Called Into Work

What does it mean to "Enter the ministry"?

Let's stop talking about “entering the ministry.” The way we use those words widens the false gap between “sacred” and “secular” and between “clergy” and “laity.” The phrase confuses Christians.

How God Used Workplace Stress to Stretch Me

During my first year as a state employee, I began to see how God uses job-related stresses in transforming us to become like Christ. I'll never forget the lesson. Although painful, it produced fruit.

How Long Will Your Work Last?

You've probably seen this little snippet from a poem: “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past; only what's done for Christ will last.” Over the years, these words have been read and heard so often they seem almost biblical. But are the words true? It all depends on how you understand them.

Hospital Janitor Turns Job into Ministry

A friend of ours works in a department that raises funds for a large hospital. While helping her to develop a workplace testimony, I visited her office. She mentioned how a Christian janitor had noticed she seemed exhausted. How could he could pray for her? Might he share her need—without her name—with other believers in the hospital? She agreed. Hearing this much, I wanted to learn the rest of the story. So, with her help, I arranged a meeting with the janitor.

Encourage Others with Your Workplace Testimony

Have you heard a “workplace testimony”? Like diamonds, such testimonies are rare but valuable. A workplace testimony is a report from one Christian's work world that encourages other believers to see and carry out God's purposes in their own work world and lives. If you were to develop a workplace testimony, where could you use it to encourage? Wherever Christians gather—in church assemblies, small group meetings or even over coffee with one or two others. The impact of such reports often amazes me.

How to Begin Mirroring God in Your Workplace

Just the thought of reflecting God can overload our imaginations. How do you go about imaging an infinite Person? And the idea of mirroring him in your workplace raises the question: Where would you even begin?

Does God Value Your Work Itself?

“Work itself has no ministry value according to the Christians I've talked to.” This idea seems widespread among believers, as Patrick Klingaman reports in his book, Thank God It's Monday. Hold on! What is “ministry”? It's serving. But is it limited to service done in or for a religious organization? Or does it include serving God's Kingdom purposes in the world?

Witnessing: Does One Size Fit All?

As a state employee, I once saw a scene that made me cringe. A Christian co-worker had trapped another employee in the corner formed by the hallway wall and a Coke machine. And into that captive audience the believer was pounding home the gospel. In the years since, I've asked myself: “What forces drive some Christians to such insensitivity in witnessing?”

Free Study Guide Now Available for SERVING CHRIST IN THE WORKPLACE

You may now download from this website a 12-unit study guide for the book, Serving Christ in the Workplace. The free guide can be used in a variety of ways (for example, by adult Sunday school classes, home study groups, cell groups or individuals working alone).

Are We Exporting Our Faulty Workplace Vision?

The meltdown of the USSR opened the door for a massive influx of western missionaries. But according to theologian Darrell Cosden, this burst of missionary activity communicated not only the Good News but also some bad news for Russian believers in ordinary jobs.

From a Missionary:

Last week, I spoke with a multi-talented Christian woman. Daily work for her has included nursing, computer programming, administrative work for a mission board overseas, and contract administration here in the United States. Her story brings into focus a double-mindedness in the way our evangelical traditions have taught us to think about work.

When the Boss Says "Go" and God Says "No"

If you work for and among unbelievers, you've probably faced the dilemma. Perhaps many times. Your supervisor asks you to say or do something that—if you complied—would compromise your Christian convictions.

The Hunt for Fellow Believers

Over coffee, a Christian friend recently told of his fear he was beginning to think and talk like the unbelievers in his workplace. So far as he knows, no one else in his job-related circle has made any commitment to follow Christ. Although he meets with other believers evenings and weekends, most of his prime-time hours isolate him from other members of Christ's body.

Taking God to Work?

After reading the sentence, I stopped to scan it again. As one of a series of thought-stimulators in the study guide for a book, it asked readers to, “Describe three ways that you currently take God to work (or school) with you.” Hmmm. Does God really need me to take him to my workplace?

Connecting with Other Believers on Purpose

How can you intentionally identify other believers in the workplace? Doing so will probably take you out of your comfort zone. That's true in just about any work-world environment. But connecting with believers in a military setting can present even greater challenges—challenges the rest of us can learn from.

A Sales Director's Integrity Test

In sales jobs, the pressures to leave straight paths and take more profitable shortcuts can take the Christian into the red zone. One believer (we'll call him Frank), who works as a regional sales director for a global pharmaceutical firm, recently felt the force of that temptation.

