Monday, November 6, 2017

Save the Date: Work As Worship Retreat - Friday, February 23, 2018

Do you ever wake up with the Monday blues?  Do you live for Fridays?  Do you wonder if the work that you do from Monday-Saturday makes a difference in the world?  Do you wonder if God has called you to the job you are in?  Do you wonder how to integrate your faith and your work in a culture that wants to keep the two separate?

If any of these questions applies to you or to someone you know, then please consider yourself
invited to the 2017 Work as Worship Retreat, where eleven influential business leaders and pastors will discuss what it looks like to connect faith and work. Taking place as a 1–Day Local Church Retreat on February 23, 2018, the live event in Dallas from RightNow Ministries will be web-streamed to over 2,000 churches around the world, including Madison Square Church in Grand Rapids MI.

Many of us spend little more than two hours of our week at the church building or in a small group.  This kind of worship is Biblical and a vital rhythm in the life of a Christian.  But during the other 166 hours of our week, we have just as much potential to worship the God who created us.  Our time at church and small group should launch us out into the world – which includes the marketplace – prepared to take the hope of Jesus with us.  This retreat will help us do just that.

Here are eight key tenets of what you will learn:
1.       God designed work before the Fall.
2.       We are called to a mission.
3.       Church is the people – not the building.
4.       Work impacts our perspective on God.
5.       God uses work to impact communities.
6.       All of life can be worship.
7.       We don’t work to earn God’s favor.
8.       Work as Worship, but don’t worship work.

Join Patrick Lencioni (Author, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team), Joel Manby (CEO, SeaWorld), Phil Vischer (Creator, VeggieTales and Jellyfish Labs), Wendy Davidson (President, US Specialty Channels Kellogg Company), Matt Chandler (Lead Pastor, The Village Church), and others in a day filled with real-life stories, biblical teaching, and practical wisdom that will equip believers in the marketplace to see their work as an opportunity to care for their families, fulfill their calling, and bring glory to God.

But we don’t want to stop with just a one-day event!  In partnership with Discipling Marketplace Leaders, we will be encouraging churches to begin discipleship ministries in their church and offer tools with which to do that.  So invite your pastor, your church leader, and others to join in a movement to reclaim the redeemed marketplace for Christ!

Click here to learn more about the event, or click here to register for the retreat at Madison Square Church.  Registration is now open!  If you are not in the Grand Rapids area and would like to attend, please go to the event website and you will be able to find a church near you!

Other details:
Retreat Start time:  8:00 am   End time:  4:30 pm
Retreat Cost:  $25 (covers materials and lunch)
Preregistration is required:  Please go here to register.
Questions?  Contact:  Michael Thomson (616-450-0186), Judy Beene (616-633-5206) or Renita Reed-Thomson (renitar@icmusa.org). 

Encourage a colleague (or your supervisor/boss) or your pastor to join you!