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The Integrated Life: Experience the Powerful Advantage of Integrating Your FAITH and WORK
What if we could resolve the exhausting struggle between work, family, and spiritual life? What if we recognized a deep connection between faith and business? What if we could see our everyday work as ministry that has spiritual value? And what if God were even involved as a valuable partner in our work? Experience the integrated life.Ken Eldred writes compellingly about the “Sunday-Monday Gap,” sharing reallifeexamples of how this split impoverishes both our faith life and our businesslife...He offers wonderful wisdom and stories about how to live an integratedand abundant life.—Professor David W. Miller Director, Princeton, University Faith & Work InitiativeFor years I have been blessed and challenged by the life and ministry of KenEldred. My prayer is that this book will challenge many to live out their faith inthe high-pressure world...in the same, real, vibrant, and pervasive way.—Dr. Luis Palau World Evangelist
- GenresFaith
240 pages, Paperback
First published October 15, 2010
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December 15, 2016
****** SHOREL SAYS: READ THIS BOOK!!!******
The harmony of [God’s] being is the result not of a perfect balance of his parts, but of the absence of parts … He does not divide himself to perform a work, but works in the total unity of his being. - A. W. Tozer
There is this idea of life "balance". That to do one thing we must neglect another. Often this is reflected in our work/family time. However, there is an even more insidious paradigm that is reflected in many of our lives: the sacred/secular separation. The idea that Sunday morning is God's and the rest of the week is ours. It's called compartmentalization:
"One Christian author suggests that when you return home from work, you leave all your workday problems outside the front door. You should imagine your work issues and concerns being like a coat you take off and hang on a tree. When you leave for work the next morning, you simply pick them up again as you walk out the door. This might sound like sage advice, but it leaves us with a life of different worlds, values, and rules that do not intersect. When putting on our work coats in the morning, many of us will leave behind our family and faith coats. I’ve come to realize that this is a coping mechanism that’s part of the problem rather than part of the solution. It’s called compartmentalization, and many of us reflect it without even realizing it."
The problem with separating our faith from our life, and specifically our work, is that the net result is a product that does not glorify God. Our faith should be integral, infusing the totality of our life.
"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ." - Colossians 3:23,24
"So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." - 1 Corinthians 10:31
In respect to work, the author puts it this way:
"When our faith is divorced from our work, we also fail to infuse industry with biblical values, practices, and views. By compartmentalizing God from our work life, we adopt wholesale the ethic of the marketplace without infusing it with the fragrance of Jesus. Even worse, some who separate work from faith tend to focus on what is legally defensible rather than on what is right in the eyes of God. The resulting marketplace suffers from a lack of personal trust and is marked by cold-hearted, self-seeking, or even corrupt business practices."
In setting up a business, I have many contemporaries who ask me the question "So, when will you have time for kingdom work?" I would counter back, "Why do you evict Jesus from some areas of your life?" Each area of life should have the goal of glorifying God. If the end result of your actions is that someone doesn't draw closer to God, then you are living the false sacred/secular paradigm.
Sometimes it's not as direct. My wife homeschools our children. Why? So that they can know God better (read, write, study God's word) and serve God better (as part of the church in community, job). Some might look at her and say, "But no one is coming to faith! What she does is not as valuable as what Lottie Moon did." Again, that sacred/secular paradigm comes up, as if the pastor has a more holy occupation than the homeschool mom.
Don't get me wrong, there is greater honor due the pastor (1 Timothy 5:17) and the work of gospel proclamation, but the role of pastor is equal in value as the role of homeschool mom. (I know many homeschool moms who do their homeschool with excellence, glorifying God, and at the same time some ministers who are lazy in their work. Seeing what my wife does, I often feel inadequate. :) Without the homeschool mom ("the teacher") the pastor doesn't come to be. Without the role of the electrical worker, the pastor doesn't type his sermons. Imagine a world without plumbers. No farmers? Each of them have their God given role and should be honoring God and meditating/proclaiming/confirming God's word verbally and qualitatively in their work to themselves, to their employees, to their suppliers and to their buyers.
