Dr. Fletcher Tink on Theology of Work

1.  Theology of Work
Understanding the Nature of the Key
Institutions

2. In this session we will learn the following:
1. The Role of the Church
2. The Failures of the Church and the “World”
3. Allusions to the Value of Work in the lives of “Out of the
Box” People
4. Universal Call to “Ministry”
5. Understanding the “Systems”
6. Quotations on “Work”

3.  There is a danger that in popular Christianity
“community” is limited to the world of the “Church”.
The Church is often seen as nothing more than a . . .
 1. Building or a
 2. Legal Institution or a
 3. Program or a
 4. Restrictive political entity
When, what it really is, is the sum total of “people
called by God”, to represent Him in the world.

4. Words and Music by Richard K Avery and Donald S Marsh, 1972
For a children‟s rendition of this, see this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxrl8zDVjzo
“I am the Church, you are the Church, we are the
Church together. All who follow Jesus all around
the world, yes, we’re the Church together.”
“The church is not a building, the church is not a
steeple; the church is not a resting place, the
church is a people.

5. “We're many kinds of people, with many
kinds of faces, all colors and all ages, too,
from all times and places.
“And when the people gather, there's singing
and there's praying; there's laughing and
there's crying sometimes, all of it saying:
“At Pentecost some people received the Holy
Spirit
and told the Good News through the world to
all who would hear it.”

6. According to the song, the Church is PEOPLE!!!
People gathered and scattered, taking their
whole being and their message of Good News
wherever they go.
The Church is “Centripetal”: spinning people
together and . . .
“Centrifugal” flinging people out into the
world as witnesses of His grace

7. Between Christ‟s resurrection and His return,
the Church is the unique institution of God‟s
presence, the “body of Christ”:
1. It is God‟s especially designed collection of
people interlocked into relationship,
commissioned to proclaim the redemption
of the world through Christ.

8. 2. It is the “tithe” of creative and
redemptive activity intended to
infiltrate that which is unholy with its
character of holiness. It is intended
that Christians be “invasive” rather than
“evasive”
3. It is where Christians are equipped to
serve God‟s Kingdom in the world at
large. This is also true of the STEM
world.

9. Yet, the sad reality is that the Church often fails to
engage the world, living contentedly, or in
hostility in its sub-cultural Christian ghettoes.
The Church fails to engage the world because . . .
1. It often regards only its own work as “ministry”
2. It regards value creation in the sphere of
science as merely a neutral or negative activity
with no intrinsic or eternal value.

10. 3. Or it reduces the Bible to the spiritual realm
disconnected from the ordinary world.
4. It lives in fear of the seductive influence of the
world, including science, among its members,
fearing contamination, or betrayal.
5. Its pastors have limited or no experience in the
STEM world to know how to equip members for
engagement

11. On the other hand, the non-Church world
including the STEM world fails to engage the
Church because it believes that. . .
1. Its activities are morally neutral and not
accountable to the Church.
2. It is too busy or too absorbed to deal with
“trivial” Church pursuits
3. It asks questions or stimulates demand for
things of inferior value that might be
insignificant to God and higher purposes.

12. 4. It never gets around to addressing issues of
moral accountability.
5. It ignores the importance of relationships and
is only interested in the bottom line or results
for their own sake.
6. It fears the implicit hypocrisy of religious
institutions that oftentimes seek to “milk” the
resources and benefits of the non-church world
without appreciating the sacrifice or cost
involved.

13. Implicitly there is an unspoken hierarchy of “ministries” in the
Church, all of which see themselves as serving the Church rather
than the world.
For instance, from those professions of highest value to lower:
Missionary
Denominational administrator
Pastor
Theological professor
Church staff person
Church volunteers
Finally, “secular employment” including the STEM professions
which though admired, really are seen as neutral in their
religious or moral significance.

14. Yet, in the parable of the talents, in Luke
19:11-27, Jesus gives highest priority, not to
clergy, but to persons who used God‟s
gifting in their lives, under risk, to give “value
added”.
They earned added responsibilities, not in the
Church, but in administrating cities, certainly
not a typical reward!

15. The Gospel of Matthew highlights Jesus‟ use of 23
similes and metaphors to describe the Kingdom of
God:
17 of these take place in workplaces
7 speak of farming
6 take place in the home
4 speak of handling money
2 talk of caring for animals, or caring for children,
or going to a wedding. The remainder talk about
riding a camel, fishing, weather forecasting,
baking bread, or buying pearls
NONE take place in a synagogue or temple!!!

