God @ Work

One of the most well known passages from the Bible is Matthew 28:19; ‘Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’.  This verse captures some of Jesus’ last recorded words with his disciples where he authorises them to be agents of his world changing work and power. 

Inspiring words indeed that  have motivated people travelling to and living in remote places, learning new languages and cultures in order to share through word, action and integrity the life changing story of Jesus’ new kingdom.

When I was 22 these words inspired me to join a BMS World Mission Action team to live and serve in Zimbabwe for 6 months – it was a life changing experience. These words inspired Mairi to live and work in South Africa for a year. They commissioned us as a family to live and church plant in Albania, this verse has been responsible for millions of people responding to the command of Jesus to ‘go’ where he calls them to go.

After I preached on this passage last Sunday someone came to talk with me about how their ‘call’ to ‘go’ was to a completely different but just as legitimate a mission field: their work place. In fact this is where most people are called to be Christians.  The majority of people who attend our services spend the best part of their week at work, where they are often the only Christian or in the minority.   The work place is an incredibly legitimate mission field which makes most Christians missionaries in their place of work. It’s the pace where people really can see the difference being a Christian can make; day in day out, sharing all the stresses and anxieties of life and work.

Let me ask you a question: when did you last hear a sermon about being a Christian at work? 

 I don’t mean a sermon in which work was mentioned in a generic way; ‘the shop, the marketplace, the office etc’. I mean a sermon that really addresses the joys and challenges of working. A sermon that really addresses some of the daily moral dilemmas you face at work.  A sermon that really helped equip you for the week ahead of you .I suspect the answer might be ‘not many’ especially when I rather ashamedly admit I’ve not preached many sermons on work at all.  

I used to work in a department store in London, it was a great place to work; ‘Never Knowingly Undersold’ with a good discount scheme and annual bonuses. I used to put on my suit, commute to the city, work long hours and come home exhausted day after day.  But that was 17 years ago, since then my ‘work’ has been a bit less conventional.

One of my ‘Christian‘work colleagues was a big bold Pentecostal preacher called ‘Claven’ he used to block the door to the stock room so no one could get out while he preached to his captive congregation. Surprisingly his approach didn’t go down too well.

I can speak with passion and integrity about serving God abroad or being in full time Christian service but I feel hugely under qualified to try and speak with integrity about being a Christian at work.... But I think we should talk more about it and I want our church meetings to equip and resource you to be a missionary in your place of work.

So I’m really interested to hear from you

How is it being a Christian at work?

What are the challenges?

How can we, the church, help and equip you more?

What stories have you got of living your faith at work?

I believe your place of work is just as valid a mission field as Zimbabwe, South Africa, Albania or anywhere else. I also believe its God’s place and I also believe that God could work through you in his work place to do some amazing world changing things.