CENTER FOR FAITH & WORK YEAR-END REPORT 2016-2017
“The problem is not that we expect too much from our work, but too little.” -Rev. David H. Kim
PREFACE In 2016-17, the Center for Faith & Work engaged over 4,400 people in classes, workshops, events and programs that helped participants integrate the inseparable areas of faith and work. The role of CFW has always included an exploration of how the gospel enables good work, done well. Finding answers throughout that journey requires open ears, inquisitive minds, and innovative risks. God never ceases to surprise us. For the past few years, CFW has developed an annual theme as a means of locating our research and development. Our 2016-17 year centered on the “Soul of Work,” where we delved into how God creates in us a sacred space, which enlarges and anchors our work. The following is a brief recap of this year’s events, as well as an update on some of our flagship programs, all of which aimed to embody the kind of soulful work that the gospel enables. This work is only made possible by the dedication of our unyielding CFW Team: Amilee, Scott, Lauren, Brian, Stephanie, Esther, Jon, and Nicole.
Rev. David H. Kim, Executive Director, Center for Faith & Work
“Gotham is the most effective form of discipleship that Redeemer Presbyterian Church has had to date, and embodies everything Redeemer has been about from the beginning.” -Timothy Keller
With a leadership development program as effective as Gotham, CFW has catalyzed individuals across diverse industries that are eager and capable to serve. Now in its tenth year, we are experiencing a blessing of inspired and energized Gotham alumni who wish to bring the impact of Gotham to their hometown churches, family members, small groups and fellow church members, with hopeful zeal. This is all to say that, in a real and new way, we are encountering God’s grace upon this city, and our desire is to be good and faithful stewards to this present and building momentum.
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To date, the Gotham Fellowship has been comprised of Christians scattered across 23 industries throughout New York City. The Fellows’ primary vocations have included finance (17%), business (17%), the arts (12%), law (9%), and education (9%). Over the last two years, the reach of Gotham has expanded both in New York City and worldwide, with over 600 alumni and participants (300 NYC alum, 150 Global alum, 60 current NYC fellows, 160+ current global fellows) scattered throughout the city, nation, and world, attending myriad churches. Gotham is on track to grow to over 1,000 alumni by 2019 as CFW’s flagship program continues to be
adopted by churches worldwide. Given the leadership roles the Fellows and Alumni have in our church and throughout the city, the potential impact of their training will be multiplied across various industries, ministries, and programs.
“Looking back I can see God’s hand in asking me to do Gotham. It’s been really encouraging to sit down with family members who say ‘wow, I can really see that Gotham has been a pivotal part of your life,that there has been so much personal change.” -Tina, Design
NYC GOTHAM ALUMNI BY VOCATION
Academia (3%) Architecture (2%) Arts (12%) Business (17%) Design (3%) Diplomacy (1%) Education (9%) Engineering (1%) Entrepreneurs (3%) Fashion (1%) Finance (17%) Government (2%) Healthcare (5%) Homemaking (1%) Journalism (2%) Law (9%) Medicine (2%) Ministry (4%) Non-Profit (6%) Public Service (1%) Science (1%) Social Work (1%) Technology (1%)
“I thought it would require a lot longer to see the results, but in my case the impact of Gotham was immediate.” -Jonathan, Tech
GOTHAM FELLOWSHIP 2
“We have officially celebrated our one-year anniversary at the Nashville Institute for Faith & Work, and that is a wild thought to consider. Looking back at where we were this time last year, we feel humbled and thankful God is choosing to work through this organization to give Nashvillians a deeper and fuller view of what it means to intertwine their work with their faith. Our fall programing is chock-full of new initiatives as we are now taking a step beyond doing just Gotham.”
VANCOUVER, WA
GOTHAM
NEW YORK CITY
GRAND RAPIDS
EXPANSION
CHICAGO
DENVER SAN FRANCISCO
-Missy Wallace, Nashville Institute of Faith & Work RALEIGH
FELLOWS IN PROGRAM PER YEAR
NASHVILLE
LOS ANGELES
CHAPEL HILL
850
250 200 150
DALLAS FORT WORTH
100 50 0
HOUSTON
600
450
300
150
ORLANDO 0
2009 2009
2011
2013
CLASS YEAR
3
NUMBER of ALUMNI
NUMBER of FELLOWS
300
NATIONAL ALUMNI COMMUNITY GROWTH BY YEAR*
2015
2011
2013
2015
2017
2017
*Aggregate growth across all national programs
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“Before this program, I never stopped to ask myself how I could integrate my faith into the workplace. My church, work, and social life were not intertwined, but were kept separate from one another. I was selfishly preoccupied with finding the perfect job. Essentially, I was looking for work itself to fulfill me. I wanted work to serve me rather than I serve it. Never did I ask myself how I could serve and bring God’s kingdom into the workplace until I began the intensive.”
