Moving the Church to Reframe and Envision How Flourishing Happens

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)
The everyday work that creates a city’s experience of life is often relegated to the margins or completely written off the page in most churches. Rather than continuing this centuries old pattern, the Church can seize the moment and elevate it by placing everyday work in the center of what God is doing in their city. If God is indeed making all things new and his ultimate vision is a new, flourishing city, then work must point toward that city. When it does, it serves God and neighbor, making it fully worthy of the oft-limited term “ministry.” The sacred-secular divide and the clergy-laity divide perniciously stint a redemptive imagination and vision for everyday work. Christians in every industry suffer a relegation of their work to the sidelines of God’s mission, limiting their impact to the margins of their time in church and nonprofit volunteerism. This doctoral project seeks to demonstrate that the Church must reframe and envision how everyday work is integral to God’s vision for a flourishing city. Chapter 1 describes the context of the project, which is large U.S. cities. Special focus is placed on the state of those cities sociologically, the state of work, and the state of the Church in those cities. Chapter 2 reviews work and city theologies and their overlaps. Chapter 3 builds on this discussion to articulate the vocation of God’s people, God’s people in their vocations, and the Flourishing City as the telos of work and the theological foundation for the project. Chapter 4 describes the research questions and learning objectives of the new curriculum, The Pie & the Pathway, and chapter 5 details the curriculum’s implementation and assessment. A facilitator’s guide is included along with pre- and post-survey assessments in the appendices.