How to take Christ into the workplace (September 2001)

Archbishop Writes

by Peter Jensen

Controversy has folowed my recent call to take Christ to the work place. There have been dire warnings about harassment and discrimination and the spectre of religious wars has been brought out, dusted off and given a run.

In part, the response has been understandable and even sensible. I well remember an overzealous believer in the place where I once worked who became offensive and whose efforts at forcing people to listen were undoubtedly counter-productive. But it does not have to be like that.

After all, the number of discussion topics in the workplace is huge and all sorts of conversations, whether perfunctory, profane or profound occur. Furthermore, many people are subject to talkers who are invasive in the style or content. We learn to cope in some way or another.

However, here are some rules I would suggest to believers:

1. Don’t cheat the boss. His or her time must not be used in a way which he or she would disapprove of. We cannot commend the Lord in a way which dishonours him through disobedience.

2. Be courteous, or as Scripture says in a similar context, speak ‘with gentleness and respect’ (1 Peter 3:15). Our motive in sharing the gospel ought to be love. Our method of doing so must be similarly loving. Rudeness, abuse, argumentativeness, sarcasm and the like are the very opposite of the gospel which we are trying to commend. We can be firm without being arrogant, wise without being unscrupulous, knowledgeable without being overbearing.

3. Listen as much as talk. Again, the Bible has a word for us: ‘be quick to listen, slow to speak’ (James 1:19). If we wish to point a person to the Lord Jesus, it is as well to know them first and to care for them as people, especially if we are frequently in their company. A person who professes to be an atheist, for example may well have a private story to tell about why they find it hard to believe in God. They are going to need to trust us before they tell it.

4. Don’t be put off. Someone went to the trouble of bringing you the gospel, and you embraced it. God is perfectly capable of working in the lives of the people you work with. You expect missionaries to speak for Christ. Why shouldn’t you?

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