16. Jesus describes the work of the Spirit as it “blows wherever it
pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it
comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone
born of the Spirit”. (John 3:8).
Everyone “born of the Spirit” suggests an unpredictability or
spontaneity of the Spirit, not confined in institutions or
programs or even the Church.
Ironically, Jesus‟ discussion with Nicodemus that night was
probably in a neutral location away from the Synagogue in
much the same way that it was with the woman at the well,
told in John 4. He tailored his discussion to their social,
cultural and economic context.

17. Repeatedly throughout Scripture, the Holy Spirit seems
to descend on the most unsuspecting candidates.
For instance:
1. Exodus 31:1-2: This was the first time that the
Holy Spirit filled anyone in Scripture. Bezalel and
Oholiab, temple artisans, were filled . . .
“giving Bezalel great wisdom, ability and
expertise in all kinds of crafts. He is a master
craftsman, expert in working with gold, silver,
and bronze. He is skilled in engraving and
mounting gemstones and in carving wood. He is
a master of every craft.”

18. 2. Matthew 1: Christ was born to an unsuspecting
young girl, Mary, made pregnant through the
power of the Holy Spirit.
 Ironically, in that same chapter is recorded the
genealogy of Jesus, including four women‟s
names. To mention their names in a genealogy
was, in itself, a scandal, given the gender divide
during that era of Judaism. But the names
themselves compounded the scandal as all four
women bore the stigma of violence and social
class.

19.  Tamar was impregnated by her father-in-law.
 Rahab was a non-Jewish prostitute.
 Ruth was a Moabite widow, a member of a cursed
tribe.
 Bathsheba was concubine and co-conspiritor
with David, to the murder of her husband.
Yet the Holy Spirit appropriated their scandals into
the story of redemption!

20. Most prominent leaders in Scripture neither held clerical
(Church) positions nor seemed highly qualified to perform
their significant leadership tasks that ultimately
transformed or redeemed their worlds around them. For
example . . .
Noah, farmer and ship-builder, preserved the human race.
Abraham, agricultural mogul, designated to become the
father of many nations.
Moses, murderer, sheepherder, with a speech impediment,
delivered his people from slavery, and inculcated the Law
into their culture.

21. Joseph, arrogant teenager, slave, accused of moral failure and
prisoner, becomes the agent of salvation for his family, Egypt
and the surrounded nations. He was also the architect and
creator of cities.
David, sheep herder and “runt”-kid in the family. Later, despite
being an adulterer and murderer, he served as an effective ruler
and “friend of God”
Nehemiah, security detail in the enemy royal court, rebuilt the walls
of Jerusalem
Esther, Miss Persia, becomes the deliverer of her people
Daniel, exiled from his own land, works his way up to the position
of court administrator, deftly succeeding four tyrant emperors

22. Joseph, carpenter, earthly father of Jesus
Matthew, tax collector, Gospel writer
Luke, medical doctor, Gospel writer
Mark, mission-casualty, but becomes Gospel writer
Peter, fisherman, becomes early proponent of the
Gospel
Paul, former terrorist then tentmaker, uses his
profession to access both rich and poor towards
the Gospel

23. Conclusions:
The narrative of the Bible shows clearly that professional
ranking has little to do with God‟s calling. He chooses all to
be ministers and uses all talents and gifts in vocation to serve
as transformative agents of the Kingdom wherever we are
placed.
It is our responsibility to learn how to leverage influence and
presence to extend the Kingdom of God through whatever
our vocation may be.
The Church ought to be the arena of preparation for that
calling.

24. For the most part, the STEM professions interfaces with the
complexities of the “City”.
The “City” is not just a demographical concentration of
people. It is also . . .
 1. A population center that spawns alternate
value systems.
 2. A new “way of life” or “rhythm of life” that
is distinct from rural or small town
lifestyles.
 3. A place that attracts, manipulates and dispenses
“power”—political, economic and cultural.

