First Article received on 22 August 2024

At the Second Lausanne Congress in 1989, Ford Madison, Pete Hammond, Bill Garrison, and Lee Yih presented ‘A Theology of the Laity’, a paper by Garrison which proposed that laypeople are God’s chosen instruments for the task of world evangelism. Referencing Proverbs 30:24–25, he wrote, ‘Although conventional wisdom says the layperson is insignificant and small, God’s wisdom has always been to mystify the world in His choice of instruments.’

In 2010, at the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelism in Cape Town, eight hundred individuals gathered for session one of the workplace track. Jerry White, former international president of The Navigators, began his presentation by asking attendees how many of them came to faith after hearing the gospel proclaimed at a large event by an evangelist like Billy Graham or Luis Palau. Fewer than twenty people raised their hands.

White then asked how many came to faith through a co-worker, friend, or family member, and more than 750 raised their hands. Though admittedly unscientific, White’s survey made a resounding statement about evangelism in the workplace and at home.

At the 2019 Lausanne Global Workplace Forum in Manila, Michael Oh, the global executive director / CEO of the Lausanne Movement, noted that one percent of people in the universal church are in professional ministry, and when it comes to evangelism, the other 99 percent are greatly neglected.

‘You [the 99 percent] don’t exist to help professional ministry leaders fulfil the Great Commission. We exist to help you do it,’ Oh wrote in Christianity Today, placing the responsibility of evangelism not on professional ministers and missionaries who overtly proclaim the gospel, but on ordinary Christians who spend their days in the workplace.

His statements echoed the sentiment of The Cape Town Commitment, in which the 2010 Third Lausanne Congress pledged to:

  • Encourage all believers to affirm their work as ministry
  • Challenge workers to take their skills, trades, talents, and professions globally where the church cannot go, for the glory of God
  • Recommend that church leaders support and recognize the workplace as a mission field
  • Urge the body of Christ to pray for Christians in the workplace, businesses, and professions

We call on Christian leaders to recognize that the workplace is the most strategic mission field in the world, and commit to equipping Christians in the workplace to fulfill their role in the Great Commission.

However, over the past 33 years, it seems that papers, surveys, pledges, and statements have fallen on deaf ears. The result can be summed up in one word—neglect—and our neglect calls for a radical, two-fold shift in mission strategy.

First, we must redefine the frontline of gospel impact, and second, we must designate and deploy primary messengers (the 99 percent) on the frontlines.

As we approach the Fourth Lausanne Congress in 2024, we call on Christian leaders to embrace this mandate, recognize that the workplace is the most strategic mission field in the world, and commit to equipping Christians in the workplace to fulfil their role in the Great Commission.

Correcting Misconceptions about Workplace Evangelism

Most Christians in the workplace are hesitant to acknowledge and fulfil their noble call to evangelism. The idea of discussing faith in their workplace is unsettling, as the vast majority feel they do not have the gift of evangelism.[1]

Many feel unprepared to answer questions they fear coworkers will ask. Others feel unqualified because they have not lived an exemplary life. And some worry that they might cause rifts with colleagues, create conflict with bosses, or even lose their job. Yet many of their concerns and obstacles stem from a skewed perception of evangelism.

What if the 99 percent understood that playing a part in someone’s journey to faith in Jesus could begin with something as simple as having a cup of coffee with a colleague, encouraging someone who had a rough week, or offering a helping hand to a boss or coworker under stress? What if they understood that doing good work can turn on the light for coworkers ‘so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven’ (Matt 5:16)?

What might change if people knew they didn’t have to be perfect and say just the right things—that it was God’s work to draw people to himself since ‘no one can come to me unless drawn by the Father’ (John 6:44)? Through brief interactions and casual mentions of faith, the Father is at work in the hearts and minds of people to draw them to Jesus (John 6:44).

What if they believed Jesus’ words that ‘all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me’ (Matt 28:18) and grasped that Jesus authorizes them to act on his behalf to fulfil their calling as his witnesses at work? What if they counted Jesus’ promise as true—that ‘the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you’ (John 14:26)?

What if these believers were confident in Christ’s presence—that he is with them always and everywhere, in every situation (Matt 28:20)? Indeed, what if the millions of Christians in workplaces around the world believed these truths and were equipped, encouraged, and commissioned to take their proper place in fulfilling the Great Commission, following the example of the early church?

The Historic Nature of the Workplace in Fulfilling the Great Commission

Before his ascension, Jesus outlined his strategic plan for reaching the entire world with the good news of God’s kingdom.

And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’ (Matt 28:18–20)

‘But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ (Acts 1:8)

First-century followers of Christ embraced their mission, and the number of disciples grew from a few hundred before Pentecost to over six million by the end of the third century[2]—considerable growth by anyone’s calculus and the greatest communication success story in human history.

