Editor’s Note: This microtalk is from SOLA Conference 2021. Find more resources and videos here.
Most of us work and work for a lifetime. In fact, the majority of Americans spend the most number of their waking hours at work. Christian workers witnessing well in their workplaces can surely make a difference for Jesus. But what does that look like? Why should I bother? What does witnessing mean in the Bible, and how can we do that at our work without being labeled weird, feeling awkward, and getting in unnecessary trouble?
Below is a transcript of the microtalk. It has been edited for length and clarity. You can listen to the audio here.
I remember hearing a story about a friend of mine, a college friend. He was a campus ministry leader faithful to his local church. After college, he had gotten his first job. And it was his lunchtime on a Monday. He was out with a few co-workers, perhaps with one of his supervisors too, and the food came out. And being a believer, he wanted to pray.
But surrounded by his coworkers, he wasn’t sure what to do, whether that was appropriate or awkward, or what’s gonna be labeled weird or unprofessional, and so on. And so, he closed his eyes, and he did a big sniff. And in his mind, he recited real quickly: Dear Jesus, thank you so much for this food, blah, blah, blah, amen.
Unfortunately, for my friend, one of his co-workers noticed what he was doing and asked him, “Hey, what was that about?” And my friend, fumbling his words, responded, “Well, yeah, I’m just smelling my food so that I can taste it better.”
I had a few years of corporate experience, so I’m definitely sympathetic towards that. I’m not looking at my buddy with judgment here; I do understand the feelings of awkwardness or the fear of being labeled weird in your workplace, perhaps being unprofessional and even crossing legal boundaries depending on what kind of work you do and what your company culture is.
But as a follower of Christ, I want to say, this should not be. That if we’re going to witness Christ well in our workplace, something has to look different. But how, and why? What does it mean to witness well in the workplace? How can I do that? And even before, perhaps, why should I witness in the workplace?
Witnessing in the Workplace
Well, why should I witness Christ in my workplace? I want to say that there is a greater need to obey the Great Commission. Again, I want to say that there is a great need to obey the Great Commission. About 180 million Americans 18-64 years old work anywhere from 35-40+ hours a week. Work is by far the number one activity in our waking hours for the majority of our country.
Gallup has recently released that America, for the first time in our history, is a majority nonchurch membership nation, with 53% of our population saying that they have no church membership. Now, I know that religious affiliation, church membership, and faith in Christ are all various things that can mean different things that does not necessarily weed out faith in Christ. But to keep it simple for our sake, we’re looking at about 100 million people without Christ at work. 100 million people, 100 million Americans, without Jesus in our workplaces.
Yes, there is still significant faith in America because 53% not at church means 47% are at church. But the trend is troubling. Because just in the year 2000, 20 years ago, American church membership was at 70%. 20 years later, at 47%. America is steadily but surely losing faith. And Christians, like you and me—I’m assuming that you’re a Christian here—are going to work every day spending 8, 9, 10 hours a day with people who are without Christ. 100 million of them. You know, 100 million people—if corporate America was a country in itself, it would be the number seven biggest population in terms of people who do not know Christ. It’d be the equivalent to the entire Western Europe, not knowing Jesus.
There is a great need, and certainly a great opportunity, to obey the Great Commission. If you are with me here, then the rest of the time I want to spend by answering some of these questions: what does witness or witnessing look like? What does the Bible say? How can we witness Christ well in the workplace, and if you’re a church leader, what can my church or what can church leaders do to help our people to witness Christ?
Well, what does witness witnessing mean? What does the Bible say about that? Witness in Greek is martureo. It means “to affirm that one has seen or heard or experienced something.” It’s where we get our word martyr from. Turns out, the Bible actually has a lot of content and resources that point towards witnessing in particular at our workplaces. In the Old Testament, for example, the Hebrew word for worship is avade. And that same word, which means work, happens to be the same word for worship. The Old Testament uses the same word for work as worship. Then, in prophetic literature like Amos and Hosea, the primary reason why God sends these prophets, on behalf of himself, is his anger, prophetic anger, towards economic and financial injustice.
In the New Testament, famous verses like 1 Peter 2:9, gives us the concept of universal priesthood, which is one of the founding blocks of Protestant faith. That not just local church pastors like myself, but perhaps some of you watching this video, whether you are an accountant or engineer, you’re in health care, you’re in business, you’re a mechanic, you’re a student, you’re an athlete, whatever you are—that the Lord Jesus has called us to be pastors in our own spheres, not just church pastors, but pastors everywhere, and therefore, universal priesthood. In fact, Apostle Paul, the man through whom the Spirit wrote half of the New Testament, was a bivocational missionary, he was a tentmaker, who sponsored himself. Jesus gives these parables such as the parable of the rich fool, or the parable of the talents, talking about money, and stewardship, and justice, and that being a way to worship God.
