Apprentice 09: The Frontline
Participants were asked to identify where they find it most challenging to be a disciple of Christ:
The Workplace:
The workplace stands out as the most challenging context for Christians. Both men (46%) and women (41%) identified it as their primary context of challenge.
The top six issues for people in full-time employment are:
Significantly, the issues Christians seem to be struggling with are not primarily ethical (e.g. being distinctive as a Christian) or missional (e.g. in seeking to act as a witness). Issues of personal integrity ranks as the fifth concern, for 21% of people. Such concerns are dwarfed by issues of survival (note the high level of concern about stress (55%) and long hours (45%)) and conflict (29%). From these results, it seems that the primary challenge and concern for Christians in full-time employment are the overwhelming demands of the modern workplace.
But is the church equipping them to resist these challenges and to live from a different script from their co-workers? Participants were asked the extent to which the life and ministries of the church have prepared them to face these issues:
Overall, people do not feel that they are being supported in the workplace - 62% of people in full-time employment and, interestingly 66% of people in part-time employment, said that being a member of the church has helped them only a little in responding to the challenges they encounter in that context. In other words, almost two thirds of people do not feel well equipped for the challenges they encounter in the workplace.
From these results it is clear that the workplace remains a huge and urgent context of challenge for the church. Christians are still not feeling adequately prepared for the challenges and pressures they encounter there, nor envisioned with a way of living that will enable them to be distinctive in that context.
The Home:
The second context of challenge is the home. Participants were asked to identify the issues they have struggled with in their home life over the last 12 months. Here, the picture is given extra depth by dividing the responses by gender as the issues faced are in some cases different for men and women:
For both men and women work-life balance is the principle issue affecting their home life. Beyond this, men struggle to a greater extent with sex & sexuality (30% to 17%). However, women struggle more with parenting (36% to 28%), non-Christian family members (34% to 19%) and singleness (15% to 8%).
However, a greater proportion of people feel that the church is equipping them to more for the issues they are facing at home. 46% said that church was helping them a lot or quite a bit. However, this still means that for 54% of people the church is only helping them a little with these issues.
The Neighbourhood:
Beyond the workplace and home, the survey also demonstrates that the neighbourhood is a context of challenge. It is interesting to recognise that the neighbourhood becomes increasingly prominent as a concern as people age. 59% of people over 65 and 42% of people between 56 and 65.
Further research needs to be conducted to determine exactly what the nature of the challenge is in the neighbourhood context.
Continue reading from Apprentice 09: Challenges for disciples
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