Equip Me

Books and articles

Calling: Most of us are looking for a calling, not a job. Most of us have jobs that are too small for our spirit. Jobs are not big enough for people, by Frank Tillapaugh, Richard Hurst

“Four Stages of a Movement,” by Steve Smith, Neill Mims, Mark Steves—powerful article explaining how movements grow … or falter. Published October 31, 2015, by Mission Frontiers

“Four Ways to Better Engage Women in the Workplace,” by Lauren Hansen—practical advice for church leaders to equip their women who work. Published November 7, 2015, by The Gospel Coalition.

Giving the Ministry Away: Empowering single adults for effective leadership, by Terry Hershey, Karen Butler, Richard Hurst

“More Pastors Preaching About Faith and Work”—with links to other trends and tips re faith and the workplace. Published November 5, 2015, at Facts & Trends.

Unleashing the Church: Getting people out of the fortress and into ministry, by Frank R. Tillapaugh

Saturate Field Guide: Principles and practices for being disciples of Jesus in the everyday stuff of life, by Jeff Vanderstelt and Ben Connelly

Unique grant opportunity

While church leaders tend to be comfortable talking about faith, they are usually less fluent in the areas where people spend most of their time: the spheres of work and the economy. So the EFCA is facilitating grants to church leadership teams that wish to more fully explore the intersection of faith, work and economics as part of their disciplemaking vision. An initial grant supports in-depth learning; a second supports creative implementation of ideas that will shape churches and bless communities.

Digital sources

“Fitted for Work: Celebrating the power of a vocational calling,” summer 2012 EFCA Today issue

“Faith at Work: Made to flourish”—audio presentation from the 2015 EFCA One conference, looking at the intersection of faith and work

“God at Work” and “Church, Faith and Work”—blog posts by Greg Strand, EFCA executive director of theology and credentialing

“Luke 10: The stewardship of work and collaboration for the common good,” October 2015 chapel message at Trinity International University, by Tom Nelson, senior pastor of Christ Community Church (EFCA), Leawood, Kansas

“Work Matters to God”—PDF collection of sermons by Dr. Kurt Trucksess, senior pastor of CrossWinds Church Spirit Lake campus (EFCA) in Spirit Lake, Iowa

NavWorkplace: Transforming Worker, the Work and the Workplace—a website focused on integrating your faith at work

Made to Flourish—digital network for pastors to better integrate faith and work. Including the article “Is the Sunday to Monday Gap More Perilous Than We Think?” by EFCA Pastor Tom Nelson.

“Challenges to the Faith and Work Movement,” podcast by Darrell L. Bock and Greg Forster, produced by Dallas Theological Seminary. Other faith and work podcasts, blog posts and resources are also available from DTS.