This book is an incredible read and an antidote to the sacred/secular paradigm. Do you ever say to yourself, "I wish I could do something valuable like that ministry." or "I just work all week so that I can serve in church on the weekend" or "one day, I'll do something truly glorifying of God".
If so, you have a false paradigm. Stop living for the future. Glorify God in the now. Have plans, certainly. But honor God now. Worship him in work and in study and in play and in parenting and...
'Wherever you are, be all there! Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.' - Jim Elliot
------ Quotes from the book -------
I’ve observed three ways people usually deal with divergent business and spiritual goals. Maybe you can identify with one or more of these attitudes. If so, you’re certainly not alone. The Schizophrenic Believer in Business. One way to deal with the different objectives and attitudes found in our business world and our spiritual world is to live two lives. We become schizophrenic. There is a proper place for faith, but at work it’s all about business objectives. Our business persona is tough, driven, competent, analytical, professional, savvy, and independent. Faith and strict adherence to biblical values would only interfere with business success. Better to leave that for church life. After all, business is business, right? The Double-Minded Believer in Business. Another way to deal with the different objectives we perceive in our business life and our spiritual life is to devalue the one and covet the other. We become disillusioned with the unspiritual nature of secular work and yearn after work in ministry where our efforts would have more spiritual value. We become double-minded. The belief that our work is ultimately meaningless prevents us from fully engaging in our daily tasks, and we approach our work halfheartedly. We seek to minimize the demands of the business life compartment in order to maximize our time available to the spiritual life compartment. We dive into church activities and programs and may even desire to work for a Christian organization. After all, a spiritually committed person should serve God, right? The Serial Believer in Business. Some of us deal with the different goals we perceive in the marketplace and the church by segmenting our lives into different phases or time periods. “I’ll do ministry after I’ve made enough money,” is a statement typical of this thinking. We tackle the business world first, seeking to achieve a certain level of success, prestige, or wealth. We may rationalize that these objectives are necessary to enable the second, more noble phase of our lives. Once successful, we shift gears, free to work for God in the ministry—to do something significant with our lives. Then we can really serve God, unencumbered by the struggles, stresses, and tensions of secular work. After all, we can’t serve two masters, right? Each of these three outcomes leaves us with a lack of integration between work and faith. The schizophrenic person sees no connection between work and faith and so conducts business in a way that has no relation to his faith. The double-minded person sees no connection between work and faith and so concludes service to God must take place outside the secular marketplace. The serial person sees no connection between work and faith and so concludes he should pursue business first and ministry later.
Ken Eldred, The Integrated Life: Experience the Powerful Advantage of Integrating Your Faith and Work, pg. 29, loc. 444-464
The real goal of business is simply this: to serve others to the glory of God.
Ken Eldred, The Integrated Life: Experience the Powerful Advantage of Integrating Your Faith and Work, pg. 45, loc. 687-688
There are three reasons why profits are a key part of serving others to the glory of God: 1. We need to recognize that business that effectively serves others will generate value and expand the total pie. Profit is a sign that others are being served effectively, not that advantage is being taken of them. 2. Business cannot neglect efficiency and profitability or it will cease being able to serve others. The value statement of A. G. Edwards & Sons, a brokerage and investment firm, reads, “Profit is not the purpose of our business and should not be sought after for its own sake. Rather, it is a necessity if we are to be able to continue to deliver value to our clients.”17 Profit is required to keep a business alive and expand its capacity to serve others, much as tithes and offerings are necessary to keep a church running and expand its capacity to serve others. 3. Serving investors means that we’ll generate a return on their investment. In Jesus’ parable of the talents (see Matt. 25:14–30), the servant who generates a profit for his master is highly commended for his faithful service.
