Effective Faith Sharing in the Workplace

Following on from my last post. I wonder if the Christian Community in he UK and in Scotland needs to be more pro-active to support and encourage Christians to live out the Gospel in the workplace. I really don't think we need to be over zealous and be "in people's face" because there are always natural opportunities to talk about faith issues where ever you find yourself. Take for instance a conversation I had with someone trecently about disabled parking spaces. They were talking about how someone offered them a sticker to use on their car so that they could get the use of a disabled space. When they refused it gave them an opportunity to talk about integrity and thinking about others. Effective faith sharing is a long term experience. It is learning how to build upon conversations. Talking about prayer is another effective way to engage work colleagues and friends without appearing to be intrusive. The strange thing is that most people will respond to the idea of prayer. Even if they're not sure they believe. They will be touched by the thought that someone was thoughtful enough to suggest prayer. Many years ago I remember doing a prayer experiment round the parish. I took my young probationer minister at the time and we went door knocking. We simply knocked doors and asked people if they had any requests for prayer. The funny thing was that no one questioned me or asked why I was doing it. It was as though i was the milkman inquiring how many pints were required. Admittedly I we were wearing clerical collars, but in some strange way people realised that was the business of the church. Perhaps they saw us as God's postmen picking up the mail for heaven. The astounding thing was that we went to twenty or thirty doors and no one refused to give a topic for prayer. I well remember one big man came to the door with his simit on and his shaving razor in hand and the foam all over his face. When I told him what we were doing he moved away as though to shut the door, then he turned and said " Could you pray for Mary across the street she's struggling at the moment with cancer." I'm learning that there is often more faith in the street than in the church. Back to the work place when I worked in the bank we used to have social nights out. The easy thing would have been to decline. I have never been into the drinking culture. I'm amazed actually at the amount of alcohol people drink today. I over heard a man in a shop today tell someone that he was going to a night out. It was costing him £45.00 but he could drink all he wanted. Anyway on our "nightouts" I used to make a point of ordering a soft drink and time and time again it made it easier for younger members who didn't drink to make the same order. I'm sure example in the work place goes a long long way. One final thing there is nothing to beat being motivated at work. Have a look at this website and the comments about motivation http://www.surfinthespirit.com/business/win-at-work.html So what do you think.

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Posted By: H   On: 26 Jan 2010   At: 6:21pm

Albert, Thank-you for your article.

It has been a strange last year at my work, being naturally quiet, I have found myself speaking out and sticking up for things I believe in ( think God would too)this, in turn has brought much ill-feeling with my colleagues, many of whom I have worked with for many years.

When things got to their very worst, I could see no way forward,yet did not want to give up a job I enjoyed because of the hostility of others.I plodded on and kept praying…

The power of prayer can be very real, and often when we least expect it, something happens… I am sure many still think of me as an “odd bod”, yet,in recent weeks, those colleagues who were causing my greatest unhappiness, seem to have lost (for the time being anyway)interest in trying to get me into trouble.

Perhaps, one day, God will come into their lives too..I’ll just keep on praying!!

Thanks

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