WORKSHOPS This year, CFW began offering one-off workshops that provided the practical tools to implement spiritual rhythms, discipline, creativity, imagination, and innovation into day-to-day work. Appropriate for people of any or no faith background, they supplied the space, time, and structure to explore a variety of important topics, with an aim towards making our work flourish and our faith grow. This year’s workshops included: Poetry & Faith with Christian Wiman | Designing Your Life with Dave Evans The Healthy Artist with Lauren Gill | Productivity Lift with Max Anderson
Now in its fourth year, CFW’s Vocational Intensives provided a 12-week course in spiritual and community development to New Yorkers from dozens of industry backgrounds. The course framework followed similar contours to the Gotham curriculum, exploring how the gospel is at work transforming our hearts, communities, and the world. Led by Gotham Alumni, participants learned in community how to apply theological content & biblical truths to their everyday work life, creating a more meaningful & sustainable integration of faith & work.
INTENSIVES 5
CLASSES The question of faith and work is really a question of calling. This year, our introductory 6-week class was re-designed to provide participants with a biblical overview of faith and work with the goal of discovering, discerning, and applying God’s calling for their lives. The class helped to demystify the idea of calling and deepen an understanding and experience of everyday work.
“These 6 weeks were some of the most powerful and encouraging in my life, and I’m forever grateful.” 6
“More than ever we need a reason to believe in the enchanted... a world where the invisible gives rise to the visible.� -Rev. David H. Kim
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FAITH & WORK CONFERENCE
THE WONDER & FEAR OF TECHNOLOGY
Over 500 people gathered to examine the intersection of faith and technology. The gathering looked at some current normative models that spawn fear, and investigated how to replace those with a fuller notion of the divine signature that has authored us all. Some highlights included...
“Christianity gives you an identity which is not achieved but received. That makes work a way to serve people.”
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-Timothy Keller
Derek Thompson (Senior Editor, The Atlantic) spoke on how work has shaped American identity in the last 200 years and how automation will both change and reaffirm the meaning that people derive from their work. Tim Keller (New York Times best-selling author and Redeemer Presbyterian Church Pastor) then spoke on how we move toward a re-enchanted view of God’s creation and the technological tools we employ. Alissa Wilkinson further explored a re-enchanted worldview through the lens of popular television and film narratives. David H. Kim discussed the critical role of technology in our God-given mandate to cultivate the world. Engineer and author Derek C. Schuurman then explained how a Christian perspective of technology can be informed by the Biblical narrative, and framed by the themes of creation, fall, redemption and restoration. The morning session ended with author Nancy Jo Sales and sociologist Felicia Wu Song discussing the effects of social media on in-person relationships and our capacity for empathy. (Cont. on next page)
“Christians need to be the true humanists.” -Nigel Cameron, President and CEO of the Center for Policy on Emerging Technologies
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The final session of the conference looked at how humans can shape the future as stewards of technology. Programmer Jane Stewart Adams examined the ways data-driven strategies can perpetuate discrimination in hiring practices. Nigel Cameron (CEO, Center for Policy on Emerging Technologies) discussed the necessity of human wisdom for technological development and how Christians can develop a non-naive optimism about the future of technology.
“The church is uniquely equipped with moral resources to apply to social media.”
Closing conversations for the conference looked at how the gospel rightly orders our world so that our technologies can bring hopeful fear and wonder that reflects not only our image but God’s glory.
-Felicia Su Wong, Sociologist and author of Virtual Communities: Bowling Alone, Online Together
“In data driven strategies, the data is grossly insufficient for the problem at hand. Who might be left out?”
“One pursues a calling for the intrinsic fulfillment of the work itself.”
-Derek Thompson, The Atlantic
-Jane Adams, Data Scientist and Programmer
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CIVILITY IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE NICHOLAS KRISTOF, JOHN INAZU & TIM KELLER
Nicholas Kristof (Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times columnist), John Inazu (author of Confident Pluralism), and best-selling author and pastor Tim Keller joined CFW and Redeemer’s Westside Congregation to discuss rediscovering civility and dignity in the public square, and how it requires a type of nuance that transcends a liberal/conservative divide. Together they explored how our public discourse should value conversation over obstruction, vulnerability over combativeness, diversity, sacrifice and humility. In short, our civic lives require civic love.
