Created to Flourish
“So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, `Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth’.”
The “Created to Flourish: Faith & Learning” initiative is a year-long seminar to encourage meaningful and generative engagement with the nature of faith and work. Together, we strive to answer the question:
How is my day-to-day work a sign of the resurrection and foretaste of the coming kingdom and rule of Christ?
We take up this question with the conviction that we were created to flourish by using our gifts, time, and treasure to serve the common good and glorify God.
The “Created to Flourish” initiative has been designed to create space for TWU staff and faculty to reimagine their work in light of the biblical narrative of God’s creation, redemption, and renewal of the world.
This year-long seminar provides TWU staff and faculty time to reflect on how our professional and non-professional work can be both a sign and foretaste of the kingdom and rule of Christ. Together, we will seek to discover the fullness of the Gospel in every area of our life (cf. Jeremiah 29:7).
“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”
— Annie Dillard
Taking Annie Dillard’s meditation on a life well lived to heart, the “Created to Flourish” initiative seeks to encourage, support, and equip Trinity Western University staff and faculty to see their everyday work as a God-given setting for growth, worship, discipleship, and transformation.
You may wonder how often the seminar will meet and what subjects will be discussed. Here is the schedule for the Created to Flourish seminar.
Each session will require you to do reading in advance. Almost all assigned reading can be found in Beth Felker Jones’ Practicing Christian Doctrine: An Introduction to Thinking and Living Theologically. You will receive a copy of this book prior to our first session.
The topics for our seminar follow the first eight articles of Trinity Western University’s Statement of Faith.
The Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz teaches us a vital truth about the nature of everyday life and work:
If God incarnated himself in man, died and rose from the dead,
All human endeavours deserve attention
Only to the degree that they depend on this,
I.e., acquire meaning thanks to this event.
— “Either-Or” in New and Collected Poems, 1931–2001 (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2003), 540.
In Christ, the order of the world is decisively restored: the order, fullness, and promise of life is manifest and recovered in one person, Jesus of Nazareth, the Word made flesh. Having become flesh, the Son of God restores dignity and value to all human endeavours.
The “Created to Flourish” initiative has been designed to help us see our lives lived well in light of the biblical drama of God’s creation, redemption, and renewal of the world.
One of the most helpful ways of making concrete all that we learn in the Created to Flourish seminar is to examine, reflect upon, and mine all that we encounter with the aid of three key objectives:
Retell the Gospel.
Gain a deep understanding of how the Gospel shapes our lives and work.
Reimagine the nature and purpose of work
Explore new perspectives on your work’s significance and potential impact.
Renew what is broken.
Identify areas of brokenness in the world and discern how to participate in God’s work of renewal.
I would love to share this learning experience with you. I know that God can use this opportunity to bless, strengthen, inspire, challenge, and nurture your ability to work and live with even greater joy and confidence.
TWU Faculty "Created to Flourish" Initiative (2023-2024)
TWU Staff “Created to Flourish” Initiative (2023-2024)
Schedule and Resources
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Assigned Reading: Jones, chapter 3. “The God we Worship”
Lecture Slides - The Triune God
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Assigned Reading: Jones, chapter 2. “Knowing God”
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Assigned Readings: Jones, chapter 4. “A Delightful World”
and chapter 5. “Reflecting God’s Image”
Seminar - slide-deck -
Assigned Reading: Jones, chapter 6. “The Personal Jesus Christ”
Lecture Slides: Jesus Christ — The Word Made Flesh -
Assigned Reading: Jones, chapter 7. “The Saving Work of Jesus Christ”
Lecture Slides — Christology Ii
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Assigned Reading: Jones, chapter 8. “The Holy Spirit and the Christian Life”
Lecture Slides: The Holy Spirit -
Assigned Reading: Jones, chapter 9. “One Church in a Diverse World”
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Assigned Reading: Andrew Walls, “The Gospel as Prisoner and Liberator of Culture”