Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. (Col 3:22-24)
This piece of Scripture has guided my thoughts and actions toward my work time after time. As Paul addresses and exhorts “bondservants” in the early church, how much more should I ask God to give me a spirit of working heartily for him.
We all have and will experience, as Genesis 3: 17-19 warns, “thorns and thistles” in our working life. In these times, God nudges me to keep working heartily, to persevere, and to rest in his strength. And then there are times when I feel like Eric Liddell running or John Piper preaching or a financial analyst getting a spreadsheet just right—I use the gifts and talents God has given me to glorify him through my work, and, as a Christian hedonist, I allow myself to feel satisfaction and pleasure in God.
Almost every year we work with the team at Best Christian Workplaces to check in on the staff and faculty at Bethlehem College and Seminary, measuring overall organizational health, employee engagement, and morale. The survey, which was answered by 100% of our employees working 20+ hours per week, measures areas like leadership, growth opportunities, compensation & benefits, and communication.
I’m very happy to report that, once again, Bethlehem was named a Best Christian Workplace by scoring higher than 4.0 average on a 5-point scale. In fact, we were categorized as “flourishing” by achieving an average score of 4.34. This result places us in the top 30% of similar organizations taking the survey.
Join me in this prayer for our faculty and staff:
God our Father, we thank you for the level of joy and engagement you have given the faculty and staff of Bethlehem College and Seminary in their work.
- May they bring glory to you by working heartily as for the Lord and not for men
- May they feel your presence as they exercise the unique gifts and talents you have given them
- May joy and pleasure in their work spill over to our students, our volunteers, our conference attendees, and all that are served by our school
- May the leadership continue to value the staff and faculty and work toward sustaining a flourishing workplace, and may they effectively respond to the areas for improvement that were identified in the survey
- Grant success and satisfaction to our faculty and staff in not only their work but in all areas of life and ministry
Thank you, Lord, for this group of people you have brought together to serve you as the faculty and staff of Bethlehem College and Seminary. May your name be made great through their diligent efforts under your faithful guidance.
Amen
Joe Krekelberg
VP of Administration and CFO