We might be tempted to believe that the exponential growth of the early church was the result of effective preaching by Peter, Paul, and a few other gifted communicators whose work was spreading the gospel. Or we might credit Paul’s strategy of targeting key cultural centres and planting churches that could infect the surrounding countryside. These efforts were no doubt noteworthy and important,[3] but even more so is the fact that early Christians of every ethnicity, gender, and level of society were passionate about extending Christ’s kingdom. According to theologian Michael Greene, they were determined to ‘act as Christ’s embassy to a rebel world, whatever the consequences’.[4]

Ancient history and the New Testament tell us that the gospel spread like wildfire along trade routes, in public places, and from house to house or from oikos to oikos. The basic meaning of the Greek word oikos is a house, but in the first century, an oikos was also the basic social and

economic unit of the Greco-Roman world. A house was not only where a nuclear family lived, it was a workplace—the small business of the day, which included family members, hired workers, and household servants.[5]

Through informal conversations within and between members of oikos, working men and women shared the gospel with friends, relatives, coworkers, suppliers, customers, teachers, and soldiers—their network of workplace relationships. They were not professional preachers or missionaries, but informal evangelists.

As early as Acts 8 we find that it is not the apostles but the ‘amateur’ missionaries, the men evicted from Jerusalem as a result of the persecution which followed Stephen’s martyrdom, who took the gospel with them wherever they went. [. . .] This must not have been formal preaching, but the informal chattering to friends and chance acquaintances, in homes and wine shops, on walks, and around market stalls. They went everywhere gossiping the gospel; they did it naturally, enthusiastically, and with the conviction of those who are not paid to say that sort of thing.[6]

In addition to accounts in Acts that reveal ways the gospel spread, the church at Colossae provides an example of how people took the Good News with them on ancient trade routes to the interior of Asia Minor (today’s Türkiye). As far as we know, Paul and other Apostles never visited Colossae personally. The gospel was likely brought there by businesspeople, such as Epaphras, who travelled to Ephesus on business, was discipled by Paul, and brought the good news back to his home in Colossae.

Paul also emphasized the importance and goodness of work in Colossians and 1 Thessalonians. Work is not just a necessity; it is a calling that forms the backbone of local society. The worker is honoured and recognized for his or her work, which gives a credible platform for sharing the gospel message.

Furthermore, the value of work is emphasized throughout Scripture. From the Garden of Eden to the building of the tabernacle and the temple, people of skill were sought and employed. Nehemiah employed everyone in the work of rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem. Joseph, Daniel, and Esther were laypeople who made a difference in their secular context.

The workplace was the most strategic venue for evangelism for the early church, and we believe this is the case today as well. For this reason, it is critical that we shift our thinking about evangelism—regarding the messengers and the method—to fulfil the Great Commission today.

Endnotes

  1. Barna research indicates that only one percent of Christians say they have the gift of evangelism. ‘Survey Describes the Spiritual Gifts That Christians Say They Have,’ The Barna Group, February 9, 2009, https://www.barna.org/barna-update/faith spirituality/211-survey-describes-the-spiritual-gifts-that-christians-say-they-have. 
  2. Rodney Stark, The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996), 6. 
  3. Acts 2:14–41, 6:7–10, 11:4–18, 13:13–49, 17:11–12. 
  4. Michael Greene, Evangelism in the Early Church, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2003), 23. 
  5. An oikos of any size also had an oikonomos or steward whose job was the oikonomia or stewardship of the household—where we get our English word economy. 
  6. Greene, 243. 

Second Article received on 28 August 2024

When it comes to fulfilling the Great Commission, how can the ‘1 percent’ of Christians who work in professional ministry help the ‘99 percent’ who don’t? 

Lee Yih used a memorable analogy when he addressed this question at Lausanne II in Manila in 1989. In his message, he observed the differences in how frogs and lizards obtain their food. ‘The frog just sits and waits, and lets the food come to him,’ he says, while the lizard ‘cannot afford to sit and wait, but must go out into his world.’ Yih continues,

The vocational Christian worker is like the frog. He goes off to seminary, gets a degree, goes on staff somewhere, and somehow people know he is in the business of meeting spiritual needs. Ministry comes to him and before long, he has his hands full. 

The layperson, on the other hand, is a lizard. In order for him to have a ministry, he has to learn to hunt. [. . . ] he must move around in the environment he lives in, assess his sphere of influence, sow broadly, build bridges, establish friendships, and then when he has earned the right to be heard, be ready to give an account for the hope that is in him, with gentleness and respect.

‘Unfortunately,’ Yih summarized, ‘there are many sad lizards out there who think that to have a ministry, they must act just like frogs.’ 

Since Lausanne II, many among the 1 percent—dedicated pastors, evangelists, and full-time missionaries—have worked tirelessly to spread the good news. And a multitude of workplace ministries and myriad business-as-mission enterprises have been launched. But on the whole, the 99 percent is not engaged in fulfilling the Great Commission. Too many have decided, ‘I just can’t do this.’

A massive army of underappreciated, ill-equipped laypeople sits under-deployed amid the escalating battle for the souls of men and women.

A massive army of underappreciated, ill-equipped laypeople sits under-deployed amid the escalating battle for the souls of men and women. Even as hostility toward Christians grows stronger by the day, Christ’s Great Commission mandate has not changed, and a pathway for spreading the gospel remains wide open—as it has since the days of the early church—through personal relationships between believers and nonbelievers who work together. 