Ken Eldred, The Integrated Life: Experience the Powerful Advantage of Integrating Your Faith and Work, pg. 46, loc. 700-709
Sometimes truly serving others means discerning and addressing latent needs. Chuck Ripka cofounded Riverview Community Bank in Otsego, Minnesota, a kingdom-focused business designed to minister to people in the community. The rapidly growing bank exceeded its own asset and income projections almost two years ahead of plan. When customers come to the bank, the staff ask if there’s anything they can pray about. Word has spread, and people have driven up to three hours to visit “the bank that prays with people.” Ripka explains, “The attitude of management is that if a customer is struggling to make his payments on time, we are not going to send out the collectors, but we will call him to ask how we can pray for his situation.”18 Riverview Community Bank is going well beyond the obvious financial services needs before them to discern and meet people’s latent needs for God’s help. They’re truly serving others to the glory of God. What
Ken Eldred, The Integrated Life: Experience the Powerful Advantage of Integrating Your Faith and Work, pg. 49, loc. 748-755
There are several implications of doing our work to the glory of God. The first is that our work must be in harmony with God’s creational purposes. God commands us to fill the earth and rule over His creation. This includes development of the world through the creation of useful products and the delivery of useful services. Some business activities and realms, such as pornography or illegal drugs, do not fulfill his mandate. But most commercial activities, from producing medical equipment to dry cleaning to selling groceries to farming, are helpful to society.19 Second, if our work is done to the glory of God, it should be done with excellence. “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men” (Col. 3:23). Paul was addressing slaves in this verse. God cares about the work we do, no matter how insignificant it seems. John Calvin put it this way: “No task will be so sordid and base, provided you obey your calling in it, that it will not shine and be reckoned very precious in God’s sight.”20 Others also notice the quality of our work and often view it as a reflection of our faith. Sadly, I’ve witnessed Christians whose work ethic and performance do not bring glory to God in the eyes of their co-workers. Whether its source is laziness or a misguided view that work in the marketplace has no spiritual value, poor work neither serves others nor brings glory to God. On the other hand, I know many followers of Jesus who perform their work with excellence, well beyond what’s expected. In doing so, they prove to be a real inspiration to the whole team and bring glory to God.
Ken Eldred, The Integrated Life: Experience the Powerful Advantage of Integrating Your Faith and Work, pg. 50, loc. 756-769
Whether you’re called to work in a business, a church, a school, or a home, success is serving others to the glory of God. So the question to ask is, “How can I follow my calling and serve in a better, larger, or more significant way?”
Ken Eldred, The Integrated Life: Experience the Powerful Advantage of Integrating Your Faith and Work, pg. 51, loc. 774-776
President Theodore Roosevelt believed, “To educate a person in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.”
Ken Eldred, The Integrated Life: Experience the Powerful Advantage of Integrating Your Faith and Work, pg. 56, loc. 844-845
Personal character was touted as the overriding success factor in the first 150 years of the United States, notes Stephen Covey, author of the popular book The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People. Benjamin Franklin and others espoused virtues such as integrity, temperance, humility, courage, and fidelity. In the last 50 years, notes Covey, that character ethic has been replaced by a personality ethic. One’s outside appearance is now deemed more important than what’s inside. Success is seen as a function of dressing right, understanding corporate politics, speaking eloquently, and excelling in social situations. But personal character is no less a success factor than before, as Covey and others are rediscovering. Character is the long-lost ingredient of successful capitalism, and biblical values rather than techniques or mental attitudes remain the underlying values of the character ethic.