25.  4. It is the “hub” of innovation and change, both
good and bad. Here, the STEM professions take
the lead.
 5. It is generally a place of cultural and economic
diversity, resulting often in cultural clash and
economic disparity.
 6. It provides opportunities for social mobility and
anonymity.
 7. It concentrates collections of subcultures in
critical masses that become self-sustaining, both
healthy and pathological

26. 
 8. It survives by the healthy interplay of its
various infra-structural “systems”.
 9. The City is not just an “organization, but it
is an “organism” with life in constant
dynamism.
In some sense, it is similar to, or parallel to,
the description of the human body in I Cor 12.

27. The human body at the physiological level is a complex interplay between
various “systems”. These include:
1. the Neurologic System
2. the Musculoskeletal System
3. the Cardiovascular System
4. the Immune System
5. the Ear, Nose and Throat System
6. the Psychiatric System
7. the Endocrine System
8. the Ophthalmologic System
9. the Pulmonary System
10. the Hematological System
11. the Dermatological System
12. the Urinary System
13. the Gynecological System
14. the Gastrointestinal System

28. 1. That all are necessary for the adequate
functioning of the body
2. That when one system is diseased or injured,
that there are backup or redundant system
that seek to repair the damage.
3. That one diseased system can traumatize or
destroy other systems until death sets in.

29. I Corinthians 12:1, 25-26: “The body is a unit,
though it is made up of many parts; and though
all its parts are many, they form one body. . .
there should be no division in the body, but that
its parts should have equal concern for each
other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with
it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with
it.”
Here we see the body as an organism, with each
part inter-related and mutually dependent.

30. In similar fashion, the City or any Metropolitan
Statistical Area (MSA) is an organism with a
variety of “systems” that interplay with each
other. Here are some of them:
1. The Transportation System: Determines
how people get around.
2. The Welfare/Social Service System:
Determines how people in crisis or chronic
conditions economically survive

31.  3. The Communications/Information System:
Determines how people are informed.
 4. The Political System: Determines how
people are governed.
 5. The Legal System: Determines how
people in conflict resolve disputes, or protect
themselves
 6. The Economic System: Determines how
people are employed or exchange
services

32. 7. The Public Works System: Determines how
communities handle basic infrastructural services.
8. The Health Care System: Determines how sick
people are cared for or cured.
9. The Recreational/Entertainment System: Determines
how people handle their “alternate realities”, their
“sabbath” rest.
10. The Educational System: Determines how people are
skilled or enculturated.
11. Defense/Emergency System: Determines how the
culture defends itself or responds to collective crisis.

33. 12. The Various Religious Systems: Determines
how people find transcendent meaning
13. The Social System: Determines how people
engage community and extend networks of
support or common interest
14. The Technological System. Determines how
people transcend material limitations.
15. The Land Management System: Determines
how people deal with their ecological
context and their natural resources

34. So when one system is sick and diseased, like the
physical body, the whole community is affected.
A healthy body rushes its resources to the
diseased system, to bring health to it.
However, if the disease, or the pathology is too
great, then the whole body is profoundly
affected, and it can become a “malaise” unto
death.
Cities do die---Indeed, we have seen many cities
die.

35. 1. To live in our ghetto-ized communities, well
protected from, and/or oblivious to the disease
around us. We can do this by . . .
 disengaging from “real life”
 “caccooning” in protective secure communities
 taking “potshots” are the ungodly world around
without doing anything
 creating a neat division between the “real world” and the
Christian Church

36. Or . . .
Infiltrating the various systems of the City to
utilize one‟s skills, job, vocation, to leverage
Christian influence “on the job”, to transform
one‟s context as a “change agent” so that every
facet of life becomes accountable before God.
Hence, Christian ministry is not just what happens
in and through Churches, but that the Church
engages the world, and its members become
transformative agents right where they work.

37. The STEM professions play an important role in
many of these systems:
1. Create efficiency
2. Create markets and products
3. Generate research and discourse
4. Affect quality of life
5. Redesign the environment
6. Solve problems
7. Stimulate economies

38. What other impacts do you see the STEM
professions having on the systems?
Are they always beneficial?
What standards are used to determine what
“beneficial” means?
Where do the STEM professions perhaps
influence negatively a healthy engagement with
the systems?

39. It is hoped then those in the STEM professions
might have a positive two-fold benefit in
relationship to the systems:
1. To be agents of accountability and
transformation within their own professions, so
that the professions themselves act more
“Christianly” because you have been there.
2. To motivate the professions to influence
positively clients, service providers, and the
community where it is found, or what it serves.

