The purpose of this book is to help Christians begin to reconnect their lives and their work to the advancement of God’s Kingdom. A key for achieving this is developing a biblical worldview that enables us to understand our work in terms of calling and vocation, and thus live our lives in a way that more consistently glorifies God.
This process then transforms our lives and work into what I call our lifework—the relationship of one’s life and work to God and to the unfolding of His Kingdom. LifeWork is a tool to help Christians, worldwide, achieve such transformation. Then they may begin to “Kingdomize” their work, whatever that work may be, and thus influence their cultures and societies.
Among those I especially wish to reach with this book are those who want to be what I would call marketplace Christians but who question the value or faithfulness of such a choice. Millions of Christians, especially in the West, have a sense of “calling” to the marketplace, to work in one of the so-called secular domains of life. The trouble is that many of these Christians have learned to think about work within a Christianity that teaches, or implies, that if you are not in “the ministry,” you are a second-class Christian; you are not “spiritual.” And so they feel guilty about whatever secular work they may be doing. Others, perhaps some who became Christians after starting their careers, leave their secular work not knowing that it may have been their God-given calling. They are taught to vacate “the world” to pursue work that is deemed to be “more spiritual.” In the Bible, this sacred-secular dichotomy does not exist; there is only a consecrated or an unconsecrated life.
The second audience I particularly want to reach is pastors, ministers, nongovernmental organization (NGO) workers, social activists, and missionaries who have been called to labor among the world’s poor. One of the greatest causes of poverty in the developing world is the lie that work is meaningless, or even a curse. A major component of the Judeo-Christian worldview, however, is the dignity of labor, and this is one of the key tools for lifting people out of poverty. If you are working among poor people,my hope is that you will come to understand that what these friends and sojourners need more than money to solve their problems is Christ and a biblical way of seeing the world—a biblical worldview.
Ultimately, I wrote this book to help those who want to live an intentional Christian life—who are ready to ask tough questions and seek answers from Scripture, and who want to examine the meaning and place of their lives and work within the Kingdom of God.
-Darrow L. Miller
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