Worship Works

15Feb 2022 by Tomi Shobande

You are created uniquely and beautifully by a perfect God!

As I journey through life, through the seasons and times, discovering why I was created and for what purpose has become increasingly fundamental. I am constantly asking the question ‘What is my purpose, and am I on the path of fulfilling it?’ Many times over, I am reminded that it is a very hard question to answer without the wisdom and guidance of God. The answer flows from the very heart of the Father and the depths of his love. God has redeemed us, and he desires to call us back to himself, and that actively reflects in how we live our lives, what we are called to do, and how we influence the world for God. The bible says in Genesis: “Then God said, “Let Us make man in…

01Feb 2022 by Francesca Gan

Am I too small to make a big change?

#workisworship, career, In practice

I frequently find myself seeing people suffering from poverty on the news or around me and feeling utterly helpless. I keep thinking, I so desperately want to bring change into that, but what could I possibly do? Maybe I can buy a meal deal for the homeless man on the corner, but beyond that, I’m not of much use. At Worship. Works, one of our main priorities is to use our work to transform nations, and one of the indicators we use for a transformed nation is the elimination of systemic poverty. At first, that sounded really heavy to me! Surely the work of eliminating poverty could not possibly be achieved by us, and surely little old me had no part to play in such a mammoth goal! So, am…

07Jan 2022 by Paul Cranston

Lessons learned from job searching

#workisworship, career, In practice

For me, the last year was a lesson in patience. I had come to the end of my time as a university student and was looking for a job to start my career – a process that took 11 months and involved many rejected applications, apathetic feelings towards work, and a lot of questioning what my future would look like. During this time, there was a lot God taught me about work, waiting, and his faithfulness, and I thought I’d share some of these lessons. Work is a blessing For most of my life, work was never something that excited me, it was something I dreaded. The idea of 40-hour work weeks, Monday mornings, and having to repay my student loans really didn’t seem all that fun to me; and…

18Nov 2021 by worship

People will know you are a disciple of Jesus

teaching

This is our second part of a series on growing as a disciple in the marketplace. If you have not yet read it, here's part 1, Abide in the Word. Part 2 – Be my disciple If you love one another 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” 8 Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” (John 13:6-8) In part one we saw in humility Jesus washing the feet of His disciples. In verse 6 we see the reaction of Peter – "you will never…

26Oct 2021 by Francesca Gan

Discovering work as worship

#workisworship, career, In practice

For some people, the idea of building their career for the next 40 odd years seems like a really exciting prospect, but if you were me after graduating university, it was a prospect that filled me with anxiety at worst and apathy at best. I have a distinct memory of walking to church with a friend in our final year of university, both of us decrying the idea of the same old 9-5, day in and day out, until we retire. It made us shudder. Does that seem like a familiar feeling to you? For lots of people, work is a way to make money and to live, especially when the excitement and novelty of the job wears off, and we’re left with “Let’s just make it till Friday then…

26Oct 2021 by worship

Resign or reshuffle? How to change your job with purpose

#workisworship, career, teaching

I’ve been hearing a lot among friends in business, and in the business press, about "The Great Resignation", as millions of people resign from their jobs. But I recently read a piece about an interview with LinkedIn CEO, Ryan Roslansky, in which he says that what’s really happening is a “Great Reshuffle”, as people search for more meaningful work. "You have employees globally who are rethinking not just how they work, but why they work and what they most want to do with their careers and lives", says Roslansky. In essence, the point Roslansky is making - backed with millions of datapoints from LinkedIn profiles - is that we’re in a period of transition, and people are thinking, “what do I really want to be doing?” LinkedIn looked at their…

26Oct 2021 by worship

You are more than a demographic profile

In practice

This short post started as a side-note to a piece on career changes, while mentioning "Gen-Z" (also known as "Zoomers"), the demographic group defined by social scientists and the media as those people born between the mid-to-late 1990s and the early 2010s. When I mentioned research that classified people in their careers according to their demographic cohort by generation - such as Generation Alpha; Generation Z (Gen-Z, or Zoomers); Millennials; Generation X; Baby Boomers... I felt I needed to add a health warning. In my view, it’s not always helpful to place ourselves into a bracket such as “Gen-Z” and allow the demographers and social scientists to define what we are like. We are all unique individuals, with millions of things shaping our experience. There are times when it may…

13Aug 2021 by Mark Lawrence

Abide in the word to grow as a disciple

teaching

Over the next three months we will be looking at some of the characteristics of how to grow as a disciple in the marketplace. We are starting with the word of God. Abiding in the word John 8:31 (ESV) 31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples" In the gospel of John, we have the first mention of “disciple” in Chapter 8. Here Jesus is clearly speaking to believers, those who have trusted in Jesus for their salvation. Now He wants to challenge them in how to have that closer fellowship with Him, how to continue in their belief. Firstly they had to believe, the first step in faith and obedience to Jesus; now He gives…

28Jul 2021 by Mark Lawrence

What does being a disciple for Christ mean?

teaching

Is there a difference between just believing in Jesus and living totally for Him? Where do you think you are in your journey as a Spirit-filled believer? What can you do to receive all of what Christ has for you? Jesus sets out a challenge in the Gospel of John. “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honour him.” John 12:25-26 (ESV) In the previous verse, Jesus has just spoken about His upcoming death; that He will give up His life so that sin can be overcome, and spiritual fruit can flourish. …

30Apr 2021 by worship

What Kind Of Clay Will You And I Be?

ekklesia, teaching

I was encouraged recently to receive this message from David Foster, who is Senior Pastor at Manor Park Christian Centre and Chaplain to the Metropolitan Police in Newham, London. It is reproduced below with Pastor David's permission: As we continue to navigate the days ahead, the most important thing we can do is to keep our eyes focused upon Jesus. Many Christian leaders are in agreement that the Lord’s desire over the past 13 months of the Covid-19 pandemic has been to continue to change His Church into what He wants us to be. This means that the Church as we have known it in the past will be changed to look and to be something different in the days ahead. He wants “to make her [His Church—believers in Christ]…