Editor’s note: This is a reprinted column from Jack Purcell’s “On the Journey” archives. It originally appeared in The Star in 2013.
Howard Butt Jr. the founder of Laity Lodge, has for decades led the charge for people to find ministry in the workplace. I’m not sure where Mr. Butt’s passion began, but I can only guess that he had the wisdom to see that there was something amiss with the notion in Christendom that “ministry” was conducted only by those with seminary degrees who stood behind pulpits.
To this day there is a strong leaning to the idea that the world is made up of the “religious” and the “secular.” If our work is connected in some way to the church or Christian activity, it can rightly be labeled “religious” or “ministry.” But if it has to do with the kind of work that is required to live in our society and care for a family, that is considered secular.
