“You can’t have that out in plain sight,” the woman said to me. Her hair was pulled so tight it tugged on her eyes. “Someone might get offended.”
She then whirled around and walked away, her clackety-clack shoes echoing against the tile floor.
What offended her was the book with an obviously Christian title in my hand on the way out to lunch. Shocked as much by her bold intrusion into my reading habits as I was by her pronouncement, it brought to reality a decision that I needed to make: Would I live the life of working safely, tucking my beliefs away? Or would I be God’s man, comfortable in the new skin he had put me in?
Considering what was at stake, it wasn’t an easy decision. As a newly hired manager, I had fought through the thicket of at least two dozen applicants for this job. I was entrusted with a big responsibility, a budget and a supervisory position. Plus I had a family that was counting on my paycheck.
What else would I have to hide?
What would it hurt to hide that little book? But to do so, I would have to hide a thousand other things.
The breakroom, a place full of constant opportunites for coffee pot counseling, would take on a new, muted tone for me. Talking to coworkers in the elevator would be all business, all the time. When I gave my word that a project would be completed, was it backed up with the full faith and confidence that my principles were timeless? Was I willing to hide the eternal perspective I brought to the workplace? When a coworker was found to be in need of a few bucks, a word of encouragement, or a prayer of rescue, was I willing to hide my spirit of generosity?
I knew I couldn’t hide. I ditched all thoughts of safety talk, and from that moment on, chose to work dangerously. And I have replicated that decision to be courageous and bold about my lifestyle in every other job since.
Around the network are many other stories of living dangerously. One stands out: Bill Peel of 24Seven Faith tells the story of a simple, obedient taxi driver who helped lead the son of a Hamas leader to faith — while at work!
What would you do if you had no fear?
This is a question that I must constantly ask myself. Living dangeously means following that nudge to do the right thing, even when public opinion will probably go against you. It means walking the high wire to reach the other side where the untouchables, the broken are. It means living on the edge of popular culture with a distinctively unpopular message.
Living dangerously sounds scary. But once you’ve ducked under the “do not cross” tape, you’re one step closer to your calling.
What unwritten rules in the workplace should we keep, and which ones should we ignore?
Have you ever made a “dangerous choice” at work ? What happened?
Post written by David Rupert.
Photo by Claire Burge
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I suppose I should confess that I accidentally converted one of my Muslim students when I was a public high school teacher. I say confess because I have always had mixed feelings about what happened and how it drove a wedge between the student and her family. I say accidentally because I had not realized she was Muslim.
Other students told me that I helped them learn to respect Christians in a way they had not before. I never knew what they meant, but I was very conscious about trying to be open about my faith–often in terms of describing activities in my life like church attendance and prayer and such as if they were perfectly normal.
But I also tried to be very careful not to proselytize. I wasn’t trying to get anyone to believe what I believed. Rather, I was trying to challenge students to be confident in their own beliefs. In the end, I’ve always felt that a real commitment to pursuing truth and God will lead people to God. That takes a lot of burden out of the Great Commission. All I do is go and be myself. God does the rest.
At the end of the day, I was careful not to see my work as a mission field. The school district did not hire me as a missionary. They hired me to teach English. I didn’t need to hide myself or my faith, but I did need to make sure I took care of job number 1–teaching those kids to read and write. I honored God first and foremost, by honoring my employer’s expectations of me.
Marcus, you really are speaking the wisdom into this. This post wasn’t meant to be a ‘witness at work’ post, rather a ‘live your faith’ post. The two are really not the same — but they might be. When I wrote about “being comforatable in my new skin,” I meant that we should just be who we are. Prayer and church and believing that God has things in control are just what we do. And we shouldn’t have to dance or tiptoe around this truth.
Thanks for this post and your response to my comment, David. I’m struck by how easy it is to accept that “witnessing at work” and “living our faith” are two separate things. This is why Christian-eze frustrates me. I can talk a good game about witnessing and mission work, and then treat my coworkers like they are dogs.
C. S. Lewis talks about this in the Screwtape Letters. We get distracted by wanting to change the world, help the poor in some far off place, and then we disrespect our spouses and treat our friends with contempt.
I’m with you though. We can ditch the safety talk. We can talk our whole selves to work and refuse to be just another cog. I’m not a cog. And neither are any of my coworkers. Thank God.
