whom he has done this.
However, we had to learn from painful experience that a business will not succeed without good business practices and principles.
God doesn't often give us shortcuts. He expects us to be diligent to learn, put in long hours where necessary, use good business practices, bring in expertise (like lawyers and accountants) where needed. God isn't into "get rich quick" schemes.
And he delights to bless.
About Felicity - In 2000, she helped to start House2House, initially a print magazine and now a website that provides resources for the large house/simple/organic church movement that now exists here in the US. She has written or co-authored, several books--Simply Church, Getting Started: A Church Planting Manual, The Rabbit and the Elephant and An Army of Ordinary People.
Labels: Felicity Dale
Continue reading 'God gave me this idea for Business'
