James 2:14-18

Deep in conversation with about ten young professionals from about 8 different fields around a dinner table in Manhattan a few months ago, I marveled at the ability that these men and women, most of them in their thirties, had in talking about their daily work in ways that are clearly framed by a gospel worldview, without coming across as wannabe theologians or priggish moralists.

While I have been enthralled for years by the effect vocational discipleship can have on individual lives through places like the Center for Faith & Work, and by the potential influence of events like its annual Entrepreneurship Initiative, I was blown away last year by the Center’s first annual Gospel & Culture conference. Local churches that offer robust vocational and cultural discipleship as an ordinary part of the life of the church are still rare. The Gospel and Culture conference offers a brief but thorough look at what such discipleship looks like in Manhattan.

Listening to Chelsea Chen perform on the organ of beautiful St. Bart’s church, and to Tim Keller and Richard Mouw outline an inspiring theology of culture, redolent with the gospel; hearing Fiona Diefenbacher’s heart break for the fashion industry, and Max Anderson offering a vision of hope for MBA programs; I thought to myself: this is the stuff of a cultural reformation. This is not just another fad, soon to blow over. This is not some utopian vision of heaven dragged down to earth by human hands, no matter the price. These people are committed to the slow, hard, nuanced work of bearing hope into every corner of their world, by living their everyday work out of motives shaped by the gospel.

No doubt, vocational and cultural discipleship will look a little different in each church and city. Whatever the unique possibilities and challenges of our particular cities and neighborhoods, it is true wherever the church is present that we need a movement toward vocational and cultural discipleship being a part of the ordinary life of the church. As Steven Garber put it, “Vocation is integral, not incidental, to the mission of God.”

Gideon Strauss
(Mr Strauss is executive director of the center for leadership, Passadena California.)