Faith, work, and life: your questions answered

Faith and work integration means living as one whole person, so your relationship with God shapes how you work, lead, and serve, not only how you spend Sunday. It means seeing your job as part of God’s purposes, practicing integrity and care in everyday decisions, and seeking the good of the people and places your work touches. Cities Project Global exists to help Christian leaders live this integrated life in their workplaces and communities.

The sacred-secular divide is the belief that some work, like church ministry, is holy while ordinary jobs in business, education, or government are merely secular. Scripture does not split life this way. Barna Research found that only about 1% of Jesus-followers work in the religion sphere, so treating only that work as sacred sidelines the other 99%. We explain more in The Sacred-Secular Divide Is Dead.

The Bible presents work as part of God’s good design, not a curse. Before the Fall, God puts the first human in the garden “to work it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15). The Hebrew word avodah can mean work, worship, and service, showing they were never meant to be separate. Paul writes, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord” (Colossians 3:23). Read Work Is Not a Curse—It’s Your Co-Mission.

In Christian thought, vocation (from the Latin word for “calling”) is God’s invitation to serve Him and others through the whole of your life, including your paid work, family, and community. It is not reserved for pastors or missionaries. Your gifts, experience, and opportunities point to the distinct role God has given you in His unfolding story. Explore what Jesus really meant by vocation.

Marketplace ministry is following Jesus and serving others in the everyday world of business, public life, and the professions, not only in church settings. It includes doing excellent, honest work, caring for colleagues and customers, and shaping workplace culture with biblical values. Sharing your faith can be part of it, but it is wider than evangelism: it is whole-life discipleship. The Leadership Circle equips marketplace leaders for exactly this.

Kingdom business, often called business as mission, is running a company so that it serves God’s purposes: creating real value, treating people with dignity, acting with integrity, and blessing the surrounding community. Profit matters, but it is not the only measure. One alumnus, a software company co-founder in Bangalore, says his firm never pays bribes, and that stance has built its reputation. Read how business as mission is transforming cities and nations.

Start by aiming to bless people rather than convert them. Do your work with excellence and honesty, treat colleagues with dignity, listen well, and pray for the people you work with. Let your choices show what you believe, and talk about your faith when someone asks or when trust has been built. As one alumna from Cairo puts it, “You can’t fake real love.” Read What If We Aim to Bless People Instead of Convert Them?

The seven spheres of society are the major areas where culture is shaped: arts, business, religion, family, media, government, and education. Cities Project Global teaches that all of them are sacred places to serve God, not only the religion sphere. Leaders in each sphere can bring renewal where they already have influence. The Leadership Circle curriculum pairs its topics with these spheres.

Cities Project Global (CPG) is a Christian nonprofit that helps leaders integrate faith, work, and life. Through the Leadership Circle cohort, the VantagePoint™ small-group journey, the book and podcast The Intersection, and articles on faith and work, CPG equips Jesus-followers to see their work as sacred and to renew their workplaces and communities. Its tagline is “Live Life Purposefully.” Learn more about CPG.

CPG’s mission is to awaken people to the sacred nature of their work, equip them to live purposefully through an integrated life, and unleash them to renew workplaces and communities throughout the world, all for the glory of God. Its vision is a world where Jesus-followers in every sphere of society live out their calling, turning workplaces and communities into flourishing centers. See what we do.

CPG serves Christian marketplace and civic leaders: business owners, professionals, entrepreneurs, public servants, artists, coaches, and others who want their faith to shape how they work and lead. You don’t need a title to be a leader. CPG defines a leader as someone well positioned for impact in a workplace or community. Many people start with VantagePoint™ before joining a Leadership Circle.

CPG is based in Reston, Virginia, and works with leaders around the world. Its network includes Denver and Washington DC in the United States; Lima, Cartagena, and São Paulo in Latin America; Cairo, Abidjan, Lomé, Jinja, Worcester, and three cities in Gabon in Africa; plus Milan, Central Asia, and Ulaanbaatar. A Global Leadership Circle brings together leaders from many countries. See current circles.

CPG is a Christian organization grounded in the Bible and centered on following Jesus. It believes God cares about all of life, that every sphere of society is sacred, and that the gospel is a four-chapter story of Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration. Its guiding verse is 1 Corinthians 10:31: “Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Alumni come from many denominational backgrounds. Read our story.

Cities Project Global was founded by its President, Dr. Robert C. (Bob) Varney, a former serial entrepreneur with a Ph.D. in computer science from Penn State. Hugh Brandt serves as Chief Culture Officer and has facilitated CPG’s Flourishing Cities curriculum in over 40 cities. A board and an advisory board of leaders from business, higher education, missions, film, law, and public service guide the work. Meet the team.

The Leadership Circle is CPG’s flagship program: a peer cohort where Christian workplace leaders discover together how to integrate faith, work, and life. Across nine topics, a small group of leaders from different spheres of society learns, discusses, and applies biblical principles, then works on a renewal project for their workplace or community. More than 400 alumni from different denominational and cultural backgrounds have taken part. Explore the Leadership Circle.

The Leadership Circle covers nine topics in three parts. Renew Your Mind: Living in Exile, Kingdom of God, and The City. Find Your Calling: Integrated Lives, Vocational Calling, and Whole-life Discipleship. Unleash Your Potential: Collective Stewardship, Public Square, and Societal Impact. The journey ends with renewal project presentations, and graduates can be certified to recruit, facilitate, and train future cohorts. See the three parts.

