Online Reporter
When I’m in the United States, people can’t understand my Australian accent. For example, when I go to Starbucks and the staff member asks for my name, he or she cannot understand my pronunciation of “Sam.”
(As a result, I resort to using the name “Carlos” whenever I go to Starbucks.)
This is one of many explicit signs that, when I’m in the United States, I’m no longer in my home country. I’m a foreigner. I have to speak and act differently from when I’m in Australia.
For you, that might be how it feels to be a Christian in the secular workspace.
At work, we’re no longer at home, where we freely speak and act as a Christian in a Christian household. We’re also not inside a Christian church, where we’re free to speak and act as a Christian in a “sacred” space.
So how can we tell our colleagues about Jesus while we’re at work?
On the one hand, telling our colleagues about Jesus makes so much sense. We spend most of our waking hours at work. Most of our non-Christian contacts come from work. Many days, we spend more time with our colleagues than with our friends and family. The workplace is our best opportunity to tell coworkers, people whom we know and love, about Jesus.
But on the other hand, the workplace isn’t a straightforward place to tell people about Jesus. It’s secular space, unlike the “sacred” spaces of our homes and churches. It’s not a convenient place to tell people about Jesus. Usually we’re rushed and task-focused.
It feels wrong to talk about Jesus, as if we’re violating a sacred-secular divide. There are tricky dynamics of power imbalances where talking about Jesus can come across as coercion. That’s why, at work, we talk about the weather but not religion. These are valid concerns.
Workplace evangelism is also tricky because we’re not equipped to do it. When “experts” teach us about evangelism, they tell us to be bold. Simply do it, they say. But usually, their examples of evangelism relate to talking to strangers we never see again: strangers we sit next to on planes or walk up to on college campuses. Or the examples involve acquaintances such as barristers or hairdressers.
In all these examples, we have permission to be blunt and direct. That’s the nature of conversations with people where there’s no long-term relationship at stake.
But how do we talk to colleagues? We’ll see them every day for months and years. And we have to work with them! We don’t want to risk a friendship. We don’t want to ruin good work dynamics.
Colleagues belong in a different category from strangers on planes, barristers, or hairdressers.
What if we reimagine evangelism as a conversation, where we evangelise like a counsellor (with questions) or a chaplain (by building trust and social capital)? I want to reimagine workplace evangelism as trying to evangelise like a missionary. How would closed-country missionaries evangelize if they were placed in my job, in my secular workplace?
How would closed-country missionaries evangelise if they were placed in my job, in my secular workplace?
We evangelise like a missionary because the workplace is, in effect, a de facto “closed country,” where we’re not supposed to talk out loud about Jesus. That’s why we can learn from the missionaries who work in officially closed countries, where they’re also not supposed to talk out loud about Jesus.
Here are some tips I’ve learned from my missionary friends.
Be a Blessing
At work, our primary aim is to be a blessing to our colleagues. Before we even ask, “How can I tell my colleagues about Jesus?” we should ask, “How can I be a blessing?”
I learned this from my missionary friend David, who serves in a closed country. David tells me that he tries to “be Jesus” to those around him by lovingly looking for ways to serve others. This will involve costly sacrifices of time, effort, and money, but people who are sceptical about Jesus become more curious when they love them like Jesus. David says that, by blessing others, two things happen. First, natural opportunities for evangelism soon arise. These are accidental by-products of being a servant to those around him. Second, if, after some time, the person doesn’t want to become a Christian, you won’t ruin your relationship with him. That’s because the aim of your relationship was to be a servant and not to convert him. You can still lovingly serve this person, even if he doesn’t want to know about Jesus.
‘Out’ Christians to Each Other
At work, I like to “out” Christians to each other. Immediately, you’ll think I’m breaking the model of evangelising as if we’re in a closed country. But hear me out.
It’s lonely being the only Christian in our workplace. We’re like the Old Testament prophet Elijah, who made a brave stand for God at Mount Carmel only to see it all fizzle out with no one converting to following God. Elijah complains to God, “I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too” (1 Kings 19:14, NIV).
But God replies that he has preserved 7 000 other devoted followers in Israel (v. 18). It’s just that Elijah hasn’t met them yet!
Maybe it’s the same for us at work. Other Christians could be in our workplace. But we don’t know them. And they don’t know us. – City Bible Forum.
