Download Faith at Work: The Journey and the Issues

FAITH AT WORK: THE JOURNEY AND THE ISSUES
by Alistair Mackenzie
(Christchurch, New Zealand)
“Most of us spend almost 40% of our waking time at work. In contrast the average Christian spends
less than 2% at church during their working years. Yet the church puts most of its energy into that
2%; almost nothing into the world of work". (Calvin Redekop)
1. INTRODUCTION
I have been haunted for a number of years now by this quote from Calvin Redekop. It helped to crystallise
some nagging thoughts that had been bouncing around in my brain for a long time without taking any clear
shape.
It might seem strange for me to say this because for most of the last 25 years I have been a pastor in 3
Baptist churches in New Zealand and the rest of the time headed up an overseas mission and development
agency and taught the theology of mission.
But I grew up in a business family, where my father managed a timber mill and manufacturing business and
was also director of a building company. These enterprises were all owned by my mother’s family. Both my
mother and father were active Christians concerned to apply their faith to their practice of businesss and did
so, even when it demanded significant sacrifices. So they provided me with good models of what everyday
faith looked like for them.
Not that this means that coming to faith was easy or straightforward for me.
But that’s another story, except to say that when eventually I did encounter God in a dramatic and personal
way many years later at age 24 I also wanted to see faith related to everyday concerns. But it wasn’t until
almost 20 years further on that the truth of Redekop’s statement really came home to me. And by that time I
was trying untangle a number of threads of experience. I think some of the main contributing factors were:
1.
As a pastor I had gradually become increasingly self conscious about the way my gaze became more and more
narrowly focussed on what happened on Sunday and disconnected from Monday to Saturday realities for most
people. At the same time I could see Christians struggling to know how to respond in a world of rapidly changing
work patterns and marketplace values.
2.
Teaching the theology of mission as it applied to mission in the overseas context caused me to become more and
more concerned that we were failing to address the mission challenges at home because we were failing to apply the
same principles there. More than that I became more and more self–conscious about the fact that my teaching was
concentrating on equipping and supporting the few people who would become career ministers or missionaries while
God’s largest mission force was already mobilised everyday of the week and interfacing with the world in the
workplace , but we were not intentionally resourcing them. In the mission scene a new emphasis on tentmaking and
marketplace mission fascinated me, but I thought it was built on inadequate foundations. I recognised that I had not
really developed or promoted a theology of mission and ministry which was connected to a theology of the laity, work
and everyday life. And so I decided to do some post-graduate study to catch myself up on developments in the
theology of work and vocation and the ministry and mission of the laity and the implications of these for reshaping
church life (“Faith At Work” MTh thesis, University of Otago, 1997)
3.
While doing my post-grad work I also worked part-time resourcing staff and student leaders with TSCF (NZ
equivalent of InterVarsity). I was disturbed by the fact that although we were trying to equip students to live as
Christian students we did not really operate out of a longer term view equipping young people to live as Christians for
life. Nor did we give them much help to think creatively and Christianly about career choices in order to better
integrate their faith and working lives.
4.
I had also found it difficult to find resources that were helpful for me and my friends struggling with mid-life questions
and trying to regain a sense of vocation when previous understandings had proved inadequate.
These are some of the factors that caused Redekop’s statement to resonate with me.
2. Thesis Observations
I used the thesis primarily as a basis for my own education, to trace historical developments in the theology of
work and understanding of vocation from the first century, but with particular interest in the last 50 years. It
also explores some recent developments in the theology of ministry and mission as these relate to daily
work themes. And the final chapter looks at practical ways churches can work to see their members better
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equipped and supported for their daily work in the world. It ranges far more widely (and perhaps more
superficially) than a good thesis should, but it does survey a lot of territory.
Anyway, this work on my thesis raised a number of issues.
1. The awareness that some of these issues had been addressed before, particularly as I explored the history
of the Reformation and the Puritans and the Wesleyan movement and the Clapham Sect and more recently
the World Council of Churches in the post-WWII era.
One of the sobering realisations was that a lot of people have started off down this trail, but the concern to
see the church more active in the world usually gets overtaken by internal church concerns. At the same time
as the concern to see a greater emphasis on resourcing the laity for their ministry in the world moves toward
a concentration on providing them with resources for roles within the church. Clearly those of us who embark
on the faith and work journey need to recognise what we are up against.
