Vocational Stewardship Project (2017-18)

An Opportunity for GFM Campus Staff

Updated February 22, 2017

A major foundation has awarded a grant to strengthen GFM in our work to shape vocational stewards who will integrate their faith and their work as they move out from graduate school into the marketplace and other cultural spheres.

As one of our core commitments on campus, we are committed to the “integration of faith, learning, and practice”:

We engage in learning and biblical reflection in every area of life and seek a unity of knowledge and practice, because the God whom we worship is Creator of all. We labor to form leaders in every field who honor God’s gifts and calling. We believe that the integrity of these pursuits will be a witness of his Kingdom to the academic and professional worlds.

As we explained to the foundation:

This core commitment encompasses both discipleship of the mind and vocational stewardship. We want everyone involved in our ministry to “think Christianly” (which includes a robust theology of faith and work) and to “live holistically” (which entails a deep commitment to doing all of our work to the glory of God and for the common good).

Every year we celebrate between 500 and 600 graduate students finishing their programs (544 in 2015-16), whether one-year professional degrees or seven-year PhDs. These talented and accomplished men and women represent the fruit of our work. We invest in them so that they will go on to be the salt and light and yeast of God’s kingdom within the marketplace and other cultural spheres in our county and across the world, a faithful and transforming presence.

This grant-funded Vocational Stewardship Project is meant to spur us to pay added attention to this aspect of our discipleship ministry over the next 18 months (January 2017 - June 2018) and to position us for sharpening our efforts in subsequent years. We want to assess more carefully how many of our 500+ students finish their programs with a robust understanding of how they will serve God’s purposes through their work and what it would mean to pursue their vocations “faithfully.” 

Broad Goals of this GFM Project

  1. Reinforce our commitment to shape vocational stewards
  2. Sharpen our planning as campus staff ministers to teach faith and work integration
  3. Survey our integration work and make an initial assessment of our effectiveness
  4. Stimulate learning in this area across GFM
  5. Curate our best practices and resources
  6. Enhance our staff training 

Opportunity for Campus Staff

We have an opportunity for 35 campus staff to participate. Each will receive a $500 transfer to their accounts in December 2017 for participating. We are keeping the requirements minimal:

  1. Submit a simple plan for each semester/quarter (e.g. Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018) indicating:
    1. How will you as a CSM teach/train about integration of faith and work this term? 
    2. How will your chapter(s) explore these themes this term?
  2. Submit a short report on this aspect of your work at the end of each term:
    1. What did you/your chapter do?
    2. How did these efforts go?
    3. How many benefitted?
    4. What did you learn?
  3. Participate in two zoom calls (60 min) over the 18 months to exchange ideas with peers
  4. Participate in surveys in June and December:
    1. Complete a survey
    2. Invite a select group of students to respond to a survey
  5. Submit copies of any resources or formats that you develop or use at the end of each term

More on reporting requirements can be found in this Planning and Reporting document. 

Why participate?

  1. First, your participation will benefit all of GFM as we conduct this “self-assessment” and create this low-key learning community.
  2. Second, this might provide a fresh impetus to think more carefully about this aspect of your discipleship ministry and how to increase your expertise and effectiveness.
  3. Third, you will benefit from the exchange of ideas, resources, best practices among your colleagues.
  4. And fourth, there’s the $500.

Sign Up to Participate

Thanks for being willing to invest a small amount of additional effort in order to reap the shared dividends of this project. Last summer, 24 staff indicated interest. We have spots for another 10-15 participants. 

To participate, email Lorrey Thabet directly. If you're one of the 24 staff who provisionally signed up last summer, we will soon email you asking if you'd like to move forward in the process. 

For additional questions, please contact Bobby Gross directly.

Main menu