Notices of “Now Hiring” and “Help Wanted” appear in every direction you look these days. Understaffed businesses place extra strain on remaining employees, who must work double duty to pick up the slack. And that strain often reduces the quality of service a business is able to provide.

It’s not just businesses feeling the pinch, however. Churches and nonprofit ministries also experience the churn that results when people leave their job for another, often for financial reasons. Even the national office recently raised its salary floor to attract motivated employees in a competitive job market!

Management professor Anthony Klotz coined the term “the Great Resignation” to describe what’s happening in the American economy. As the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, people are quitting their jobs in record numbers. Their reasons for doing so vary: burnout, better pay and benefits, work-life balance, and the opportunity to work remotely all are factors.

At bottom, however, Klotz believes that what’s driving the Great Resignation is the basic human search for “happiness and meaning.” He writes, “The pandemic has made many realize their job does not contribute enough (or at all) to their pursuit for happiness and meaning, and they have decided to invest their energy elsewhere — in new jobs, new careers or in other aspects of their lives (e.g., family, travel, creative endeavors).”

As ministers of the gospel, how do we address the Great Resignation? How do we best minister to people in our churches (and on our staffs) about God’s perspective on the labor market? Here are a few thoughts that might be helpful.

1. Listen actively. Every person’s situation is unique. When we assume and sweep with a broad brush of generalization instead of seeing the individual, we miss an opportunity for Christ to be known by them. Christ ministered to the Samaritan woman at the well one way (John 4:1–42) and Zacchaeus another way (Luke 19:1–10), after all.

People in our churches and in the broader community are making decisions about their jobs and finances that are very personal to them. They need safe places to belong and process their decisions where they won’t be shamed or judged. As ministers, we can create a spiritual and emotional space where they can hear God’s voice about these decisions, away from the noise of the world around them.

As they contemplate leaving one job for another, with all the upheaval that entails, may we be ready to come alongside them with a vision of how Christ fulfills their longing for happiness and meaning in work, in life, and into eternity!

2. Be part of the solution. As pastors and ministry leaders, look for ways to take good care of your employees and manage them differently. Some fast-food restaurants now provide drive-through service only because staffing limitations make that their best business model for now. Churches aren’t fast-food restaurants, obviously, but it may be a time to simplify, condense, and adjust the way staff members serve the congregation. Are there ministries at your church that need to be consolidated or even retired? Now may be the time to make that happen.

As consumers, we pastors have a great opportunity to model generosity and encouragement to our congregations in the way we treat employees at short-staffed businesses. For example, if your favorite restaurant is short-staffed, tip your server generously even if the service was slow. After all, that slowness probably wasn’t your server’s fault. While you may not be able to solve the systemic issues underlying the Great Resignation, you can minister to an individual worker with an act of kindness and a word of encouragement.

3. Teach a biblical theology of work. God created humankind and placed them in Eden “to work it and take care of it” (Genesis 2:15). Our fall into sin makes labor “painful” (3:17). But just as Christ redeems us, so He redeems our labor.

This biblical theology provides Christians with a powerful motivation for work: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving” (Colossians 3:23–24, emphasis added). Our happiness and meaning are no doubt important, but God himself is paramount.

Moreover, there is a great reward for those who perform their work as unto the Lord. In Ephesians 6:7–8, Paul wrote, “Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free” (emphasis added). By mentioning enslaved Christians in this verse, Paul reminds us that God will reward even menial work done Christianly.

I love how the author Mark Buchanan unpacks Ephesians 6 in his book The Rest of God: Restoring Your Soul by Restoring Sabbath:

The opposite of a slave is not a free man, it’s a worshiper. The one who is most free is the one who turns the work of his hands into sacrament, into offering. All he makes and all he does are gifts from God, through God, and to God. … Virtually any job, no matter how grueling or tedious — any job that is not criminal or sinful — can be a gift from God through God and to God. The work of our hands, by the alchemy of our devotion, becomes the worship of our hearts.

As we work, we worship; and as we worship, we pray: “May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us —  yes, establish the work of our hands” (Psalm 90:17).

4. Practice sabbath. Rest might seem like a left-field suggestion in an article about work, but God’s prescription to work six days and then rest one never ceases to be relevant.

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy,” God commanded Moses. “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns” (Exodus 20:8–10).

Sabbath is a discipline to be practiced as well as an attitude to be carried throughout the week. We work differently during the six days when we come out of a day of true rest and deep refreshment. God’s design is to carry His presence that we enjoyed on our day of rest into the workplace the other six days.

It isn’t one day resting with God, then six days working without Him. Rather, our sabbath attitude is that God is with us, both in our work and our rest, as we surrender to His Lordship in our lives. We then can work and rest unto the Lord, doing life God’s way rather than being conformed to the patterns of this world (Romans 12:2).

My fellow ministers, the Great Resignation offers us a great opportunity to serve people on our staffs, in our churches, and throughout our communities. As they contemplate leaving one job for another, with all the upheaval that entails, may we be ready to come alongside them with a vision of how Christ fulfills their longing for happiness and meaning in work, in life, and into eternity!