Keller's Every Good Endeavor - Chapter 12 - New Power for Work

I'll be facilitating a brief discussion on chapter twelve (pages 226-241) of Keller's Work Monday evening. Here are a few questions we'll use to guide the discussion:

1. Keller calls our motivation for work, "the work under the work." What are some of your main motivations for work? Do we "work our work" or does our "work work us"? How do we really know?
    
      
2.  Keller writes about "The Power of Deep Rest" referencing the Sabbath. Did these pages change anything about your concept of Sabbath? Reinforce what you know and practice? Challenge or convict?
    
    
3. What did Keller mean by "The Rest Under the Rest?" What is a practical way to apply this concept? 
    
    
    

Keller's Every Good Endeavor - Chapter 11 - A New Compass for Work

I'll be facilitating a brief discussion on chapter eleven (pages 198-225) of Keller's Work Monday evening. Here are a few questions we'll use to guide the discussion:

1. Is Milton Friedman right when he says that the business manager's only job is to maximize shareholder value? Will the market itself reward integrity and punish dishonesty?
    
2. Keller titled the chapter "A New Compass for Work." In one word, what is that compass?
     
3. In regard to wisdom and decision making, Keller points to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. How does, or has, the Holy Spirit played into your decision making?
     
4. How is the usual approach to capitalism compatible with Christianity? How is it incompatible?
     

Keller's Every Good Endeavor - Chapter 10 - A New Conception of Work

I'll be facilitating a brief discussion on chapter ten (pages 183-197) of Keller's Work Monday evening. Here are a few questions we'll use to guide the discussion:

1. Keller opens chapter 10 with this question (183): “We all know someone in our field who is not a Christian who seems to hold the best values and produce the most elegant product, beautiful dance piece, or trusted and well-organized work team. If the Christian worldview is so unique, how do we account for this?”  
   
2. What are some of the dangers if we get the first question wrong? What are some of the dangers if we misunderstand the difference between “Christian work” and “non-Christian work”? 
   
3. How does an understanding of common grace help us understand work? 

 

 

Work and Calling - Seen by a 20 Something

Rather than looking to Keller's work for the discussion I've been leading monthly, this time I want to discuss a recent article from Relevant Magazine: Your Job is More Important Than You Think.

I look at Relevant from time to time; I appreciate the perspective from 20-30 something Christians.

I suspect our discussion will go along the lines of "how do we as a church validate calling in the 20-30 somethings in our midst?"

Keller's Every Good Endeavor - Chapter 9 - A New Story for Work

I'll be facilitating a discussion on chapter nine (pages 155-182) of Keller's Work Monday evening. In this case, the best discussion questions are likely those found at near the end of the chapter (page 181):

• What's the story line of the culture in which I live and the field where I work? Who are the protagonists and antagonists?
• What are the underlying assumptions about meaning, morality, origin, and destiny?
• What are the idols? The hopes? The fears?
• How does my particular profession retell this story line, and what part does the profession itself play in the story?
• What parts of the dominant worldview are basically in line with the gospel, so that I can agree with and align with them?
• What parts of the dominant worldviews are irresolvable without Christ? Where, in other words, must I challenge my culture? How can Christ complete the story in a different way?
• How do these stories affect both the form and the content of my work personally? How can I work not just with excellence but also with Christian distinctiveness in my work?
• What opportunities are there in my profession for
• serving individual people,
• serving society at large,
• serving my field of work,
• modeling competence and excellence, and
• witnessing to Christ?
  
   

Keller's Every Good Endeavor - Chapter 8 - Work Reveals Our Idols

I'll be facilitating a discussion on chapter eight (pages 129-152) of Keller's Work Thursday evening. Here are some questions I've pulled together for discussion.

1. Keller defines idolatry as "imagining and trusting anything to deliver the control, security, significance, satisfaction, and beauty that only the real God can give. It means turning a good thing into an ultimate thing." Do you see parallels to our Sunday-morning series in 1 Corinthians? What might they be?
     
2. Keller expands from mere individual or personal idols to cultural and corporate idols. What idols might easily ensnare our subculture in our Church?
    

Keller's Every Good Endeavor - Chapter 7 - Work Becomes Selfish

I'll be facilitating a discussion on chapter seven (pages 113-128) of Keller's Work Thursday evening. Here are some questions I've pulled together for discussion.

One of the reasons work is both fruitless and pointless is the powerful inclination of the human heart to make work, and its attendant benefits, the main basis of one's meaning and identity. [113]

1. Keller opens the chapter with a focus on Genesis 11 (Tower of Babel), stating that we "make a name for ourselves" with our work both individually and as groups. When it comes to making a name for yourself, where do you turn? Individually or a group? What role(s) or group(s)?
     
