Integrity Ideas are specific actions a leader can consider during the Re-Align step of Integriosity^®–actions that will begin to Re-Align the organization with Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities.  You can find more Integrity Ideas at Integrous | Integrity Ideas (integriosity.com)

INTEGRITY IDEA: Start a “Relevant” Bible Study

While all studies of the Bible are “relevant”, because the study of God’s Word is always relevant for the lives of his image-bearers, some can be more relevant for guiding us in certain aspects of life. “Start a Relevant Bible Study” is about faithful leaders starting, facilitating or encouraging a Bible study that is intentional about helping employees understand the relevance of Scripture to their daily work.

Integrity Ideas are practical actions toward implementing a bigger WHY for the organization.  We believe some are critical (and necessary) steps in the RENEW/RE-ALIGN/RE-IMAGINE/RESTORE process.  Others are just ideas to be considered if they feel like a good fit based on what leaders prayerfully discern is best for stewarding the organization toward its WHY.  We believe practices on the overt end of the Covert-Overt Continuums are always “if it fits”, because a faithful leader’s decision about where to land on the Continuums must be guided by prayer discernment about how to balance courage and wisdom. We discussed this balancing at length in post #141 (Covert or Overt?).

Scripture is clear not only about the relevance of Scripture to life and the importance of knowing God’s word but also about the importance of teaching it.  God calls his people not just to know His Word, but to delight in it, meditate on it, teach it, and obey it. Studying Scripture is how we align our hearts and actions with God’s purposes. Teaching Scripture with intentionality is a one way for a faithful leader to be obedient to God’s Word.

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. (Joshua 1:8)

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. (Psalm 119:105)

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom . . . (Colossians 3:16)

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. ⁷ You shall teach them diligently to your children . . . (Deuteronomy 6:6-7)

Based on informal surveys by a few faith and work organizations, it would seem less than 10% of Christian workers have crossed he Sacred/Secular Gap. Sadly, the church has often failed to teach the sacred nature of business and work. We believe even a fair amount of theology espoused in the faith and work movement can contribute to faithful leaders remaining “stuck” behind that gap, never understanding that their work itself is sacred.

The surveys found that many Christian workers believe the only time they are living out their faith at work is when they are doing religious things like attending a Bible study or prayer group. That makes it even more important for a Bible study in the workplace to be “relevant”–to be designed to teach workers the truth about God’s purpose for work and business and to help them live out their faith in how they work and in their work relationships.

A Bible study that is intentional about showing how Scripture applies practically to everyday work builds wisdom, which helps people do the right thing, in the right way, for the right reasons.   Henry Blackaby wrote about wisdom:

In Hebrew thought, wisdom was the ability to apply godliness to everyday living. Not merely head knowledge, wisdom was the practical ability to do the righteous thing in every situation

Because church-sponsored Bible studies do not focus on the relevance of the Bible to work and business, it is not surprising that Bible studies started at work by churchgoers fail to be intentional about that relevance. People naturally do what they know and have experienced. Faithful leaders and ERG leaders naturally fall back to “doing church” at work.  After all, how can a Bible study leader teach something they have never been taught?

Faith as usual may settle for just having a Bible study at work because it looks and feels “Godly”—as though that in itself is enough. But if the study never addresses the sacredness of work or helps people integrate their work into their faith, it risks being a detour on the Side Road of Cosmeticizing—pulling people out of their work rather than renewing their minds, transforming their hearts, and equipping them for faithful integrity in their work.

A workplace Bible study that is not intentionally focused on helping people across the Sacred/Secular Gap and understand the relevance of Scripture to their work is a missed opportunity.

CONTINUUM: Proclamation and Practices

The Integriosity model organizes “heart change” along six Covert-Overt Continuums.  There is nothing magic about these categories, but we believe they are helpful in thinking about practical execution of a Re-Imagined Purpose, Re-Imagined Values and a Re-Imagined Culture.  The Continuums are Prayer, Proclamation, Policies, Practices, Products, People.

Each Continuum represents an area in which leaders can begin to think about, plan and institute Re-Alignment changes to the heart of the organization.

“Start a Relevant Bible Study” is on both the Proclamation Continuum and the Practices Continuum. Proclamation involves actions that share Biblical faith messages with those who may not have a Biblical faith.  Practices reflect, and at the same time help shape and reinforce, an organization’s culture.  Purpose and values define the culture of an organization; the culture shapes the behavior of the people in the organization; and the behavior of the people drives the results of the organization.

“Start a Relevant Bible Study” is Proclamation because it involves the teaching of a faith-centered approach to work and business. It is also a Practice that reflects a focus on cultivating a culture of doing work and business in alignment with Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities.

COVERT-OVERT RATING: Overt

The Integriosity model breaks the Covert-Overt Continuums into six gradations–from Highly Covert to Highly Overt–that we believe are helpful in beginning to pray and think about what is most appropriate for an organization at a particular moment in time.

Most Integrity Ideas will have one place on the scale.  Some can vary depending on how they are implemented.

“Start a Relevant Bible Study” is Overt (an overtly faith-based action known generally within the organization), but it can move to Very Overt (an overtly faith-based action involving suppliers, vendors or customers) if the Bible study is made available to suppliers, vendors or customers or even Highly Overt (an overtly faith-based action involving community, website, sales/marketing materials) depending upon how openly and widely the organization publicizes its practice.

