Quotes about Faith and Work

“I have found that the God who created and sustains the world is also the God of the workplace. If the Christian faith is not relevant in the workplace, it is not relevant at all.”
– Ken Costa, Former Chairman of Lazard, UK

“During my decades of going to church and reading Scripture and numerous Christian books, I had not addressed this central and vitally important question: Is the Christian faith relevant in the workplace? If so, how?”

–Trading with God: 7 Steps to Integrate Your Faith into Your Work

“The God of the Bible is not a passive, detached spiritual being but a dynamic, active and entrepreneurial being.  Work was God’s idea in the first place and therefore matters to him.”

–Ken Costa, former British Chairman of Lazard and Chairman of Alpha International

“Work is as much a basic human need as food, beauty, rest, friendship, prayer, and sexuality; it is not simply medicine but food for our soul. Without meaningful work, we sense significant inner loss and emptiness.”

–Timothy Keller, former Senior Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church

“Theology does not just belong within the pious sanctum of the churches. Its place is the public market places of the different cultures as well. It is in the mental and spiritual conflicts of contemporary life that Christian anthropology must prove its truth, a truth that leads to real humanity.”

–Jürgen Moltmann, Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology

“What then is the greeting? Greet Priscilla and Aquila, he says, my fellow-laborers in the Lord.”

–John Chrysostom (349–407)

“Paul the Apostle enjoins and beseeches you in the Lord, that with silence, that is, quietly and obediently ordered, ye do work and eat your own bread.”

–Augustine of Hippo (354–430)

“On the other hand, the active life is more directly concerned with the love of our neighbor, because it is busy about much serving (Luke x. 40).
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–Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274)

“All works are of equal value.”

–Martin Luther (1483–1546)

“Even the artisan with the humblest trade is good at it only because the Spirit of God works in him. For though these gifts are diverse, they all come from the one Spirit; it pleased God to distribute them to each one.”

–John Calvin (1509–1564)

“Can man view and tackle his own work under the command of God without first, as the same command of God enjoins, pausing, resting and keeping holy-day in the sight of God, rejoicing in freedom?”

–Karl Barth (1886–1968)

“The theologian is not concerned merely to supply a different interpretation of the world, of history and of human nature, but to transform them
in expectation of divine transformation.”

–Jürgen Moltmann (born 1926)

“The purpose of a theology of work is to interpret, evaluate, and facilitate the transformation of human work. It can fulfill this purpose only if it takes the contemporary world of work seriously.”

–Miroslav Volf (born 1956)

“In the first place work is “for man” and not man “for work.”

–Pope John Paul II (1920–2005)

“Shabbat is needed now more than ever. We Jews should be missionary about Shabbat. It may be the best gift we have to offer the world.”

–Rabbi Arthur Green, Irving Brudnick Professor of Philosophy and Religion, Hebrew College (Boston)

“If you are called to be a street sweeper,
sweep streets as Michelangelo painted
or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry.
Sweep streets so well that all the hosts
of heaven and earth will pause to say,
Here lived a great sweeper who did his job well.”

–Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Gain all you can, without hurting either yourself or your neighbour,
in soul or body, by applying hereto with unintermitted diligence,
and with all the understanding which God has given you.
Save all you can, by cutting off every expense which serves only
to indulge foolish desire, to gratify either the desire of the flesh,
the desire of the eye, or the pride of life.
Waste nothing, living or dying, on sin or folly,
whether for yourself or your children.
And then, Give all you can, or in other words give all you have to God.”

–Rev. John Wesley, founder of Methodism

“I think we might find more non-Christians turning to Christ if we as Christians concentrated considerably more on a God-honoring lifestyle than simply on evangelistic strategies. Obviously we need both. But I think we are shooting ourselves in the foot if we try to witness apart from Christlike conduct.”

–Doug Sherman and William Hendricks, Authors of “Your Work Matters to God”

“It has generally been my experience that the very top peopleof truly great organizations are servant-leaders. They are the most humble, the most reverent, the most open, the most teachable, the most respectful, the most caring, and the most determined. When people with the formal authority or positional power refuse to use that authority and power except as a last resort, their moral authority increases because it is obvious that they have subordinated their ego and positional power and use reasoning, persuasion, kindness, empathy, and, in short, trustworthiness instead.”

–Robert K. Greenleaf, founder of the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership

“Power is actualized only where word and deed have not parted company, where words are not empty and deeds not brutal, where words are not used to violate and destroy but to establish relations and create new realities.”