A LITTLE LIGHT GOES A LONG WAY

The children's song, “This Little Light of Mine,” urges us to let it shine everywhere. But as a grownup in the workplace, I can easily think of my little light as even smaller. How can such a tiny flicker ever penetrate into the gigantic corporate bureaucracy all around me? Troy, a friend of mine, works for one of those giant corporations. He is one of around 35,000 employees in an international timber products firm. Yet he and a few fellow Christians have found a way to let Christ's light in them shine even there.

Respect for Co-Workers—a Mark of Love

We nod our agreement with Jesus' command to love our neighbors as ourselves. But the test comes as we live with those workplace neighbors day after day, week after week, year after year. Does their less-than-Christian behavior erode our respect for them?

Compassion for Co-Workers

The story caught the nation's attention last month. Shopkeeper Mohammed Sohail was just closing up when a man with a baseball bat rushed in demanding money. When Sohail grabbed a gun, the man dropped to his knees, pleading for mercy and saying he had no money. What happened next made national news.

Joining God in His Work Where You Work

By now Henry Blackaby's words in Experiencing God have become well known: “Find out where God is working and join him.” Doing so requires us to exercise faith on three fronts.

WORKING FOR FRUIT THAT WILL LAST

On some 6,000 acres in southeastern Washington, Ralph and Cheryl Broetje grow apples and cherries. But, says Ralph, “We’re interested in bearing fruit that will last. “We’re working on the production of fruit and how it’s doing in terms of people. It’s our work, call and passion all in one.” Cheryl agrees. “We believe we’re marketplace ministers,” she says.

Let's Stop Reinventing the Wheel

Q: What's wrong with this picture?

Why Do We Meet as Believers?

1543: The sun orbits the earth. Really?

2009: The church meets to worship. Really?

Much of Life Takes Place at Work

Recent events in the news plus a personal experience added up to one of those aha! moments for me. For days, the media focused our attention on the shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, and at the Gateway Center in Orlando, Florida. Other than murder and injury, what did those tragedies have in common?

God's Salt Strategy and the Work World

Salt. It's within easy reach at most dinner tables. It's also found abundantly in just about every region of the world—whether in saltwater, soil, or rock. Jesus said his followers are the “salt of the earth.” What did he mean?

Do Spiritual Gifts Apply Where You Work?

Does God give you gifts of his Spirit for use only within your local congregation? Or does he also give those gifts to make you able to serve him in your everyday work?

God is in My Workplace

A few days ago Debbie LaFever, a woman in the small group that meets in our home, brought us up to date on her adventures as a Christ-follower in a public school. Her workplace testimony encouraged us all. So I asked her to write it up for this website.

Airport Security and the Scattered Church

What can the church learn from all the recent focus on airport and airline security?

Cultivating a "Seeking Eye" in the Workplace

In my Dec. 31 blog, I wrote that all Christians need to be “eyes and ears, priests and pray-ers, salt and light” on the job. Jeff Morgan responded by noting how this points up our need for awareness: “I see tasks not people,” he wrote. “But once given pause, I see the missed opportunity to connect. How do I orient myself daily to have such a seeking eye?”

Christ at Work in a Bakery

Eugene Peterson's book title assures us that Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places. Apparently those places include bakeries. A close friend of ours (she prefers to remain anonymous) told us how Christ met her and a co-worker in the bakery department of a grocery store. Here, in her own words, is her story.

Showing our Faith by What We Do

The official-looking envelope from the Department of Licensing reminded me of something I no longer look forward to—my birthday. So, more than a month early, I drove to the licensing office. There, in addition to a new license, I'd get a fresh insight into serving Christ in the workplace.

Religious Ruts in Your Work World

Can you think of anything more powerful than the Word of God? Nine times Genesis 1 explains creation with the words “God said.” Psalm 33:9 sums it all up: “…he spoke, and it came to be.” Jesus, the God-Man, drove evil spirits out of people “with a word.” And he even now is “sustaining all things by his powerful word” (Hebrews 1:3). What could possibly stand in the way of such power?

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 2

YOU HAVE HEARD: EVERYDAY NON-RELIGIOUS WORK IS SECULAR

This is the second in a series of articleson religious traditions that undermine the effectiveness of Christ-followers in the work world. The format for these articles echoes Jesus' method of exposing harmful religious traditions by saying, “You have heard…but I say to you….”

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 3

You have heard: Everyday Non-Religious Work is Secular (Read Part 2)

But Scripture Makes Clear: God's World is Not Split into Sacred and Secular Zones.

Seeing the world in sacred/secular terms creates half-hearted and double-minded workers. This comes from defective vision comparable to diplopia—double vision.