2. One of the most helpful discoveries that I made was isolating some of the elements that are necessary for
someone to gain and nurture an ongoing sense of vocation. I identified 5 important ingredients. And although
I don’t claim any absolute significance for these, nothing that I have found in my later work has caused me to
seriously revise this analysis so far. This is how it looks:
For Christians to grow and maintain a clear sense of vocation for themselves, five particular needs are
evident:
I.
Connection:
An understanding that connects God’s work and our work. To gain a sense that we are participating in
something of ultimate significance that imparts purpose to our lives. This needs to combine Theology (biblical
and historical perspectives), Ethics (personal morality and social responsibility) and Spirituality (practising the
presence of God).
II. Fit:
Feeling that the person we are fits the work we are doing. To understand the gifts, abilities, passions and
personality that make us unique and help to define the work we are best fitted to do and that the way we are
expressing these also fits with our Christian calling and values.
III. Service:
To be of service to others, so that our search for significance also makes a worthwhile investment in God’s
wider purposes and the lives of other people.
IV. Balance:
To establish a healthy balance in our lives that enables us to express our vocation through a mixture of
domestic and voluntary work and leisure, as well as employment. To
find meaning in the whole of life by
understanding the functions that different parts play and how they are harmonised. And to to be able
renegotiate this balance at different stages of life.
V. Encouragement.
To gain support and encouragement from a community of committed companions. This may include family,
friends, mentors and our faith community.
For a healthy sense of vocation to grow and be sustained a combination of these elements needs to be
present. It provides a useful checklist to keep in mind when we come across people who are struggling to find
meaning in their work.
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But there were also a number of other issues raised for me including
3. Concern to see evangelicals reclaiming a creation theology to operate alongside (not instead of, as some
suggest) our redemption theology
4. Concern that in emphasizing the significance of daily work in God’s purposes that we don’t idolize
employment and careers in a context in which jobs are often demanding more and more hours from most
people while a significant minority struggle to find meaningful jobs at all. We must find our identity and
status in our relationahip with God this is our primary calling. But this primary calling is worked out through
our daily activities, all of which are of significance to God and contexts for discipleship.
5.
We need to recognise the importance of transition times as opportunites for people to reconfigure their
lives and faith. In my thesis I started to explore how stresses associated with personal, family, and work
transitions may also connect with faith questionning and how churches might respond positively to this
rather than act threatened by it.
6. While there have been significant advances in our theologies of ministry and mission and the laity that
recognise the many ways that daily work in the world does count from God’s perspective this is seldom
reflected in the way we do church. Models of church and of church leadership need seriously reinventing
if they are to reflect these priorities.
7. Academic conversations about spirituality in the workplace are now being initiated by non-Christians,
especially New-Agers, we need to be better prepared to understand what is happening and to address
the issues.
8. The experience of women in the workforce is different to that of men and their voices are raising some
challenging questions for us. Also, where are the voices of blue-collar workers to be heard in academic
discussions? Their work experiences are typically different to those more educated middle class people
who usually initiate most discussion in our churches.
9. How do we best introduce biblical themes and theological reflection to connect in a lively way with the
everyday work experience of people at the grass-roots?
10. Popular evangelical theology has not always developed a strong social ethic, nor a reflective spirituality
that connects with the mystical tradition. Both of these would seem to be important elements in what is
emerging.
11. Is the gathering interest really indicative of a widespread quest that the church absolutely can’t avoid
addressing, or just another publishing fad that is here today but gone tomorrow?
12. Can we promote more significant discussion about marketplace economics and ethics between church
leaders and business leaders and employees together?
13. Can we maintain a broad definition of work which embraces voluntary and domestic work as well as
employment?
These are some of the questions that my academic study raised.
But, as you know, theses are by their nature pretty academic documents and it wasn’t long before some
friends of mine who were mostly business people started to say to me, “Hey Alistair are you ever going to
bring some of these highflown ideas down to earth?”
Naturally, I responded a bit defensively saying “But I thought that was your job”.
But they said “We need some help.”
To which I said “Well I’d like to help but really I’m not an expert and I don’t have the time, nor the money.”