Ken Eldred, The Integrated Life: Experience the Powerful Advantage of Integrating Your Faith and Work, pg. 59, loc. 901-908
President Grover Cleveland said, “Business is not the less prosperous and successful if conducted on Christian principles,”
Ken Eldred, The Integrated Life: Experience the Powerful Advantage of Integrating Your Faith and Work, pg. 61, loc. 925-926
The Golden Rule Stores In 1902, Kemmerer, Wyoming, was a small mining community of about 1,000 people. Like the 21 saloons in town, the established dry goods store sold mostly on credit, leaving many heavily indebted to the company store. It was customary to haggle over prices, as the clerks sought to extract the most from each customer; some in the community were treated a bit more fairly than others in the process. Next door to this business, a 26-year old and his new wife set up shop in a smaller run-down building, also intending to sell dry goods. The couple had capital and inventory only one-sixteenth that of the larger competitor, but they set out to do business in a radically different way, as evidenced by the shop’s name: the Golden Rule Store. “Do to others as you would have them do to you,” was Jesus’ famous command (Luke 6:31) that formed the basis for service in the business. The Golden Rule Store had prominently displayed fixed prices that were available to every customer who entered the door. It sold on a cash-only basis, and while this required customers to budget for purchases, it also lowered their price and kept them free from indebtedness. The Golden Rule Store flourished and became a model for future success. Within a decade, thirty more Golden Rule Stores were opened. By 1913, unscrupulous competitors had seen the value of the Golden Rule name and began to adopt it. Thus the company changed its name to reflect the name of its founder, J. C. Penney. But there was no less emphasis on following biblical precepts. The Penney Idea, a mission statement adopted at the first company meeting that year had as the last of its seven goals “To test our every policy, method, and act in this wise: ‘Does it square with what is right and just?’” The Golden Rule remained a guiding principle of the company. At a time when shoddy products were being peddled and merchant attitudes often reflected their monopoly status in town, the Golden Rule Store stood in stark contrast to the prevailing caveat emptor (let the buyer beware) business mentality. Not only was value being offered in terms of quality and price, James Cash Penney insisted on the most courteous service as the basis of any transaction. Penney referred to the Golden Rule as essentially the Rule of Service, and he was explicit and open about the role his Christian faith played in bringing God’s principles of value and service to bear in the marketplace. J. C. Penney was also deeply committed to his employees, rewarding, training, and developing them to use their gifts. As the company grew to several stores, he instituted a profit-sharing plan, another practice radical for the time and informed by his faith. All his employees were thus associates. Some of them also bought in as partners when successive stores were opened in new locations. Promising employees became store clerks and were later given the opportunity to buy into new expansion stores. James Cash Penney inherited many biblical principles from three generations of Baptist-preacher ancestors, and he integrated these into his business ventures. “To me the sign on the store was much more than a trade name,” recounted Penney. “In setting up a business under the name and meaning of the Golden Rule, I was publicly binding myself, in my business relations, to a principle which had been a real and intimate part of my family upbringing,” he noted. “The Golden Rule finds no limit of application in business.”29 Penney credited a commitment to this biblical principle with the success of his stores. Business people may scoff at the application of “unproven” biblical nuggets of gold in the marketplace. To many it seems like fool’s gold. “Shrewd merchants and bankers laughed at Penney’s Golden Rule ethics, predicting his prompt failure, especially since Penney insisted on cash-and-carry,” notes one historical account of his start in retailing.30 Even when the business case wasn’t obvious, J. C. Penney was uncompromising in allowing biblical values to form and differentiate his business, trusting God for the outcome. While operating against the common wisdom of the day, Penney had stellar success and changed the rules of store merchandising to this day. He was a man whose faith deeply infused his work.
Ken Eldred, The Integrated Life: Experience the Powerful Advantage of Integrating Your Faith and Work, pg. 61, loc. 927-960
Wealth creation requires capital investment, and perhaps the most important part of that investment is the spiritual capital from which enterprise actually begins.
Ken Eldred, The Integrated Life: Experience the Powerful Advantage of Integrating Your Faith and Work, pg. 64, loc. 970-971
One of the axioms of business is that you need to start with capital. When you hear the term “capital,” what comes to mind? Most often it evokes thoughts of cash. You may have heard the statement, “You’ve gotta spend money to make money.” But there are other forms of capital that are essential in business and society. In business school we learn that if we’re going to start or operate a venture, we need money (economic capital), relationships (social capital), and skill sets (cultural capital). Indeed, we are taught that these are the types of capital that drive an economy.
Ken Eldred, The Integrated Life: Experience the Powerful Advantage of Integrating Your Faith and Work, pg. 64, loc. 977-981
What is spiritual capital? Think of it as the faith, trust, and commitment to do what is right in the eyes of God—show integrity, be accountable, be honest, offer hope, love others, be trustworthy, exhibit good stewardship, be fair, create order, be loyal, and serve others.31 In other words, spiritual capital produces the belief that others will exhibit the biblical values we spoke of in the last chapter, most of which go well beyond what’s required by the laws of the land.