Church historian Alan Kreider sums up the strategic advantage of the workplace: ‘What happened was this. Non-Christians and Christians worked together and lived near each other. They became friends [1]

This is what makes the workplace so key to the Great Commission. Here believers have daily opportunities to offer living proof—through their actions, attitudes, and words—that the gospel is indeed good news. 

Relationships, however, take time—time to overcome barriers like scepticism and hostility toward the Christian faith in general. It takes time to overcome resentment toward self-righteous Christians, time to observe the difference that Christ makes in a coworker’s life, and, most of all, time to build trust—since people typically need to trust the messenger before they will trust the message. Jesus, however, had no problem with taking time. He lived and worked for thirty years before he began his teaching ministry. And he often compared a person’s faith journey—cultivating hardened hearts and planting and tending seeds of truth—to the process of growing crops, which requires much time and energy before a harvest can happen. [2]

Earning the Right to Be Heard

Church historian Michael Greene noted that the early church’s positive impact on the world was dependent on the correlation between Christians’ lives and their words. He wrote, ‘The connection between belief and behaviour runs right through Christian literature. The two cannot be separated without disastrous results. Among them, the end of effective evangelism.’[3]

In Paul’s instructions to the church at Colossae, notice that godly conduct precedes spiritual conversation. ‘Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt,’ he writes in Colossians 4:5–6, ‘so that you may know how to answer everyone.’

While apologetics is important, Kreider explained that the early church rarely grew in number because Christians won arguments. Instead, their embodied behaviour, or habitus, ‘enabled them to address intractable problems that ordinary people face in ways that offered hope.’ He continues, ‘Their behaviour said what they believed; it was an enactment of their message. And the sources indicate that it was their habitus, more than their ideas that appealed to the majority of the non-Christians who came to join them.’[4]

This does not diminish the importance of our verbal witness. But spiritual conversations become more compelling—to non-Christians and Christians alike—when we view evangelism as a process that builds on earning the right to be heard, building trust, and showing before telling.

While none of us reflects Christ perfectly, four components make our witness in the workplace more believable: competence, faithfulness, character, and concern. These four are persuasive ways the Holy Spirit can use through us to help people take one step closer to Christ.

1. Competence

Doing good work is a key component of evangelism. Christians in the workplace need spiritual leaders (the ‘1 percent’) to help them understand that their daily work is a holy calling that matters to God and their witness. The Lausanne Movement confirmed the intrinsic significance of work itself in The Cape Town Commitment and through the 2019 Global Workplace Forum. Scripture speaks about the importance of doing good work:

Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve before kings. (Prov 22:29)

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. (Eccles 9:10)

In the marketplace, people usually judge us first by our work, not our theology. Can you imagine Jesus using substandard materials, performing shoddy carpentry, or overcharging customers? Had he done so, those who heard him teach would have had every reason to conclude that His theology was as wobbly as his tables. 

The bottom line: If we want people to pay attention to our faith, we must pay attention to the quality of our work.

2. Faithfulness

While competence is critical to our witness, faithfulness must accompany good work. Competent people who promise but do not deliver are of little value to their employers or God’s kingdom. If we want people to pay attention to our faith, we must be trustworthy and not negligent in completing tasks, meeting deadlines, and fulfilling responsibilities. We do damage to our witness if we do not keep our commitment or fail to meet our obligations. Paul reminds us in Colossians 3:23, ‘Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord.’

The Book of Daniel records many examples that demonstrate the power of faithful witness to those in authority. For example, when Daniel’s enemies tried to find charges against him, ‘They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent’ (Dan 6:4). And according to King Darius’ own witness and decree (6:25–27), Daniel’s faithfulness changed the course of the ruler’s faith.

The bottom line: The most competent people do damage to their witness when they fail to keep their promises and meet their obligations.  

3. Character

But doing good work faithfully is not enough. Our character must be attractive as well. Non-Christians are not blind to how we take on onerous tasks without complaining, exhibit peace in the midst of pain and disappointment, and demonstrate grace and humility toward difficult people. C.S. Lewis reminded us that the opposite is also true: ‘When we Christians behave badly, or fail to behave well, we are making Christianity unbelievable to the outside world.’[5]

People also take notice, not so much when we fail—which we will—but when we fail to admit it when we fall short. More important than always getting things right is to acknowledge that we often get things wrong, seek forgiveness for our mistakes, and make amends with those we hurt. Our ability to own up to our failures and brokenness stands out in stark relief in most cultures. As people observe the fruit of the Spirit within us—love joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control—they will smell the sweet aroma of Jesus’ presence.  

The bottom line:Our character, though rarely stated in job descriptions, must fortify our life and witness.

4. Concern

The way we treat coworkers, colleagues, and clients amid daily stress and success reveals whether we care more about others or ourselves. When people see our genuine concern, they see the beauty of Jesus alive in us, recognized as such or not. Small acts of kindness and words of encouragement can light up a dismal workplace. Paul reminds us that we show concern by what we do and say in Philippians 2:4: ‘Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.’ In verses 14 and 15, he continues, ‘Do all things without murmuring and arguing, so that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars in the world.’

