The Breastplate of Work – Part 3

What the Breastplate of Work is really about, though, is the scope of God’s calling to workplace ministry. I’m not the only one He has asked to wear the breastplate of work. In fact, all working people have received the same call. We just don’t realize it! We have fallen into the typical belief that work is done out of necessity; but real spiritual ministry is done inside the church. Our scope of ministry is too small!

This story says something about the scope of the church’s ministry, as well. The church is the calling and sending body of Christ. The church especially needs to help us hear our calling to the workplace; and then commission and anoint us with the presence of the Spirit for that calling. If our congregations fully comprehended that their ministry is scattered throughout the community in people’s places of work; if congregations wore us workers and our places of work on their heart; they would begin to see and understand and perform their ministry calling in a whole new way, as well. They would see their ministries taking place in the public marketplace – and all other arenas of their people’s daily work – and not just within their church walls and programs! They would intentionally raise us to be Sunday People in a Monday World™! What a glorious vision that would be. Then we would see the coming of God’s Kingdom in a whole new way and to a whole new degree. Come, Lord Jesus, through us and our daily work! Help us to be Sunday people wearing the breastplate of your work in our Monday worlds!

The Breastplate of Work – Part 2

The second guiding resource for doing ministry in the workplace was a simple verse:   I PETER 2: ⁹ But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

I had no idea how to do ministry in the marketplace – especially as an entry level production worker. But I did know something about the Old Testament priesthood and its intermediary role between God and the people. Have you ever really asked yourself, how can I be an intermediary between God and the people with whom I work? What does that even look like? I experimented and prayed a lot!

It may sound crazy, but I even tried to reproduce some of the practices of the OT priests. I have always been interested by the breastplate the Priest wore. The breastplate held 12 jewels, each containing the name of one of the tribes of Israel. It served the function of reminding the priest that he was to carry God’s people on his heart. So that’s what I tried doing at Micron. I wrote the names of my supervisors and managers and co-workers on a certain undergarment we women wear. I thought of it as my Breastplate of Work.

I did it because loving and caring  and serving your supervisors, managers, and co-workers on a production line is not easy. No matter what you do it is never enough. Every mistake you make is documented and usually known by everyone. Frontline production work can be extremely boring; it can rob you of dignity; it can suck you into destructive competition, and make you dread even going to work! But when you allow God to work on your paradigms of how you see and understand both your work and the people with whom you work (including the internal and external customers you are called to serve) you begin to see and think and feel and behave differently.

When you see every person with whom you work as a person of value and worth in God’s eyes – deeply loved by the Trinity and redeemed by the blood of the cross – things change. You change. Your relationships change. Your work and how you do your work starts to change. Even the quality of the product you produce and the service you provide begins to change! You begin to meet, see and experience God in the workplace in a whole new way! You begin to worship God and co-operate and work with Him in whole new ways!

The Breastplate of Work – Part 1

“Carolyn, in order to be in the Masters of Ministry program here at NNU, you have to declare a ministry.” I gave it some thought and declared Micron Technology, Inc. (a maker of memory chips in the semi conductor industry). I had been working there for the past three months as an entry level production line worker. But it didn’t take long before I was confronted with a really big question: How do I do it? How do I do ministry in the public market place?

In those early years, two resources began to guide my work. The first was Luther’s Theology of Vocation. (I soon learned that Wesley and Calvin had a lot to say about this topic, as well; so it wasn’t just a “Lutheran” thing.) Luther saw every role we have been given in life and the work we do through those roles as a calling to and a means for serving God. When we dedicate whatever work we are doing to Him for His use and His glory – whether it is in the home, community, or our places of work – that is when it becomes a holy calling to vocationally be God’s presence serving Him and humanity. That is when whatever we are doing brings glory to God. Do you hear what that is saying? No matter who we are and no matter what we are doing, it is meant to serve God and the world in some form! Our daily work is not a necessity! It is a calling to serve and make a difference in the world while making God’s glory more visible. It is part of what we’re praying for when we say in the Lord’s Prayer, Thy Kingdom Come! This call made my front-line production work take on a whole new meaning.

Are Churches Building Dams or Spreading Seeds?

While this is certainly not the case in every situation, many of today’s churches and ministry programs focus so heavily on “gathering” numbers to prove their “success” that they are often hindering the spread of the gospel by discouraging people’s ability to be salt, light, and sheep in the world! They are building dams that prevent the Body of Christ from flowing out and being a vibrant influence in the world. Often, we are unwittingly turning our churches into fortresses from the world so they cannot even get into the world! And we are totally overlooking the most natural arena of ministry of all – our people’s places of work.

Life Journey Ministry proposes a challenge: Stop focusing solely on gathering and start scattering! Let’s stop working to gather all of our people and their resources into the church for the operation of the church and, instead, start scattering them – like seeds – out into the world. Wherever the seeds fall, let’s claim that as a legitimate part of our congregation’s ministry by blessing and commissioning our people to be in ministry there where they live on a daily basis.

Through faith and the renewal of our minds we’re called to be transformed and transformative agents in the world. We’re given a message and ministry of reconciliation that is meant for the world; but we’re often unwittingly hoarding it within the church. Rather than salting the world with our presence, we are sucking our people into congregational programs; often using private schools or home schooling to protect our kids from the world rather than training them to be in the world; and establishing congregations that resemble clubs rather than senders and influencers.

In the meantime, we are ignoring the dominant key for being God’s presence IN the world: our natural, daily fields of work!

Over 65% of a person’s waking hours is spent working – whether in the home, volunteering in the community, or at our places of employment. It is almost miraculous to realize that it is here, in the stewardship of creation through our daily work, that we can actually experience and interact with God the most. For example, it is through the instrumental function of our work that we experience God’s means of sustenance and opportunities for us to stretch and grow in our sanctification. It is in the experiences of daily living that we are challenged to put off the old and put on the new! It is in the relational function of our daily work that we grow most as individual persons and make a huge difference in society. It is as we are drawn by the vision of God’s Kingdom coming into existence through Jesus that we transform and literally believe the future into existence now – especially in our daily places of work. It is in and through our work that society can begin to taste and concretely experience the reality of God. It is where we spend the majority of our waking hours that God calls us to see and meet Him; get involved with Him and co-create with Him; and there to serve and worship Him.

True faith is transformative. It transforms both us as individuals and the work we do! As Creator and Sustainer, God utilizes us to care for, interact with and redeem the world we live in. But to do this, God must be present in the workplace. Faith must be practiced in the workplace. It is critical that the church send us, its people, into the workplace. That scattering is encouraged and reinforced when churches begin to catch a new vision of ministry – one that scatters and encourages and commissions and prays for its people as The Body of Christ in their places of work.

Before the church can harvest, it must first scatter the seed and nourish its growth! Therefore, as pastors and congregations, let us accept the challenge to stop judging the success of our ministries by how many members are gathered and active in the operations of the church and start scattering them out into the world – especially in their places of work! – CJS

When Are Christians Not Good for the Workplace?

When should we cringe over Christians in the workplace? Well, when they’re not being good Christians, right? But, when might Christians who think they are being good Christians actually do more harm than good in the workplace? When might they become the enemy of the workplace?  It’s something we need to think about!

Sometimes we Christians  can let our exuberance turn into arrogance. Sometimes we can let our commitment turn into discrimination. Oftentimes we can build the walls of separation talked about in Ephesians 2 and then wonder why others think of us so negatively. For example:

As a manager or supervisor, can I talk about my faith in the wokrplace. Can I even go so far as to witness to my employees? Yes! Anyone can talk about their religious beliefs as long as the employee or co-worker knows that their continued employment or advancement is not contingent on compliance with your religious beliefs. In other words, as long as we do not discriminate based upon religious beliefs. We Christians become a real problem in the workplace, though, when we attack rather than share; when we talk at people rather than dialogue with them; when we condemn them rather than redeem them; when we give the impression that a person with differing beliefs is less valued or loved by God than the Christian; when we deny, ridicule and even attack the value and worth of persons differing from our personal beliefs.

In like manner, it is also never good when Christians – especially supervisors and managers –  do not stand up to discrimination; do not defend those in the workplace or marketplace who are defenseless; who will not be the voice for the voiceless; or who avoid and flee rather than work towards justice or embrace the message and ministry of reconciliation. None of this brings blessing and service to the workplace and  the global community of the world.

Such behavior never motivates others to see and experience God’s presence more clearly. It never makes reconciliation with God and one another a reality. It never transforms others  (or the workplace as a whole) for the better! Such behavior never portrays the newness created through Christ’s life, death, resurection, and assension. It never allows God’s Kingdom to come into our worlds of work!

But, when we genuinely respect one another and love from a Spirit-filled and Christ endowed love, watch what happens. When we seek to serve and meet the real needs and hurts of co-workers as well as the global community within which we live, watch what happens. When we do our work first and foremost for God and then for the people in our office with whom God seeks a personal relationship, watch what happens. Watch what happens to both the work we do and how we do it! Watch what happens to the cultures of our work areas. Watch what happens when we bring repentence, forgiveness and reconciliation into office politics. Watch and see how much more visible God becomes! Watch and see how your place of work becomes a critical means of meeting, worshiping, and co-creating with God! Watch how meaningful your work can become! – CJS

To What End Are You Using Technology?

Technology is a truly amazing thing. It is changing styles and forms of communication in ways undrempt of just fifty years ago. Like anything in life, it holds the potential of being used for something really good, or really bad! It can be used for building up, or tearing down; for helping us see and understand more of the truth, or the intentional propogation of lies. It can enable and enhance meaningful networking, or simply become a means to avoid authentic, transparent relationships. As Christians – especially Professional Christian Women – how are we using today’s technology? Are we using it as a means to bring blessings to the world; or is it simply another means of  addiction to the world?

I recently read the blog from a good friend, LeAnn, entitled AntiSocial Networking. [See: http://wmceo.wordpress.com/]  One of the issues she discussed was the way we are losing social skills by tweetering and texting while sitting at the dinner table  instead of visiting face-to-face with the friends and family sitting around us. It IS amazing how we seem to be choosing the mundane “conversations” of tweetering over thoughtful dialogue.

I am even more amazed (and truly chagrined) by the growing number of Christians who are both compounding and intentionally promoting lying and defamation of character by forwarding untrue or horribly exagerated emails as though they were truth! Even if disclaimed, they still swirl around in siberspace for years continuously causing on-going turmoil. Or what about these chain prayers that seem so good, but you dare not break the chain or you won’t get the blessing! Aren’t these really  nothing more than an attempt to control God for our own personal desires – or even Satanic? 

 How sad that we Christians are so frequently becoming identical twins to the world rather than understanding and BEING the new creation that God has created us to be. The testosterone of Christianity seems to be placing more emphasis on an agressive warfare of faith that must conquer than the true estrogen of serving and submitting to Christ. (I am referring, of course, to the analogy Paul uses in which he refers to the Church as the Bride of Christ.) We emphasize the taking over of the world rather than embracing the beatitudes of being meak and poor in spirit.

In Scriptures, Paul says to always be ready to give an account of the HOPE that is within you – not the anger, fears and frustrations. It would be fun to see how he might word that today – maybe it would be something like “tweeter your hope and blog your amazing experiences of God!”

No, technology is not the “problem.” It is simply a means to be used for some end. It is up to us as professional Christian women to determine what that end will be!

Challenges of Christian Professional Women in the Workplace!

Life Journey is working with Kathleen Whiteside Langdon in the writing of a book entitled Meditations for the Spiritually-Centered Working Woman. We have put out a request on our Facebooks asking professional women to share their most challenging issues in the workplace today. Here is a list of some of the responses that have come in so far:

• Balancing work and personal life
• Not judging others who I feel are either not doing their fare share of the work or who share a different work ethic
• Choosing a job that is personally fulfilling vs. a job that pays better and has good benefits, so I have a better lifestyle outside of work
• Becoming frustrated with the decisions that are made that I don’t agree with
• Feeling grateful that the business is doing what it can to survive and that I still have a job vs. being upset that people have been laid off (survivor syndrome). The business side of things vs. the people side of things.
• Giving constructive feedback to others (feedback is a big emphasis in the IS dept. right now)
• I’m a Gen X stuck between Gen Y and Baby Boomers.  All have very different expectations of what “hard worker” means.  Managing up and managing down is quite different.
• Buzz words have caused meaningful words to lose their meaning: change, teamwork, opportunity.  Business books have become the workplace Bible. 
• Work-Life balance.  In our 24-7 life - where people have become very last minute because they can be last minute - we need to be able to carve out “real time” for ourselves.  Sue Steege, our CWC 09 keynote speaker, wrote on her blog about a technology fast.  Loved this idea.

We’ve received some great stuff!

I am particularly interested in hearing more from you regarding the following comments received from Julie. She talks about the relationship of her professionalism in business and her experience with her church. It really rang a bell for me because I, too, experience this same thing. Can anyone else identify with her? If so, we’d love to hear from you.  CJS

Carolyn,

I think that my biggest challenges regarding work come from the lack of peers.  I am the general manager of a corporation and I just don’t meet other Christian women, especially at church, who do the same sort of work.  I find that at church I don’t fit into any of the women’s groups because I don’t bake cookies or want to go on scrapbooking weekends.  I tend to be competetive and task oriented.  Not so much into polishing the silver and washing the curtains in the Sunday school rooms, you know?  I’d much rather be putting together a budget or a sharp marketing plan, but that’s usually only for the guys.

 In my work setting, I struggle to find the right balance of being strong and decisive with being kind and understanding.  It’s always interesting to see how male managers are perceived as “strong” when they make the tough decision but females are considered “bitchy” when they make the same decision. 

 I’d love to have a group of Christian women to discuss these things with, to pray with and to be accountable with.  Don’t know where you find them.  I’ve never been invited to a “professional Christian women’s retreat”. 

I find it interesting that so many people take Psalm 31 to describe a woman managing her household.  I think it’s a great description of the life of a married, working mother!”

Julie

Is A Totally Secular Work Place Desirable?

Is A Totally Secular OR Totally Religious Work Place Desirable?

There is no question that religion and differing beliefs in the workplace can and do cause conflict. Religion seems to be inbred with it. Even in the Christian religion there is a shadow that often seems to embrace and promote and fights for power and control. In order to either avoid or embrace that conflict, most places of work in the U.S. have leaned towards one of two dominant reactions: a) establishing policies of no religion or spirituality in the work place; or b) naming a specific religion as the core culture of the company (i.e., usually Christian). In other words, we are asking and expecting our workers to either compartmentalize who they are and bring and apply only part of who and what they are to the workplace; or we are choosing which forms of spirituality are acceptable and denying (discriminating against?) all other forms. We do this because of either a fear of or a commitment to the influence and conflict that moral convictions can and will produce within the culture and operations of the organization. However, even those persons who describe themselves as atheists, agnostics, or non-practitioners of either religion or spirituality still hold some type of moral convictions about the world and how the workplace should operate. They, too, cannot help but influence and participate in the conflict of values within a company’s culture.

My question is whether either total secularization OR total religiosity is even feasible, much less desirable? What seems to happen when a place of work tries to become totally secular or totally religious/spiritual? Notice, for example, present-day struggles on one side with trying to get all employees of one’s workforce fully engaged in their work rather than just being warm bodies behaving like cogs in a wheel.  Employers are becoming more sensitive to the staggering costs from lost potential and actual output because of low employee engagement. Might not the stance against bringing their spirituality to work have much to do with this? Our faith often is the very thing that gives meaning and moral direction to the work we are doing. On the other hand, what happens when faith and spirituality is used to try and get more productivity out of our workers? Then religion is nothing more than a means with no faith-directed end! We often end up with religious or spiritual workers so consumed by work that they no longer have time to spend with family, community, or worship and participation in their churches, masques or synagogues. It feels as if work slowly becomes the religion.

What happens when we have no moral discussions stemming from personal beliefs and attempt to decrease or eliminate moral preferences within an organization? I think 2009 has allowed us to experience the consequences of that reality up-front and personal. Furthermore, are not workplaces and organizational cultures with a specific secular view (that religion and spirituality is not welcome) also communicating a certain set of values. As Douglas Hicks points out in his book, Religion and the Workplace, “All workplaces have some sort of organizational culture…it is simply impossible to avoid taking a values-laden position vis-a’-vis the diverse religious and spiritual (and cultural and political) commitments that employees and mangers bring with them to work.” Hicks further argues that the forced compartmentalization of a secular culture “…is unduly and unrealistically restrictive on employees….workers should not be asked to divorce their religious expression from their workplace identity.” [Page 114] 

Rather than being totally restrictive, what if we acknowledged our diversity as a nation. What if we as Christians actually embraced religious diversity in the workplace because we know and believe and trust the foundational truth expressed in Colossians 1:15-17?

 ¹⁵ He [Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶ For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.  ¹⁷ He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” [NIV Translation]

 

Just from my Christian perspective, rather than seeing the workplace culture as a battle ground that must be won back – or the Christian faith, life and teachings something that must be guarded from the influences of diversity – what would happen if we understood that even all diversity ultimately has its meaning and purpose in Jesus Christ?  What would happen if we truly believed that even diversity in religion and spirituality in our places of work is ultimately something created by Christ for his purposes? What would happen if all employees were given the freedom to draw upon their faith-based ideas at work? As just one of those religions, what would happen, for example, if Christians – instead of seeing faith in the workplace as an issue of power and rights – took seriously Jesus’ teachings in the beatitudes and his call to positions of servanthood; and his promises of being our strength when we embrace our weakness? How would our practice of these teachings of Jesus influence the work itself? What influence would our faith then contribute to the diversity of our workplaces? What new potential would the Holy Spirit then produce?

I agree with Hicks that embracing diversity does require certain agreed upon limiting norms or guiding principles.  For example, we would all have to accept the presumption of inclusion as a guiding principle. We would have to commit to the practice of dignity and equal respect in the workplace. We would have to be willing to accept such limiting norms as non-degradation, non-coercion, non-establishment where the company endorses or promotes only one particular religious or spiritual view. We would have to define permissible expressions and limitations. For example, religious posters may not condemn other persons’ beliefs and orientations. For us Christians, that would be difficult. However, is the allowance of expression of all faiths – including ours – not healthier and better than attempting to have NO expressions of faith in the workplace? Is a totally secular – or a totally religious – workplace even feasible? Diversity is the reality of life in the United States.  According to Colossians, even our diversity is created by Christ and for Christ! As a citizen of a country that holds religious freedom as a core value, is it not better and healthier to embrace and promote diversity of faith in the workplace rather than secularism?  CJS

“Knowing” Without “Being” – Is It Possible?

I had an interesting conversation the other day regarding myths around faith in the workplace.  The person was adament that it was important that she NOT talk about (much less intentionally promote) her faith or even wear Christian jewelry because of the undue influence she has as an adult working with children in the public school system. Her reasoning is that if she can talk about Jesus and intentionally share the Christian faith, then other religions have the right do the same thing; and she would not want her children exposed to other faiths. What’s wrong with this picture?

Here’s another thought, if you had a choice between exposing your children to all religions and beliefs (even atheistic or satanic), or exposing them to absolutely NO religion or beliefs, which would you choose? Why?

Here’s another question: Is God only god of the church, or is he God of the universe? Is He god over the church only, or is He also God over all gods, principalities, powers, angels, and authorities? [See Rs. 8:38, 39] What exactly does it mean in Colossians 1:15-20 when it says: “He (Christ) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church, he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” What is the significance of the phrases  “all things” and  ”everything”?

What do YOU really know and believe about Christ; and what significance does it have for your behavior and belief systems in the work place? I’d like to hear from you!  CJS

Is It True?

How much of what is negative in our work or organizational culture is built on individual and corporate choices made out of the downward spiral of fear, misperceptions and even lies: and how much is built on security, truth, justice and concern for the good of others?
My husband and I have our three youngest grandchildren staying with us for several weeks. They are ages 4, 6, and 9. I am fascinated by their imaginations. Sometimes it is so positive and fun and creative! Sometimes it is wildly negative and rapidly creates a world of fear. For all three the ability to tell the difference between reality and imagination can be difficult. For all three, what they choose to believe becomes their reality; and how they define their reality determines their emotions, choices and behaviors. One moment my grandchildren are unbeatable superheroes. The next moment they are convinced that the bad-guys can get in through our newly installed bathroom sky-lights; and so now the four-year-old is scared to go into the bathroom by himself. Last year the six-year-old (then five) accidentally turned the cold off in the shower and doused himself in hot water. That experience has turned the shower into a mean enemy. This year he has convinced the four-year-old that he better not go near the shower because it will immediately burn the skin right off your bones! (Hmmm! THAT must be why my six-year-old grandson is so tall and skinny!)
This week is reminding me of how our thoughts, self-talk, interpretive stories and fears impact every segment of our lives – both individually and corporately. How often do we develop false perceptions of danger and fear even as adults? Maybe it is the idea that we dare not disagree with management or we will lose our jobs. This fear quickly progresses into the idea that we dare not upset our boss, even if it means having to hide the truth. We can magnify this fear by convincing co-workers of the same thing. This can often subtly create a corporate culture of fear! This continues to progress into an inability to actually identify and correct errors or think creatively to improve our work or serve our internal and external customers more effectively.
I am amazed by how the principalities and powers of fear can assail me on almost a daily bases as Director of Life Journey Ministries. Because of my love for God I deeply want to serve and please Him. But it doesn’t take much for even that love to turn into fear – a fear that I may disappoint God by not making a God-pleasing decision or choice. If I don’t do things right, then God won’t or can’t bless our ministry. This quickly leads into a type of paranoia where I am questioning every decision I make; or I start to see God’s timing (which seems to always be too slow for me) as His reprimand and denial. I find myself starting to avoid, deny, fight, question, fear and tremble just as rapidly as my three beautiful grandchildren.
How can love turn to fear and paralyze my behavior so rapidly? I think it is because I let fear become my truth. The more I allow fear to continue unhindered I become a prisoner to them. I subtly enter into the downward depths of the demons, principalities and powers of evil itself.
First John talks a lot about love. The passage that stands out to me with striking force is I John 4: 18 “Perfect love casts out all fear!” [The NIV says “There is no fear in love!” I have learned that when or if I am frightened of losing or not having God’s love at all times and in every situation, fear quickly runs rampant. This seems to be especially true at work where competition, power, and making a profit are often the driving forces behind so much of our management culture.
Yet, I have learned time and again that it is God’s love that provides the most solid and healthiest core for my personal confidence. What is amazing is that it can provide the same solidity and health for corporate and institutional confidence, as well. The issue for me, though, seems to be my faith, trust and hope in that love. I am finding that faith in God’s love is critical in helping me maintain a healthy and empowering grasp on reality in my work and life as a whole. It is the foundation of my security; and security is required for making healthy choices and having the ability to serve rather than survive or conquer in today’s business world. God’s unending love truly is the one force that cast’s out the unhealthy demons, principalities and powers of fear and gives me (and us) the freedom (the liberty) to live life fully. I think it is the core to our ability as organizations and corporations to perform our work to the glory of God and in service to humanity, as well! The one thing I know to be absolutely true is that in my field of work God’s perfect love can and does cast out fear. It is my faith in that love that then transforms both me and my work!