2. Keller then moves to Esther, talking about the "power of the palace" and the compromises that often come with palace residence [118]. Did any of those stories resonate? Are there examples you can share in which you need to navigate "gray areas"?
      
3. How do you get a new name based on something other than the palace? [123]
    

Keller's Every Good Endeavor - Chapter 6 - Work Becomes Pointless

I'll be facilitating a discussion on chapter six (pages 98-112) of Keller's Work Thursday evening. Here are some questions I've pulled together for discussion.

1. The chapter is largely based on the Old Testament Book of Ecclesiastes, starting with a reference to Ecclesiastes 2:17, "So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind." When do you find your work most meaningless? When do you find your work most meaningful?
      
2. Keller says, "One of the reasons so many people find work to be unsatisfying is, ironically, that people today have more power to choose their line of work than did people in the past." Do you agree, disagree, why? What are important lessons learned from your choices?
       
3. Keller closes the chapter with another reference to Ecclesiastes (4:5,6):
   
   "Fools fold their hands
       and ruin themselves.
    Better one handful with tranquility
       than two handfuls with toil
       and chasing after the wind."
   
   What are some useful strategies to attain what many people today refer to as work/life balance?
   
    

Redefining Work Panel Discussion

This panel discussion on redefining work is a lot like the discussions several of us have been having around the book Every Good Endeavor... except in our groups I'm the "theologian" and in this one Tim Keller is the theologian. So... I guess this discussion might be a bit more rich :-)

Not Just Wheat and Grapes

I was talking with my friend Merlin a few weeks ago when he said something along the lines of, “I think it is significant that when Jesus instituted Communion, he used bread and wine; it requires a great deal of skillful work to make bread and wine.” I’ve been thinking about that ever since, and I think Merlin is right; there is something really significant there.

I suppose Jesus could have chosen wheat and grapes, or maybe even something found in the wild. He could have made his point without any objects at all, or He could have miraculously produced the bread and wine Himself, like He had with other miracles in other circumstances before. But Jesus picked up the bread and the wine from the table that was prepared before Him, the work of the hands of others.

While this certainly isn’t the main point of Communion, I’m glad that Jesus ordained this rich practice of the Gospel with these objects produced by human hands. In doing so, Jesus made a profound statement about the dignity of our work. 

Apart from the miraculous, I doubt Jesus could make bread or wine. He could probably apply the skills of a carpenter when needed, but the skills of a winemaker or baker were outside of His experience. In order for this Holy moment to take place, Jesus had to rely on the skill and labor of others. Skilled farmers had to produce the wheat and the grapes. Others had to prepare the raw ingredients, skillfully storing them and perhaps transporting them. And yet others had to apply the crafts they had learned, likely passed down through generations and practiced for years before perfected. Countless skilled hands, and hours of labor, were represented as Jesus took the bread and the cup in His hands. The work of hands like ours, then in the hands of Jesus, all present as Jesus taught His Disciples, as well as us followers through the ages, the glorious Gospel.  

And so it continues today. While I believe there is still room for the spectacularly miraculous, Jesus usually operates the same way, picking up the result of our work from the table prepared before Him. He takes it into His hands, and puts it into the work of the Gospel. We ought to consider all of our work like this. Whatever it is we work at, we should think of it as something that will ultimately be placed in the hands of Jesus for His good purpose.

Keller on Redefining Work

Tim Keller recently led a post conference that followed The Gospel Coalition conference. Here is his opening talk that wonderfully summarizes his work in Every Good Endeavor.



Other media from both the conference and the post conference is available here.

Keller's Every Good Endeavor - Chapter 5 - Work Becomes Fruitless

I'll be facilitating a discussion on chapter five (pages 83-97) of Keller's work Monday evening. Here are some questions I've pulled together for discussion.

1. Keller begins with a look of Genesis 3 and the impact of sin (under the subhead "Things Fall Apart"). Share some specific, recent examples from work about how things fall apart.
    
2. On page 95, Keller begins to sum up the chapter with this: "That is why so many people inhabit the extremes of idealism and cynicism -- or even ricochet back and forth between those poles." Do you sense the same extremes in those around you? Do you occupy one of those poles? Or ricochet between those poles?
    
3. How do we respond when work appears to be fruitless?

Keller's Every Good Endeavor - Chapter 4 - Work as Service

I'll be facilitating a discussion on chapter four (pages 64-80) of Keller's work Monday evening. Here are some questions I've pulled together for discussion.