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 4

YOU HAVE HEARD: WORK IS PART OF GOD'S PUNISHMENT FOR SIN

“Why Work?” asks British writer Dorothy Sayers in the title of an essay. How you answer that two-word question is crucial. Many look to Genesis 3:17-19 for the answer . . .

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 5

YOU HAVE HEARD: WORK IS PART OF GOD'S PUNISHMENT FOR SIN

BUT SCRIPTURE MAKES IT CLEAR: GOD, THE WORKER, MADE US AS WORKERS BEFORE SIN ENTERED THE WORLD

You've seen those houses with lean-to's jutting from outside walls. A lean-to is merely an attachment, an add-on, not part of the original design. The tradition that work is part of God's punishment for sin teaches us to see work as a lean-to, something God tacked onto us after he made us.

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 6

YOU HAVE HEARD: YOU ARE JUST A LAYPERSON

Sue Mallory, in her book, The Equipping Church, admits: “I put off writing this book for a long time because I wasn't sure I had an audience or a right to speak. After all, I thought, I'm just a layperson.” What had held her back?

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 7

YOU HAVE HEARD: YOU ARE JUST A LAYPERSON

BUT SCRIPTURE MAKES IT CLEAR: YOU ARE SALT, LIGHT, SEED, AND MUCH MORE

Many words in the New Testament tell us who we are as Christ-followers. But nowhere does it call any of us by those disabling terms, “laypersons” or “laity.” R. Paul Stevens writes, “While we observe in the church today two classes of people [clergy and laity]…, we discover in the New Testament one ministering people….”

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 8

YOU HAVE HEARD: GOD'S ONLY PURPOSES IN “SECULAR” WORK ARE WITNESSING AND MAKING MONEY FOR LIVING AND GIVING (Read Part 7)

This religious tradition concedes that so-called “secular” work can have some religiously redeeming value. Okay, it says, so you hold a job that does not qualify as work popularly called “full-time Christian service.” Not a total loss. At least you can use it as an opportunity to share the gospel, to earn a living, and to make enough to support your church and cross-cultural missions.

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 9

YOU HAVE HEARD: GOD'S ONLY PURPOSES IN “SECULAR” WORK ARE WITNESSING AND MAKING MONEY FOR LIVING AND GIVING (Read Part 8)

BUT SCRIPTURE MAKES IT CLEAR: GOD SENDS YOU TO WORK TO REFLECT HIM AND HIS WORK

Why has God placed you where you work? He has done so not for just two but for a rich variety of purposes. This will be the first of several blogs on other reasons God deploys you into the work world.

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 10

YOU HAVE HEARD: GOD'S ONLY PURPOSES IN “SECULAR” WORK ARE WITNESSING AND MAKING MONEY FOR LIVING AND GIVING (Read Part 9)

BUT SCRIPTURE MAKES IT CLEAR: GOD USES WORK-RELATED STRESSES TO FORM CHRIST IN YOU

Jesus tells us, “In this world, you will have trouble” (Jn. 16:33). Much of that distress occurs in the work world. Is it possible that encountering that trouble is one of God's reasons for sending us into that world?

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 11

YOU HAVE HEARD: GOD'S ONLY PURPOSES IN “SECULAR” WORK ARE WITNESSING AND MAKING MONEY FOR LIVING AND GIVING (Read Part 10)

BUT SCRIPTURE MAKES IT CLEAR: YOU AND OTHER BELIEVERS AT WORK ARE TO SERVE EACH OTHER

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 12

RELIGIOUS RUTS IN YOUR WORK WORLD: PART 12

YOU HAVE HEARD: GOD'S ONLY PURPOSES IN “SECULAR” WORK ARE WITNESSING AND MAKING MONEY FOR LIVING AND GIVING (Read Part 11)

BUT SCRIPTURE MAKES IT CLEAR: YOU'RE THERE TO MAKE THE GOOD NEWS APPEALING

A few years ago, during the boom years of real-estate sales, a new business emerged—home staging. A seller hires the home stager to put forward the best features of the house. According to one expert, “Staging a home can make a huge difference in how it's perceived by prospective buyers.” Is there a lesson here for Christ-followers in the work world?

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 13

RELIGIOUS RUTS IN YOUR WORKPLACE: PART 13

YOU HAVE HEARD: GOD'S ONLY PURPOSES IN “SECULAR” WORK ARE WITNESSING AND MAKING MONEY FOR LIVING AND GIVING (Read Part 12)

BUT SCRIPTURE MAKES IT CLEAR: YOUR WORK HELPS CARE FOR WHAT GOD CREATED

The other day, while speaking to encourage a group of Christians in their work, I asked them to discuss this question in teams of two: What would the world lose if no one did the kind of work you do? As it happened, one of the teams included a police officer and a firefighter.

