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Christianity Today, November, 2007 |

Work Is Our Mission

Why the godly baker's most significant task is baking good bread.

Uwe Siemon-Netto | posted 11/14/2007 08:10AM

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There is a German saying: A baker who does not eat his own rolls will find it hard to sell them to others. I fear this insight applies here too, and it's a shame that this marketable item of Lutheran vocational doctrine should be left to grow stale in these befuddled times. Evangelicals, like those at the World Journalism Institute, need not retreat to tribal spheres like the Lutherans, nor exercise the exhortations of the evangelist in their worldly professions. Luther's doctrine of the two kingdoms frees us to minister as bakers, news reporters, and accountants.

Uwe Siemon-Netto, a veteran foreign correspondent from Germany and a Lutheran lay theologian, is director of the Concordia Seminary Institute on Lay Vocation in St. Louis, Missouri.

Related Elsewhere:

The November issue of Christianity Today also featured "The Mission Of Business" and "Scripture and The Wall Street Journal."

Previous Christianity Today articles on faith and business include:

From Hand Out to Hand Up | Three Arkansas entrepreneurs are helping build Rwanda's largest bank for the poorest of the poor. (November 1, 2007)

The Good Shepherds | A small but vigorous movement believes that in farming is the preservation of the world. (October 25, 2007)

Surviving the Mortgage Crisis | Most Christian lenders remain strong during sub-prime debacle. (October 12, 2007)

Crop of Concerns | Farm bill draws out Christian reformers worried about subsidies. (August 10, 2007)

Defining Business Success | A CEO on why core values are not enough. (February 5, 2007)

Dollars and Sense | How Salem Communications makes its money. (January 26, 2007)

Previous articles by Uwe Siemon-Netto include:

Uwe Siemon-Netto: Ignore History at Your Own Peril | UPI religion columnist decries the shallow Christianity of those who neglect the past. (April 2005)

The Supreme Court Rejects Natural Law | It's now up to the churches to guard what is graven on the heart of man. (June 1, 2003)

Spittle and Self-Righteousness | Beware of responding too indignantly to those on the other side of the war debate. (March 28, 2003)

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November 2007, Vol. 51, No. 11

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Gary Sweeten

Posted: November 23, 2007 11:04 AM

Finally, a non-dualist writing about our calling as believers. To reduce a calling and the use of our talents, gifts and resources in a formal religious setting or by using only religious language is possibly the most damaging aspect of our Evangelical heritage. It divides us from the healing, governing and redeeming aspects of daily life. It is difficult to live in paradox but it needs to be done. When I practice good therapy I am God's agent to the client. When I am patient on the highway I show God's love. I am His priest all the time.

Jeff	Posted: November 15, 2007 11:21 AM

"Storming with guns blazing an enemy position in Iraq" can be a priestly duty? Good grief. What god's priests are killers? Only the god of this world which has blinded our hearts to do violence to others. Not the God who comes to us in the self-giving, non-violent love of the cross. In general this is a good article, but killing flies completely in the face of the gospel, no matter what kingdom you think you're living in.

Mark O'Dwyer

Posted: November 15, 2007 10:56 AM

I respect and affirm Uwe Siemon-Netto's point that a Christian is called to do his or her job well. I also agree with the author's point about using discretion in deciding when it is appropriate to share the gospel verbally. Yet, I haven't found many Christians in bondage to the idea that in order to be witnesses, they must pursue official ministry. Rather, the problem for my church (Episcopalian) is that we aren't vocal enough, or at all, in sharing the gospel verbally. We use St. Francis' "Share the Gospel everywhere, and if necessarry, used words" as a poor excuse to keep our mouths shut and our faith private. I also think Luther's two kingdom's theology makes an artificial and impossible distinction between secular and sacred life. Most vocations pose ethical dilemnas for Christians, like the politician who is called to maintain his integrity in the midst of corruption, or lawmkaing that opresses the poor? We live in God's kingdom which is yet to fully manifest itself...not two

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