Ken Eldred, The Integrated Life: Experience the Powerful Advantage of Integrating Your Faith and Work, pg. 65, loc. 984-988
The harmony of [God’s] being is the result not of a perfect balance of his parts, but of the absence of parts … He does not divide himself to perform a work, but works in the total unity of his being. - A. W. Tozer
There is this idea of life "balance". That to do one thing we must neglect another. Often this is reflected in our work/family time. However, there is an even more insidious paradigm that is reflected in many of our lives: the sacred/secular separation. The idea that Sunday morning is God's and the rest of the week is ours. It's called compartmentalization:
"One Christian author suggests that when you return home from work, you leave all your workday problems outside the front door. You should imagine your work issues and concerns being like a coat you take off and hang on a tree. When you leave for work the next morning, you simply pick them up again as you walk out the door. This might sound like sage advice, but it leaves us with a life of different worlds, values, and rules that do not intersect. When putting on our work coats in the morning, many of us will leave behind our family and faith coats. I’ve come to realize that this is a coping mechanism that’s part of the problem rather than part of the solution. It’s called compartmentalization, and many of us reflect it without even realizing it."
The problem with separating our faith from our life, and specifically our work, is that the net result is a product that does not glorify God. Our faith should be integral, infusing the totality of our life.
"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ." - Colossians 3:23,24
"So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." - 1 Corinthians 10:31
In respect to work, the author puts it this way:
"When our faith is divorced from our work, we also fail to infuse industry with biblical values, practices, and views. By compartmentalizing God from our work life, we adopt wholesale the ethic of the marketplace without infusing it with the fragrance of Jesus. Even worse, some who separate work from faith tend to focus on what is legally defensible rather than on what is right in the eyes of God. The resulting marketplace suffers from a lack of personal trust and is marked by cold-hearted, self-seeking, or even corrupt business practices."
In setting up a business, I have many contemporaries who ask me the question "So, when will you have time for kingdom work?" I would counter back, "Why do you evict Jesus from some areas of your life?" Each area of life should have the goal of glorifying God. If the end result of your actions is that someone doesn't draw closer to God, then you are living the false sacred/secular paradigm.
Sometimes it's not as direct. My wife homeschools our children. Why? So that they can know God better (read, write, study God's word) and serve God better (as part of the church in community, job). Some might look at her and say, "But no one is coming to faith! What she does is not as valuable as what Lottie Moon did." Again, that sacred/secular paradigm comes up, as if the pastor has a more holy occupation than the homeschool mom.
Don't get me wrong, there is greater honor due the pastor (1 Timothy 5:17) and the work of gospel proclamation, but the role of pastor is equal in value as the role of homeschool mom. (I know many homeschool moms who do their homeschool with excellence, glorifying God, and at the same time some ministers who are lazy in their work. Seeing what my wife does, I often feel inadequate. :) Without the homeschool mom ("the teacher") the pastor doesn't come to be. Without the role of the electrical worker, the pastor doesn't type his sermons. Imagine a world without plumbers. No farmers? Each of them have their God given role and should be honoring God and meditating/proclaiming/confirming God's word verbally and qualitatively in their work to themselves, to their employees, to their suppliers and to their buyers.
This book is an incredible read and an antidote to the sacred/secular paradigm. Do you ever say to yourself, "I wish I could do something valuable like that ministry." or "I just work all week so that I can serve in church on the weekend" or "one day, I'll do something truly glorifying of God".
If so, you have a false paradigm. Stop living for the future. Glorify God in the now. Have plans, certainly. But honor God now. Worship him in work and in study and in play and in parenting and...