According to the Bible then, I can say that God considers our work as worship. And all of us are taught to worship God through work, not just pastors, that worship is to be done seriously by witnessing, by affirming the seen and the heard, and the experienced love of Christ, in the workplace. And how can we do that? How can we witness Christ? Well, in the workplace, I want to say this. I want to say that to witness Christ well in the workplace, we need to go beyond the self centered ethical mindset, to the relationship centered, redemptive mindset. Here’s what I mean. I think so often, with good intentions, we Christians can be moral people.
And now don’t get me wrong, please. Being morally good is good. But it’s not enough. Often we reduce our faith into a list of to do’s and a list of don’t do’s—go to Sunday worship, read a chapter of the Bible, say a five minute prayer before bed, don’t get drunk, don’t do drugs, don’t curse, don’t steal things, don’t have sex with my boyfriend or girlfriend before marriage—and I’m good with God. Well, those kind of ethical mindset is essentially focusing on me and myself. As long as I do this, as long as I don’t do this, I’m okay with God.
But the Lord Jesus wants more than that. Yes, he wants an ethically viable and high morality lifestyle from you—from each of us. But what he truly wants is a redemption of the overall kingdom, redemption of the entire creation. There’s a difference between thinking, I’m okay, because I do this or I don’t do this, versus how am I contributing to others around me, and how they are encountering Christ? And what am I doing, to pour into the poor of the society, those who are in need around me? How can I help them to be redeemed by Christ as I am, to not just an ethical, but redemptive, mindset? And in two particular ways, I believe that can show—that kind of mindset can show—in our workplaces. One, excellence, and two, evangelism.
1. Excellence
It’s not enough to just work hard. We have to work hard in a way where it earns trust from others through how we work. Do you practice generosity at work? How is your integrity as a worker? Do you tell the truth, even at the cost of yourself? Are you investing in people at your work? Do you volunteer for the dirty things within your company that no one wants to do out of your team?
Are you mentoring younger workers, or are you learning from older workers? Do you celebrate people’s birthdays? Milestones? Are you intentional about your sphere of influence, by what kind of work you put in in your job places? Do they trust you? Would your coworkers trust you beyond the matters of your work, because of the way you work? Who are you not just in person, but online? What does your social media say about who you are?
2. Evangelism
Excellence, in a way that earns trust from others — that’s gonna set us up for the works of evangelism. The truth is this: the truth is that though sometimes we’re told that as long as we’re joyful, as long as we work hard, as long as we are good moral people that somehow people will see Christ in us—perhaps that’s true—but I like to think this way. I want to say that at a certain point, we have to explicitly tell people about Jesus Christ. That it’s not enough to just work hard and do all those things. At a certain point, we have to tell them that Jesus is Lord. And that salvation comes through him and him only. That we got to do this relationally.
I want to ask you, can you explain the gospel? Too many of us Christians don’t really know how to answer that question. You’d be surprised. Do you have a testimony? How has God worked in your life? And can you share that with the people who trust you, with loving intentions, with communicated maturity, in a clear manner that really demonstrates the love of God that has been poured into you? Can you share? Do you have a long version? Do you have a short version? Are you serious about gospel sharing? Are you prepared? And also, do you pray?
Pray with a long term intentional mindset. Get supporters from your church, your mentors, your mentees, your small group, your pastors—tell them about what you’re doing, that I’m trying to influence these 1, 2, 3 people in my work for the sake of Christ. I’m working hard to earn their trust, and I want to get to a point—and set yourself a time limit—maybe six months from now, I’m going to sit down with them and start telling them about Jesus Christ, or invite them to my church things. And ask your supporters to pray for you. Pray for that person, pray for your work, pray that the Holy Spirit would come and move in that person’s life to raise up that souls and write their names in the book of life, as the Word says. Trust in God’s timing to do that. And once that six months, nine months, a year passes by—reassess. Are you intentional about excellent work, and the works of evangelism, in your workplace?
How To Think About Work
I want to quickly but nonetheless, importantly, pay attention to a side note, which is: What if I hate my job? Yeah, everything that you’ve said, perhaps you’re thinking, “Oh, yeah, that sounds all good, but I can’t see myself doing that in my work because I just hate going there. I hate what I do.” If that’s how you feel, I’m sorry about that. I don’t pretend to think that every single person loves what they’re doing and they fully believe that there has been this calling by the Lord, to be in that company or to be in that line of work. Again. But I want to say, still, that if you hate your job, remember that your spiritual calling is primary, not your vocational calling. That your work does not define you. Salvation in Christ does.
