Connecting Faith and Work
By Bob Voglewede
Avera Health Vice President of Mission Services
Recently a newspaper headline caught my attention: "New capitalists see faith as the bottom line." The accompanying column was written by Gregory Millman, currently researching a book, Good Work, about how people connect faith and work.
Implicit in Millman's comments is the sense that, increasingly, business people are asking themselves, "How do I better integrate my faith-life and my business-life?" Millman illustrates this phenomenon by quoting the vice president of a big Midwestern bank who took two years off from her job to study theology at a seminary in California. "I had started life with faith in one part of my life, and career in the other. Somewhere along the way I decided that work needs to be more connected to the sense of mission."
This statement reminded me of comments I've heard Avera Health colleagues make in recent months:
"I was thinking as I was driving to work this morning about the purpose of my life and the meaning of what I'm doing. I'd like to hear more about meaning."
"What would help me and my Board is knowing how you decide which mission-but non-revenue-producing-projects to approve and which to turn down during times when our financial situation is very tight. How do we make those decisions? What criteria should we use?"
"Next year, I'd like to see us take up that book, Talking About Jesus Today. After all, that's why we're all here."
In his article, Millman makes a number of interesting points, among them that...
- An image he frequently finds business people touched by is that of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples and declaring, "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave."
- People are looking for a sense of the sacredness of ordinary, daily work. People want to know how we can, as Ignatius Loyola used to say, find God in all things.
- A friend of many Avera Health people, St. Benedict of Nursia, has been especially helpful to people seeking a way to appreciate the importance of work. His rule for monastic life, in some ways ancient but paradoxically modern, has nuggets of wisdom for contemporary searchers.
- Christians who want to make a difference in the world have to excel on the world's terms. Commitment to one's faith is no substitute for competence. "They will allow you to live your principles so long as you meet their objectives."
- St. Benedict's Rule lays down one chief qualification for high monastic office: humility. Similarly, contemporary Christian CEOs seeking to integrate faith and work often speak of humility as one of their toughest and most important challenges.
Toward the end of his column, Millman relates how many business people, if they hope to be clear and consistent in living out their vocations, have found they need the support of similarly disposed colleagues.
And what principles might guide a group of business people gathering to read, listen, reflect and share about the integration of faith and work? Perhaps these are a few:
- Jesus promised that when we gather in his name, he will be present. When we so gather together, let us remember and trust that promise.
- We all share the same over-arching goal; we don't have to share the same beliefs or practices. In fact, diversity is a source of richness.
- We all have something to contribute, and thus should do so in moderation; we all can learn from others, and thus must be careful to listen.
- Sometimes we will never get beyond our present understandings until we are able to voice them. An environment where it is safe to speak honestly and personally-and even change one's mind-is a wonderful gift.
- In such gatherings, our individual task is not to preach to, convert, or out-debate others. It is to listen, share and discern what is "of the Spirit" for my work-life.