Our willingness to listen and receive input says, ‘I care what you think; you have something valuable to contribute.’ When we ask questions and listen with focused attention and a humble spirit, we invite others to trust us.

The bottom line: People don’t care how much we know until they know how much we care.

When We’ve Earned the Right to Be Heard

Developing relationships with the people we work with should never be a strategy to manipulate them into a conversation about faith, but an expression of genuine love. Our competence, faithfulness, character, and concern work together to create an eloquent apologetic for the gospel and, used by the Spirit, can open doors for gospel conversations.

Our competence, faithfulness, character, and concern work together to create an eloquent apologetic for the gospel

However, no one comes to Christ by simply observing our behaviour. In most cases, someone must help them connect the dots and tell them about Jesus. Every Christian’s job is to combine godly work with godly living as we watch for what the Holy Spirit is doing, so we can join him with wise words that fit the moment—a topic we will address in the next articles.

Robert Harp, former Lausanne Catalyst for Workplace Ministry, wrote, ‘For too long, Christians in the workplace have seen themselves as playing the role of the supporting character, rather than the lead, in the great drama of world evangelization.’

When pastors, missionaries, and evangelists teach and encourage the 99 percent to view evangelism as a process, more ‘lizards’ will stop trying to be ‘frogs’ and begin to see how they can uniquely, powerfully, fulfill their role in the Great Commission and say, ‘I can do this!’

Endnotes

  1. Alan Kreider, The Patient Ferment of the Early Church: The Improvable Rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire, (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2016). 
  2. For example: John 4:35-38; Matthew 13:1-23; see also Paul’s comparison in 1 Corinthians 3:6-8. 
  3. Michael Greene, Evangelism in the Early Church, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2003), p. 251. 
  4. Alan Kreider, The Patient Ferment of the Early Church: The Improvable Rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire, (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2016), 2. 
  5.  C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, p. 208. 

Third Article received 5 September 2024

‘The chief agents in the expansion of Christianity appear not to have been those who made it a profession…but men and women who carried on their livelihood in some purely secular manner and spoke of their faith to those they met in this natural fashion.’[1] —Kenneth Scott Latourette, Church Historian

‘Evangelism’s just not my thing,’ forty-year-old Jim insisted when a friend urged him to go on a short-term mission trip to Latin America. But guilt won out, and six weeks later Jim reluctantly boarded the plane with his friend and thirteen others. 

When the group landed, the mission leader held a brief training session about how to share the gospel. Then, they divided up into teams of two and walked from house to house with an interpreter. Locals were fascinated by the opportunity to meet Americans, so they crowded into small living quarters to hear what Jim and the team had to say.

A spiritual vacuum and harsh economic conditions caused by communism created widespread spiritual hunger, and many people trusted Christ on the spot when they heard the Good News. For the first time in his life, Jim experienced the exhilaration of being used by God to lead people to faith in Christ. 

After the trip, the mission leader reminded team members that people back home were hungry for the gospel too. He challenged them to speak boldly about their faith in the workplace and expect God to do remarkable things.

Jim returned to work with a new sense of mission. When coworkers asked about his trip, he interpreted each inquiry as an open door to share his testimony and the gospel message like he did on the trip. But the response was less than enthusiastic. Some coworkers listened politely while others began avoiding him. One even rolled his eyes and asked, ‘If your faith in Christ is the most important thing in your life, why are we just now hearing about it?’

Embarrassed and discouraged, Jim determined to never again talk about his faith at work. He would let his life be his witness and leave evangelism to the professionals.

No matter what our discomfort level about sharing our faith at work, the Bible is clear about our responsibility to make Christ known. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus called his disciples the light of the world—not something to be concealed.[2]

Yet some Christians believe they can fulfil Christ’s call to be His witnesses simply by the way they live—with no explanation necessary as to why they live the way they do. They employ the words of St. Francis—‘Preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words’[3]—to opt out of conversations with non-Christians about faith. Individuals who think their life speaks for itself are either naïve or self-righteous. No one lives every day in such a way that our actions are all that is needed to witness to the grace of Jesus.[4]

Behaviour that honours and reflects Christ—through competence, character, faithfulness, and concern—is a vital part of what it means to be a witness,[5] but words are important, too. The apostle Peter explained:

In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect …  (1 Peter 3:15)

We should always be ready and willing to speak about our faith. But note, Peter included a proviso: We are to give an answer to everyone who asks. There is a ‘time to be silent and a time to speak’[6]—and it takes wisdom to know the difference. 

What do wise conversations look like in the workplace? Here are six guidelines to consider.

Wise conversations consider the listener’s spiritual openness

In Matthew 13, Jesus describes the human heart as rugged terrain for redemptive farming.

Weeds, rocks, and hard-packed heart soil thwart implanting gospel seeds.

