BUSI 644 Week 8 Faith Integration: Thread Example

Faith Integration: Thread (group essay)

BUSI 644 Human Resources Development, Faith Integration: Thread

Thread by [Student Name]

The group and its members' workplaces are composites; Scripture, the textbook and the study cited are real, and the requirements follow Liberty's public course guide for BUSI 644.

Group Essay

Human resource development rests on a simple premise: people can grow, and organizations benefit when they help them do so. Werner and DeSimone (2017) describe HRD as planned, systematic activities through which an organization gives its members chances to learn the skills their present and future jobs will demand. Our group believes that Scripture gives this premise a deeper foundation. People are created by God with the capacity to learn, and helping them grow is part of the stewardship He entrusts to anyone who leads others. This essay traces that idea through four connections between the Bible and the topics of this course.

Created to cultivate and learn

Genesis describes the first man being set in Eden with a charge to tend and guard it (English Standard Version Bible, 2001/2016, Genesis 2:15). Before there was any fall, work was part of human purpose, and that work required learning: how soil behaves, which plants thrive, how to keep what was given. Human beings are not finished at creation; they are made able to grow in skill and understanding. The textbook's chapter on learning describes how people acquire knowledge, skills and attitudes through instruction and experience. A biblical view adds that this capacity is a gift, not merely a resource for the organization to exploit. For an HRD professional, the implication is that needs assessment and training design should aim at genuine growth, building employees' competence and confidence, and not simply at extracting short-term productivity. One of our members works at a call center where new hires receive two days of scripts and are then measured on call times alone. A biblical view of learning would ask whether those employees are being equipped to understand the customers they serve and to grow into roles beyond the script, which is also what the textbook's emphasis on career development recommends.

Jesus as a trainer

The Gospels show Jesus developing the Twelve in a way that closely resembles the training sequence in the textbook. He called them to be with Him, so they observed His teaching and healing for months before acting on their own (English Standard Version Bible, 2001/2016, Mark 3:14). He then sent them out in pairs with specific instructions about what to take, where to stay and how to respond to rejection (English Standard Version Bible, 2001/2016, Mark 6:7-13). When they returned, they reported everything they had done and taught, and He took them aside to rest and reflect (English Standard Version Bible, 2001/2016, Mark 6:30-31).

Werner and DeSimone (2017) describe effective training as moving from explanation and demonstration to practice, feedback and support for applying skills on the job. Jesus' pattern contains each step: demonstration, structured practice in pairs, a debriefing and continued instruction. The disciples also failed during their training, as when they could not drive out a spirit and asked Him privately why (English Standard Version Bible, 2001/2016, Mark 9:28-29). Jesus did not remove His disciples from the work until they were perfect; He taught them through it. Training programs that allow practice, mistakes and guided reflection follow a model older than any HRD textbook. Jesus also prepared His followers for the time when He would no longer be present, promising that the Spirit would teach them and bring His words back to their memory (English Standard Version Bible, 2001/2016, John 14:26), a provision for learning that continued after the formal period of instruction ended. In HRD terms, that is attention to transfer: what supports the learner once the trainer is gone.

Mentoring and second chances

The relationship between Barnabas and Paul offers a picture of mentoring. When the Jerusalem believers feared the newly converted Paul, Barnabas brought him to the apostles and vouched for him (English Standard Version Bible, 2001/2016, Acts 9:26-27), later bringing him to Antioch, where they taught together for a year. Barnabas also refused to give up on John Mark after he left an earlier mission, even at the cost of parting with Paul (English Standard Version Bible, 2001/2016, Acts 15:36-39). Years later, Paul himself asked for Mark because he was useful for ministry (English Standard Version Bible, 2001/2016, 2 Timothy 4:11).

The textbook treats mentoring as part of career development, combining career functions such as sponsorship and psychosocial functions such as encouragement. Research supports its value, though with realistic limits: a meta-analysis by Allen et al. (2004) found that mentoring was generally associated with career benefits for protégés, but effects on objective outcomes like pay and promotion were small. Barnabas's example suggests that mentoring's greatest value may lie less in faster promotion than in sponsorship and restoration, giving a promising person a second chance after failure. HRD professionals who design mentoring programs can build in that kind of patience.

Developing entrusted gifts

Jesus told of a master who, before going away, handed his servants differing sums of money and later commends the two who put the money to work while rebuking the one who buried it (English Standard Version Bible, 2001/2016, Matthew 25:14-30). The parable concerns faithfulness with what God entrusts until Christ returns, not workplace training as such. Still, its principle applies by analogy: abilities are given to be developed and used, not hidden. Werner and DeSimone (2017) present career management as a shared responsibility in which employees take ownership of their growth and organizations provide opportunities such as assessment, development plans and challenging assignments. A biblical view supports both halves. Employees are responsible to develop what they have been given, and leaders are responsible to provide opportunities so that no one's gifts stay buried for lack of a chance.

Conclusion

Taken together, these passages suggest that HRD is more than a function that keeps skills current. It participates in God's purposes for people made to learn, follows a pattern of teaching that Jesus Himself used, reflects the patient sponsorship of mentors like Barnabas and helps people develop the gifts entrusted to them. Our group found that the exercise also changed how we see our own jobs: training a new coworker, answering a question patiently or recommending someone for a stretch assignment are small acts of the same stewardship. Organizations that train, coach and mentor their employees well, and that measure whether their efforts actually help people grow, practice a form of stewardship that honors both the people and the God who made them.

References

Allen, T. D., Eby, L. T., Poteet, M. L., Lentz, E., & Lima, L. (2004). Career benefits associated with mentoring for protégés: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(1), 127-136. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.89.1.127

English Standard Version Bible. (2016). Crossway. (Original work published 2001)

Werner, J. M., & DeSimone, R. L. (2017). Human resource development (7th ed.). Cengage Learning.