The Leadership Circle is the best fit for mid- to late-career leaders who can commit the time, but “leader” is defined broadly: anyone well positioned for impact in a workplace or community. Entrepreneurs, artists, coaches, public servants, and professionals from many backgrounds take part, with a balance of men and women across professions and cultures. If you’re not sure, apply anyway and talk with a local organizer. Apply to a circle.

Each circle sets its own schedule and language. The Global Leadership Circle is a worldwide cohort that meets twice a month. The Lima circle meets weekly in Spanish, and the Central Asia circle meets in Russian on Zoom. In other cities, including Denver, Washington DC, Cairo, Abidjan, Lomé, Worcester, Cartagena, and cities in Gabon, circles are forming and gather interest first. Find a circle.

Choose a circle and send a short application. A local LC Organizer will interview you and welcome you into the cohort. Open circles take tuition securely on this site; in forming cities you can express interest and hear when dates open. Tuition differs by circle and is listed on each circle’s page, with options such as tiered pricing by country, early rates, and friend or couple rates. Start your application.

VantagePoint™ is a do-it-yourself biblical small-group journey from Cities Project Global. It helps you and a few friends gain a fresh perspective on faith, work, and everyday life, moving from a “holy huddle” toward the engagement God describes in Jeremiah 29: seeking the peace and prosperity of the city where you live. It is inspired by C.S. Lewis’s observation that where we stand shapes how we see the world. Discover VantagePoint™.

VantagePoint™ has nine short sessions across three modules: a different view of our roles, of story, and of the city. Gather a trusted circle of friends, read a short article together, then talk through the discussion questions that follow each chapter. Along the way, groups explore ideas such as the four chapters of God’s story and why God cares so deeply about cities. See the three modules.

VantagePoint™ costs $24.99, and one purchase covers up to eight participants, so a whole small group can go through it together. To get it, fill in the short form on the VantagePoint™ page and tell us about your group; the team will follow up with purchase details. In a CPG survey, every respondent said they found VantagePoint™ useful and would recommend it to friends. Get VantagePoint™.

VantagePoint™ is a short, self-led small-group study of nine sessions that you do with friends you already trust. The Leadership Circle is a deeper, facilitated peer cohort across nine topics that ends with a community renewal project and connects you to a global network of leaders. Many people start with VantagePoint™ and then take the natural next step into a Leadership Circle.

The Intersection: Faith, Work, and Life is a short, practical book by Bob Varney and Hugh Brandt about God’s design for integrated living. It shows how everyday work is part of God’s plan for His kingdom on earth, explores Hebrew words such as avodah that close the sacred-secular divide, and invites readers to find and serve their own place in their community. Read a sample chapter.

The Intersection: Faith, Work, and Life is available from Amazon, Archway Publishing, and Barnes & Noble. Before you order, you can read a sample chapter and hear a conversation about the book’s big ideas on the book page. Readers who want to put the book into practice can continue with VantagePoint™ or a Leadership Circle.

The Intersection has been praised by John D. Beckett, chairman of The Beckett Companies and author of Loving Monday; Brian Mueller, president of Grand Canyon University; Samuel E. Chiang of the World Evangelical Alliance; and David Joel Hamilton of Youth With A Mission’s University of the Nations. Beckett calls an integrated life, where work, worship, and service are one, “our original calling.” Read what leaders are saying.

Yes. The Intersection podcast, hosted by Bob Varney and Hugh Brandt, features conversations with marketplace leaders who refuse the sacred-secular divide, on subjects such as calling, business as mission, foster care, and discipleship at work. Find episodes on the podcasts page and on YouTube, alongside alumni stories and articles on faith and work.

You can support CPG through prayer, partnership, and giving. Give a one-time or monthly gift securely on the donate page, sponsor a leader’s Leadership Circle tuition, or talk with us about a larger or multi-year commitment. Your generosity helps equip Christian leaders to live out their calling and renew their workplaces and cities. See all the ways to partner.

Yes. Cities Project Global Inc. is a U.S. 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit (EIN 84-3541878), so gifts are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. When you give online, a tax receipt is emailed to you. CPG’s IRS Form 990 filings are public on ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer. Questions about a gift? Email info@citiesprojectglobal.com. Give now.

Yes. For donor-advised funds, stock gifts, checks, corporate matching, or legacy gifts, email info@citiesprojectglobal.com and the team will help with the details. Checks can be mailed to Cities Project Global Inc. at 12024 Walnut Branch Rd, Reston, VA 20194, USA. Every gift is stewarded with transparency, whether it is a single donation or a multi-year commitment. Explore partnership.

Yes. You can underwrite Leadership Circle tuition for a marketplace or civic leader, or help fund a community cohort. Choose “Sponsor a Leadership Circle leader” as the designation when you give, or start a sponsorship conversation on the partner page and tell us the gift level you’re considering. The team will follow up with next steps.

Love On Ukraine (LOU) is a humanitarian effort founded by Sandy Varney that brings practical aid and the hope of Jesus to people caught in the war in Ukraine. Gifts fund Lighthouse Projects, My Home emergency housing, and care for emotional trauma. Cities Project Global processes LOU donations, so they are tax-deductible: choose Love On Ukraine as the designation when you give. Learn about Love On Ukraine.