Garber

by Steve Garber

(This winter the week between Christmas and New Years Eve brought 17,000 students and others to the Urbana Convention. For decades it was held at the University of Illinois campus in Urbana/Champaign, but has now moved to downtown St. Louis. Steve Garber was asked to speak several times, once being "the final charge" for the students in the Business as Mission Track. This is his address.)

Two years ago this week I was in India, visiting two of our children who were working there that year. We didn’t see everything, at all. But we did travel through the south, in Tamil Nadu and Kerala—and of course in our seeing and hearing and smelling, were keenly aware that we were in a very different world.

Given by Steve Garber at the Church of the Epiphany, Herndon, Virginia, July 31, 2009

Perhaps your images of Switzerland are forever formed by “The Sound of Music.” Or maybe you’ve walked through its meadows and across its mountains yourself, astounded by its beauty. A few years ago my wife and I spent a week there, hiking and biking, and had a wonderful time together, drawing in as deeply as we could the vastness of its Alpine glory. What drew us in particular was the importance of visiting our daughter in a little village in the Alps, which for more than 50 years has been the home to a community called L’Abri; she had spent several years there during her 20s, moving from being a student to being a staff member, what they call a worker.

One day I asked about a Wi-Fi connection, and she told me that the little Protestant church in the village was a good place, saying that a nearby chalet might provide me a way into the wider world. So I walked that direction . . .

by Steve Garber

A few years ago a pastor in the city asked if I would meet someone in his congregation whose work was in the world of national security. A senior official with complex responsibilities, he knew that his deepening faith required him to “think Christianly” about his life and labour, but he did not know where to begin.

by Steve Garber
Director, The Washington Institute

Why is it that some people see themselves as implicated in the way the world is, and isn’t? in the way things are, and ought to be? There is nothing in the record deal signed by the Jars of Clay that requires them to care about the complexities of Africa, particularly about the structural problems that are horribly difficult and so very long-term. There are no cheap fixes. Only deep commitment, a sense of responsibility marked by love, will do.

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FEATURE ARTICLEby Steve Garber
Director, The Washington Institute

For people who care about America and its history—past, present, and future -- the stakes are not small, for the church and for the culture. It is for this reason that The Washington Institute for Faith, Vocation, and Culture has come into being. With a vision that is at the same time very local and embodied, and very national and international, we are a network of men and women who are learning about the meaning of vocation, of what it means to hear God as he calls people to care for the world in his name. We believe it is a strategic place to begin— seeking the renewal of our common life as we do so.

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by Steve Garber
Director, The Washington Institute

Only connect. Almost one hundred years ago E. M. Forester began his novel, Howard’s End, with these two words. Seeing into the mixed blessing of an industrializing world, with remarkable intuitive insight he offers a story of a businessman who lives a painfully compartmentalized life.?

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On Kenya, Kazakhstan, and K Street too

by Steve Garber
Director, The Washington Institute

Why is it that when we pray together as the people of God gathered for worship on Sunday, we regularly pray for our missionaries in Kenya and Kazakhstan, but not for our attorneys on K Street?

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