Purpose of work

Watch the first two talks in the series Your work in God's story, exploring what the purpose of our daily labour is.

To mark the 500^th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, here are 10 of our favourite quotes about work attributed to the reformers Martin Luther and John Calvin, wisdom that still bears much truth 500 years on.

In this “in between state”, what does it mean to “redeem work”? What does it mean in practical terms to say that our work is part of that redemption?

What's the point of work? There's nothing more empowering and motivating for our daily work than knowing the reason for it all!

"God could have provided us with ready-made chairs, or already harvested crops, or excavated gold. He could have given us orange juice in a bottle. But in His great wisdom God instead says to humanity you take the oranges and just see what you might create with them...The task God has given us as His co-workers is to see and connect what has not been connected and made before".

Since its publication in 2012, Timothy Keller’s Every Good Endeavour: Connecting your work to God’s work has become the go-to book for those wanting to consider the connection between Christian faith and work. Why is this? What makes it just so good?

Wish every day at work was a great day? Is it possible? How the wisdom from one author, infused with a healthy dose of the Gospel, might just change everything about how you work.

"We work not just to fill our bellies, or put a roof over our head - as important as those things are. Christians should see their economic activity as an act of worship" (Ken Barnes).

Pleasure and work – two words that hardly seem to belong side by side. Frustration and work, disappointment and work, toil and work; these seem more suitable bedfellows. But pleasure and work, is it really possible?