Transforming Vocation

Connecting Theology, Church, and the Workplace for a Flourishing World

David Benson, Kara Martin, Andrew Sloane, David Benson, Kara Martin, Andrew Sloane

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781666701562, 9781666701579
• eBook ISBN: 9781666701586
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Systematic Theology & Ethics

There has been an explosion of publishing in the faith-work movement in the last twenty years. Work is increasingly seen as the new frontier for Christian mission. However, the church and theological colleges have failed to keep up with the interest among, and needs of, workplace Christians.This book is the urgent corrective that is needed, moving past Theology of Work 101 to much deeper encounters with God's word as it relates to daily work. These twelve academic papers look at work through three different lenses: the workplace, the church, and theological education.It is prefaced by Mark Greene from the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity, reflecting on what work, church, and theological education would look like if there was no sacred-secular divide. In the concluding remarks, the editors imagine a future where each domain is transformed by the gospel, working dynamically together for the life of the world.While academic in terms of depth of thinking, quality of research, and referencing of crucial sources for further exploration, this book is never dry. Rather, it's life-giving and provocative for every vocation, asking fundamental questions of the reader: What is the work that God is calling you to do? How can the gospel transform your work? And how well-positioned are churches and colleges to be at the forefront of transforming vocation?With contributions from: Mark GreeneJames PietschPeter WhitePeter DochertyGordon PreeceKeith MitchellDavid FaggIan HusseyColin NobleAndrew MatthewsSarah BacallerSamuel CurkpatrickMaggie Kappelhoff

1

Introduction

A Brief Overview of the Faith and Work Movement

Kara Martin

Mary Andrews College and Alphacrucis College

Andrew Sloane

Morling College (Australian College of Theology; University of Divinity)

When Pete Hammond, Paul Stevens, and Todd Sanoe published their Marketplace Annotated Bibliography in 2002, it marked a critical juncture in David Miller’s third wave of the faith and work movement: the faith at work era (ca. 1985–present).1 Until that point, it was possible to comfortably name the main influencers in the movement. Since then there has been an explosion of interest, research, and publishing. However, generally there has been a lack of research within vocations, and insufficient recognition and integration of three perspectives: the church, the workplace, and biblical/theological study; hence the need for the Transforming Vocation research conference from which this volume emerges. This introduction aims to provide a context for the contributions that follow. To that end, we will briefly rehearse the background to the conference and its rationale, before identifying its context in the growing literature on the integration of Christian faith and work and the particular contribution this volume and the conference from which it emerged make.

Along with many others, we have been thinking and working in this space for a number of years. We have been delighted to see growing awareness of the neglect of matters of the integration of faith and work amongst evangelical pastors, theologians, and practitioners, and have celebrated moves to address it. Nonetheless, a number of things troubled us. While people from across the globe have contributed to this developing conversation (including notable examples from Australia such as Robert Banks), it has largely been focused on, even captive to, the interests of North Americans. Not only do the issues that need to be addressed vary from place to place, but each of these contexts has an important contribution to make to the discussion. We thought it time to bring Australian voices into the conversation. However, we were also aware that in some respects Australia is lagging behind our sisters and brothers in other parts of the world—especially in the attention given in theological colleges to the integration of faith and work (and the formation of workers). Perhaps, we thought, that may in part be due to economies of scale and the lack of a critical mass that can sustain programs and appointments in individual colleges. Perhaps. But perhaps it might also be due to distortions in the operational theologies of our institutions and networks. Distortions of neglect, of emphasis, even explicitly an espoused theology that values pastoral ministry and, perhaps, mission-as-evangelism (be that traditional cross-cultural mission or more locally oriented) as true (gospel) ministry, and sees personal evangelism, and financial support of pastors and missionaries as the only real contribution that “ordinary” workers make to the mission of God. In light of that, and an awareness of the general nature of much of the literature in the field, we thought it might be time to foster serious research from an antipodean perspective into the nature of work in the contemporary workplace, the role of churches in the formation of workers, and the contribution that particular theological disciplines might make to our understanding and practice of kingdom-oriented work in the world as we now find it. We think this is warranted in light of the work that has been done in this area so far; thus, we turn to a brief survey of the current literature.

We begin with a brief overview of work in the Bible and Christian history, then look at the historical development of theologies of work. The focus will turn to key developments in the areas of a faith and work movement, theology of work, and a broader excursion into religion and the workplace. We will consider the intensifying spotlight on spiritual formation for work, and touch on the assessment techniques for formation which are currently being used in the workplace and churches.

Brief Overview of Work in the Bible and Christian History

While faith and work theology and practice may be considered a new discipline of study, it has deep biblical roots and is consistently evident at key moments in Christian history. This is evident as early as Genesis 1—2, the narrative of the creation of the world. It is there that we see the linguistic link between the work of our hands and worship in the temple, through the Hebrew verb roots avad and shamar, particularly in Genesis 2:15.2 This holistic view of worship and work is exemplified by God, who describes himself in terms related to work and workers: composer (Ps 33:3) and performer (Ps 147:1), metalworker (Ps 12:6), and potter (Jer 18:1–6), garment maker (Isa 61:10), gardener (Amos 9:14), farmer (2 Cor 9:10), shepherd (Ps 23), tentmaker (Exod 25:9), an...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Contributors
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Part 1: Workplace
• Part 2: Church and Pastoral Ministry
• Part 3: Theology of Work
• Chapter 15: Conclusion