STAKEHOLDERS SERVED: Kingdom, Employees

When we categorize faith-based actions, we also consider the stakeholders principally impacted by the action: Employees, Customers/Clients, Owners, Suppliers/Vendors, Community and Kingdom.

“Start a Relevant Bible Study” is primarily about helping employees cross the Sacred/Secular Gap. It is also about honoring and helping people choose the ways of the Kingdom of God over the ways of the kingdom of the world.

IMPLEMENTATION

Implementing “Start a Relevant Bible Study” can be easy and relatively inexpensive, but any Bible study must be voluntary (and whether an employee chooses to participate or not shouldn’t impact their employment).  The most difficult part may be prayerfully discerning whether taking such an overt action is wise stewardship.

Once a faithful leader has prayerfully discerned that it is wise to implement “Start a Relevant Bible Study”, the key questions to consider are WHO, WHEN and WHAT.

Who. Who is invited and who is told implicates whether the Bible study is Overt, Very Overt or Highly Overt. Will participation be limited to employees? Will customers or vendors be invited?  Will it be highlighted on the organization’s website?

When. Will the Bible study be held during work hours or on employee personal time?  Holding it during work hours may be perceived as “unfair” by employees who choose not to participate.

What. Because very few people have experienced a Bible study focused on the relevance of Scripture to work and business, it may be difficult to start an intentionally work-focused Bible study (or find people willing to lead such a study) without resources designed for that purpose.

One tremendous (and free) “plug-and-play” resource for starting a Bible study intentionally focused on the relevance of Scripture to work is the material created by PRS.work and featured on Scripture@Work.

• Thoughtfully merging “Public Reading of Scripture” passages from PRSI.org with Bible commentaries by the Theology of Work Project, PRS.work has created a series of 144 videos, each of which is designed to support a one-hour session.

• A video consists of Bible passages and a related commentary from the Theology of Work Project, all of which both appears on the screen and is read aloud, perfect for sharing on Zoom or Teams.  With the video lasting approximately 20-30 minutes, the rest of the hour can be used to discuss the material.

• Videos are organized into series by Books of the Bible and also into curated work-focused series on topics such as Calling, Ethics, Character, Failure, Leadership, Meaning & Value of Work, People and Relationships, Personal Ethics, Power, Service, Social Ethics, Spirituality of Work and Struggle and Adversity.

• The sessions are very professionally produced, and the Theology of Work commentaries are extremely well done, regularly teasing insightful work-related revelation from Biblical passages.

Work-related studies can also be found in the free YouVersion Bible app, but they are not designed for presentation to a group.  The subscription service RightNow Media@Work is a customizable online library of thousands of faith-centered videos on topics such as leadership, teamwork, ethics and integrity, marriage, mental health, parenting, and personal finance.  However, we have not found a resource for an intentional work-focused Bible study as rich or comprehensive as the PRS.work series.

Starting a Bible study at work is faithful. Starting a “relevant” Bible study at work is intentionally faithful.  As we explored in posts #87-#90, the pursuit of faithful integrity through business a better way toward Biblical flourishing requires intentional leaders.

PERSONAL NOTE (from PM): I can personally vouch for the the PRS.work material.  I have been participating in a weekly session of PRS.work teachings for several years.  In 2024, I was honored to take over the chairmanship of what would become Scripture@Work. The mission of Scripture@Work is to serve workplace communities by facilitating Biblical learning that encourages marketplace transformation. Ou vision is to see the marketplace redeemed by faithful workers aligning their work with Biblical beliefs, principles, and priorities.

Thanks to the Theology of Work Project and Will Messenger for creating the PRS.work video series. Thanks also to the Grace & Mercy Foundation for their vision in starting PRSI.org and their support of the PRS.work initiative.

ESSENCE:  Integrity Ideas are specific actions a faithful leader can consider in leading faithfully through business a better way.

INTEGRITY IDEA: Start a “Relevant” Bible Study

While all studies of the Bible are “relevant”, because the study of God’s Word is always relevant for the lives of his image-bearers, some can be more relevant for guiding us in certain aspects of life. “Start a Relevant Bible Study” is about faithful leaders starting, facilitating or encouraging a Bible study that is intentional in helping employees understand the relevance of Scripture to their daily work. Based on informal surveys by a few faith and work organizations, it would seem less than 10% of Christian workers have crossed the Sacred/Secular Gap. Sadly, the church has often failed to teach the sacred nature of business and work. We believe even a fair amount of theology espoused in the faith and work movement can contribute to faithful leaders remaining “stuck” behind that gap, never understanding that their work itself is sacred. The surveys found that Many Christian workers believe the only time they are living out their faith at work is when they are doing religious things like attending a Bible study or prayer group. That makes it even more important for a Bible study in the workplace to be “relevant”–to be designed to teach workers the truth about God’s purpose for work and business and to help them live out their faith in how they work and in their work relationships. Starting a Bible study at work is faithful. Starting a “relevant” Bible study at work is intentionally faithful. A workplace Bible study that is not intentionally focused on helping people across the Sacred/Secular Gap and understand the relevance of Scripture to their work is a missed opportunity.

COVERT-OVERT CONTINUUM (six Continuums for action):  Proclamation, Practices

COVERT-OVERT RATING (several levels from Highly Covert to Highly Overt):  Overt

STAKEHOLDERS SERVED: Kingdom, Employees

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Photo credit: Original image by Photo by Alex Shute on Unsplash
(image cropped)