“When we don’t cooperate, the winners are poverty, and illiteracy, and disease.” -Nicholas Kristof
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“We are seeing anew how much fear and selfinterest keep us from empathy.” -John Inazu
“Christianity is a cross-ethnic, cross-class identity... We could become one of the non-paternalistic models in civility.” -Timothy Keller
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“I find the soul a valuable concept, a statement of the dignity of a human life and of the unutterable gravity of human action and experience.� -Marilynne Robinson 16
COMMISSION OF FAITH & WORK WITH PULITZER PRIZE WINNING AUTHOR
MARILYNNE ROBINSON CFW was honored to announce its inaugural Commission of Faith & Work to Pulitzer Prize winning author Marilynne Robinson, for her notable integration of faith and work and remarkable contributions to the humanities. “CFW has been committed to supporting and highlighting the bright spots of faith and work integration. There are few brighter, and with greater depth of soul, than Marilynne Robinson,” said CFW executive director David Kim. “Her already singular body of work exhibits a confluence of imagination, beauty, and intellectual rigor that will nourish the
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humanities for a long time to come, a much-needed voice for these days. Robinson’s writing achieves a level of thought and craft that CFW has aimed to model to our constituents, and we are thrilled to foster and further share her work through this exciting new commission.” The commission aims to quell the tide of insecurity that the humanities currently face, with distinctly Christian support. Historically, in times of uncertainty and transition, the humanities have provided reminders of hope and grace to combat our fear and doubt. As Robinson so wisely states
“I experience religious dread whenever I find myself thinking that I know the limits of God’s grace, since I am utterly certain it exceeds any imagination a human being might have of it. God does, after all, so love the world.” -Marilynne Robinson
in one of her many erudite essays: “I experience religious dread whenever I find myself thinking that I know the limits of God’s grace, since I am utterly certain it exceeds any imagination a human being might have of it. God does, after all, so love the world.” Robinson is the author of four novels: Lila (2014), winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award; Home (2008), winner of the Orange Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; Gilead (2004), winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award; and Housekeeping (1980), winner of PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Fiction. Her five nonfiction books include The Givenness of Things: Essays (2015) and The Death of Adam: Essays on Modern Thought (1998). Her many other honors include the American Academy of Arts and Letters Mildred and Harold Strauss Living Fund, the National Humanities Medal, the American Academy of Religion in the Arts Award, and the Library of
Congress' Prize for American Fiction. Robinson is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Robinson lives in Iowa City, Iowa, where she is a deacon for the Congregational United Church of Christ. In light of the commission, CFW facilitated several communitybuilding opportunities where New Yorkers and Redeemer congregants engaged with Robinson’s writing. Most recently, CFW hosted a book discussion group on Robinson’s latest PEN Award Finalist book of essays The Givenness of Things. In addition, five of CFW’s artists-in-residence created new work on the theme of Givenness, inspired by Robinson’s essay of the same name. The final projects from their residencies will be presented across the city in various forms. CFW plans to present Robinson’s commissioned piece in an event with the author upon her completion of the work.
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INAUGURAL
ARTIST FELLOWSHIP
&
AN EVENING WITH POET CHRISTIAN WIMAN
“What is it we want when we can’t stop wanting? I say God.” -Christian Wiman 19
In January, CFW hosted an evening with critically acclaimed poet Christian Wiman, who read from a brand new piece for the very first time, which was commissioned under CFW’s inaugural Artist Fellowship (more below). The author discussed his work’s investigation of the ineffable essence of God’s calling in our daily lives: “What is it we want when we can’t stop wanting? I say God.” Such core revelations are what comprised Wiman’s latest work of prose, exploring the intermingling of calling and desire, the inhering of the self in our work, and the catalyzing hunger of longing. The Center for Faith & Work was also pleased to confer their inaugural Artist Fellowship to the world-renowned poet. CFW's Artist Fellowship will be periodically awarded to artists that have established an extensive body of work with notable contributions to their field. It is created with the flexibility to supply a range of resources for established artists in the later stages of their career. Wiman also hosted a hands-on CFW workshop that utilized poetry to illuminate faith, and visa versa, for artists and non-artists, the same day as his aforementioned public reading. "By creating this fellowship, CFW has made a powerful statement about the deep connection between art and faith," says Wiman. "I'm delighted to see a church reaching out to the arts in this way, and honored to be involved."