40. 1. Medical personnel
2. Scientific communities
3. Urban developers
4. Academic community
5. Management in the STEM professions
6. Service providers for STEM resources
7. Recycling and “Green” engineers
8. Teachers of the STEM professions in public schools
9. Research Centers
10. IT personnel
11. Media personnel
12. And many more

41. Think through a list of your own extended
family.
What is the influence of the STEM world in their
lives?
How do they see that world in relationship to
Christian purposes or values?

42. One can influence the system by these legitimate
but rather conventional ways. . .
1. Showing competency on the job
2. Expressing integrity on the job
3. Being a true friend to other employees
4. Organizing Bible studies and prayer groups
5. Inviting fellow workers to Church
6. Expressing gestures of assistance or
compassion when others are in need
7. Showing balance and fairness in both
responsibilities and relationships

43. All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and
importance and should be undertaken with
painstaking excellence.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Whatever your life's work is, do it well. A man
should do his job so well that the living, the dead,
and the unborn could do it no better.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

44. “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he
should sweep streets even as Michelangelo
painted, or Beethoven composed music, or
Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep
streets so well that all the hosts of heaven
and earth will pause to say, here lived a great
street sweeper who did his job well.”
Martin Luther King

45. However, it may require a little more imaginative
responses:
1. Measuring the values of the profession
against Biblical values
2. Influencing the assumptions and values of the
organizational body to better mirror
Christian values
3. Recommending alternative ways of dealing
with problems in the work environment, to
better mirror the Kingdom.

46. 4. “Blowing the whistle” when injustice or unfairness,
or dishonesty is taking place.
5. Empowering those around you, even if it
means limiting or deferring your own power.
6. Seeking to defuse unnecessary conflict.
7. Seeking to move the organization beyond just the
“profit or fame motive”.
8. Leveraging the organization to “make a qualitative
difference” in its world.

47. 1. Inappropriate Work Setting---Are there jobs that
cannot glorify God? If so, name some of them.
2. Internal Corruption of the Organization---Can a
work environment be so corrupt that all employees
become corrupted by it? For instance?
3. Programmed Limitations due to confined roles, lack
of interpersonal contact, administrative rules,
curbed influence. Can you think of other situations
that confine the Christian influence in the
organization?

48. Sometimes we are called to confront the “Powers”
that corrupt the systems and their manifest
institutions:
1. Elijah confronts the gods of Baal (I Kgs 18)
2. Amos confronts the corrupt legal system
(Amos 5:10-13)
3. Jesus confronts the corrupt economic-
religious system (Mk 11:15-17)

49. There are two facets of the ministry of the Church.
Too often we have focused on the first facet:
1. “The Church Gathered”: or The Centripetal mission
of the Church---to pull people into the confines
of a church building or church institution and
concentrate all ministry in that environment.
The Church “gathered” should be a public witness
the “Communion of the Saints”, for rest and for
restoration, for accountability, for training, for
community, for joint celebration, and for
resourcing the mission of the “Church Scattered”.

50. 2. Therefore, the optimal activity of the Church should be,
as it is engaged in mission in the world, within the
systems, to bring them, and those, under the aegis or
sovereignty of Christ, not just by individual conversions,
but wherein the institutions themselves become
“converted.”
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but
against principalities, against powers, against the
rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6:12.

51. “Then God gave Christ the highest place and
honored his name above all others, so at the
name of Jesus everyone will bow down, those
in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, And
to the glory of the God the Father everyone will
openly agree, „Jesus Christ is Lord.‟”
Philippians 2:10-11

52. Clinton Stockwell‟s little essay given in your materials
section, reminds us that just like a painter painting a
canvas, the City itself is a collage of the creative
collective imagination of its residents, through many
generations.
If there is blight and ugliness, this is because that
imagination has been sullied by sin, selfishness, and
shabbiness so that the “art” of the City, is damaged,
destroyed or devalued.
The Christian seeks to “turn it around”, through the
instruments that his or her vocation provides, be they
remedial, creative or confrontative.

53. “The scope of redemption in Christ is the same
as the scope of Creation.”
Paul Marshall

54. Feel free in insert below your questions and
feedback on what you have learned in this
PowerPoint:
1.
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55. End of Session Four