'Wherever you are, be all there! Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.' - Jim Elliot
------ Quotes from the book -------
I’ve observed three ways people usually deal with divergent business and spiritual goals. Maybe you can identify with one or more of these attitudes. If so, you’re certainly not alone. The Schizophrenic Believer in Business. One way to deal with the different objectives and attitudes found in our business world and our spiritual world is to live two lives. We become schizophrenic. There is a proper place for faith, but at work it’s all about business objectives. Our business persona is tough, driven, competent, analytical, professional, savvy, and independent. Faith and strict adherence to biblical values would only interfere with business success. Better to leave that for church life. After all, business is business, right? The Double-Minded Believer in Business. Another way to deal with the different objectives we perceive in our business life and our spiritual life is to devalue the one and covet the other. We become disillusioned with the unspiritual nature of secular work and yearn after work in ministry where our efforts would have more spiritual value. We become double-minded. The belief that our work is ultimately meaningless prevents us from fully engaging in our daily tasks, and we approach our work halfheartedly. We seek to minimize the demands of the business life compartment in order to maximize our time available to the spiritual life compartment. We dive into church activities and programs and may even desire to work for a Christian organization. After all, a spiritually committed person should serve God, right? The Serial Believer in Business. Some of us deal with the different goals we perceive in the marketplace and the church by segmenting our lives into different phases or time periods. “I’ll do ministry after I’ve made enough money,” is a statement typical of this thinking. We tackle the business world first, seeking to achieve a certain level of success, prestige, or wealth. We may rationalize that these objectives are necessary to enable the second, more noble phase of our lives. Once successful, we shift gears, free to work for God in the ministry—to do something significant with our lives. Then we can really serve God, unencumbered by the struggles, stresses, and tensions of secular work. After all, we can’t serve two masters, right? Each of these three outcomes leaves us with a lack of integration between work and faith. The schizophrenic person sees no connection between work and faith and so conducts business in a way that has no relation to his faith. The double-minded person sees no connection between work and faith and so concludes service to God must take place outside the secular marketplace. The serial person sees no connection between work and faith and so concludes he should pursue business first and ministry later.
Ken Eldred, The Integrated Life: Experience the Powerful Advantage of Integrating Your Faith and Work, pg. 29, loc. 444-464
The real goal of business is simply this: to serve others to the glory of God.
Ken Eldred, The Integrated Life: Experience the Powerful Advantage of Integrating Your Faith and Work, pg. 45, loc. 687-688
There are three reasons why profits are a key part of serving others to the glory of God: 1. We need to recognize that business that effectively serves others will generate value and expand the total pie. Profit is a sign that others are being served effectively, not that advantage is being taken of them. 2. Business cannot neglect efficiency and profitability or it will cease being able to serve others. The value statement of A. G. Edwards & Sons, a brokerage and investment firm, reads, “Profit is not the purpose of our business and should not be sought after for its own sake. Rather, it is a necessity if we are to be able to continue to deliver value to our clients.”17 Profit is required to keep a business alive and expand its capacity to serve others, much as tithes and offerings are necessary to keep a church running and expand its capacity to serve others. 3. Serving investors means that we’ll generate a return on their investment. In Jesus’ parable of the talents (see Matt. 25:14–30), the servant who generates a profit for his master is highly commended for his faithful service.
Ken Eldred, The Integrated Life: Experience the Powerful Advantage of Integrating Your Faith and Work, pg. 46, loc. 700-709
Sometimes truly serving others means discerning and addressing latent needs. Chuck Ripka cofounded Riverview Community Bank in Otsego, Minnesota, a kingdom-focused business designed to minister to people in the community. The rapidly growing bank exceeded its own asset and income projections almost two years ahead of plan. When customers come to the bank, the staff ask if there’s anything they can pray about. Word has spread, and people have driven up to three hours to visit “the bank that prays with people.” Ripka explains, “The attitude of management is that if a customer is struggling to make his payments on time, we are not going to send out the collectors, but we will call him to ask how we can pray for his situation.”18 Riverview Community Bank is going well beyond the obvious financial services needs before them to discern and meet people’s latent needs for God’s help. They’re truly serving others to the glory of God. What
Ken Eldred, The Integrated Life: Experience the Powerful Advantage of Integrating Your Faith and Work, pg. 49, loc. 748-755
There are several implications of doing our work to the glory of God. The first is that our work must be in harmony with God’s creational purposes. God commands us to fill the earth and rule over His creation. This includes development of the world through the creation of useful products and the delivery of useful services. Some business activities and realms, such as pornography or illegal drugs, do not fulfill his mandate. But most commercial activities, from producing medical equipment to dry cleaning to selling groceries to farming, are helpful to society.19 Second, if our work is done to the glory of God, it should be done with excellence. “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men” (Col. 3:23). Paul was addressing slaves in this verse. God cares about the work we do, no matter how insignificant it seems. John Calvin put it this way: “No task will be so sordid and base, provided you obey your calling in it, that it will not shine and be reckoned very precious in God’s sight.”20 Others also notice the quality of our work and often view it as a reflection of our faith. Sadly, I’ve witnessed Christians whose work ethic and performance do not bring glory to God in the eyes of their co-workers. Whether its source is laziness or a misguided view that work in the marketplace has no spiritual value, poor work neither serves others nor brings glory to God. On the other hand, I know many followers of Jesus who perform their work with excellence, well beyond what’s expected. In doing so, they prove to be a real inspiration to the whole team and bring glory to God.
