There has been a lot written recently about the Millennials – those born after about 1982. They have a particular approach to work that really values work/life balance. One company’s survey found 28% of Millennial employees said that the work/life balance was worse than they had expected before joining the company. 71% of the Millennials (vs. 63% of non-Millennials) said that their work demands significantly interfere with their personal lives.

But it’s not just millennials who value this. Across the board, 15% of all male employees and 21% of all female employees say they would give up some of their pay and slow the pace of promotion in exchange for working fewer hours.

That’s one kind of work life balance: having enough time at work and commuting, and enough time at home and rest, whatever that looks like. But what about life values?

One participant who took the Christianity 101 Course (offered live this fall in Whitby – http://bit.ly/13tjqfK for more info) was a telephone debt collector. He said to me, I’m interested in following Jesus, but my job is to call and harass people who haven’t paid, and I sometimes feel just awful, but need the work. Can I be a Christian and do this job?

This is not an uncommon dilemma in any industry: in business, real estate, social work, contracting, and more people have their days when they wonder if they are compromising an important part of who they are in order to work. Is there a better way – is there better work?

This week, we’ll look at good work as work that isn’t just balanced in terms of time and effort, but in terms of your values. What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus at work?

Question: Is your work ever in conflict with your values? Share that story with someone.

Ryan Sim - October 31, 2013

Thursday - Act On It - Growth - in Discipleship

This week we’re exploring how to become a church community united by common learning goals, even when we are busy! We’ve seen that the church is made up of many different complementary gifts and passions, but all put to use pursuing the same goal. The Bible described this as “maturity, the full stature of Christ”. The learning goal is learning and emulating Jesus’ character in everything life throws our way. How? Well, most topics are learned through a mixture of learning styles, like a textbook, lectures, discussion and homework, and experience. These are many different learning styles, but the same content is meant to be communicated through them all. Textbook: We’re going to start to read Bible together. We study it in in our challenges, but only a little snippet at a time. Now we’re going to start reading longer portions in sync together. Lectures: These challenges are obviously one form of teaching, and our live Christianity 101 course that just concluded in Whitby. Take advantage of whatever future learning opportunities you can! Discussion: This is critical, so I encourage you almost every day to start a discussion group based on our challenges. Have you? This means you’ll be getting encouraged and challenged by those you know, and can see and learn from others trying to follow Jesus. Make sure to contact Ryan with the good news, and to enjoy some leadership coaching and encouragement. Lab Experience: Every Thursday we give a challenge, and although they are easy to ignore, this learning process depends on you actually trying to live out Jesus’ teachings in your life, where they will transform you! In our case, Jesus’ character, lifestyle, spiritual maturity that comes from God alone, is learned through many forms. Challenge: Start with the textbook learning. We are going to start to read the Bible in sync as a community every day. We will add a Bible reading plan to our web site and app, where you’ll find a daily Bible reading starting next Monday!

Related Topics: Discipleship, Growth, Learning | More Messages from Ryan Sim | Download Audio

From Series: "Becoming Like Family"

This series looks at becoming “like family” with others learning to follow Jesus. We're exploring how the church is not a building, institution or event, but a community of people. It's important that explore what church means as we prepare to launch a new church in Ajax in 2014.

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