“[Wiman’s work] made faith not only seem possible, but also sane and holy and even necessary for the first time in ages...[it’s] 75 percent of the reason that I still call myself a Christian.” -Whitney Bauck, Event Attendee
Christian Wiman is the author, editor, or translator of ten books, including Hammer is the Prayer: Selected Poems (FSG, 2016), My Bright Abyss: Meditation of a Modern Believer (FSG, 2013), and Stolen Air: Selected Poems of Osip Mandelstam (HarperCollins/Ecco, 2012). Of his work as a whole, Marilynne Robinson writes, “His poetry and scholarship have a purifying urgency that is rare in this world. This puts him at the very source of theology, and enables him to say new things in timeless language, so that the reader’s surprise and assent are one and the same.” Mr. Wiman has written for the New Yorker, the New York Times Book Review, the Atlantic Monthly, and numerous other publications. He is a former Guggenheim Fellow and holds an honorary doctorate of humane letters from North Central College. His particular interests include modern poetry, the
language of faith, “accidental” theology (that is, theology conducted by unexpected means), and what it means to be a Christian intellectual in a secular culture. Mr. Wiman has been a Jones Lecturer in Poetry at Stanford and a visiting assistant professor of English at Northwestern, and for three years he served as Visiting Scholar at Lynchburg College in Virginia. From 2003 until 2013 he was the editor of Poetry magazine, the premiere magazine for poetry in the English-speaking world. During that time the magazine’s circulation tripled, and it garnered two National Magazine Awards from the American Society of Magazine Editors. For the magazine’s centennial year, Mr. Wiman edited, with Don Share, The Open Door: One Hundred Poems, One Hundred Years of Poetry Magazine (University of Chicago Press, 2012).
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DESIGNING YOUR LIFE &
ENTREPRENEUR IN-RESIDENCE DAVE EVANS
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Over the course of six weeks, CFW hosted entrepreneur Dave Evans, author of the New York Times bestselling Designing Your Life, as our inaugural Entrepreneur-in-Residence. Throughout his residency, CFW hosted courses, workshops, retreats, and seminars that taught Evans’ designthinking approach to vocational discernment. These hands-on experiences offered conceptual frameworks, tools, a community of peers, and a place to work on a variety of life/vocation issues. Participants from a variety of fields dealt with issues ranging from how to find and experience meaningmaking in work to how to network and get an interview. Dave started his third career teaching “How to apply the innovation principles of design thinking to the wicked problem of designing your life” in the Stanford Design Program in 2007. His first career was a failed attempt to solve the energy crisis in the late 70’s – a drastically premature venture. Dave’s second sojourn was 30+ years in Silicon Valley involving 15 years of inside roles, including leading the early mouse and printer projects at Apple and co-founding Electronic Arts, where he was VP of Talent. In 1990, Dave shifted to the role of the “outsider,” working on projects ranging from management consulting to growing tech firms, large and small. Dave holds a BS and MSME from Stanford and a graduate diploma in Contemplative Christian Spirituality from San Francisco Theological Seminary. He lives with his wife Claudia and their dogs, Jack and Daisy, on the coast in Santa Cruz.
“One of the key takeaways from the retreat is that too often Christians get in their heads that God has one definitive calling for their lives, and that if they don’t find it and act upon it, they are not only not living up to their full potential but they are also disappointing God. It’s not about ‘did I get it right?’ The dance changes and rearranges to account for missteps.” -Attendee of Dave Evans’ Designing Your Life Retreat
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ARTISTSIN-RESIDENCE
CFW’s Artist-in-Residence program, now in its eighth term, has continued to bolster, inspire, and support the creative work of artists across the city, while fostering community-creation opportunities through events around each artist’s work. In past years, chosen artists have been filmmakers, composers, storytellers, writers, visual artists, choreographers, data artists, and poets. This year, residencies were awarded to musicians, visual artists, and performance artists, who were commissioned to create work based on the themes of “Tribes” and “The Unfinished Work”.
“I have found no other residency that is as empowering to artists of faith as CFW’s. The standard that the CFW Arts team set forth from the beginning is that there be a rigorous working-out of the theological implications of one’s work and the subsequent responsibility of the artist as a culture-shaper in a world that is deeply hungry for spiritual truths. Because of this, I can heartily say that my involvement with the CFW Artist-in-Residence Program and the resulting work has proved to be one of the most important moments in my career as an independent filmmaker.” -Ben Stamper, Former CFW Artist-in-Residence
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PRAYING FOR OUR WORK LOURINE CLARK “Prayer brings the head knowledge of the truth 16 inches down to the heart.” -Lourine Clark
This four month online course, facilitated by Lourine Clark and David H. Kim, was augmented by three prayer night events. Leading up to each of these gatherings, course participants had assignments providing greater context, which taught how to deepen the understanding and practice of prayer, particularly with respect to the workplace.
“In prayer, we have to make a hard shift from achiever to receiver.” -Lourine Clark
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For in Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. - Colossians 1:16-17
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