1. The Apostle Paul wrote: "Nevertheless, each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to them, just as God has called them. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches." (1 Cor 7:17)  Have you ever felt like a new or renewed commitment to faith required a vocational change? What instigated the urge to change and how did it turn out?
    
2. Keller quotes Martin Luther [69]: "It is pure invention that Pope, bishops, priests, and monks are called the "spiritual estate" while princes, lords, artisans, and farmers are called the "temporal estate." This is indeed a piece of deceit and hypocrisy. Yet no one need be intimidated by it, and that for this reason: All Christians are truly of the spiritual estate, and there is no difference among them except that of office..." Do you believe that there is no difference in calling, no difference between ordained and laity, sacred and secular, etc.? How have your views changed over the years?
    
3. How does your understanding of God's grace shape your understanding of your work? How about the work of others?
    

Keller's Every Good Endeavor - Chapter 3 - Work as Cultivation

I'll be facilitating a discussion on chapter three (pages 54-63) of Keller's work Monday evening. Here are some questions I've pulled together for discussion.

1. Genesis 1:28 says:  God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” What does it mean to "fill the earth and subdue it?"
2. Keller writes, "God's world is not hostile, so that it needs to be beaten down like an enemy. Rather, its potential is undeveloped, so it needs to be cultivated like a garden." He goes on to say that the pattern for all work is that it is both "creative and assertive." How do you view your work as cultivation?

Family Inc.

I recently listened to the HBR Ideacast titled: Can You Manage Your Family. Author Bruce Feiler was promoting his new book: The Secrets of Happy Families. The focus of the interview was on using current business theories and practices at home. It is interesting, and worth a listen or read (available here).

The interview seemed less about actually using business theories and practices at home, but more about using business jargon to help us think about our active participation in families. I'm in favor of that! I think jargon gets a bad wrap; it can be a very good thing when it helps clarify our thinking and communicate in our contexts. When we bring our jargon home, it often results in powerful metaphors. Whatever our field (musician, nurse, mechanic... ) it is a potent communication tool when we go to the trouble to say "It is like..."

When we bring our jargon home and work out the metaphors, it helps us connect the various parts of our own life... and it helps others get connect to the various parts of our life. It forces us to think creatively and be proactive. And that is a great thing, especially at home where we might too easily fall into the rut of passivity, taking the easy road without a boss to please or metrics to meet.     

Keller's Every Good Endeavor - Chapter Two

I'll be facilitating a discussion on chapter two (pages 44-53) of Keller's work Monday evening. Here are some questions I've pulled together for discussion.

1. It has been said that we (humans) were created for worship, or even fellowship, but Keller says that we are created for work (48).
   
   Which is it? Or are there even better answers?
    
   
2. Keller states that "the material world matters" (51).
   
   How do we know that the material world matters?  
   
   
3. Keller asserts that manual labor has no less dignity than knowledge work, and he goes on to say "that secular work has no less dignity and nobility than the sacred work of ministry.
   
   Do we believe that? Do we act like we believe that? What in our behavior might betray such a belief?

Congrats Dr. Taylor - New President at Evangel U

“Let your career pursue you,” Taylor said in a 2012 Evangel press release. “As women, our paths are diverse and unique. If you had told me when I was a student at Evangel that I was going to be president of a university someday, I could not have even imagined it. I am convinced that if we live each day of our lives in obedience to Him, everything else takes care of itself.”

http://lance.crusadermedia.com/index.php/archives/9098 

It is truly significant that the next president of Evangel will be a woman... but what is even more extraordinary (at least from my limited perspective) is that the next president of AGTS and CBC will be a woman. With consolidation, AGTS and CBC aren't disappearing; they are uniting the AG schools in the headquarters city under a new structure. It is great news that the Assemblies of God elected a woman to lead our national liberal arts college... but it is even bigger news that the AG elected a woman to lead our graduate seminary and undergraduate seminary. Great move; I'm proud to be an AG guy today!

Helping Students Connect Their Work With God's Work

Teresa Gillespie made some time for me today in her busy schedule. It was great to get caught up with her as we chatted in her office. 

Teresa serves as Dean of the School of Business and Management at Northwest University. She began her career as a school teacher on her home turf in the public schools of Los Angeles. Her pursuits then led her to the University of Washington to study law, and then to a 17-year career as a corporate attorney for US West.  She began to teach as an adjunct at Northwest in 2000 and then joined the faculty as a full-time professor in 2006. In 2008 she was promoted to serve as Dean, leading the business faculty, administering the University’s business curricula, and building new programs. 