Ken Eldred, The Integrated Life: Experience the Powerful Advantage of Integrating Your Faith and Work, pg. 50, loc. 756-769
Whether you’re called to work in a business, a church, a school, or a home, success is serving others to the glory of God. So the question to ask is, “How can I follow my calling and serve in a better, larger, or more significant way?”
Ken Eldred, The Integrated Life: Experience the Powerful Advantage of Integrating Your Faith and Work, pg. 51, loc. 774-776
President Theodore Roosevelt believed, “To educate a person in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.”
Ken Eldred, The Integrated Life: Experience the Powerful Advantage of Integrating Your Faith and Work, pg. 56, loc. 844-845
Personal character was touted as the overriding success factor in the first 150 years of the United States, notes Stephen Covey, author of the popular book The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People. Benjamin Franklin and others espoused virtues such as integrity, temperance, humility, courage, and fidelity. In the last 50 years, notes Covey, that character ethic has been replaced by a personality ethic. One’s outside appearance is now deemed more important than what’s inside. Success is seen as a function of dressing right, understanding corporate politics, speaking eloquently, and excelling in social situations. But personal character is no less a success factor than before, as Covey and others are rediscovering. Character is the long-lost ingredient of successful capitalism, and biblical values rather than techniques or mental attitudes remain the underlying values of the character ethic.
Ken Eldred, The Integrated Life: Experience the Powerful Advantage of Integrating Your Faith and Work, pg. 59, loc. 901-908
President Grover Cleveland said, “Business is not the less prosperous and successful if conducted on Christian principles,”
Ken Eldred, The Integrated Life: Experience the Powerful Advantage of Integrating Your Faith and Work, pg. 61, loc. 925-926
The Golden Rule Stores In 1902, Kemmerer, Wyoming, was a small mining community of about 1,000 people. Like the 21 saloons in town, the established dry goods store sold mostly on credit, leaving many heavily indebted to the company store. It was customary to haggle over prices, as the clerks sought to extract the most from each customer; some in the community were treated a bit more fairly than others in the process. Next door to this business, a 26-year old and his new wife set up shop in a smaller run-down building, also intending to sell dry goods. The couple had capital and inventory only one-sixteenth that of the larger competitor, but they set out to do business in a radically different way, as evidenced by the shop’s name: the Golden Rule Store. “Do to others as you would have them do to you,” was Jesus’ famous command (Luke 6:31) that formed the basis for service in the business. The Golden Rule Store had prominently displayed fixed prices that were available to every customer who entered the door. It sold on a cash-only basis, and while this required customers to budget for purchases, it also lowered their price and kept them free from indebtedness. The Golden Rule Store flourished and became a model for future success. Within a decade, thirty more Golden Rule Stores were opened. By 1913, unscrupulous competitors had seen the value of the Golden Rule name and began to adopt it. Thus the company changed its name to reflect the name of its founder, J. C. Penney. But there was no less emphasis on following biblical precepts. The Penney Idea, a mission statement adopted at the first company meeting that year had as the last of its seven goals “To test our every policy, method, and act in this wise: ‘Does it square with what is right and just?’” The Golden Rule remained a guiding principle of the company. At a time when shoddy products were being peddled and merchant attitudes often reflected their monopoly status in town, the Golden Rule Store stood in stark contrast to the prevailing caveat emptor (let the buyer beware) business mentality. Not only was value being offered in terms of quality and price, James Cash Penney insisted on the most courteous service as the basis of any transaction. Penney referred to the Golden Rule as essentially the Rule of Service, and he was explicit and open about the role his Christian faith played in bringing God’s principles of value and service to bear in the marketplace. J. C. Penney was also deeply committed to his employees, rewarding, training, and developing them to use their gifts. As the company grew to several stores, he instituted a profit-sharing plan, another