Books
Working Blessedly Forever, Volume 1: The Shape of Marketplace Theology
R. Paul Stevens
Work, whether from home, in cyberspace, or in a factory or office, occupies a major chunk of our time, energy, and soul. This book seeks to make sense of our work in the world through adapting the pithy statement of the Puritan William Perkins to define marketplace theology as the "science of working blessedly forever." It is a science involving investigation, but not just with the head (thought), but also with heart (prayer) and hand (practice). But it is a science of working. So the book investigates a theology of work undertaken in the light of God's blessing and purpose. And our work is not just for this life but "forever," since some of it could last into the new heaven and new earth where, guess what, Scripture says we will work as fully human and resurrected beings. Stevens gathers his lifetime of research and teaching into this book showing through biblical research and contemporary analysis the meaning of work and human enterprise. It could change your lifestyle, your work style, and your soul.
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Working Blessedly Forever: The Shape of Marketplace Theology
The Kingdom of God in Working Clothes: The Marketplace at the Reign of God
R. Paul Stevens
Work occupies most of our waking time, whether it is in a factory, office, school, or at home. But unfortunately most people of faith separate their working life from their worshipping life. Dualism is a pernicious heresy that has infected believers worldwide, namely, that church work and missionary service are holy and our everyday work is secular. In this timely volume Stevens explores the connection of the kingdom of God, the master thought of Jesus, with the marketplace. Traditionally people have either related the kingdom of God, God's new world coming, either exclusively for the present or only for the distant future. But it is both, now and coming. This gives meaning, hope, and endurance to our work in the world. So daily labor in the marketplace gets reoriented through salty values and ingrained virtues. We become double agent spies exploring the new world coming in everyday life. We can also grapple helpfully with the resistance we face daily in the workplace. There are many books on the kingdom of God and many on work. Few have brought these two vital arenas of everyday service together. It is indeed part of the good news.
Money Matters: Faith, Life and Wealth
R. Paul Stevens and Clive Lim
Christians often hesitate to talk about money in spiritual contexts, but in the gospels Jesus talks more about money than about “religious” topics like prayer and heaven. Money Matters advocates following Jesus’s lead in engaging with matters of economy and finance in a faith-driven way, in both our individual and our corporate lives. The authors draw on their contrasting life experiences to offer a well-rounded look at money in the twenty-first century.
Doing God’s Business: Meaning and Motivation for the Marketplace
R. Paul Stevens
How do the spheres of private devotion and public business intersect in a meaningful way? Paul Stevens has been exploring this question since his earliest working days in his father's steel business. Doing God's Business tells how readers can find lasting and satisfying meaning for marketplace involvement in light of the Christian faith and tradition.
Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God's Work
Timothy Keller
Timothy Keller shows how God calls on each of us to express meaning and purpose through our work and careers. With deep conviction and often surprising advice, Keller demonstrates that biblical wisdom is immensely relevant to our questions about work today. Keller writes about how excellence, integrity, discipline, creativity, and passion in the workplace can help others and even be considered acts of worship.
Why Business Matters to God: (And What Still Needs to Be Fixed)
Jeff Van Duzer
This book is about God's purpose in our lives and how we can instill this purpose not only in our daily lives but also in our business. Van Duzer does a brilliant job of integrating biblical studies with business insight and practical wisdom. The goal is to create a business that contributes to the purpose of God.
Entrepreneurial Leadership: Finding Your Calling, Making a Difference
Richard Goossen and R. Paul Stevens
In this pioneering work, Richard Goossen and R. Paul Stevens have written what many are already declaring to be the essential resource for Christian entrepreneurial leadership. Entrepreneurial Leadership addresses both the "how-come" and the "how-to;" not only grounding the entrepreneurial calling in its proper source in the triune God but also providing practical guides for how to be an effective leader.
Taking Your Soul to Work
R. Paul Stevens & Alvin Ung
Instead of regarding work as a diversion from the spiritual life, R. Paul Stevens and Alvin Ung are convinced that it is an arena and an incentive for spiritual growth. Work in Progress examines life in the workplace through an innovative exploration of both the seven deadly sins and the ninefold fruit of the Spirit. Work in Progress has an intercultural approach that is particularly dynamic and engaging as the authors are from Canada and Malaysia, respectively.
Marketplace Ministry Handbook: A Manual for Work, Money and Business (also translated into Chinese)
R. Paul Stevens and Robert Banks
Work has become for many people the central reference point in their lives and the main consumer of their time and energy. Whether people have much or little money is primarily what life revolves around. There is an implicit theology in everyone’s attitude. This book explores that dynamic.
Aging Matters: Finding Your Calling for the Rest of Your Life
R. Paul Stevens
Vocational discernment, says R. Paul Stevens, is a lifelong process — one that takes on even more significance in later life. In this book Stevens argues that our calling does not end with formal retirement; to the contrary, we do well to keep on working, if possible, till life's end. In this book, Stevens reframes retirement as a time of continued calling and productivity and points to biblical wisdom that can help us redefine aging as an extraordinarily fruitful season of life.
The Other Six Days: Vocation, Work, and Ministry in Biblical Perspective (also translated into Korean)
R. Paul Stevens
In this provocative book R. Paul Stevens shows that the clergy-laity division has no basis in the New Testament and challenges all Christians to rediscover what it means to live daily as God’s people. With the inclusion of case studies and study questions at the end of each chapter—this is inspiring reading for anyone interested in what the Christian life holds for the other six days of the week.
Work Matters: Lessons from Scripture (also translated into Chinese)
By R. Paul Stevens
In Work Matters, marketplace theology expert R. Paul Stevens revisits more than twenty biblical accounts ― from Genesis to Revelation ― exploring through them the theological meaning of every sort of work, manual or intellectual, domestic or commercial. Taken together, his short, pithy reflections on these well-known Bible passages add up to a comprehensive, Bible-based theology of work.
Satisfying Work: Christian Living from Nine to Five
R. Paul Stevens and Gerry Schoberg
This study guide focuses on such issues as workplace ethics, success and prosperity, creativity, rest, the value of homemaking, and meaningful ministry.
Living the Story: Biblical Spirituality for Everyday Christians
R. Paul Stevens and Michael Green
This instructive, practical book explores the meaning of "biblical spirituality," a spirituality rooted in the Scriptures, in the grand story of God. Writing to promote genuine discipleship and an everyday sense of God's presence, R. Paul Stevens and Michael Green show that biblical spirituality is based on down-to-earth principles meant to foster righteous living' at home, at work, wherever one is. "Living the Story" is a winsome invitation to follow God wholeheartedly in every dimension of life.
Down-to-Earth Spirituality: Encountering God in the Ordinary, Boring Stuff of Life
R. Paul Stevens and Charles Ringma
Taking his cue from the biblical story of Jacob, Stevens explores the Genesis narrative and uncovers how ordinary moments are made extraordinary, transformed by the presence of God in the midst of the mundane. True spirituality, he says, is down-to-earth--we encounter God in the ordinary, common stuff of everyday life. When we least expect it, God surprises us by re-enchanting our daily experience and making every moment an opportunity to experience his blessing.
Seven Days of Faith
R. Paul Stevens
For Christians, life isn't about checking off "to-do" lists. It's about connecting with God and infiltrating thoughtful, biblical faith into our everyday lives. Everyday spirituality embraces purposeful times of work, relationships, and rest, centered on God instead of personal or cultural expectations. But how can you do it? In this book, Stevens offers practical insights to developing a “subversive spirituality” and motivates you to lovingly abide with God seven days a week.