One of the lingering questions for our team here at TOW is this: Who is our audience?Even today, after years of work and many long hours of discussion, it’s safe to say every Steering Committee member still carries a unique image of the "ideal reader” of the content developed by the TOW Project.
It’s a bigger issue than it appears.Articles with scholarly content and sophisticated theological language run the risk of alienating lay readers, or worse, making them believe the Bible and its’ truths are inaccessible to someone without a theology degree.Nothing could be further from the truth, however, and an enduring goal of TOW is its desire to help lay readers know the Bible is understandable, and useful, in their everyday lives.
However, it’s impossible to develop a theology of substance without scholarly research, and the debate that accompanies the pounding out of truth’s discovery.So how do we begin to unveil the fruits of our labor without offending either the scholar or the layperson?
The answer, of course, is a multi-layered delivery system, open to the scholar and the layperson, but with entry points aimed at making a person’s "first-read” the kind of experience that invites them back for more.
All of that, of course, gets neatly laid out once we have all the pieces to the puzzle, but five years is a long time to wait for information people need right now.
So here at TOW, we asked our Executive Editor, Will Messenger, to fashion a wiki that makes the research articles that have reached finished form available for public consumption, but in a setting once-removed from the website itself.Will’s done this, and you can reach it by clicking the link marked "TOW Knowledge Base” on the menu along the left side of the homepage.You can also reach it here.
This leaves the website free to publish outtakes or rewrites of the scholarly works in vernacular accessible to even the newest Christian, while allowing mature believers and others to go deeper and explore further the issues and sections of the Bible of interest to them.
TOW goes International: The Theology of Work Project's steering committee members will be holding their 2010 annual meeting in Hong Kong, China, in a remarkable joint session with the work/faith task force attached to the Lausanne Covenant. The July meetings will include joint sessions between the two organizations, as well as continuing the important work of approving research articles for inclusion in the Project's body of work.
Steering Committee meets in January, 2010:In a continuing effort to streamline its work and costs, the TOW steering committee conducted both on-site and videoconference sessions the second week of January, making it possible for team members to review the results of the articles delivered by its' research subcontractors, and to move several of those articles closer to final inclusion in the Project's body of work. Eight members met at Babson live, with another six members videoconferencing in from as far away as Australia. In addition to the obvious cost savings, the videoconference initiative, which was assembled and managed by Charlie Peppler of Capnetix, enables Project's Executive Editor, Will Messenger, to get faster turnaround on feedback to the research articles.
Project nears $1.5 million in funds raised:Since project Vice-President Andy Mills volunteered in March, 2009 to assume the primary fundraising duties for the Project, TOW has raised nearly $1.5 million in gifts and pledges, well over halfway to the funds needed for the Project.
Film team works on Project trailer: A volunteer team of professionals in video, editing and production have been writing scripts, interviewing workers, managers, scholars and Project members, as well as shooting scenes and editing film to produce a trailer--at no cost to the Project--for public promotion of TOW. The trailer is part of a pilot initiative dreamed up by Doug Beimler in a continuing effort to uncover ways to use technology to communicate timely, practical Biblical information on the integration of work and faith.
Project team members hit the road talking about TOW: Dr. Haddon Robinson, retired CEO Andy Mills, Project Executive Editor Will Messenger, and steering committee members Randy Kilgore (from Madetomatter.org) and Al Erisman (Seattle Pacific University) have been hitting the circuit to spread the news of TOW's work. If your group is looking for a conference presentation and would be interested in hearing from someone at TOW, write us at ckilgore@theologyofwork.org.
General Epistles (James; I & II Peter; I & II & III John; Jude)
Other Biblical articles already in the pipeline
Genesis chapters 1-11 Job
Ecclesiastes Song of Solomon
Psalms Isaiah
Mark Matthew
Acts Galatians/Ephesians/Philippians
I & II Thessalonians/Hebrews.
Key topics articles/research projects are also in process
Calling
Ethics
Awaiting assignment to research teams
Products of Work Work & Life
Economics & Society Compensation
Provision & Wealth Globalization
Relationships at Work Adverse Parties
Financial Arrangements Motivation
Truth & Deception Business Ethics
Spiritual Dangers Conflict
Leadership Rest
Evangelism Church as Equipper.
What Research Articles? To construct its' final products, the TOW team will draw from nearly four dozen research projects for articles commissioned by TOW, covering all 66 books of the Bible and 20 key topics originally identified by a focus group of over 100 workers, leaders and scholars in workplace and faith sectors of the culture.
An Invitation to Discover Work's Role in God's Economy
What if you really believed in changing the world?Where would you start? That question prods people of conscience in any culture; and Christians are no exception.Now, perhaps for the first time in human history, technology, worker interest and scholarly expertise have merged to make possible the exploration and recording of a comprehensive body---a theology---of Scripture's timeless truths and the timely application of those truths into working cultures everywhere. Following the path first laid out by the field of missions and missionary endeavors in the Lausanne Covenant, we begin this journey with an earnest desire to expand our knowledge of how God would have us do our daily tasks. We invite you to join us on this trek.
"It [The Theology of Work Project] is a very important Christian task in an age so deeply influenced by all kinds of economic and financial exigencies.” --Dr. Mark Noll, McManis Professor, Wheaton College
"I share your conviction…about the great importance of developing a true, Biblical and balanced philosophy of work." --Dr. John Stott, Founder, London Institute for Contemporary Christianity
"Nothing is more desperately needed in our society.” --Dr. Howard Hendricks, Distinguished Professor & Chairman, Center for Christian Leadership, Dallas Theological Seminary
"Across the centuries, the theological neglect not only of our "work” but also of "workers” (who constitute numerically most of the church) constitutes no small tragedy in Christian history.” --Howard Butt, Jr., H.E. Butt Foundation & Laity Lodge
"This initiative is strategic in nature. It will make a difference, because how people view their work makes a huge difference in how they view their life—as well as how they view God.”
--Dr. Bill Hendricks, President, The Giftedness Center & author of Your Work Matters to God
