Commissioned work

A brave husband, wife and two-year old daughter stand near the pulpit, showing pictures of an ailing Columbian village. Then they ask the congregation to support their new call as missionaries. Have you seen this? It's common in evangelical churches, and I have nothing against it. I just wish commissioning services were more representative. For instance, where is the college graduate who's about to take on an engineering post in Atlanta? Where is the MBA who's about to start a business in Pittsburgh? Where is the young family who's about to decide to stay put, with intention, in a broken Detroit neighborhood? We're all missionaries with a commission, but most churches (and most of us members!) place work on a sacred<----->secular continuum. We herald the South American and African missionaries publicly and with full support, but we only give non-missionary graduates - the Atlanta-bound folks - a generic book or personalized Bible (if anything), perhaps out of fear that they'll lose their way. Something isn't right here. I want to thank High Calling Blogger, Michele Corbett, for her work in helping folks find their calling. Her recent post, Why Do You Work?, emphasizes the importance of re-thinking the sacred<----->secular continuum. It's worth checking out. “We work in our day job in order to make money to support our vocation.” These are the words I heard recently in a sermon about work. Read more... Bricks photo by Claire Burge. Used with permission. Post written by Sam Van Eman.