Begin Your Year With More Meaningful Work
Dear GFWI Friends,
Happy New Year! In 2024, I was struck by how many of the people around me experienced great pain in their work. Some pain was caused by industry shifts resulting in fewer opportunities. Some pain is a result of difficult work environments, bosses and coworkers. Some pain exists when personal strife is compounded by the need to work when one is battling illness or has family stress.
As we begin this new year, I am reflecting on that pain in light of 1 Peter 1:3-9: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
The start of a new year is an opportunity to shift our focus back to the inheritance that "can never perish, spoil or fade." Our work is part of building toward that inheritance. Our work is about rejoicing in the trials knowing they will result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. We hope some of the resources below will help you cultivate a vision for your work that will rejoice in that divine inheritance.
DISCOVER GOD'S PURPOSE FOR YOUR WORK
Our two book studies are perfect for individual or group study as you begin a new year focusing on Jesus in and through your work.
GO FORTH: GOD'S PURPOSE FOR YOUR WORK
Designed around eight scripture passages that illuminate how God is using all of our day-to-day activities for his glory, Go Forth is an invitation to reimagine every vocation and workplace as an arena where God’s character is on display. For each of the eight weeks, you will be given an introduction, a time to prepare yourself to hear what God is saying through his Word, scriptural passages to focus on, discussion questions, a practice for the following week, and a commissioning prayer. Each session also includes leader notes for those facilitating the study.
THE MISSIONAL DISCIPLE: PURSUING MERCY AND JUSTICE AT WORK
This intermediate-level workbook includes a six-week, video-based course on exploring how mercy and justice are not only central to the biblical story but also at the heart of God’s character. Created for group use and packed with case studies, community discussion questions, simple practices and prayer prompts, this interactive course will equip you to become a restorative presence in your everyday workplace.
ONLINE COURSES TO ENRICH YOUR WORK
Our discipleship courses include videos, biblical teaching and practical exercises to give you a comprehensive experience of faith and work integration. They can be taken by individuals or in group cohorts.
WHY YOUR WORK MATTERS
An introductory-level, four-module online course to help deepen participants' understanding of why and how God is using their work to bring about his glory.
FAITH & WORK IMMERSION
A robust eight-module intermediate online faith and work course that provides an intensive look at the basic theology of faith and work: calling, heart renewal, ethics, relationships at work, excellence at work and city vision. Students will see that work matters to God: their actual work, their work conduct, their work relationships, and even their hopes for their vocations and industries.
BEGIN THE YEAR WITH INTENTIONAL PRAYER
Our new guide, A Prayer Walk for Your Work, will help you expand your imagination for your work through the power of prayer. We often view our workplace experience, relationships and industries through the lens of the fall. But God calls us to fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen (2 Corinthians 4:18).
A REFRESHING PODCAST FOR YOUR COMMUTE
In partnership with Surge's Faith, Work & Rest podcast, our series is Knowing God in Work & Rest. This series invites us to make a subtle, yet profound, shift in the way we approach our work. We often imagine ourselves working for God. We think about how we’re making an impact or being productive in a way that honors him.
But the incredible invitation that we find in scripture is to work with God. The unbelievable story of redemption reaches its fullness in Immanuel. He came to restore the mysterious union of Christ in us, us in him. The New Creation that was birthed through the resurrection involves the full scope of life. In the beginning, God invites us to cultivate his kingdom as his image-bearers. This wasn’t intended to happen while he stood far off, but with him by our side.
You can tune in on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. The full episode list is HERE.