Faith at Work

Pooteewheet pointed out this article at religionandsocialpolicy.org to me: Faith at Work by Russell Shorto (originally published in the New York Times). It's a rather long piece of reading, but really a worthwhile article in that it delves into the rise of marketplace Christianity and workplace ministering that is arising in Minnesota, particularly in our exurbs, places like Elk River. Shorto presents a well-balanced examination of ministry in the workplace, examining companies like Intel that seem to have integrated religious interest groups without disturbing their working environment, to local (Otsego) banks where there's prayer in the drive through and the parking lot.

More amusing to me personally, is seeing names like Beaudry's, who's actually related to a close friend (my mother has long given my friend jibes about Judy whenever we pass the heating oil company) and the locale of the article, Otsego, Elk River and Anoka, which is where another friend works who recently had a rather un-Christian work encounter with a professed Christian (we swapped stories about a Christian I worked with who left for a more Christian company but who had a reputation for coming to work later and later). I also find it rather ironic that while these areas stress their importance as a sort of Christian revival in Minnesota and the U.S., one quote to the effect that, "He told me that Harvest Evangelism had chosen Elk River as a ''detonator city'' through which, ultimately, the nation will be turned to Jesus Christ," a simple Google search of "meth", "Elk River" and "Minnesota" returns 3,520 hits (and they certainly don't all imply that it's being imported from the cities). That's a fairly serious dichotomy of culture at work beneath the covers.

I clipped a few of my favorite bits below, the bit about Beaudry that I know my friend will like, a clip about how it was Clinton that actually moved minstry into the government workplace (whaa!), and a few others, but read the whole article - it's full of interesting content that jibes nicely with Adam Minter's "Church and State" in The Rake.

. . .

"Ken Beaudry, a marketplace pastor whose heating-oil company is just down the road from the Riverview bank, takes the same view. ''It's all about understanding that your business has a cause,'' he says. ''It's about recognizing that we exist as a company not just to make profits, but to change society. And our employees are on board with that.''

. . .

"So, the first thing to know about Chuck Ripka is that he says Jesus talks to him -- actually speaks to him, calling him ''Chuck.'' Ripka is 45, a father of five and grandfather of two who has been married to his high-school sweetheart for 25 years. He has a compact build and pinprick eyes; he talks in a soft, rapid monotone. He once fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, just as Jesus did in the wilderness. He says he has performed more than 60 faith healings in the bank and has ''saved'' another 60 people on bank premises. Knowing him at first only via telephone, and listening to his talk of visions and voices and Satan and ecstatic healings, I began to think of him as potentially unbalanced."

. . .

"He occasionally gives spiritual counseling to Carl Pohlad, the owner of the Minnesota Twins."

. . .

"You might think that the establishment clause of the First Amendment forbids religious expression in a federal workplace, but in 1997, President Clinton issued guidelines creating a broad area of religious freedom for federal employees, including the right to evangelize, while forbidding government endorsement of a religion."

. . .

"It turned out that their group -- Pray Elk River -- is part of a network of municipal officials, ministers and small-business owners across the country that has the goal of winning whole towns over to Christ."