We help bring meaning to doing.

What is H-Town Fellows?

Most Christians have a sense that faith is profoundly significant but lack a framework which makes that significance tangible in their life—especially in their work life. Work occupies most of an adult’s waking hours, yet increasingly, Christians and non-Christians alike find work empty, or boring or only a means to make a living.

H-Town Fellows, facilitated by the teaching of the TrueWorks team, digs into theological study, engaging conversation, and prayerful community to reveal work as far from empty, but filled with the purpose of God’s redemptive plan. At TrueWorks our work is not about a formula, it is about FORMATION. And H-Town Fellows offers a worldview and a way of living that entirely changes our work and our approach to work. At its core, this course brings meaning to our doing.

Why Become an H-Town Fellow?

Grow in a sense of calling and mission for your work.

Develop a deeper understanding of how your everday work matters in the larger story.

Build relationships with peers, leaders, and others across Houston.

Approach the challenges of our broken world in light of the Redemptive Frame.

More fully understand the context of Houston and become a common good advocate for the city.

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Don’t take our word for it, here are some reflections from H-Town Fellows alumni:

"The H-Town Fellows course has really given me a deeper understanding of what my faith is and why I believe it. And to go along with that, it has shown me that the job that I have does not have to be separate from the faith that I practice. You really are able to wrestle with the question of what does it look like to meaningfully bring my faith into the workplace? We talk about it in the course. Colossians 3:23 says “that whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as if working for the Lord and not for man.” It's no longer just a motivational quote. Now the significance is that whatever you do is in fact working for the Lord."

Petroleum Engineer

H-Town Fellow

"I think before I entered the Fellows, I had a different view of the sacred and the secular. Now I think of it differently. I see that I interact with people all the time, every day. And that in some way, everywhere I go, a little bit of God and God’s kingdom is there… a little bit of where God reigns is there. And that God's love and justice and mercy in this world are reflected by me wherever I am."

Homemaker

H-Town Fellow

"I've been a casual consumer of a theology focused on personal salvation, “fire insurance,” and that theology provided no framework for what to do with my life after that salvation experience. What is the point of being here? It made me wonder, okay, what am I doing with my work? What am I doing with my family? I used to think my job was to be sure my children obtained “fire insurance,” but that's not the point of knowing Jesus. I want my children to know Jesus because I want them to know that there is a point in their existence and that God has a place for them in his redemptive plan. Being a part of the fellows has helped me to be at peace with what I'm doing with my life, because I have a better understanding of how my life fits into God's redemptive purposes. And I wouldn't trade that for anything."

Attorney

H-Town Fellow

Our Cohorts

H-Town Fellows meets weekly from Labor Day till Memorial Day with the aim not only to educate but to transform. This formation occurs individually through reading and devotionals and it occurs communally through discussions, retreats, and prayer groups.

This 9-month program (similar to Executive Education programs) is focused on professionals in the Houston area. Cohorts are formed evenly between men and women and between the ages of 25-75. Past cohorts average age was around 40. Fellows represent a diverse set of vocations, cultural backgrounds, and demonstrate a commitment to the city and spiritual maturity. For the benefit of all, we also ask a firm commitment to fulfill the responsibilities of the program.

The Church is to affirm the gospel not only as an invitation to a private and personal decision but as a public truth which ought to be acknowledged as true for the whole of life and society.

Lesslie Newbigin

Cultural activity is no peripheral concern in God’s design for his creation. …. To be redeemed from sin then, is to be restored to the patterns of obedient cultural formation for which we were created

Richard Mouw

One of the significant cultural tasks that the Christian community must perform in the world is simply to be a community – a fellowship of people who, in the patterns of their life together, serve as a sign of faithfulness to the larger world.

Richard Mouw

It is a convincing framework of calling and character that must be restored if professional life is to be directed in a manner which is suited to its function as provider and protector of the public good and of individuals throughout our neighborhoods and beyond.

Dallas Willard

Work …. should be looked upon, not as a necessary drudgery to be undergone for the purpose of making money, but as a way of life in which the nature of man should find its proper exercise and delight and so fulfill itself to the glory of God. That it should, in fact, be thought of as a creative activity undertaken for the love of the work itself.

Dorothy Sayers

Workin' 9 to 5, what a way to make a livin', barely gettin' by, it's all takin' and no givin'. They just use your mind and they never give you credit, it's enough to drive you crazy if you let it.

Dolly Parton

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Dates & Commitment

The Fellows program begins in early September and concludes in mid-May, and includes:

Daily devotions

that deepen our fellowship with God and each other.

Weekly readings

including, Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Abraham Kuyper, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, N. T. Wright, Sandra Richter, Dorothy Sayers, Andy Crouch, Makoto Fujimura, and many others

Weekly two-hour meetings

that include dinner, followed by rich, lively discussion to process and apply the readings.

Quarterly Saturday

sessions for exposure to various industries

Three weekend retreats

(September & May) and one overnight retreat (January) for personal reflection and spiritual formation

Experiential

learning projects to apply theology to real-life practice

Tuition

The tuition fee helps offset program expenses, including reading materials, weekly meetings, monthly sessions and all three retreats. The fee is $1,200. Spouses receive a 50% discount.

Apply Today

Please consider joining one of the upcoming cohorts in Houston by applying to the link below! We are open to everyone from all denominations.

Alternatively, please contact doug@trueworkshouston.org for more information.

Application deadline is July 22!

The admissions committee selects Fellows from applicants who best demonstrate: (1) commitment to the city, (2) desire for spiritual formation, (3) ability to fulfill the responsibilities of the program.

Apply