Six Ways to Honor College Graduates

College graduation is just around the bend. For many of the students who attended your church services or campus ministry during the university years, their new jobs will call for a goodbye. Now is the perfect time to commission them into their careers.

TheHighCalling.org recently launched a Young Professionals channel to aid in this transition, and we want you to know about a few resources to help you send off your graduating seniors.

The list below can be tailored to your needs. Church traditions differ, campus ministries differ, but our hope is to encourage the same message, that God cares about our daily work.

Free Resources to Celebrate the Gift of Work

Many churches host special services to commission people who serve God through the church. What about people who serve God through their professions outside of the church? We’ve adapted a commissioning service into a set of questions that will empower graduates as well as your community to view their daily work as a mission from God.
Download now +

You may love the old hymns accompanied by an organ or praise songs with a full rock band. Either way, we’ve compiled a list of 14 hymns and praise songs that will help people think about faith and work as they worship together through music.
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Nothing we do as Christians is more powerful than prayer. We encourage you to share these prayers with all employees in your community—as a way to gather together in worship or as a tool for private study and meditation.
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Our hats are off to pastors and campus ministers! Your work is tough work, and we hope to help you encourage a "Monday morning faith" among the next generation of workers. For church leaders, specifically, we know that you have regular access to folks who shuffle into pews Sunday after Sunday, searching to make sense out of an unpredictable present and a frightful future. Stress in the workplace is real, and people need your help.
Download "Monday Morning Faith" +

Download "Managing Workplace Anxiety" +

Other Resources on Faith and Work

Want a gift for your graduating college student? Many publishers have released books designed to help leaders think through the integration of faith and work. We picked the best books on the topics of theology of work, calling and vocation, leadership, business and ethics, practical application, prayer, and engaging culture. Hearts & Minds Books is a great place to order these titles.
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Few mediums are as powerful and concise as video. On our YouTube channel, we have everything from short films to short animations to interviews with business executives and pastors on the issue of faith and work. If you see something there that you would like to download, just contact us and we’ll make it available. Everything on our YouTube channel is available for reuse under Creative Commons.
Browse now +

In January 2011, LeTourneau University created the Center for Faith and Work to equip, connect and mobilize Christians to live out their faith in the workplace. Visit their website to learn more about their services to the workplace, church and campus.
Browse resources from LeTourneau +

The Theology of Work Project exists to develop and distribute materials about what the Bible and other resources of the Christian faith can contribute to non-church work, workers, and workplaces. At present their scholars and practitioners have many Biblical articles and Key Topic articles available.
Browse the Theology of Work Project +

Redeemer's Center for Faith & Work is the cultural renewal arm of the Redeemer movement in New York City, founded to equip, connect, and mobilize their church community in its professional and industry spheres toward gospel-centered transformation for the common good.
Browse resources from Redeemer +

Faith & Leadership is the online magazine of Leadership Education at Duke Divinity. Geared toward congregations and pastors, Faith & Leadership is "where Christian leaders reflect, connect and learn."
Browse Faith & Leadership +

Ethix is a publication of the Center for Integrity in Business in the School of Business and Economics at Seattle Pacific University. Ethix provides illustrations of business ethics challenges through positive examples of best practices and exemplary leadership.
Browse Ethix +

God cares about our 9 to 5

Tomorrow's young professionals stand at an important place right now. You have the power to affirm that God cares about their work. With so many 20-somethings leaving the church, they need this affirmation.

"For God was pleased to have all his fullnees dwell in [Christ], and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross" (Colossians 1:19-20).

When young people see that Christ cares about reconciling furniture manufacturing to himself, graphic design to himself, public accounting to himself, it opens the door to seeing God as worth serving seven days a week.

Thank you for your faithful service and for utilizing whatever resources here make sense for your context. We look forward to continuing your investment through the Young Professionals channel at The High Calling, where readers can be encouraged at work, hear from pros in their field, read about why work matters, and connect with coaches.

The aim of YP is to help young professionals live out their careers in ways that Jesus—as well as bosses, board members, clients, and families—will one day say, "Well done, good and faithful servant." To read our welcome note to young professionals, click here.