Please God, Let There Be Another Boom: Faith and Hope at Work in Lean Times and Good Times

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

PART ONE: In the Beginning Work Was Good

CHAPTER 1 The Creator Works

CHAPTER 2 The Creator’s Image at Work

CHAPTER 3 The Creator’s Mandate

PART TWO: Sin Infected Work

CHAPTER 4 The Worker’s Rebellion

CHAPTER 5 The Workers’ Judgment

PART THREE: Christ Redeemed Work

CHAPTER 6 Christ is the Redeemer of Work

CHAPTER 7 Christian Workers Continue the Creation Mandate

CHAPTER 8 God Calls Workers to a Relationship with Christ

CHAPTER 9 God Calls Workers to Community

CHAPTER 10 God Calls Workers to Serve with Dignity

PART FOUR: Dimensions of Service

CHAPTER 11 Good Work

CHAPTER 12 Pay and Its Problems

CHAPTER 13 Relationships at Work

CHAPTER 14 Verbal Witness

CHAPTER 15 Women and Blue-collar Work

CHAPTER 16 Authority at Work

CHAPTER 17 Rest

CHAPTER 18 Job Selection and Gifts

CHAPTER 19 Meaning and Work

CHAPTER 20 Prayer at Work

About the Author

Bibliography

Acknowledgements

I am indebted to my loving wife Donna for consenting to repeatedly proof-read my manuscripts. Her insights and questions helped me cull irrelevant material and sharpen what remains. My children, Nathan, David and Holly, have not only postponed family events and celebrations because of my work, but by sharing their experiences in the blue-collar world, they have deepened my resolve to address issues of faith at work.

I am indebted to the feedback of Haddon Robinson and Will Messenger, whose questions and principled teaching have encouraged me. Also, the people of Leduc Alliance Church have patiently answered questions about conditions in their places of work. Their faithfulness to the Lord, in places that are sometimes difficult, inspires me.

The business community of Leduc and area has continually provided a vibrant background for my study of the blue-collar workplace and the issues of life and work in general. And, finally, I thank employers in my blue-collar upbringing who helped shape, for better or worse, my perspective on work.

When you consider that more than 50 percent of a person’s waking hours are in the workplace, why not enjoy the experience? If you can find joy in the job, as well as in the journey, your work can become a place that brings immense satisfaction as you deliver your very best! Insightful and instructional, Grant McDowell’s investment of time and research has resulted in a relevant and practical guide for those looking to connect God’s purpose and their place of work. Knowing his commitment to those within his community, his genuine interest in mentoring and developing others, thank you Grant for the privilege of previewing your new book.

Jim Ewing, Co-Founder

Pro-Vision Solutions Inc.

Edmonton, Alberta (Canada)

Mentorship BLOG: http://provision-mentorship.blogspot.com/

Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, and David are all referred to in Hebrews 11 as people of faith… and they all had jobs—construction, agriculture, government, politics and the military. They served God—at work—and they have left an example for how Canadians can serve God—at work. This book speaks of Christians who serve God through their work, in the times of Scripture, and today. May it challenge you to be a Hebrews 11 Christian—at work.

Paul Richardson

Former President of Christian Business Ministries Canada

To business owners who risk their investments on the good-will of their workers, and to the workers who risk working for them. May your trust be rewarded with growth.

Introduction

The Sunday morning adult elective moved along fine until I asked what the group thought of the principal lesson. As though he had rehearsed, the big farmer whose frame dominated the front row blurted out, Don’t wanna think; just tell us the answers. He is not the only one. Christians have not always wanted to think about integrating faith in Christ with day-to-day work. Therefore, the critical question is How can we help blue-collar workers, regardless of their knowledge of the Bible, integrate faith and work?

Most attempts to close the faith at work gap target leaders in business while trades and labor are not being given the message that their work praises the Lord. For example, worship services, small group Bible studies, and even board meetings are seen as sacred tasks, but Christians may be unsure whether God is interested in their lives from 9 to 5, or, in some cases, from 6 a.m. or earlier until 6 p.m. or later.

The assumption that God favors the role of career minister more than the blue-collar worker deepens the divide between faith and work. For example, one speaker explained how he came to faith following a terrible industrial accident. During his recovery he sensed God’s call to pastoral ministry. His testimony, using the language of calling, explicitly claimed that he had been promoted to a higher purpose than his previous job in the oil industry. Perhaps extreme crises elevate the importance of pastoral work in the minds of people who face such experiences. Moreover, there is a deeply rooted conviction among many Christians that the work God values happens in church buildings, though some admit that God might also value the work of executives in leadership roles. Those of us who pastor churches share some responsibility for creating this divide between faith and work. I have heard frustrated leaders of an organization that ministers to Christians in business saying, My pastor doesn’t get it! However, when a mentor asked me what surprised me about engaging in a ministry that aims to integrate faith and work, I said I was surprised at how difficult this work can be. Workers sometimes would rather leave their faith at church or at home than take it to the job.

