THROUGH RICH
GOSPEL
COMMUNITY
GOD SHAPES
OUR WORK

By Katrina Miles G'19

I've lived all over the country and the world. I’ve lived in NYC for almost 20 years. NYC is my home. I work in technology, specifically in global tech implementation. Working and living in NYC is special, if not an intentional act of insanity: it's expensive, loud, crowded, and segregated. Some days I wake up and feel like choosing to live here – yes - is a calling. It's the world's meeting place, right? A global conference room. World leaders convene here, global markets intersect here, the media is here. Second only to Silicon Valley, tech lives here. Being able to call on all of these resources has made working and living here truly special, indeed.

I chose to join the Gotham Fellowship program hoping for a deeper understanding of the theological implications of work. I wanted to know where, and how, God is made manifest in the 9 to 5 work that I do every day. I went into Gotham with this one question, yet the Lord actually met me on a much more personal level.

I like working alone. However, there was a point during the Gotham year where I really had to call on my cohort for prayer, because the decisions and the task at hand were just too much for me to handle alone. Knowing that people would interrupt their day to pray for me was truly amazing. I got to see how the community of God really works. Being in community isn't something that comes naturally to me, so it really pushed me beyond my boundaries of comfort to allow that level of vulnerability.

Being available and open for others, especially when you prefer to go at it alone, is transformative. From a work perspective, God taught me that going at it alone isn't always the best or wisest choice. Sharing the burden spiritually directly affected how I did the same at work. This made work less stressful and more productive. These days I'm much more likely to ask how does what I'm doing, or this policy, or that thing, affect the community that God has placed me in? What can I do to share the burden?

God has shown me that burden-sharing is at the heart of the gospel. 1 Peter 5:7 tells us to cast our cares on the Lord because He cares for us. As the church, through the Holy Spirit, we learn to care for each other. In our work, we care for our colleagues. In our communities, we care for our neighbors. In this way, it makes that act of intentional insanity I mentioned above - living in New York City - seem a little less insane.

To learn more about Redeemer CFW’s Gotham Fellowship,
visit faithandwork.com/gotham. Applications for the class of 2021 are due April 30.