our working philosophy
we were made for good work
In the Christian imagination, work is central to human anthropology, grounded in the belief that humans are created to imitate God through creative labor.
Just as the Creator brought order and life from the raw elements of existence, humans are invited to shape the natural world, transforming it into goods and contexts that enable human flourishing.
When aligned with this divine pattern, labor is not drudgery but a source of profound satisfaction for the worker and a vital contribution to the common good.
However, broken forms of work—whether through exploitation, idleness, or soulless toil—distort this calling, ultimately diminishing the individual, fracturing the community, and degrading the world they were meant to cultivate.
At Rockingham Abbey, we strive to create good, meaningful work that is an expression of our abundant life in Jesus and which restores the human and our community.
Click the button below for a longer discussion of dignified work.
Thoughtfully crafted goods
The creation of tangible, artfully crafted goods and services is far more than a mere economic transaction; it is a profound expression of Christian love that mirrors the divine life. Just as God’s own creative work culminated in the "very good" physical reality of the cosmos, our labor serves to fill out and honor His world.
In imitation of that original labor, we strive to produce crafted products that testify to the goodness of creation simply by existing.
At Rockingham Abbey, this work is intentionally oriented toward the common good, ensuring that every product ennobles both the craftsman and the user through its quality, beauty, and longevity. By bringing these real things into being, we move our faith beyond the abstract and into the incarnational.
As Robert Farrar Capon aptly noted, "One real thing is worth more than all the diagrams in the world," and it is through these "real things" that we foster dignified work and human flourishing.
real things matter
JUST COMPENSATION
The provision of just wages is not merely a corporate policy but a profound expression of Christian virtue and justice. Scripture is clear that fair compensation is a right to which every worker is entitled, warning that the suppression of wages is a grave sin that invites divine retribution (Jam. 5:4, Deut. 24:14–15; Lk. 10:7)
And it doesn’t have to be complicated. At its core, what constitutes whether a wage is just or unjust is a ratio of how much of the gross revenue goes to those who physically produced the good or service.
A wage becomes unjust when the profits from the venture inordinately flow to the owner at the expense of the worker whose labor created the value in the first place.
One guardrail that has been an explicit teaching of the Church is that a wage should be sufficient to support a frugal, well-behaved work, and ideally should be sufficient to provide for the needs of an entire family. Without such wages, workers are exposed to dire choices, where they must weigh whether to keep the lights on or to eat, whether they can afford the children God wants them to have, whether they can live without destitution and want.
Despite this moral imperative, wages have largely stagnated in America since the early 1970s, as businesses and stockholders have increasingly transferred risks and costs onto the worker and the consumer while claiming record profits.
At Rockingham Abbey, we are committed to rectifying this economic impoverishment by compensating our workers with wages that exceed local market value for similar work. We believe that rejecting an economic model that suppresses wages ultimately leads to the flourishing, the long-term health and viability, of the local economy, and those that dwell in it. By prioritizing the worker's dignity, we ensure that our practice of trade remains a true act of worship.
THERE CAN BE NO GOOD WORK WITHOUT GOOD WAGES
GOOD PROFIT
HOW WE DO GOOD WITH WHAT WE MAKE
In a Christian vision of economy, profit is never an end in itself, but a means of stewardship for the flourishing of others. Christianity rejects "profit for profit’s sake," as well as any model where the fruits of labor are largely consumed for personal pleasure, comfort, or the hoarding of wealth. Instead, the purpose of industry is to produce truly good things so that the laborer has "something to share with those in need."
Stagnant riches are evidence of a failure of love. Hoarded wealth is positive proof of a lack of charity.
True profit should be joyfully redeployed into the common good—acting as a fuel for alms, a lubricant for civic renewal, and a resource for building common infrastructure and tools and an outpouring of hospitality that bless the entire community.
At Rockingham Abbey, we believe that when profit is handled with this eternal perspective, it ceases to be a result of greed and becomes a vital instrument of grace.
All the profit we generate from our work is reinvested into the development and beautification of Rockingham Abbey—to be a place of beauty, worship, and rest—or to create additional forms of good work, which exponentially blesses the common good.
We also tithe to Church of the Lamb’s Rector’s Discretionary Fund, which provides material help to those in need, both within and outside of our immediate church community.
For a longer discussion of good profit, see this essay.
what’s yours to do?
A few ways you can join us in honoring God’s order in work, goods, and wages.