In reflecting on her career she said, “I never expected to serve as Dean of a business school, but I can see that the Lord used my experience to thoroughly prepare me.” Her background and experience in teaching provides valuable tools she shares with her colleagues on the faculty. Her career at US West occurred during a time of constant, rapid change as the communications industry was being rebuilt and redefined as the Internet was taking hold. And her solid grounding in faith gave her the skills to integrate faith with life and work; the kind of integration that is unique to a place like Northwest. 

I asked her about what works when teaching students about work and calling. What seems to land with students as she and her colleagues endeavor to help students connect their work with God’s work?  

One of her teaching and research interests lies in the field of business ethics. She explained how she recently reworked her whole approach to the topic (an approach she’ll be presenting to peers at an academic conference in the coming months).  

She had been teaching courses in the tried and true ways, reviewing philosophies and evaluating case studies. There was one specific episode that stood out to her as a turning point. A graduate student turned in a paper that was part of a capstone course focused on business ethics in which the student needed to evaluate an ethical dilemma according to the philosophies and processes presented in the course. Teresa said, “The paper was an accomplished example of thorough analysis. But the problem was that the student arrived at the wrong conclusion… disappointingly justifying a self-serving decision.”  In this case, the professor took this as an opportunity to not merely assess the student’s performance, but courageously asses her own performance.

Now her approach includes leading her students to

• Establish and adhere to codes and creeds,
• Identify and emulate heroes (role models), and 
• Anticipate and prepare for tough decisions and ethical crisis (practice).

She acquainted me with the MBA Oath, a movement that binds MBA graduates and students to each other and to higher ethical standards. Codes and creeds like this serve as a basis for students and professors to call one another to high standards; it is a new call to integrity and accountability that results in greater good.  

This approach is landing well with students, resulting in productive conversations and work. Teresa is seeing evidence that this new approach is making a difference.  

From my perspective as an MBA graduate, I’m impressed. It seems that such an approach steers students away from the selfish ambition that has been common among business students to a focus on stewardship.    

Way to go Teresa for your efforts to help students connect their work with God’s work!

By the Numbers

I occasionally listen to the Freakonomics podcast; I find it interesting and entertaining... and appreciate the data-based analysis.

Following up on yesterday's post about Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In, I noticed a Freakonomics episode from last month entitled Women Are Not Men. It is a good 37-minute spin on gender equality from a uniquely Freakonomics point of view.

I think the most interesting segment of the podcast is their answer to the nature -v- nurture question.

And, as usual, they have some fun with numbers. For example, they pointed out that gender equality may not be all it is cracked up to be since men suffer a disproportionate amount of lightening-related fatalities (85%). Divine judgment?

If you are thinking about issues of gender and work and calling with me, take a few minutes and listen to the podcast, available by clicking here.

Lean In

Facebook’s COO, Sheryl Sandberg, is in the news these days on the occasion of the release of her book: Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. I haven’t read the book yet… but I have listened to a few interviews (check out the HBR IdeaCast interview by clicking here). Her December 2010 TED talk put her on the map regarding this topic, available by clicking here. 

One of the main points, if not the main point, of the interviews isn’t a technique or philosophy or new discovery; the point is that we need to talk about gender and work. Talking about gender and work in all the various contexts of our work, from all our various perspectives, makes a real difference. We need to continue to talk and study and think about gender and work. 

It isn’t just a matter of talk, of course, but no real change will continue to occur unless we continue to talk (and listen and discuss and even argue). This appears to be universally true; I know that it is especially true in my networks of influence (church, higher ed, nonprofits and such).

The topic of this blog, work and calling, won’t be complete unless we consider gender and work. 

Just this week I was talking to a friend, pointing out one of the deficiencies of this blog. Specifically, the work and calling stories I’ve written so far have been mostly about men. I explained, “While I have made some efforts to connect with women for project, so far I’ve taken the easy road and merely picked the low hanging fruit.” It is easier for me to meet male friends for lunch or coffee, easier for me to have a free-flowing conversation, and I have taken the easy way (I tell myself that it has been the efficient way… efficient sounds less lazy than easy).

But it is just that kind of attitude that consistently excludes women from full and meaningful engagement in work. I’ve never had any problems dealing with women in formal contexts. Working for and with women at the office and in meetings is a non-issue; serving with women on committees and boards has always been natural for me. But not all work is accomplished in formal contexts. Informal contexts (like recreation, or casual conversations, or road trips, or coffee) are important places where real work gets done; that doesn’t come so easily for me. 

I’m not sure what the entire answer is, but I know that it involves (1) not settling for the easiest ways and (2) continuing to include gender in the conversation about work and calling. 

Listen to Sheryl Sandberg’s important views and let’s keep talking.