Unbelieving adults often have significant barriers that have hardened their hearts These barriers may be intellectual, based on questions like why God allows evil and suffering. Or they may have emotional barriers—indifference, mistrust, antagonism, or even fear of Christians or Christianity—that stop the spiritual ears of workplace colleagues and prevent them from hearing the gospel as the good news it is. 

Negative experiences with religious groups or Christians who are narrow-minded or judgmental also create these emotional barriers. Even well-intentioned Christians who come on too strong can foster mistrust or generate anger, and inadvertently create more barriers. On the other hand, the Holy Spirit can use our competence, character, faithfulness, and concern to break down emotional barriers and soften hardened hearts.[7] For example, Kristin experienced the economic crash of 2008 from a front-row seat at Lehman Brothers. As things grew bleaker by the day, her colleagues began to comment on her calm demeanour. She was as vulnerable as everyone else, but she quieted her fears and did her work knowing that Christ was in control. As a result, coworkers who previously had no interest in spiritual conversations took notice, presenting Kristin with several opportunities to explain her security in Christ no matter what happened to her job.

Wise conversations are gracious, not judgmental

We need to remember that we are speaking with people made in the image of God—no matter how distorted, disfigured, or unrecognizable it may be and respond appropriately. 

It should not surprise us when coworkers make sinful choices, use offensive language, advocate and practice repugnant and destructive lifestyles, and are openly hostile to the gospel. Jesus was clear: ‘If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.’[8] After all, apart from Christ, we are all spiritually dead, bound to sin, captive to Satan, and unable to respond to the gospel on our own.[9]

Of course, some behaviours should never be tolerated in any workplace and should be confronted with all seriousness. We are not suggesting that we condone sinful behaviour. That said, if we take it upon ourselves to criticize people’s moral choices and lifestyle behaviour outside the office, we usurp the Holy Spirit’s work. Conviction and cleanup are part of His job description, not ours.[10]

Consider Jesus’ tone toward sinful people such as the woman caught in adultery. He was firm but also gentle and compassionate.[11] He considered the woman a victim of the enemy and not the enemy herself. 

Graciousness when a person expects criticism can surprise people into curiosity and pave the way for a deeper discussion about faith.

Wise conversations turn questions and objections into opportunities, not debates

Objections may be to the gospel itself or objections to a specific tenet of the Christian faith, such as sexual morality, abortion, homosexuality, or a ‘radioactive’ political topic or candidate they connect to Christianity. Whatever their issue and tone, we should treat every individual in a manner worthy of Christ—which, sometimes, is easier said than done. Strong feelings about our own beliefs can provoke us to view coworkers as combatants—a key strategy in Satan’s battle plan. We lose ground for the gospel when discussions descend into debates and shouting matches. But if we offer a gracious, intellectually humble response, people will be more apt to continue the dialogue.[12]

Wise conversations focus on what we know, not what we do not know

Even when we have the right attitude, we may not have an answer to our non-Christian coworker’s question or objection. Bible knowledge and a strong grasp of apologetics are valuable but not required to be a witness for Christ. What is required is that we know our own story—like the demoniac Jesus healed. 

‘Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.’ And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marvelled. (Mark 5:19–20)

Another example is the man born blind. (John 9) He had no credentials and no evangelistic training, but he could confidently tell people what Jesus did for him. Like these two recipients of God’s grace, we all have what it takes to be Christ’s witnesses: our own faith story.

Wise conversations are about listening and observing, not just talking

Our job in evangelism is not to force a big leap of faith, but to watch for what the Spirit is doing in a person’s life and join Him there to help a person take the next small step toward Christ.

Tim Keller suggested that every effective gospel presentation not only describes what Christ has done for us on the cross but also explains how He meets the specific longings of a person’s heart. We should not declare truth in a vacuum—it should be delivered as a response to the heart hunger of a particular person.[13] And, discerning a person’s deep longings takes time and careful listening—less lecturing and more dialogue. Pushing a canned gospel presentation on a person before discovering how Christ can meet a person’s felt needs does not respect the person, the Holy Spirit’s work and timing, or the Father’s prerogative.[14]

Author and missionary Richard Ramsey suggests we should take more time to learn more about a person. 

People are like houses. They have windows and doors around the walls of their hearts. Although a non-Christian may try to protect his house against the gospel message, when the Holy Spirit begins to work in his heart, a way into the house is opened. Instead of continually knocking on the same door, we should take time to walk around the house and seek an appropriate place to enter. It might be an intellectual question, a sense of uncertainty, a moment of spiritual reflection, or a personal tragedy.[15]

Jim Petersen, longtime Navigators staff in Brazil reminds us that a person’s journey toward Christ is seldom made up of a giant leap of faith but of a number of small decisions, ‘a multitude of small choices—mini-decisions that a person makes toward Christ.’[16]

Wise faith conversations are less lectures and more dialogue that seeks to understand a person’s deep longings that can be an open door or window for the gospel’s entry.