practice radical for the time and informed by his faith. All his employees were thus associates. Some of them also bought in as partners when successive stores were opened in new locations. Promising employees became store clerks and were later given the opportunity to buy into new expansion stores. James Cash Penney inherited many biblical principles from three generations of Baptist-preacher ancestors, and he integrated these into his business ventures. “To me the sign on the store was much more than a trade name,” recounted Penney. “In setting up a business under the name and meaning of the Golden Rule, I was publicly binding myself, in my business relations, to a principle which had been a real and intimate part of my family upbringing,” he noted. “The Golden Rule finds no limit of application in business.”29 Penney credited a commitment to this biblical principle with the success of his stores. Business people may scoff at the application of “unproven” biblical nuggets of gold in the marketplace. To many it seems like fool’s gold. “Shrewd merchants and bankers laughed at Penney’s Golden Rule ethics, predicting his prompt failure, especially since Penney insisted on cash-and-carry,” notes one historical account of his start in retailing.30 Even when the business case wasn’t obvious, J. C. Penney was uncompromising in allowing biblical values to form and differentiate his business, trusting God for the outcome. While operating against the common wisdom of the day, Penney had stellar success and changed the rules of store merchandising to this day. He was a man whose faith deeply infused his work.
Ken Eldred, The Integrated Life: Experience the Powerful Advantage of Integrating Your Faith and Work, pg. 61, loc. 927-960
Wealth creation requires capital investment, and perhaps the most important part of that investment is the spiritual capital from which enterprise actually begins.
Ken Eldred, The Integrated Life: Experience the Powerful Advantage of Integrating Your Faith and Work, pg. 64, loc. 970-971
One of the axioms of business is that you need to start with capital. When you hear the term “capital,” what comes to mind? Most often it evokes thoughts of cash. You may have heard the statement, “You’ve gotta spend money to make money.” But there are other forms of capital that are essential in business and society. In business school we learn that if we’re going to start or operate a venture, we need money (economic capital), relationships (social capital), and skill sets (cultural capital). Indeed, we are taught that these are the types of capital that drive an economy.
Ken Eldred, The Integrated Life: Experience the Powerful Advantage of Integrating Your Faith and Work, pg. 64, loc. 977-981
What is spiritual capital? Think of it as the faith, trust, and commitment to do what is right in the eyes of God—show integrity, be accountable, be honest, offer hope, love others, be trustworthy, exhibit good stewardship, be fair, create order, be loyal, and serve others.31 In other words, spiritual capital produces the belief that others will exhibit the biblical values we spoke of in the last chapter, most of which go well beyond what’s required by the laws of the land.
Ken Eldred, The Integrated Life: Experience the Powerful Advantage of Integrating Your Faith and Work, pg. 65, loc. 984-988
January 18, 2018
I enjoyed this book, but really I will say that what I got from it is the idea that work actually matters. That what I do in the day to day actually is important beyond the "spiritual conversations" that arise because of it. Service by itself is a powerful thing, as is relationship that is formed as a result of that service and connection.
February 12, 2016
Do one thing...
This book has helped me recommit to going the extra mile. I can begin to do the things in my career that I always knew belonged there, but never spent enough time considering how to bring them to the forefront.
This book has helped me recommit to going the extra mile. I can begin to do the things in my career that I always knew belonged there, but never spent enough time considering how to bring them to the forefront.
Read
December 21, 2015Great rubber meets the road book for integrating your faith into your work, family, and everyday life. Emphasizing work as a ministry by which we serve others to the glory of God.
April 24, 2017
Eldred tells his story of integrating missions and business. He also gives some practical ways of making God the core foundation of your work life and your business. Great read for those who want to make their job part of their ministry.
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