To which their reponse was, “Well if we put up the money will you make the time?”
Which showed me two things. Firstly, that these people were serious, because I assume that’s the only
reason a business person would put up money. And secondly that you need to be careful what you set
yourself up for when you start floating your ideas past someone who wants to see things happen. Because
more than likely they’ll choose you to get it going!
This wasn’t how I planned to spend my life, but it seemed that God had other ideas
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And so starting in 1996 we set up, and I worked half-time on, the Faith At Work Project, a reasearch and
training programme exploring the connections between faith and work.
3. Faith At Work Survey
We began with a 6 month intensive survey questionning Christians on the ground about ways they saw their
faith connected to their approach to work and asking, “Are there any ways in which you might appreciate
more help from the church?” (This involved 100 in-depth individual interviews, plus a number of discussion
groups and seminars and numerous less formal encounters).
3.1 The Results:
1. Most people began by assuming that I wanted to talk with them about how they were getting on
evangelising their workmates. Most said (many self-consciously in a way that made both of us feel
uncomfortable) that they weren’t very good at that. Many wondered if I should really be talking to them for
this reason. This does seem to be the main way that most people think that God (and/or the church?) values
so called “secular” employment, a term often used by people in these conversations although personally I
think it betrays a sub-Christian understanding of the fact that for Christians no sphere is secular but every
activity takes place in sacred space where God is involved.
But for most Christians the church is seen to value employment primarily for what it means in terms of
evangelism and money
Work expands our circle of contact with non-Christians and it provides money for the support of our families
and the church and parachurch ministries. And I believe this is a woefully inadequate understanding whether
we intend to convey it or not.
2. Christians clearly fall into two distinct groups when it comes to talking about how they feel God views their
work. And here I distinguish between people involved in what might be broadly identified as the helping
professions and those involved in other jobs.
Those in the helping professions, which includes doctors, nurses, social workers, counsellors and teachers
were generally happy to use the word ministry in connection with their work. They see their work in itself as
ministry in some sense. It is plain that people who are involved in more direct, person-to-person, service
kinds of jobs feel that their work counts from God's perspective and that somehow the church affirms that
their work is ministry. To some extent this is also true for parents who are working at home and who devote
large chunks of their time to their families. The church seems to affirm that this kind of work also has a
ministry or service component to it, although some mothers I talked to felt that this view of their work was
diminishing.
The flip side of the church's affirmation of those in service jobs is that those whose work lacks this sense of
direct person-to-person service feel that their work is not in itself of value to God or the church and is not
ministry. People who struggle to connect their work to their faith include factory workers, manufacturers,
accountants, desk-bound office workers, many business people and those involved in commercial or
industrial work; those who feel somewhat removed from meeting people at their particular point of need.
These people seldom talk about their work in itself as ministry. Rather they look for ministry opportunities in
the relationships that their work opens up for them. A similar struggle is experienced by people who are
involved in primarily technical jobs, where they are utilising practical skills rather than being in direct contact
with other people eg. engineers, computer programmers. People often feel somewhat disconnected from God
while they're performing these kinds of functions and struggle to find specific ways to nurture their faith and
sense of God in their work. This is complicated by the fact that many of these people have also found
themselves embroiled in an increasingly harsh and competitive environment in which they feel increasingly
uncomfortable.
3. Some clear differences exist between the experiences of white collar workers and blue collar workers and
between people involved in small enterprises and those in larger enterprises and between those involved in
the private sector and those involved as public servants
Also between women and men, and pakeha (white New Zeanders) and Maori (indigenous people) and
Pacific Island immigrants.
Some of these issues had to do with
- how interesting and challenging people found their work
- how much control and freedom people felt they had in shaping their approach to their job
- how valuable they felt their work was
- what sort of relationships surrounded them in their work
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4. Other faith-related responses that surfaced most frequently included
(a) Comments about all Christians being equal, but “full-time” Christians being somehow more equal.
Most people feel that there is still a hierarchy of significance in terms of ministry, with
missionaries and pastors at the top, then other “full-time” Christian workers, then part-time
pastoral staff, then elders, then deacons, then other volunteer workers in church activites, then
those who are solely involved in full-time “secular” work And although very few people believed
that it should be like this in theory, most thought that it is still this way in practice.