Be there beyond the workplace

Some of those open doors and windows are best discovered when we are present at important—and unimportant—times outside the workplace. Just being present at social occasions, parties, sporting events, weddings, children’s programs, confirmations, baptisms (yes, many do these religious things), Bar Mitzvahs, graduations, and other events in their lives speaks loudly to our friends that we care about them. I (Jerry) go to many events with non-believers often wondering if anything will happen. I often pray, ‘Lord, I pray that there will be one conversation that opens a door to someone’s life.’ One time, I saw a colleague and sat down by him and simply asked, ‘Bob, how are things?’ He replied, ‘Terrible. My wife has Alzheimer’s, and I am really depressed.’ That conversation did not just happen but followed years of interaction professionally and personally. Challenging times—illnesses and deaths in the family—are critical times when people contemplate eternity. If we have taken time ‘to walk around the house’ as Richard Ramsey suggests, and listen to their story, we might discover a door for a welcomed spiritual conversation that was previously locked tight and bolted from within. Be alert. Be present. And watch for what God is doing.

Counting the Cost

As you contemplate these guidelines, most Christians understand that faith conversations should not take away or distract people from the work they are paid to do. Nor should they continue when someone becomes uncomfortable. Those are the easy ones. But today’s workplaces, which are more spiritually diverse than ever and often politically hostile, present Christians with a plethora of questions about what is legal, what is allowed, beyond what is appropriate—and this varies from country to country and even workplace to workplace. In the United States, it is legal to talk about faith at work. It is even illegal for a company to prohibit religious conversation—with some stipulations.[17] This is certainly not true in some countries.[18]

Early Christians were painfully aware of the life and death decision it was at times to talk about their faith as are some today. While public shaming and being considered an office pariah for disagreeing with certain lifestyles or supporting the ‘wrong’ political candidate is painful and personally costly, that is a far cry from being crucified, beheaded, burned at the stake, or thrown to the lions. Men and women like Daniel and Esther in the Old Testament, and countless saints from the early church up to today who were martyred for the faith, should give us the courage to speak up. At the same time, Christians today need to be aware of what their countries and companies tolerate, allow, and prohibit, and count the costs.

Author Jennifer Fitz offers a helpful description of what evangelism should be that will go a long way to make faith conversations in the workplace not only tolerated but welcomed. 

Evangelization is not about getting other people to do the thing you want them to do. It’s not about crafting just the right technique to make that right moment fall together so neatly.

Evangelization is about looking at the person in front of your face, no matter who that person is, and gasping in wonder at the miraculously beautiful creation God has endowed with a dignity and a worth that nothing can erase, no matter how deep in the mire that person is swimming just now. You see that person, and you know for a fact: Here is somebody worth dying for.

And then you try for a few minutes to do something worthy of being in the presence of such a person.[19]

In the next article in this series, we will introduce simple but powerful conversation starters that every Christian in the workplace can use. We will also look at the most critical component of evangelism–talking to Jesus about people before we talk to people about Jesus.

Endnotes

  1. Kenneth S. Latourette, A History of the Expansion of Christianity (New York: Harper, 1944), 1:230. 2. 
  2. Matthew 5:14-16. 
  3. St. Francis never said these words, according to his disciples and biographers. 
  4. Elton Trueblood, The Company of the Committed, (New York: Harper & Publishers, 1961), 53. 
  5. See Article 2 in this series, “Workplace Evangelism for the 99 Percent.” https://lausanne.org/about/blog/workplace-evangelism-for-the-99-percent. 
  6. Ecclesiastes 3:7. 
  7. See Article 2 in this series at https://lausanne.org/about/blog/workplace-evangelism-for-the-99-percent 
  8. John 15:18. 
  9. Ephesians 21-3. 
  10. John 16:8-11 
  11. John 8:11-12. 
  12. Proverbs 15:1. 
  13. Timothy J. Keller, Center Church, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2015), 144-115. 
  14. John 6:44. 
  15. Richard Ramsey, The Certainty of the Faith: Apologetics in an Uncertain World, (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2007) xi. 
  16. Jim Petersen, Living Proof (Colorado Springs, CO, NavPress, 1989). 
  17. If a company allows other conversations unrelated to work—like a discussion of your favorite sports team—it must allow conversations about faith as well which are non-coercive, do not make a person feel uncomfortable, or take time away from what a person is paid to do. 
  18. As indicated by the fining of a Christian praying silently outside an abortion clinic in the U.K., or the trial of a Finnish MP for quoting a verse from the Bible, religious freedoms vary even in open, Western countries. See this article from ADF at https://adfinternational.org/free-speech-on-trial/. 
  19. Jennifer Fitz, “Why Do We Evangelize?” July 3, 2015, http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jenniferfitz/2015/07/why-do-we-evangelize/#sthash.m9F7sl3a.dpuf. 

Fourth article received 12 September 2024

When you go to work as Christ’s ambassador, to whom will you speak? Atheists, agnostics, or people who practice other religions. Clients or coworkers indifferent or hostile toward God? Now picture these individuals on your mental desktop and envision yourself in a conversation with each one. Consider what you would say to arouse their curiosity, so they’re likely to listen long enough to learn how God loves them and wants them to experience abundant life on earth and eternity in his presence through a relationship with Jesus. If this kind of conversation gives you heartburn, you’re not alone. But it’s simpler than you think.

