Pipelines of blessing

If you're reading this article, then there's a chance that you are already committed to being a Christian in the workplace - you are convinced that the workplace is where this country will be converted, you subscribe to 'Word for the Week', and you've got the metaphorical T-shirt. Yet perhaps, like me, you have wrestled with what it actually means to wear the T-shirt. Am I really supposed to evangelise on work time? Is it all about refusing to participate in the work lotto pool and avoiding drunken office socials? Perhaps you've found God's wisdom as a result of trial and error, repentance and forgiveness, as well as God's grace and mercy. A good place to start is the Abrahamic covenant: The Lord said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; And all peoples on earth will be blessed through you" (Gen 12:1-3). God calls Abram and promises to bless him. And Abram will in turn be a blessing. We are inheritors of this promise (Gal 3:7-9)! We are called both to be blessed and to be God's pipelines of blessing into this fallen world - including our workplaces. How are we to fulfil so high a calling? In the context of the workplace, there are four ways we can do this - being a MODEL, a MINISTER, a MOVER & SHAKER, and a MOUTHPIECE. Being a model is foundational for all Christians; the other roles are linked to our personal opportunities and gifting.

Out on the Catwalk: A Model

Every time you walk into your place of work, you are on a catwalk. Your audience of managers, colleagues and customers is critically appraising your 'outfit' and assessing 'Does it fit?', 'Is it worth what it cost you?', 'Would it suit me?' Their answers to such questions may depend on whether you are modelling a straitjacket of 'thou shalt nots' or a designer coat of many colours. You are called to create envy! God's intention in calling a people to himself in Exodus was that other nations should see how blessed Israel was through living in relationship with the Lord Almighty and want it for themselves. Joseph's 'richly ornamented robe' was a sign of his father's great love for him, and the other brothers knew it and were envious (Gen 37:3-4). There are many colours woven into our designer outfit - sonship (or daughter-ship), holiness, work practices, humility, dependency and hope.

Knowing whose you are

First and foremost, we model being God's beloved sons and daughters. We walk through those office, factory, hospital or school doors knowing that we are accepted and loved by our heavenly Father, and that not one thing can happen today that will change that. A couple of years ago, I led a leadership course for one of the American airlines. My co-trainer spent much of our free time asking about my faith in God. At one point she exclaimed, "You make it sound so good!" She envied a relationship that you and I know is the right of all who receive Jesus - the right to become children of God (John 1:12).

Like Father, like ...

Do people look at us and see the family likeness? "I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy" (Lev 11:44). It is so easy to be conformed to those around us - in the way we complete our expense claims; in our attitude to the use of the office phone; in wanting to be "in the know" when it comes to office gossip. The Christians I admire consistently speak well of others - they are not afraid to give constructive feedback; yet they also build others up through their words. Holy people are those whom most of us would want to work alongside.

The second mile

A major area in which we can be channels of blessing is in the way we do our work. I am blessed by those who faithfully return my phone calls, complete work when they say they will, and whom I can rely on to do a good job. We are called to 'serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord', not other people (Eph 6:7). It can be difficult to "go the second mile" when we feel time-pressured and resentful of the demands already placed on us. In leading a series of team-building courses for a large IT company, I was asked to spend the first evening having dinner with the delegates. As I had a few of these courses each month, it meant giving up several precious evenings. I had my excuses at the ready: "The delegates need a break from me" (and vice versa!); "They would feel greater freedom to relax if I were not around", etc. But then I read Luke 15, when Jesus was criticised by the Pharisees for welcoming and eating with sinners. He goes on to demonstrate through the three 'lost' parables that God's agenda is firmly set on seeking and saving the lost. It was as if God was saying, "Bev, you work for me remember, and I want you to have dinner with the delegates!"

But Paul...

'Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves' (Phil 2:3). Easier said than done, Paul, when my colleague was given the promotion that should have been mine! And Paul, you haven't met my boss - one hint of humility and he would walk all over me. Do I really have to be the one that seeks to resolve the conflict when it is so obvious that "they" are in the wrong? Perhaps it is this area, more than any other, which is impacted by the amount of time I spend alone with my heavenly Father, learning from him.