(b) Most people could not remember ever hearing a sermon on work
(c) Most had never heard any teaching about where work fits in God’s purposes.
(d) Almost none could identify any church songs that refer to work
(e) Most could not remember any prayers being prayed specifically about work, except with
reference to evangelism. Some Anglicans and Catholics thought there might be some reference
to daily work in the intercessory portion of their liturgy, but couldn’t remember the details.
(f) Only rarely did work come up as a topic in small group discussions, Pastors generally think that
small groups are where people talk about work concerns. My conclusion is that what happens in
church shapes the climate in which other things happen, unless deliberately driven by small
group leaders with a different perspective.
(g) Church leaders seldom express much interest in people’s work and most people had never been
visited by church leaders at work.
(h) Most could not think of any Christian role models in the marketplace except for sports people
(most often Michael Jones) and pop stars (most often Cliff Richard). William Wilberforce was also
mentioned by a few.
(i) Most people had grown accustomed (or “resigned”, some used this word) to the fact that church
is not likely to address their work realities and no longer expect this, although most said they
would appreciate it if it happened. (A few said that they came to church to get away from the
world of work and didn’t want these issues intruding into church. A few others said that, although
they were still believers, they had given up on church now because it failed to address real-life
issues for them.)
(j) Most felt that work pressures were now impacting on their involvement at home and in church life
and they were struggling with this.
(k) Most had not read any book or attended any course that talked about faith and work issues.
Overall, I concluded that many Christians do feel uncomfortable that the church does not often address
issues that relate to the events that most of their lives are invested in. But mostly this is a vague discomfort
that has never been clearly articulated by them, nor even for them by others yet in a way that they have been
able to say a clear “Yes” to. Mostly they are still looking for help to name the nature of that discomfort and
identify the issues that it stems from. But I did notice how many people started to get hooked into our
conversation as it progressed and become more animated as they realised I was serious about exploring the
wider implications of faith for their work. And mostly they were keen to go further exploring the issues than
just my interview allowed.
.
3.2 The Issues:
What have I concluded about the faith issues that needed to be addressed?
1. Christian witness seems to have become too narrowly associated just with talking about Jesus and a few
selected gospel themes and we underestimate the significance of our attitudes and actions and other
words at work as part of our witness.
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2. We need to clarify some realistic expectations and approaches to sharing our faith. It seems that we need
to find a way of discovering a more everday faith that we can wear more naturally and comfortably in the
marketplace
3. Most Christians (especially those outside the helping professions, although I think they also need help to
expand their view) need help to see how our work and God’s work are connected much more that we’ve
usually thought by expanding our view of God and of God’s work
4. Can church on Sunday become better connected with work on Monday? We need to explore practical
ways churches can act to overcome the Sunday/Monday gap and the serious divide that many people
feel exists between churches’ spiritual activities and what they talk about happening in the “real world”.
5. When will the church start regularly singing songs and praying prayers and celebrating festivals that pick
up on daily work and other important parts of our lives?
6. People need more help to understand how we experience God’s guidance and how Christians should
approach career and life planning
7.
What do involvement in ministry and mission mean?- especially when most Christians feel that there is
still a hierarchy of value placed on different ministries in the church and what we call “ministry” and
“mission” activities certainly implies higher value. We seldom ever recognise the roles that people play
outside the church in formal ways, or specifically work to equip them for these, or ordain people to them,
or intentionally support them in them. We could, couldn’t we?
8. How do we balance competing time demands, especially in this increasingly competitive environment in
which it seems the pressures are forever on the increase? Is church helping in this, or does church just
represent another set of expectations and pressures heaped on an already very demanding life? Do
churches need to revise expectations and structural demands?
9. How do we personally nurture faith in this sort of pressured and chaotic environment? What does prayer
look like in the fast lane?. Can we practise the presence of God in the modern marketplace, or is this just
an impossible dream? What does an everyday spirituality look like? Can it be practiced in ways that
don’t demand week long retreats and physical escape?
10. What about Christian ethics in the modern marketplace? How can we live out Christian values in this new
pluralistic setting and in an increasingly aggressive and competitive environment where there are all sorts
of temptations to give truth new twists and to take ethically dubious shortcuts to make quicker progress?