Today, with technology and strategies of every stripe, it’s easy to become obsessed with evangelism tools and techniques—edgy videos, eye-catching Instagram posts, new acrostic approaches, the latest apologetic arguments—all of which can be helpful. But people need more. Tim Keller reflected on talking about Jesus with secular, often hostile New Yorkers: ‘Unless people find our conversation about Christ surprisingly compelling (and stereotype-breaking) their eyes will simply glaze over when you try to talk to them.’[1] 

People need information, answers, and rational arguments, but we are all ‘desiring beings’— feeling our way through life trying to find what we’re missing, often not knowing what we’re looking for.[2] Helping people see how their deepest longings are met in Christ can create irresistible curiosity. And if you can tell a story, you can do this. Jesus certainly knew this and gave people more than facts. He addressed people’s heartfelt needs by telling stories. He shaped information into meaning that helped people visualize and experience the truth in tangible ways that piqued their interest. When he wanted to awaken people to the stunning marvel of the Father’s outrageous love, he didn’t just tell them about God’s love, He told them a story that spoke to their deep longings—the Parable of the Prodigal Son.[3] When he wanted a self-righteous Scribe to grasp what it meant to love one’s neighbour, he told the story of the Good Samaritan to help the Scribe rethink his limited notions of love and the extent of his neighbourhood and obligation.

Stories are Powerful

Rather than using facts to knock at the front door of a person’s mind, often bolted from within, a story allows truth to enter through the back door of the heart.

According to Alasdair MacIntyre, we are ‘story-telling animals,’[4] so in evangelism, stories should populate our spiritual conversations with colleagues. Rather than using facts to knock at the front door of a person’s mind, often bolted from within, a story allows truth to enter through the back door of the heart. 

We find the back door of a person’s heart by first listening. Good storytelling is always a two-way street. If we want to tell stories about Jesus, we should listen to other people’s stories first. In your conversations at work this week, what have you heard coworkers say about their backgrounds? How do they spend their time or what are their priorities? What are their spiritual experiences—positive or negative—their joys and pains, their successes and challenges? How does God fit into their life—if at all? Prompting people to tell snippets of their story can begin simply with, ‘Tell me about yourself,’ followed by a question about a detail they’ve shared. 

Taking a cue from a comment about a similar occasion when God met a significant need in your life creates a connection between your story and theirs. Linking your story with theirs can give people a glimpse of what it’s like to be God’s child and the benefits of a relationship with him, such as a time when he gave you a sense of peace amidst pain or loss. Your story may take less than a minute or two to tell, but if a detail connects to a need or circumstance in the listener’s life, it can stimulate questions and open doors for deeper conversations. Effective stories can cause people to drop their guard and listen with an open mind.

To prepare for opportunities ahead, consider the conversations you’ve had at work lately. What concerns were expressed—fear, anxiety, frustration, anger, joy, appreciation, peace? What similar experience have you had where God’s word spoke to you or when he met a specific need, where you learned a lesson or where you began to see something differently from his perspective?

Stories can begin with something as simple as a casual mention of our faith during normal conversation. It might be an answer to a question about such mundane things as our plans for the weekend. For example: ‘I’m doing some yard work and teaching a class at my church on healing and divorce,’ or ‘I’m coaching an inner-city baseball team in a playoff game,’ or ‘I’m playing golf with friends and going to church on Sunday.’ Revealing an aspect of how we spend our time tells people what’s important to us—which may puzzle some and prompt them to ask more about why we do what we do. Their curiosity can create an open door to tell a story that explains a bit more about how important our faith is to our lives.

The Power of Our Story

When we sense that God is at work in the lives of people with whom we’ve shared faith stories, it may be time to tell our best story—our own testimony of how God drew us to faith in Christ. 

We never know when God might open the door to someone’s heart, so we should always be prepared to share the gospel with a hungry soul. At the heart of the gospel is the historic fact of Christ’s substitutionary death and bodily resurrection. Sent by the love of the Father, Jesus died in our place, taking the punishment we deserve, so we could be reconciled to God, live an abundant life, and spend eternity with Him.

When we weave these facts into the story of our personal faith journey, it’s hard for people to argue because it’s our story. Paul’s testimony before King Agrippa is a simple, clear example we can follow for telling our own story:[5] 

  1. A summary of his life before he met Jesus 
  2. A description of how he met Jesus
  3. A summary of his life after he met Jesus.

Resources abound to help you sharpen your salvation story. One of the most effective is found in the Navigators 2:7 discipleship training curriculum.[6] 

Telling faith stories can generate faith-giving conversations—but, they can also invite questions and objections that deserve answers we may not be equipped to offer at the moment. Deeper questions of apologetics are beyond the scope of these articles,[7] but, at the very least, we can guide sincere colleagues to resources that answer their legitimate questions. Books like C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity have for decades helped many skeptics find Christ. Some other print and online resources can be found in the footnotes.[8]

Talking to Jesus about People

Men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons, but they are helpless against our prayers.
—J. Sidlow Baxter

As we’ve noted in previous articles, the rapid and far-reaching spread of the gospel in the first centuries was due in large part to the mass mobilization of ordinary Christians in the workplace who took their faith to work. More important, however, was their persistent pattern of prayer. They believed what Jesus said, ‘No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him’ (John 6:44); so, it’s not surprising to see the vital role that prayer played in the historical record throughout the book of Acts.[9] 

No doubt we have more advantages than the early church, but we have no more power than they did. And we have less, if not empowered by the Spirit through prayer.