Sunki Bang suggests business and mission have been viewed in several different ways. Bang’s delineation of business is as follows:

Business and mission—two isolated activities

Business for mission—using the proceeds of business as a way of financing mission

Business as a platform for mission—work and professional life as a means of channeling mission throughout the world (in Korea they are called Businaries)

Mission in business—hiring non-believers with a view to leading them to Christ, offering chaplaincy services.

Business as mission—business as part of the mission of God in the world.[1]

Seeing business as ministry, like seeing labor as ministry, leads one to integrate faith and work.

This problem must be addressed because, from the opening chapters of Genesis, Scripture describes work as essential to God’s purpose for people. However, blue-collar workers often do not know that their work matters to God. We dare not treat work as an exterior reality Christians must somehow cope with, while treating faith as an interior reality to keep uncontaminated by trades, labor or service work. Work itself is God’s ministry rather than just a platform for ministry.

PART ONE

IN THE BEGINNING WORK WAS GOOD

The bright yellow sticker said, in bold, black, irreverent lettering, Please God, let there be another oil boom and this time I promise I won’t ____ it all away. The sticker, in the window of a pickup truck, revealed the frustration and stubborn hope of a workforce whose existence depends on the price of oil. The sticker appeared in the mid 1980s in a small city in the province of Alberta next to a sprawling industrial park, which seemed to have almost as many empty buildings as businesses. As well, some homeowners, owing more to the bank than the market value of their homes, had walked away from their mortgages. Besides illustrating the economy, the crude sticker depicted aspects of blue-collar culture: blue-collar workers prefer blunt, direct talk; they depend on economic forces beyond their control; and they want faith, if they care about it at all, to relate to their everyday circumstances. Though the yellow sticker’s prayer was irreverent, it betrayed a need for a practical view of God’s involvement in the workplace.

A large, interdenominational mission conference illustrated the church’s failure to help workers integrate faith with the workplace.[2] Although one set of conference seminars addressed this subject, presenters focused almost entirely on how to verbally share one’s faith. In other words, the business community is seen as a new frontier for missions. As a result, Bible studies and small group materials usually focus on how to evangelize effectively in the workplace. Instead of viewing work as mission, many leaders and writers view work as a platform for mission. Consequently, small group material seldom addresses the practical issues facing the blue-collar worker; rather it repackages evangelistic technique for the workplace. Although there is a place for verbal witness at work, this book focuses on how we can help workers like the welding shop laborer and the truck driver appreciate God’s role in their workplaces. But first, we focus on God as a worker, on his image in workers, and on his mandate that people should work.

CHAPTER 1

The Creator Works

A laborer who works in a welding shop located in an industrial park as big as a medium-sized city might wonder how a holy God regards his work. His pastor believes and teaches that God values work, but the laborer’s memory replays the sarcastic, filthy names the lead hand calls him. His workplace culture seems to make work a necessary evil, and so mocks the truth that work is inherently good. Yet, the Bible reveals God himself as a worker: By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. (Genesis 2:2,3) God worked in creation. Banks writes

The biblical writings often depict God as a craftsperson at work, for example, as a potter, metalworker, weaver, knitter, stonemason, carpenter, builder, or architect. In their own ways these occupations, as well as others ranging from gardening and landscape artistry, to interior design and urban planning, can be earthly manifestations of heavenly work. But any occupation or activity that has a touch of originality about it reflects something of God’s creative work.[3]

Genesis shows God’s workmanship: the sky (1:7), the sun and moon (1:16), the sea creatures, the birds and the animals (1:20-25). And God created man in his own image on day six of creation (1:27). As Genesis 2:2 says, God worked and then rested. He surveyed all he had made and saw that it was very good. (Genesis 1:31)

Furthermore, the Psalms depict God’s work. Psalm 19:1, for example, says, The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Other Psalms picture God the worker: When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? (8:3,4) Psalm 107 appeals to those in dangerous situations to,  . . . give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men… (vv. 8,15,21,31) In this Psalm, we see God actively involved, working in the circumstances of his people, drawing to himself those who have ignored or rejected his love. And Psalm 104:10-22 describes God’s active work, sustaining the environment where laborers work.

As he begins sweeping bits of slag, chunks of dried mud, and other garbage, the laborer mulls over the possibility that God might see work as valuable because God himself works. Genesis also expresses God’s work through the words form (2:7,8,19), build (2:22), and plant (2:8). Maybe there is a connection between Sunday and Monday after all. The Creator values hands-on involvement with his creation. God is active. Throughout his creation story are the words make and create.[4]

The God of the Bible is distinct from the gods of other religions, which would not subject themselves to a servant role that includes making things for others to enjoy. In the Bible, for example, the Messiah himself was a carpenter who had been born in a stable where humble shepherds visited him. As a result, the laborer can work with awareness that God enters into service work.

While Greek philosophers viewed work as beneath the dignity of their deities, and Greek thinkers viewed people as either noble men of leisure or slaves destined for menial tasks, Christian theology sees work with one’s hands as noble and godly.[5] Carl Henry illustrates this with the example of God the Son: It is inconceivable that he would consider his daily task a chore and not a challenge; that he should be content with shoddy and disreputable work instead of showing himself a master craftsman.[6] And G.F. Macleod writes, "God loves the material element He has created and