Just got a note from Joe Carson that he has launched his blog for Christian Engineers. He is asking the question: " Should Christian engineers intentionally and collectively influence their profession?"  Great question Joe!

For FAWB Newbies here are three ideas about getting started on a FAWB.

1. Read Michael Hyatt's Corporate Blogging Rules Take 2. Hyatt is CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers. He is encouraging his employees to blog for the company's and the industry's sake. His list of guidelines will give you a good set of do's and don'ts for faith at work blogging inside or outside of a company.

2. Purchase a copy of Hugh Hewitt's book, BLOG – Understanding the Information Reformation that’s Changing your World.  Hewitt provides a great introduction to the sport of blogging and why it will change our world.

3. Start with a question or a concern that is really bugging you and you are looking for an answer. This will be your jumping off point to write (see how I started my blog). It is the "groan" God has put in your heart that you want an answer to. Often, it relates to your work or profession (see Joe Carson's question).  This is your context.

Many Christians blogging on the web start from the Biblical text and do their best to make application. But since they lack the context, they lack relevance. Since they lack the experience , they lack the integrity to make application, Since they lack the identification with that which they criticize, they lack the authenticity to be heard.

The essence of blogging is authenticity. This is who I am. This is what I am about. This is the question(s) I have about life. You own the question because it comes out of your life experience.

Faith at Work Blogging is bottom up theology. It is theology done in solidarity with ordinary people of faith in the ordinary jobs living ordinary lives. It is theology that brings the context to the text, the pain to the principle, the cry to the Comforter.

It is affirmative theology because it affirms the reality and value of people's everyday lives. 

It is relevant theology because it deals with the real world problems of people at work.

It is authentic theology because it is done from within  and alongside of those it seeks to encourage and uplift.

See my post "Why it is important to know that God is present in ordinary work." as an example of affirmative, relevant and authentic theology from real work life.

Bottom up theology is a world affirming theology, not that we affirm what is wrong in the world, but that we affirm the goodness of God's creation and our role in it. We affirm the presence of God in everyday life. We believe God values out work and the contribution we make to our world. We believe that God is at work in and through us and that we can be God's agents of love and reconciliation in our world right where we are.

So Faith At Work blogging is about getting to know God (theology) from the place of being "in" the world so that we can be "for" the world not because we are "of" the world, but because fundamentally God is for the world and through us He wants to bring transformation to the world.