–Professor Jürgen Habermas, Chair of Philosophy and Sociology at Goethe University

“The answer to the crisis of the North American church will not be found at the level of method and problem solving. We share the conviction of a growing consensus of Christians in North America that the problem is much more deeply rooted. It has to do with who we are and what we are for. The real issues in the current crisis of the Christian church are spiritual and theological.”

–Published Committee Report — Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America

“I suggest that we have come to the day of the layperson, the day when the key operative in the Church is not a pope or a saint or a monk or an evangelist or a missionary or even a “highly committed” churchman — but the everyday worker who simply puts Christ first in his or her career, as in the rest of life.”

–Doug Sherman, President and Founder of Career Impact Ministries

“The primary value of our labors is not the work itself, but the One who calls us to labor. Work is precious because God summons us to work.”

-Dr. David Jensen, Dean of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary

“Work is essentially our way of being humans rather than simply animals in the world. It is a useful activity but more than this because it is our starting point for a human rather than animal existence. … Work is not simply an activity undertaken by man out of necessity. Rather, it is an activity without which he could not be human.”

-Darrell Cosden, Professor Emeritus of Theological Studies at Judson University

“It is love that allows us to give up our power to control. It is love that allows us to treat each person in our organization with respect and dignity. Love sends people around the world to serve others. Love inspires people to work with greater purpose.”

–Dennis W. Bakke, former CEO of Applied Energy Services

“People need to see your faith, not merely hear about it. When our beliefs are personal and privatized, practiced only inside a building one day a week, we Christians miss out on that glorious opportunity to be salt and light.  Worse, I believe that when faith continues to be directed inward, we become one-dimensional, uninteresting, and wholly self-centered persons.  We have a work life, a family life, a community life, and a church life.  And when segregated like that, each sphere is less robust than it could be.”

–Bob Buford, co-founder of the Halftime Institute

“True freedom is not just following whatever desires we happen to have, but cultivating the right desires.”

William Cavanaugh – Professor of Catholic Studies at DePaul University

“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority.”

Lord John Dalberg-Acton – English Catholic historian and writer

“The gap between the rhetoric of what the church was saying on Sunday and the reality of what was happening in my life on Monday was enormous.  The problem was that my church was speaking as an extrovert, but behaving as an introvert.  It was calling on me to serve as a disciple of Christ in the world without giving me any help on how to do it.  On the other hand, I got help in the form of affirmation, training, and even prayers for my service in the church as a Sunday school teacher, youth advisor, and church council member. … I became increasingly uneasy about the hypocrisy of a church that preached Christian service in the world, but practiced Christian service exclusively within its own institution.”

William Diehl – a former Bethlehem Steel sales manager and author of The Monday Connection

“Work is as much a basic human need as food, beauty, rest, friendship, prayer, and sexuality; it is not simply medicine but food for our soul. Without meaningful work we sense significant inner loss and emptiness.”

Rev. Timothy Keller – former Senior Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church

“Authentic work comes from a deep place of gratitude. Indeed, work is about gratitude; it is the expression of our gratitude for being here.”

Dr. Matthew Fox – American Episcopal Theologian

“Work is not a side issue for a special interest group, it’s an issue for the whole church. After all, the vast majority of Christian’s work, some paid, some not – at home, in the ‘secular’ workplace, at school or university. The church should be concerned about the workplace because people are there. And those in our church who don’t do traditional forms of work should be concerned about it because many of their brothers and sisters in Christ are in traditional jobs. They need support.”

Mark Greene – Executive Director of the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity

“The most important task that leaders can perform is to help shape that culture in positive ways … They can clear signals to their employees that religious and other forms of diversity are valued in the company.”

Dr. Douglas Hicks – Dean of Oxford College of Emory University

“Work, as vocation, is fulfilling not because it enriches oneself (though it may), but because of its obedient response to the creator.”

-Dr. David Jensen, Dean of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary

“For when a man works, he not only alters things and society, he develops himself as well. He learns much, he cultivates his resources, he goes outside of himself and beyond himself. Rightly understood, this kind of growth is of greater value than any external riches which can be garnered.”

Pope John Paul II

“Only a very vain person gives himself sole credit for a skill, because a skill seems so much like a gift – something one feels pleased and fortunate to have.”

Dr. Armand E. Larive – Retired Professor at Washington State University and Episcopal Priest

“The church remains the primary guardian of moral and ethical values.”

Robert Lupton – founder of Focused Community Strategies Urban Ministries

“A man does not live for himself alone in this mortal body to work for it alone, but he lives also for all men on earth; rather, he lives only for others and not for himself. To this end he brings his body into subjection that he may the more sincerely and freely serve others.”