Let God do the Negotiating

For many of us, work is the place we use our skills, experience and gifting. In many aspects of our work, we know what it is to be competent and play to our strengths. It can therefore be hard to trust God when it is quicker and easier to trust ourselves! This was brought home to me in fee negotiations with a key client. I had prayed about it, yet my prayer was of the "delegation" variety: "Lord, you know the rate I want to achieve: please get it for me!" Gradually, the Lord began to impress on me that his way was different. I was to go to my client and tell them, up front, that any rate they chose to give me was okay with me! "Lord, you don't understand - you just don't negotiate that way! Trust me Lord, I lead courses in this stuff - this isn't how you do it!" The Lord answered, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding... Do not be wise in your own eyes" (Prov 3:5,7). It was hard, and I knew that if I didn't say something at the beginning of the meeting I never would, so I told the training manager that he was free to decide the fee and I would accept his decision. His reaction was extraordinary. He had been in a meeting earlier that day with a trainer who had pushed him for a rate that he did not feel he could afford. He agreed the rate, but decided to give that trainer no further work. As a result of my stance in the negotiation, together with my track record, I was made their "trainer of choice" and was given my pick of every training project (The rate agreed was good too!)! The decision to trust God more than our own abilities, skills and experience is a daily, sometimes hourly, decision.

Hope: On a recent training course, I asked delegates what they really wanted in life. They were unanimous - hope and purpose. As Christians, this is woven into the very fabric of our colourful coat.

Being his hands and feet: Minister

For many of our colleagues, life is not easy. Behind the smiling masks, there are relationship breakdowns, debt, worry, fear, even addictions and bereavement. Work is rarely a safe place to let anyone see behind the mask, especially if that painful situation is relayed, with embellishments, down the office grapevine. Yet the workplace is our place of ministry - where we are brought into contact with a hurting, sinful world and asked to bind its wounds and wash its feet. It takes time to love my neighbour, and the workplace is task-focussed and hectic. Giving people time and a confidential ear can be costly. 'Every day I put love on the line. There is nothing I am less good at than love. I am far better in competition than love. I am far better at responding to my instincts and ambitions to get ahead and make my mark than I am at figuring out how to love another. I am schooled and trained in acquisitive skills, in getting my own way. And yet, I decide every day to set aside what I can do best and attempt what I do very clumsily - open myself up to the frustrations and failures of loving, daring to believe that failing in love is better than succeeding in pride.' Eugene Peterson

The 'Grand Calling': Movers & Shakers

Movers & Shakers are called to change the world (or at least, that part of it which they occupy - be it systems, codes of practice, laws or attitudes). The work is long-term and can be discouraging. It is a role that needs the support and prayer of other Christians. William Wilberforce is a prime example: 'William Wilberforce came within a hair's breadth of missing his grand calling altogether. His faith in Jesus Christ animated his lifelong passion for reform. At one stage he led or actively participated in 69 different initiatives, several of world-shaping significance. But when Wilberforce came to faith through the 'Great Change' that was his experience of conversion in 1785 at the age of 25, his first reaction was to throw over politics for the ministry. He thought, as millions have thought before and since, that 'spiritual' affairs are far more important than 'secular' affairs. Fortunately, a minister - John Newton, the converted slave trader who wrote 'Amazing Grace' - persuaded Wilberforce that God wanted him to stay in politics rather than enter the ministry. "It's hoped and believed," Newton wrote, "that the Lord has raised you up for the good of the nation."' Os Guinness: The Call

Such a time as this: Mouthpiece

"They overcame [the devil] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death" (Rev 12:11). The word of our testimony is important. We are fortunate in this country that declaring our faith is unlikely to lead to physical death - yet it may involve smaller "deaths", like the death of our image, a friendship, or even our career prospects. It is natural to shrink from potential loss and so stay silent. I find Esther a helpful role model here. When she explained to her uncle, Mordecai, that if she approaches the king without his permission she may be killed, his reply is: 'Do not think that because you are in the king's house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?' (Est 4:13-14) Esther's reaction to this challenge is instructive:

- She prays and asks for others to pray;

- She prepares carefully to meet the king, dressing in her royal robes; she does not allow a legitimate fear of death to prevent her from speaking to the king;

- She restores her relationship with the king and Haman, who is the immediate threat to the Jews, by inviting them both to dinner, twice;

- She doesn't immediately trust the king's extravagant promise to give her up to half his kingdom. She ensures that he is interested in hearing what she has to say, and she waits for the right time to make her request.

My own experience is that, as I have prayed and asked others to pray, then opportunities to speak about my faith come. I would like to be able to say that I always take those opportunities, but that is not the case. Yet God is faithful, even when I am not, and, as I repent of my silence, he gives new opportunities to speak. Being a Christian@Work is not easy - we are called to be God's pipelines of blessing into the workplace though our roles as models, ministers, movers & shakers, and mouthpieces. And who knows: you and I may have come to our different workplaces for just such a time as this!

Beverley Shepherd

Bev Shepherd is a freelance management trainer and a frequent speaker & trainer in workplace issues

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