Category Archives: Creative Service

• Apprenticeship Christianity: Where Doing Precedes Understanding

  December 15, 2016

  By Lester DeKoster and Gerard Berghoef Have you ever wondered why the Lord puts this order—way, truth, life—on his answer to Thomas’ question? The Lord had said to his disciples that he was going away. In John 14:5, Thomas speaks for them all in asking: “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know […]

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  carpenter, Christmas, faithfulness, Family, Gerard Berghoef, Jesus, Joseph, Lester DeKoster, manual labor, Mary, mundane, Stewardship

• Working in the Workshop of the Most High Artist

  December 05, 2016

  By Abraham Kuyper If stewardship responsibility applies so strictly in regard to your body, it applies even more decidedly to your mind, to every talent that God has given you in your mind and in your life. “For all things are yours,” the apostle says [1 Cor 3:21]. There is nothing that the subjects of […]

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  Abraham Kuyper, artist, common grace, creativity, economics, King Jesus, kingship, labor, production, Stewardship, Vocation, Work

• God Is With You in the Workplace (Whether You Know It or Not)

  November 29, 2016

  By Joseph Sunde We’ve seen a renewed focus among Christians on the deeper value, meaning, and significance of our daily work, leading to lots of reflection on how we might “find God in the workplace.” As a result, Christians are becoming ever more attentive to things like vocation and calling, looking for transcendent purpose and value […]

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  Abraham Kuyper, Communion, DeKoster, dignity, discernment, faithfulness, Gerard Berghoef, Holy Spirit, Lester DeKoster, meaning, Mourning, Vocation, Work

• The Legacy of Missionary Banking

  November 18, 2016

  By Chris Horst Are banking and charity incongruent? I hope not, because I’ve invested my career in an organization that believes they are congruent. The prevailing public opinion, though, is that they are indeed incongruent. We believe, if anything, banking victimizes vulnerable people. From the subprime mortgage crisis to the Indian microfinance bubble to the […]

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  banking, charity, deposit, Europe, finance, Hannah More, John Cheverus, microfinance, missionary, missions, outreach, philanthropy, savings

• The Shepherd Motif: Gregory Thornbury on Cain, Abel, and Culture-Making

  November 16, 2016

  By Joseph Sunde “It needs to be our job to envision a different future for the church in which we teach our young people to compete in the arena and be so excellent that they cannot be denied — to be shepherds.” -Gregory Thornbury In a recent lecture at the ERLC’s 2016 National Conference, Gregory Thornbury, President […]

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  Abel, Art, Cain, competition, culture, culture making, ERLC, Gregory Thornbury, King's College, kings, shepherd, witness, work ethic

• The Rhythm of Vocation: A Challenge to ‘Work-Life Balance’

  November 10, 2016

  By Joseph Sunde “If all of our working and all of our resting serves the same vocation of love, why do we so often feel out of balance?” In a recent talk for the Oikonomia Network, author and church historian Dr. Chris Armstrong offers a fascinating exploration of the question, challenging the common Christian responses on “work-life balance” and offering […]

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  balance, Chris Armstrong, culture, Family, Gene Veith, leisure, Luther, Martin Luther, neighbor, Paul, rest, Sabbath, vacation, Vocation, Work