Chapter 03 of 06
The faith-work movement is a genuine social movement. But it is enormously fragmented, with no shared goals, no common metrics, and no backbone organization holding it together.
Based on Jeff Haanen, Denver Institute for Faith & Work, 2017
The landscape
David Miller at Princeton identified the faith-work movement as a genuine social movement. Jeff Haanen mapped what that movement actually looks like — and the picture is fragmentation at every level.
BAM Orgs
Business as Mission
Churches
Local congregations
Chaplaincies
Workplace chaplains
Think Tanks
Research & theology
Seminaries
Academic formation
Conferences
Events & gatherings
Capital Groups
Investors & funders
Content
Bloggers, podcasters, authors
"This thing is an octopus. I'm sure it's all connected to a single head, but all I can see is arms flailing." — Jeff Haanen
The diagnosis
Jeff Haanen, Denver Institute for Faith & Work, 2017
The root cause
When Haanen talked to his peers in the faith-work movement, he discovered something alarming: there was no consensus on what the movement was even trying to accomplish. Some leaders emphasized workplace evangelism. Others focused on job creation in underserved communities. Still others championed cultural renewal, while some argued for cultural retreat.
This isn't just philosophical disagreement — it's an operational crisis. Without agreement on the problem, you can't develop shared metrics. Without shared metrics, you can't coordinate. Without coordination, the movement remains a collection of well-meaning islands.
Jeffrey Walker's article in Stanford Social Innovation Review pointed to the answer: instead of creating new organizations, bring together existing ones around shared goals. Systems change, not organizational proliferation.
The workplace as a mission field. Convert colleagues. Share faith in professional settings.
Business as mission. Create employment in underserved communities. Economic development as ministry.
Transform culture through faithful presence in every sector. Influence institutions from within.
Build parallel institutions. Create distinctly Christian alternatives to secular systems.
The attempt
The City Gate network represents one of the most ambitious attempts at collective impact in the faith-work space. Their numbers tell the story of what's possible — and what remains to be done.
Cities
Combined budgets
People reached per year
Partner churches
"Money is positively abundant compared to hope, imagination, and social cohesion."
Jeffrey Walker, Stanford Social Innovation Review — on why systems change requires more than funding
The path forward
Before creating anything new, understand the full landscape. Who is doing what, where, and with what resources? The octopus has arms — they just need a nervous system.
The movement needs a common agenda. Not uniformity — but enough shared understanding of the problem to develop shared metrics and coordinate distinct efforts.
Fund and empower a backbone organization whose job is coordination, not programs. This is the missing piece: the infrastructure that connects the arms of the octopus.
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