BANNOCKBURN, IL, September 3, 2024 — The Paul G. Hiebert Center for World Christianity and Global Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) announced the launch of a new initiative for global workplace ministry in partnership with the Faith and Work Institute Asia (FWIA). John Jonghoon Park (PhD in Intercultural Studies ’23) has been appointed the director of this international initiative, which will develop workplace ministry training content to help equip immigrant congregations in the United States and churches in Asia and beyond. The initiative formed the new FWIA International Committee, which is composed of scholars and practitioners and includes several faculty members at TEDS. The FWIA International Committee will collaborate with Christian leaders in business, technology, art, theology, and biblical studies from the global church.
FWIA exists to inspire spiritual transformation in the workplace by equipping Christian workers with relevant biblical content to engender creativity, grow in wisdom and character, and strengthen leadership skills. FWIA began in 2014 under the leadership of Yoonhee Kim (PhD in Old Testament, ’95), the former president of Torch Trinity Graduate University, and is one of the largest workplace ministries in South Korea, offering training for faith and work-related issues to more than ten thousand participants, including both pastors and Christian workers.
“The goal of the FWIA International Committee at TEDS, in collaboration with FWIA Korea, is to empower local churches in both theological and missiological integration of faith and work, which will enable them to equip and send out their members as God’s missionaries in their everyday workplaces,” said John Park, who is also the founding pastor of SENT International Church in Elk Grove Village and an executive member of the Lausanne Global Diaspora Network.
The first in-person meeting between the FWIA International Committee at TEDS and FWIA leaders in Korea will take place in Seoul in late September, following the Fourth Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization. Key areas of focus will include but are not limited to: biblical theology of work, Christian ethics in the workplace, faith and work history, missional church and discipleship making, and diaspora missions in the workplace.
“Christians need to discover how they can honor God in their ‘secular’ vocations. An office, school, factory, or field can become a space for witness and worship,” said TEDS professor Craig Ott, a member of the FWIA International Committee. “This new partnership with FWIA is a bold initiative to provide teaching and tools to realize this largely untapped potential. This partnership with TEDS will bring added theological, educational, and missiological expertise to FWIA, strengthening their program.”
TEDS professors Donald C. Guthrie and Kevin J. Vanhoozer will also bring their expertise and wisdom as members of the FWIA International Committee.
The proposed work of the International Committee will span at least the next two years in the following phases: