Carshalton Beeches Baptist Free Church
Church On A Mission
Contact Details:
Banstead Road
Carshalton Beeches
Surrey, SM5 3NL
Registered Charity - No. 1130318
Work Matters
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For many of us, the job we do not only takes up a significant number of our waking hours and a great deal of our energy, but also in some way contributes to our identity. Whatever kind of work we do, and whether or not we enjoy doing it, our job is inevitably a part of who we are.
In the light of this, it’s important for each of us to know that our work is recognised and valued. Unfortunately, some will have experienced the damaging effects of feeling undervalued in the workplace. As Christians, however, we can be assured that God places great importance on our work, wanting to sustain us in it and use us there to impact the lives of others.
In his book ‘Imagine: how we can reach the UK’, Mark Greene (of The London Institute for Contemporary Christianity) argues that the church must address work-related issues and incorporate the whole area of work into its strategic thinking. He highlights the need for relevant teaching which gives people wisdom for their daily lives, helping them to live out Christ’s values in the office, the classroom, the hospital ward, the building site.
Greene also examines the negative impact which the “sacred-secular divide” has had on our perception of the work we do ‘outside’ the church. This divide is defined variously as:
- the pervasive belief that some parts of life are not really important to God – work, school, sport, TV – but anything to do with prayers, church services and churchbased activities is
- praying for one part of a Christian’s life but not another; believing that teaching in Sunday school for 45 minutes a week is more important to God than teaching in school for 40 hours a week
- not expecting Christians to think Christianly about what they’re doing in the world
He then goes on to discuss the effect this view has had on evangelism, arguing that it has “caused us to see the ‘church gathered’ as more important to mission than the ‘church scattered’ and has “profoundly affected who does evangelism, in what contexts and in what ways.”
According to Greene, this is not a new issue. He quotes from a book published in 1945 by the Church of England called ‘Towards the Conversion of England’ which concludes:
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“We are convinced that England will never be converted until the laity use the opportunities for evangelism daily afforded by their various occupations, crafts and professions.” |
Greene’s own conclusion is much the same. He suggests that the 4.5 million people in the UK who attend church once a month or more are probably connected to over 90% of the UK population, and it is through them, rather than the 37,000 paid pastors, that the greatest impact will be made.
Research shows that relationships are a critical factor in the process of someone becoming a Christian, and the workplace is where most Christians have the highest number of ongoing relationships. What’s more, because we are working alongside people, rubbing shoulders with them every day, our work can provide ideal opportunities to demonstrate our Christian values and share our faith. This can be both exciting and daunting:
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“The workplace is where Christians are transparent. People can see the difference Christ makes. People see us fail and succeed; lose our temper, control our temper; gossip, not gossip; go out of our way to shift the blame, accept responsibility when it’s ours. People see whether honesty and integrity really matter to us or not. They see whether God really matters to us or not. We can’t hide.” |
This challenge not only prompts us to think about our own witness at work, but will hopefully also remind us of the need to support other Christians effectively as they too try to serve God and others in the workplace.
Heather S
This article first appeared in the Sep/Oct issue of the Beeches magazine.