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 14

YOU HAVE HEARD: GOD'S ONLY PURPOSES IN “SECULAR” WORK ARE WITNESSING AND MAKING MONEY FOR LIVING AND GIVING (Read Part 13)

BUT SCRIPTURE MAKES IT CLEAR: WITNESSING—A SERIOUS (NOT THE SOLE) PURPOSE

For a toddler, Kai had a way of capturing hearts. We had known his family well before he was born. One Sunday, as my wife worked in the church nursery, she couldn't help noticing again his gentle, kind spirit. “Kai,” she said, “I love you!” Instantly his body recoiled . . .

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 15

RELIGIOUS RUTS IN YOUR WORKPLACE: PART 15

YOU HAVE HEARD: GOD'S ONLY PURPOSES IN “SECULAR” WORK ARE WITNESSING AND MAKING MONEY FOR LIVING AND GIVING (Read Part 14)

BUT SCRIPTURE MAKES IT CLEAR: GOD APPLAUDS (NOT JUST ALLOWS) WORKING TO EARN

A flight attendant said, “The Great Commission is what we're called to. It is the number-one reason that God put us here. We need a job just to make our house payments and pay the bills.” In Your Work Matters to God, Doug Sherman and William Hendricks use this quotation to illustrate what they call the “Mainstream Model” of Christian thinking. In this view, the primary reason for working is to evangelize. The “just” in the quotation downgrades earning to a bothersome necessity.

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 16

YOU HAVE HEARD: GOD'S ONLY PURPOSES IN “SECULAR” WORK ARE WITNESSING AND MAKING MONEY FOR LIVING AND GIVING (Read Part 15)

BUT SCRIPTURE MAKES IT CLEAR: GOD SENDS YOU INTO THE WORK WORLD FOR MANY REASONS

What difference does it make if you think you're in the work world just to witness and to earn? Peer through the eyes of Lisa, a bank teller who has come from a church tradition in which evangelism trumps all.

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 17

YOU HAVE HEARD: TO REALLY SERVE GOD IN YOUR WORK, GO INTO FULL-TIME SERVICE

BUT SCRIPTURE MAKES IT CLEAR: ALL CHRISTIANS ARE CALLED TO SERVE GOD FULL TIME

"We shape our buildings,” said Winston Churchill; "thereafter they shape us.” In a similar way, we fashion religious terms that from then on have the power to mold our thinking for generations. Case in point: the phrase "full-time Christian service.”

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 18

YOU HAVE HEARD: STAY CLEAN BY AVOIDING THE WORK WORLD

BUT SCRIPTURE MAKES IT CLEAR: PENETRATE THE DARK WORK WORLD AS A LIGHT (Read Part 17)

"The workplace is no place for a Christian woman,” said one pastor. "It is too hard to be spiritual there. . . . Stay out of the world.” You don’t often hear this stance toward the work world expressed so openly. But even if not stated outright, the attitude continues to smolder in many places. Just the other day, I came across these words on a website:

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 19

YOU HAVE HEARD: TO GO TO CHURCH, ATTEND A WORSHIP SERVICE

BUT SCRIPTURE MAKES IT CLEAR: YOU REMAIN IN CHURCH WHILE YOU WORK (Read Part 18)

Ruts pose two hazards for a bike rider. One, they're hard to get out of. Two, they take control of the steering. The words "go to church” create similar risks for Christ-followers.

Religious Ruts in Your Work World: Part 20

SUMMARY AND SIGNIFICANCE OF SERIES: PART 20 (Read Part 19)

Just over four months ago, I began posting these blogs on "Religious Ruts in Your Workplace.” Before we leave that theme for other workplace topics, let's briefly review what we've covered. These articles have identified seven religious traditions that affect our daily work. As I listed them for an overall look, a fresh insight emerged.

Your Help, Please

Can you help me? Your insights and experience would help me as I create a seminar for pastors and church leaders.

Readers Respond

Wow! None of my blogs has ever received as many comments as the one last week. In it, I asked: "How can pastors and church leaders incorporate workplace-preparedness into the DNA of their church life?” The responses would, I hoped, help me create a pastor-oriented seminar. Did they ever!

The Church Needs Reports from the Front

"Mind the gap!” Those recorded words warn passengers in London's subway not to step into the void between the platform and the train car. In its paper on marketplace ministry, the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization quotes those words as "an apt analogy for the gap between Sunday and Monday.” What can close the Sunday-Monday gap?