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Church of England Perspective
Below is a summary of the motion carried by General Synod of 7th July 2008, affirming the importance of daily work as an integral part of Christian living.
This motion was based on the background work laid out in these supporting documents :
Also available is an audio of the debate (opens in Media Player).
General Synod - Summary of Business Conducted on Monday 7th July 2008
FAITH, WORK AND ECONOMIC LIFE (GS Misc 890 A and GS Misc 890B)
Mr Simon Baynes (St Albans) moved on behalf of the St Albans Diocesan Synod:
‘That this Synod:
(a) affirm daily work be it paid or unpaid as essentially a spiritual activity;
(b) recognise the importance of Christian values within economic life;
(c) encourage bishops and clergy to give greater priority to equipping and resourcing church members through teaching, prayer, affirmation and celebration, to fulfil their vocations, ministries and mission in their places of work; and
(d) request the Mission and Public Affairs Council to:
(i) convene a symposium on a theological understanding of work for today as outlined in sections 5.3-5.4 of GS Misc 890B;
(ii) compile a collection of supportive resource materials for church members as outlined in section 5.5 of GS Misc 890B.
The motion was clearly carried.
What do you think about the General Synods motion? Have you listened to the debate? What did you think?
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Hugh Valentine said…
May I post the text of my letter about this motion which appeared in the Church Times? Am very interested to hear what others think.
The Editor (Letters)
Church Times by email
13 July 2008
Dear Sir
May I congratulate you on such comprehensive coverage of the recent General Synod. A rare attack of insomnia caused me to devote more attention than I usually give to reading of its deliberations. Of special interest to me is your report on the St Alban’s motion which asked Synod to “affirm that daily work is a spiritual activity”. I was so astonished by what I read that I was completely unable to go back to bed, making the following work day rather less spiritual than it might have been.
A large degree of nonsense characterises much official and professional Christian comment on work – usually under headings such as the ‘theology’ or the ‘spirituality’ of work. A dash of the Rule of St Benedict is often thrown in, along with suggestions that workers are participating in some way in God’s inexhaustible creativity.
The persistent naivety in much of this is heartbreaking for those of us with a concern to better understand the relationship between paid work and faith. Too much of what is written about it by Christians is sentimental, superficial or patronising, written by those unacquainted with the demands, stresses, compromises and challenges of selling their labour in complex industrial, post-industrial, commercial and private and public settings.
In short, many of those who talk about Christian faith and paid work are not qualified to do so, and the Christians that are qualified by their experience of being Christian people at work (by definition, mainly lay and non-academic) too often lack the voice, the encouragement or the energy.
To claim that ‘daily work is a spiritual activity’ is a nonsense. To affirm that the work of our hands and hearts and minds may contribute to, or frustrate, God’s purposes is a better starting point. It is only that. To take this question any further will require a far more serious engagement with the business of selling our labour than is to be found in the accompanying background paper from the diocese of St Albans.
Yours faithfully
Hugh Valentine
Posted at 6.32pm on Wednesday 8 April 2009 #1