About

The vision of the Theology of Work Project is that every Christian be equipped and committed for work as God intends. A Christian approach makes work more meaningful and productive, benefits society and the people we work with and for, gets us through the challenges we face on the job, draws people to Jesus, and brings glory to God.  

The Theology of Work Project (TOW) is an independent, international organization dedicated to researching, writing, and distributing materials with a biblical perspective on non-church workplaces. The Project’s primary mission is to produce resources covering every book of the Bible. We are also developing resources for the most significant topics in today’s workplace, such as calling, ethics, truth & deception, provision & wealth, motivation, finance, and economics and society. Wherever possible, we collaborate with other faith-and-work organizations, churches, universities and seminaries to help equip workplace Christians for meaningful and fruitful work of every kind.

The Theology of Work Project is the deepest, largest, and most trusted source of biblical, theological, and pastoral material related to work. Most of our materials are available free of charge on this website, although we have a few print-only publications available at our online bookstore. Our cornerstone resource, the Theology of Work Bible Commentary, is the only commentary covering what the entire Bible says about work. It is in use by over 60 partner organizations, dozens of seminaries, and hundreds of churches.

TOW Project resources are meant to be both theologically rigorous and genuinely practical. We are committed to bringing the Bible into the lived experience of work in every sphere of society. The Bible has an incredible wealth of counsel for work. Nearly 900 passages apply to ordinary work. TOW materials on topics such as calling, conflict at work, performance, ethics, finance, fear of failure, difficult bosses, rest, truth and deception, and changing jobs have been used by millions of individuals and small groups. Leading figures in the faith-and-work movement endorse and use TOW resources.

The TOW Project also incorporates The High Calling. The High Calling was one of the earliest, largest and most-used online publications dedicated to the integration of faith and work. It was developed and operated for many years by the H. E. Butt Foundation. In 2016 the Foundation and the TOW Project created a partnership to host The High Calling and all its materials here on the TOW Project. If you search this website, materials from The High Calling are included in the search. If you want to access The High Calling materials directly, they can be found at The High Calling home page. 

The Theology of Work Project is an independent, international non-profit organization. 

Frequently Asked Questions:

What resources can I find at theologyofwork.org?

Who uses theologyofwork.org?

Who writes the content on theologyofwork.org?

What is our process for preparing content for publication?

What license do you use? Can I reproduce materials I see on theologyofwork.org?

Are TOW materials available in any other languages?

 

 

What resources can I find at theologyofwork.org?

The site contains materials that help apply the Christian faith—the Bible in particular—to ordinary work. The core of the materials is the Theology of Work Bible Commentary. It covers about 900 passages from all 66 book of the Bible, exploring what each passage says about work, workers and workplaces.

Beyond the TOW Bible Commentary, there are hundreds of resources by the TOW Project that help working Christians apply the TOW Bible Commentary to specific situations that arise in ordinary (non-church) work. These resources include

Materials produced by TOW Project are typically rigorous and thought-provoking, due to the Project’s distinctive development process (see below).

In addition, there are thousands of pieces produced by The High Calling, including daily reflections, blog posts, podcasts, and sermon notes. They are typically more personal than materials produced by the TOW Project itself. (See above for the relationship between the TOW Project and The High Calling.) We also host the daily devotional “Life for Leaders” by Mark Roberts, which can be found on the The High Calling page.

Finally, there are materials from more than 60 partners of the Theology of Work Project. Most of these are related in some way to materials produced by the TOW Project. For example, many of the passages in the TOW Bible Commentary are illustrated by videos or sidebar articles produced by others who have given us permission to reproduce them. In addition, there are a small number of resources not closely related to TOW Project materials, but included because they may be especially valuable to users of this website, for example Bibliographies and Recommended Books and Worship Resources. Generally, these are materials that have been produced by partners working closely with the TOW Project or have been recommended consistently by our partners or users.

 

Who uses theologyofwork.org?

The Theology of Work Project speaks to three audiences: Christians who work, Pastors, and Scholars/Students.

Workplace Christians face tough questions about faith and work, such as “Should I look for a new job?”or “What if I hate my job?” Workplace Christians include people in every kind of work, including business, government, education, health-care, non-profit organizations, or at home. Workplace Christians may be paid for their work, or like parents and volunteers, they may not. Some are retired or unemployed. All Christians are called to live out their faith in whatever work they do. The Theology of Work Project aims to produce materials to help Workplace Christians do just that. Questions about faith and work, answered through the Bible and work, are important to Workplace Christians.

The only workplaces not discussed on theologyofwork.org are churches and church-related organizations.  This is not because they are not workplaces, but because there is already a wealth of resources about the theology of church work.

