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Purpose
To engage members of your congregation in a discussion about living
their faith in every situation.
Summary
Members of the congregation from different walks of life reflect
on faith from the perspective of their vocation in a panel discussion
format.
Steps
1. Identify up to three members of your congregation who are willing
to reflect on how their faith impacts their work. (This assumes a 50
to 60 minute program; if you have more time, you can invite more
presenters.) Select people from a variety of vocations, perhaps
including those who do not work for pay.
2. Select a time and place for the panel discussion. It could be part
of a regularly scheduled adult education time, or a special event
during Lent or Epiphany season, or introduced in the curriculum for
new or existing small groups.
3. Ask each panel member to choose from the following questions and
prepare a five to ten minute talk about his or her work. (You may want
to include your own questions as well.)
a. How does your faith impact your work?
b. How does your work impact your faith?
c. What is your work?
d. What challenges do you face in your workplace?
e. How does your faith help you to meet those challenges?
f. What joys or satisfaction do you get at work?
g. What keeps you going? What skills or attitudes help?
h. How could our congregation support you in your work?
4. Publicize the panel discussion through temple talks, newsletter or
bulletin articles or by sending a postcard or email.
5. Select a moderator to introduce the speakers, monitor the time and
encourage discussion.
6. On the day of the event, welcome panelists and participants and
make sure that there is enough seating to accommodate everyone.
7. Have the moderator summarize the discussion at the end. Provide an
evaluation form to get feedback. Invite persons who want to continue
the discussion to sign-up to learn about upcoming events.
Tips
*This forum can be repeated often with different presenters each time.
* Ask high school students to participate in a similar presentation
for their peers. Call it “Faith at School” and adapt the above
questions to a school setting.
* Variation: Plan a series of forums with different presenters each
week. Select a vocation and ask three people to present one session on
that topic, such as Health care, Education, Finance/Banking,
Engineering, etc.
Resources
Taking Faith to Work – Next Steps for Christian Discipleship,
by Paul Minus. Published by Centered Life, 2004.
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