Numerous Scripture passages can help us pray for specific coworkers and friends we encounter during the day. We can pray that: 

  1. The Father will draw them to Himself (John 6:44).
  2. They will come to know and believe the truth of the gospel (Rom 10:17; 1 Thess 2:13).
  3. Satan will be restrained from blinding them from the truth (Matt 13:19; 2 Cor 4:4).
  4. The Holy Spirit will convict them of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8–13).
  5. God will send other Christians into their lives to influence and point them toward Jesus (Matt 9:37–38).
  6. They will believe in Jesus as their Savior (John 1:12; 5:24).
  7. They will turn from sin and confess Jesus as Lord (Acts 3:19; 17:30–31; Rom 10:9–10).
  8. They will grow in Jesus (Col 2:6–7).

We can also pray for ourselves and fellow Christian coworkers. Many Scripture passages remind us of the confidence we have in God as Christ’s ambassadors in the workplace. We can pray that:

  • We will do excellent work that attracts others’ attention and brings God glory (Prov 22:29; Matt 5:16).
  • We will treat people fairly and develop a good reputation with unbelievers (Col 4:1; 1 Thess 4:12).
  • Our conversations will be wise, sensitive, grace-filled, and enticing (Col 4:5–6).
  • We will be alert to open doors and be bold and fearless to enter (Col 4:3; Eph 6:19).
  • We will be able to clearly explain the gospel (Col 4:4).

Prayer, blended with wise communication, built on good work, godly character, and genuine concern, invites God to be at work in our work—where every interaction with every person is spiritually significant.

In Closing

If you are a pastor, evangelist, or missionary, as you’ve reflected on these four articles, we pray that you’ve seen the strategic nature of the workplace to the Great Commission and the importance of helping workplace followers of Christ, ‘the 99 Percent’, take their place. But remember, they are lizards and not frogs. They need your affirmation, encouragement, equipping, and inspiration to see the value of their work to God’s kingdom and graciously show the people with whom they work and live, the way to Christ. They can change the world. If you are a workplace follower of Christ, we hope you recognize the immense value of the actual work you do. Your work matters to God. We also hope you see that missions begin where you work. It may lead elsewhere, but it starts in your workplace where you can help coworkers and colleagues take one step closer to a relationship with Christ today. It’s a process. It will be slow. But God is at work in you and is calling you to join the multitude of believers who have gone before you, who have taken their place as Christ’s ambassadors at work. You are changing the world.

Endnotes

  1. “Defeater Beliefs and a Gospel Sandwich,” https://www.timcasteel.com/2010/10/defeater-beliefs-and-a-gospel-sandwich/ 
  2. Joshua D. Chatraw and Mark D. Allen, Apologetics at the Cross: an introduction for Christian witness in late modernism, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2018), 174. 
  3. Luke 10:25-37 
  4. Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory, 3rd ed. (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2008) 216. 
  5. Acts 26:2-29. 
  6. https://www.navigators.org/resource/the-27-series. 
  7. If you want to dig deeper, we recommend Joshua D. Chatraw and Mark D. Allen, Apologetics at the Cross: An introduction for Christian witness in late modernism, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2018). 
  8. Books by Tim Keller, The Reason for God and Making Sense of God as well as Rebecca McLaughlin’s Confronting Christianity, Gregory Koukl, Street Smarts: Using Questions to Answer Christianity’s Toughest Challenges, are helpful in how to use Socratic questions. Got Questions (https://www.gotquestions.org/) is an online encyclopedia of answers to questions about God, Jesus, the Bible, or theology. What Would You Say (https://whatwouldyousay.org/) offers quick answers to Christianity’s hard questions via 5-minute videos. 
  9. Acts 1:14, 24; 2:42, 47; 4:24, 31; 8:15; 9:11, 40; 10:9, 30-31; 12:5; 13:3; 14:23; 15:25; 20:36; 21:5; 26:29; 28:8. 

Authors’ Bios

Jerry White

Dr Jerry White is international president emeritus of The Navigators and member of the Lausanne Board and Lausanne Workplace Network. He is a retired Air Force major general and a former associate professor of astronautics at the US Air Force Academy. He is an author whose most recent book is Dangers Men Face.

Bill Peel

Bill Peel is an award-winning author/co-author and a leader in the global faith-at-work movement. He is the president and founder of the 24Seven Project and is a co-founder of the Faith@Work Summit. He was on the programme committee for the 2019 Lausanne Global Workplace Forum and a member of the ensuing Workplace Advisory Board. Bill earned a doctorate in Workplace Theology, Ethics, and Leadership from Gordon-Conwell Seminary. He and his wife, Kathy, live in Dallas.