Listening Well and Looking Ahead

For the past nine years, Denver Institute has served a faithful and growing community of believers who are loving God, their neighbors, and society through their work. Even though much has changed over the past decade, our guiding principles and central questions remain the same:

What does it look like to be a Christian in a pluralistic society and workplace, where more people identify as religiously unaffiliated than at any time before?

What are the challenges that we can help address with our non-Christian neighbors in pursuing the common good?

What are the best ways that we can serve and equip Christians in their daily work?

Earlier this summer, we asked our constituents to share about the challenges they face in their work and their ideas for programs, events, and resources that would help them live out their faith through their work. More than 200 people responded, resulting in a 6% margin of error based on the size of our mailing list. Here are a few of the survey highlights.

1. Dealing with people and conflict at work, either co-workers, bosses, or clients (51.02%)
2. Too much work to do, workload is unreasonable (35.37%)
3. Hitting performance goals and deadlines (31.29%)
4. Family/work life balance (28.57%)
5. Projects or plans not going as planned (23.81%)

• “I want to know and learn more about faith and work.” 94.65% agree
• “I know that my work has meaning or purpose beyond a paycheck.” 96.78% agree
• “I want to meet other people who share my faith in a work context.” 96.26% agree
• “I feel like my colleagues understand my faith.” 60.87% agree; 39.13% disagree
• “I know how my work serves God or my neighbors.” 94.12%

1. Podcasts
2. Social events with other Christians in my community or profession
3. Networking events with people in my industry
4. Events (live)
5. Books (print)

1. Nonprofit/Social Services (16.30%)
2. Business/Finance (14.13%)
3. Pastor/Ministry (13.04%)
4. Education (12.50%)
5. Healthcare (9.78%)

We’re grateful for the feedback on constituents shared, and we’re excited to develop strategies and resources to continue serving our community. Stay tuned later this year for events, online courses, digital resources, and publications to equip you as you integrate your faith and work.