'workplace' Tagged Posts
What Does the Resurrection Say to Your Frontline?
I find it terribly easy, as I go about my day-to-day life, to forget that this current existence is not all there is. This isn’t a forgetfulness of belief—at the cognitive level I am fully aware of the reality that there is more than my eyes can see. It is a forgetfulness of what I suppose could be called practical belief. I can speak passionately about the implications of the resurrection and the hope of all that’s to come, and…
How Many Hours of Your Week Are Dedicated to God?
I remember the sessions from my high school days, a moment intended to create a self-evaluation of the use of my time (good), which ended in guilt (not-good). I sat with pen and paper, attempting to make a rough pie chart, while our leader went through the questions. “How many hours are there in a week?” Twenty four each day, times seven days. One hundred sixty eight hours. “How many of those hours do you spend sleeping?” If I’m trying…
Your Frontline Is Not On Hold
It’s been a strange year, hasn’t it? Parts of life that were once so stable we rarely gave thought to them have been disrupted. Our life rhythms and habits have been interrupted. Your work life may have changed. Maybe you’re working from home. Maybe meetings are via Zoom instead of around a conference table. School life has changed, with virtual learning. Community spaces have changed, with limits to our access and interactions in places like restaurants, coffee shops, and gyms.…
Frontline Stories From the Whole Body of Christ
It has been a privilege and delight to share the stories of Equippers and Frontliners with you over the last several weeks. As I’ve sat down (virtually) with each of these brothers and sisters to hear what faithful discipleship looks like in their own context, I’ve been repeatedly encouraged. This is part, I believe, of why we need to hear stories like the ones we’ve been sharing this summer. It’s not only about learning from each other, though this assuredly…
“God Is Here”: How to Provide Pastoral Encouragement for the Frontlines (Alison Gerber)
Each Sunday, Alison Gerber remembers that many people are coming to her church extremely tired. It’s one of the challenges of life on the frontline in her New England context, where productivity is put on a pedestal. It’s also a reality that points to the need for encouragement from the church community for everyday faithfulness. With this in mind, one of the ways that she encourages her congregation for their everyday Kingdom work is an awareness of people’s time. “I…
The Simple Practices of Missional Discipleship (B.L.E.S.S. model)
“Discover life with God for the good of the world,” is the mission statement of Grace Chapel, where Tim Ghali serves as the Pastor of Group Life. The church has embraced the call to make disciples, nurture disciples, and equip them to live on mission in their everyday lives. “We want to invite people to see the deeper way of Jesus,” he says. Tim knows that people are approaching discipleship from different places. Some people are already sold on it…
The “Great Outlet” – An overflowing work of God
A few years ago, Paul Ragusa had an encounter with God that changed his life. Though he had gone to church for most of his life, he found himself missing something critical. But then he had an experience he can only refer to as being “born again,” dramatically transformed into a new person in Christ. “I feel as though I have become an entirely different species of man with completely different capabilities,” he says. “All of the interactions that I…
What Does Discipleship Really Mean? Whole-Life Discipleship
What does discipleship really mean? It’s been a question Stephen Johnson has been on a journey to answer for years. “Whatever discipleship means,” he says, “it must be relevant to everyone, everywhere, at all times, or it isn’t real discipleship.” The model of whole-life discipleship has offered this all-inclusive vision of life to Fellowship Bible Church, where Stephen has pastored for the last eleven years. It has also made discipleship very relational and situational, inviting everyone to ask what the…