What are the core values a Christian ought to concentrate on nurturing? How do we use the Bible when
even Christians can’t agree about so many issues? Can we promote a more helpful discussion about
faith and economics in the church?
4 Our Response
4.1 Faith At Work Courses
In response to the concerns expressed in the survey process we began to develop some courses at the
Christchurch Branch of the Bible College of New Zealand to address the issues that were arising. Details of
present courses can be found on our website www.faithatwork.org.nz they include Faith At Work A: God’s
work and our work; Faith At Work B: ministry in daily life; SoulPurpose: career and life planning; Ethics for the
Marketplace A: a case study approach; Ethics for the Marketplace B; biblical and theological foundations;
Everyday Spirituality. We are also in the process of developing each of these as distance courses in
partnership with BCNZ. They are being produced on CD Rom including video material and a specially written
reading text for each course including discussion questions with each section for use in tutorial groups or
internet discussion interaction.
4.2 Faith At Work Website (www.faithatwork.org.nz)
The website began as an attempt to provide resources for people who had heard about what Faith At Work
was doing but lived at a distance or couldn’t attend our courses. We are concentrating on providing resources
on
God’s Work and Our Work
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Career and Life Planning
Ethics for the Marketplace
Small Group Resources
Resources for Churches and Pastors
Everyday Spirituality
Most Useful Links
Each section includes lists of …..
Recommended Books
Links to Other Sites
Helpful Papers (ours and others)
Courses Available (primarily ours so far)
4.3 Faith At Work Breakfasts
These have been happening for almost one year. We meet once a month 7.00-8.00am at a neutral venue in
the centre of Christchurch. Average around 30-40 people from a variety of church backgrounds A different
speaker each month reflects on faith as it connects with their work experience.
4.4 Seminars
I have run myself ragged running seminars at times and wondered about the long term significance. I think
adequate preparation and follow-up is essential. Lately I have tried to concentrate on only working with those
groups who are investing a significant amount of their own energy in the process and who have some
ongoing commitment to keep on working out these themes. I also doing less work myself and trying provide
resources to help local people take the initiative themselves rather than
4.5 Consultancy
Resourcing work that I have done with workplace chaplains suggests that most of them have good pastoral
skills and a growing understanding of practical marketplace issues, but could benefit from some more input
regarding the theology of workand a more rounded Christian perspective on life planning and Christian ethics
from a marketplace perspective.
4.6 Writing
Until recently most writing on faith and work themes seemed to be either produced by academics and was
pretty inaccessible to most working people, or produced by working people and dealt with practical themes
but contained little theological reflection. Fortunately this is changing, but there is still a need for more
resources that help bridge the gap. We are working to identify some of the key issues that need addressing
and to produce written resources in book form and on the internet that can be useful for personal reflection
and discussion in small groups.
4.7 Personal Mentoring
Quite a lot of my work involves personal counselling and mentoring of people who may have first been
contacted through our website or our publications or seminars or courses. At the moment the marketplace
mentoring networks are still quite informal and no formal training is offered for mentors, but I would like to see
more develop a long these lines.
4.8 Spirit At Work in New Zealand Conference and the Wider Spirit@Work Movement.
I mention this because I participated in this conference in Christchurch in October last year. It is part of an
informal and ongoing international movement (another conference will be held in NZ this year) and I found it
very challenging. It was made up predominantly of women from networks that were strongly influenced by a
variety of New Age perspectives, plus a number of people with links to the Businesses for Social
Responsibility movement and a number of university academics mostly specialising in Management studies
and also with a variety of different religious perspectives (but few orthodox Christian). The catch-cry was
sprituality is in, but religion is out and orthodox Christianity has certainly been superceded. There is a lot of
material now being published in books and the mass media and on the Net from this perspective and we
need to think carefully about how we respond to it. As someone who was once quite immersed and involved
in practising some forms of Eastern mysticism before becoming a Christian I think it opens up some good
opportunities for us to say our piece and we have an important and essential contribution to make, but it also
needs approaching with consideration and care, if we want to be heard and understood.
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There are some significant challenges before us and a lot of homework that still needs to be done, if we are
to start making the most of the opportunities that also open up with these challenges.
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