Pastors use materials produced by The Theology of Work Project to prepare sermons and talks, lead small groups and bible studies, counsel church members on questions regarding work and calling, and find out what other churches are doing on faith-work integration.  Pastors should be concerned about the answer to the question: What does the bible say about work? Churches that equip members on questions of vocation reap dividends in the flourishing of their congregations.

Students and Scholars use The Theology of Work Bible Commentary to enrich biblical exegesis and to explore how God’s truth applies to work - one of humanity’s most time-consuming activities. The Theology of Work bible commentary represents the work of 138 respected scholars, pastors, executives and workers from 16 countries, thoroughly examining what the Bible says about faith and work. This commentary is available for free in its entirety on theologyofwork.org, or for purchase on LOGOS Bible Software.  Print versions of the commentary are available in the bookstore. 

 

Who writes the content on theologyofwork.org?

TOW-produced materials are written by a wide variety of contributors working under the auspices of  the TOW Project Editorial Board/Steering Committee. Additional materials on the site come from our partner organizations and individuals. Hundreds of people have contributed to the materials on this website through these processes.

We do not aim to be a clearinghouse or master collection of materials relating faith to work. That is beyond our capabilities. This means that we do not generally host resources that we are not involved in producing, are not created by our partners, and are not directly  related to our materials. We DO accept materials for review if they directly relate to TOW-produced materials, for example a small group study, video, illustration, sermon or course outline that is based on or extensively interacts with a TOW Bible Commentary passage or Key Topic article. These can be submitted at the Contact Us page.

We invite you to help improve the Theology of Work content. You can give feedback using the commenting system on the bottom of every content page.

The High Calling was written by the H. E. Butt Family Foundation and its network of contributors. It is now curated and maintained by the Theology of Work Project. It does not currently accept submissions, but welcomes feedback via the comment system.

 

What is our process for preparing content for publication?

Each TOW Bible Commentary passage and Key Topic article goes through successive stages of development before it is adopted by TOW Editorial Board/Steering Committee.  The TOW Project aims to provide the most trusted, highest quality resources on applying the Bible and other resources of the Christian faith to ordinary work. Our resources are meant to be theologically rigorous and genuinely practical. The most distinctive aspect of this goal is our process. The Theology of Work Bible Commentary and every Key Topic article goes through an extensive process of development, review and revision. Each of these articles must be approved by a minimum of 15-20 expert reviewers from around the world, including final approval by the Theology of Work Project Steering Committee. Every article is reviewed by scholars from the biblical, theological and professional fields; pastors; faith-and-work ministry leaders; and "workplace Christians" from a variety of professions. 

The other materials produced by the TOW Project (e.g., small group studies, devotionals, practical guides) are typically adapted by the TOW staff by drawing from the TOW Bible Commentary, Key Topic article and High Calling materials. Small group materials are piloted and evaluated by partner churches and organizations, and feedback is incorporated into the materials prior to posting on the website. Materials contributed by partners and individuals are written according to their own processes and curated on the TOW site by the TOW staff.

Our theological foundations represent the breadth of the historic/orthodox Christian faith, rather than any single denomination or tradition. We have been fortunate that the disagreements that separate various Christian denominations and traditions play a much smaller role in the theology of work than in other branches of theology. For example, the nature of Holy Communion and the proper age for baptism - to name two examples of sharp disagreements among Christian traditions - do not arise in the theology of work. Because of this, we have been able to find an uncommonly high degree of agreement among the diversity of our contributors, editors, staff and Editorial Board/Steering Committee.

We regret that the TOW Project is not able to accept submissions, except in the very limited cases described above under “Who writes the content on theologyofwork.org? The High Calling section does not accept submissions.

 

What license do you use? Can I reproduce materials I see on theologyofwork.org?

You are free to share or adapt any of the TOW-produced and The High Calling materials you find on this site, provided you give appropriate credit and use the material for noncommercial purposes,under ourCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license.  (This applies to works labeled as “Produced by TOW Project” or “Produced by Individual TOW Project Members” or "Produced by The High Calling.") Non-TOW-produced resources shown on this site are subject to copyright restrictions designated by their original owners. The copyright and licensing details for each resource on the site are found in the Copyright box displayed on each resource.

For more detailed information see our full license page.

 

Are TOW materials available in any other languages?

The TOW Project materials are currently available in Korean, Chinese, and Spanish. Visitors can access our website in other languages by clicking on the menu box in the top right hand corner of the homepage.

If your organization is interested in translating the site into your language, please contact us.