Still, I would say that there is value. If you really hate your job—you can’t be a light, you can’t do excellent work, you surely don’t want to share the gospel with these co-workers—I would say prayer for honesty and discernment is appropriate. Ask yourself, ask God, tough questions. Why do you hate your job so much? Is it something that you have done? Or is there a forgiveness issue? What is it, and seek guidance from spiritual and trusted people that you have in your life.
Also, I think it would be helpful for you, if you remember that work itself is good. I’ve talked to some Christians that believe that work is a necessary evil. That is biblically untrue. God has created by doing work. He has worked six days a week, and rested a day. Not only that, he commanded work to Adam and Eve, before the fall. Before the humanity was corrupted, he commanded work from them. “Subdue the earth, and multiply,” God said. God demonstrates in His Word, that work itself—productivity, hard work, integrity—is good. It’s not a necessary evil.
If you’re a student, can I lovingly ask you to be humble and realistic? I’ve been in student ministry for a while and a lot of students that I run into, with good intentions, aim for the skies. But there’s a fine line between hard work and high expectation and entitlements. A lot of people think that they should get out of college, and right away make a six figure living, with an amazing boss who’s going to pour into you, with all these benefits that you can have, with flexible hours and doing something that’s meaningful. I hate to say it this way, but for most of us, that’s not going to be our lives.
And in fact, even to some of us who do end up with those great positions, I’m confident when I say that no job is perfect. Instead, I want to ask you to humbly find elements of what you like, especially in your first couple of jobs. It’s okay to work your way up. There is value in that. Find what is good in that circumstance that’s been given to you by God.
Lastly, if you’re a church leader, what can churches or church leaders do to help our people witness Christ well at work? To borrow from John Ritner and his book Positively Irritating, and I’m paraphrasing here, churches can engage people from points of mission, community, and worship, to help them witness well at work. This is a framework that’s been helpful for me, and I hope it’s helpful for you, too.
For example, when some of your church people bring others to Sunday worship, they’re engaging those people through worship. Or if some of your students—collegians, or young adults even—bring them to their cell group, college night, or age group night events, then they’re engaging those people through the point of community. If you are inviting your neighbors to join in your local outreach or global mission work, well, then obviously, you’re reaching them through your points of mission. These are major ways that churches can work through to invest in other people to share the good news.
Here are some practical things that I have done based on this framework. I’ve been thinking about what we do at my church through liturgy. And I’ve been able to host a monthly prayer chapel this year, over focusing on a specific vocation or occupation. For instance, last month in March of 2021, we got to pray over the first responders, police officers, firefighters and alike. I asked them to submit a prayer request and share with me some of the things that’s been going on in their lives—asked them for representation to lead these prayer times. We got to hear from people who had done relevant work in police and fire departments. We essentially heard their joys, their challenges, their hopes and dreams, and even their fears. We got to pray for them, pray over them, pray for their work, and commissioned them back out into their workplaces.
A helpful phrase that I have learned is, “this time tomorrow.” Ask yourself, pastor, what would my congregation be doing this time tomorrow? If it’s Sunday morning, what would they be doing on a Monday morning, and how would my Sunday mornings help with what they’re doing, this time tomorrow?
A few more things. You can create a vocational group. Mix them up where natural mentoring and discipleship can happen over occupations. I do want to note and encourage you to specifically affirm those who are in blue-collar work. So often, churches can be a place where white-collar work is celebrated, and that’s cool. But I do want to ask you to consider being intentional about celebrating those who are working with their hands. After all, God himself has done a lot of blue-collar work in the Bible. He’s known as a gardener, a vineyard dresser, he’s created with dirt, getting his hands dirty, perhaps.
I can recommend you try to provide workspaces for young adults and grad students and college students, that’s if you have a site. Talk to your local ordinances about zoning, and codes, and things like that. But if you have, perhaps starting some sort of WeWork for your church people could send a message to this demographic—we as a church believe that your work is important and you ought to do the works of Jesus through that. And lastly, can I charge you to partner with other churches in the local area? To do it together, and partner with relevant organizations like SOLA, Made to Flourish, or perhaps local Christian universities and their centers of work and faith, if they have one?
Thank you so much for watching, and thank you for working hard out there, for whatever it is that you are doing. I want you to know that your work matters to God, and that you have a great opportunity to fulfill and obey the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus. May the Lord bless you—to stop smelling your lunch on Mondays and instead to witness Jesus Christ in your workplaces.
For more resources from SOLA Conference 2021, click here.