Martin Luther (1483–1546)

“Wizened by the human pain caused by the economic system, business students will have a better starting point in their discussions with religious leaders and theologians who increasingly use the poor and marginalized as a point of departure for their thinking about issues of economics.”

Dr. Mark S. Markuly – Dean of the School of Theology and Ministry at Seattle University

“What a man can be, he must be.”

Dr. Abraham Maslow – former resident fellow of the Laughlin Institute

“God is not opposed to money, but he is opposed to the worship of it.”

John Parmiter – author of Ten at Work

“But we urge you, beloved, to do so more and more, to aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we directed you, so that you may behave properly toward outsiders and be dependent on no one.” (1 Thessalonians 4:10b-12)
Paul the Apostle, also known as Saul of Tarsus

“Power is part of leadership and is necessary to get things done.”

Dr. Jeffrey Pfeffer – professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford Business School

“The call is to do theology in loving community with other people. Truth not spoken in love ceases to be true because it’s bent and twisted by other human agendas. I cannot forsake truth for relationships, and I cannot forsake relationships for truths. They need to be held together, because we need to understand truth in community with one another to compensate for our blindness and bias, and we need truth to define for us what kind of community we should live in together.”

Rev. Paul David Tripp – pastor and President of Paul Tripp Ministries

“Successful people almost never forget their roots. They always look back and offer a helping hand to those who follow them. That is why we chose to endow the library. [The Ludden Library at Laramie County Community College, Wyoming]  A library is a refuge for everyone – young and old, poor and privileged, educated and uneducated – to go relax, to go and seek knowledge, truth, understanding and wisdom. May all who enter these hollowed halls find joy and happiness, knowledge and wisdom, and an everlasting and insatiable thirst to serve others.”

Randy Ludden – retired energy trader and executive, at the Ludden Library rededication ceremony

“The workplace is in fact exactly where the great majority of us are supposed to carry out our Christian mission.”

– Gregory Pierce, president of Catholic ACTA Publications

“Thankfulness is a soil in which pride does not easily grow.”

Michael Ramsey – Archbishop of Canterbury

“The Sabbath teaches freedom from the seeming ultimacy of earthly work and its related concerns, and freedom for both self and God.”

Dr. Ester D. Reed – Associate Professor of Theological Ethics at the University of Exeter

“Relationships are entwined, entrenched, elusive, messy, enabling, enrapturing, maddening, exhilarating, frustrating, exposing, and too beautiful for words.”

Franciscan Friar Richard Rohr

“Shabbat is a time for study, family and community renewal, play, and restraint from work.”

Dr. Michael Satlow – professor of Religious and Judaic Studies at Brown University

“It is not the business of the Church to adapt Christ to men, but to adapt men to Christ.”

Dorothy Sayers – English writer

“Without uncertainty or doubt, there is no foundation for tolerance. If there is one ‘right view,’ which we will generally see as our own, we have no space for the possibility that a different point of view may be valid. Because of that, we have no empathy for those with different views. Because of that, of course, we have no humility.”

Dr. Peter M. Senge – author The Fifth Discipline

“Good work is communal. It is a means of building community and serving our neighbors. We are called to work together, in partnership. Work and its organizations impact social structures and the social order. We become who we are in relationship.”

Dr. R. Paul Stevens – former David J. Brown Family Professor of Marketplace Theology and Leadership at Regent College (Vancouver, BC)

“Because the whole creation is the Spirit’s sphere of operation, the Spirit is not only the Spirit of religious experience but also the Spirit of worldly engagement. For this reason it is not at all strange to connect the Spirit of God with mundane work.”

Dr. Miroslav Volf – Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology and Director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture at Yale University

“While others might be hungering and thirsting for more money, more status, and more sexual fulfillment, we’ll be thirsting for righteousness.  We’ll be people who say, ‘I’m sorry.’  We’ll be people who say, ‘I forgive you.’  We’ll be people who know we make mistakes, so admit them, and are understanding when others make mistakes as well.  We’ll be utterly sincere and totally transparent in our dealings with people.  We’ll be authentic – our actions will match our thoughts, our character on a Sunday will match our character on a Monday.  We’ll long for peace for our colleagues – horizontally between them when there are tensions, and vertically when there is tension between them and God.  We will want peace and we will actually look to make it happen.”

Jago Wynne, Associate Rector at Holy Trinity Clapham (United Kingdom)