(I’m putting myself on comment restriction for this post now.
Marcus, what if we redefined what it really means to be a missionary? What if being a missionary meant exactly what you were doing–living your faith in front of the people you work with? I think we enter our mission filed every day when we wake up. There are no unimportant places, jobs, words, or actions in God’s kingdom. Everything is significant. I love what Tony Jeary said in his interview with Becky Garrison on The High Calling website: “Life is a series of presentations. Every interaction with a coworker, supervisor, customer, vendor, or partner speaks your message loudly. Whether you are conscious of it or not, you live that message every day and model it for those around you, and others can see the Holy Spirit in you.”
Touche, Bill. Those old church paradigms are hard to shake sometimes. Being a missionary, fulfilling the great commission starts with simply going out into the world in a meaningful way. For many of us, that means we enter the work force somewhere.
I know we’ve talked about this before, but that image of the colonizing missionary is so strong in my mind. I like what you’ve said about Colossians 4:2-6 regarding this. Paul tells us “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders.” And you interpret this in terms of evangelism. Being a wise missionary in the workplace means doing my job well, understanding where others are in their faith, building real relationships with people, and then finally sharing about what God has done for us.
Here’s the bottom line for me: we’ve got to talk about this more. Too many people, Christians and non-Christians experience evangelism and missions as a kind of cheap-sell proselytism. We know there is a better way. It is scary. It requires confidence and real vulnerability, but it is what we are called to do.
That colonizing missionary image is tough to shake, but you’ve captured what it really means well!
Work is as much a mission field as anywhere else. We’re all missionaries — and people look at what we say, what we read and most of all what we do. We can choose to back down in the face of opposition — easy enough and takes us back to our personal comfort zone. Or we can choose not to back down , but in a loving, respectful way.
Good post, David.
And having read the comment from Marcus — I agree that we don’t get hired as missionaries. But everywhere we are — work, home, neighborhood — it’s the mission field.
this really spoke to me. i’ve been thinking a lot of peter stepping out of the boat, how we need to help our children to do this fearless act, staring at no one except the faith-giver… for then, no matter the storm, we will not sink. thank you for shedding more light on this for me today. e.
We are often held back from even the simplest of expressions of faith because of fear. And I love how you want to model this to your children.
David, this is awesome! You are a courageous soul indeed. I mean that; it takes guts to make the decision you did.
I had an interesting experience at work recently. I was having a hallway conversation with my boss, the big-big head honcho boss. We were talking casually about writing. He asked if I wrote “on the side” outside of work. I told him I did. He asked what I wrote about. I blanched. I seriously paused for like 7 seconds — a awkwardly long time for a hallway conversation. And then I blurted it out, that I wrote about faith, spirituality, Christianity, my church, God. That I wrote a blog every day and a newspaper column once a month. We actually had a really great conversation — I found out he was raised Catholic — like me — that he fallen away from the church…and from God — like me. We talked about the church I attend now…I even invited him to come some Sunday. And then I sent him the link to my newspaper columns…and a few days later he told me he’d read every single one.
I’m so glad I took a deep breath and talked to my boss about God that day. No I didn’t change his faith or send him running to church or anything that dramatic, but maybe I opened the window just a crack. And that’s enough for me!
It’s funny when we ‘breach the wall’ that we often find open and welcoming arms awaiting us.
things at my office were falling apart for a while – no one was willing to trust or really work with anyone else but we somehow all managed to believe in the work. All the same, people were leaving like rats on a sinking ship, so I wrote a letter to everyone entitled “Grace as a corporate value.” I know for a fact that at least two people stayed because of that letter, but I also know that some people are just waiting for me to leave too.
In general I would say that we don’t need to think of our work place as a mission field so much as our normal sphere of influence is a mission field. There’s no way that my Christian lifestyle or belief’s will witness to people in accounting (outside my sphere) but my immediate coworkers will see it all the time. People listened to the woman at the well (John 4) because she was known in that community and they were within her sphere of influence.
Thanks for the great post!
Grace as a corporate value? Oh my. That sounds like a HCB post!
And what you said about your beliefs not really witnessing in accounting. BUT you are also correct in that others are watching. They see you and how you react when the numbers don’t add up!
i suppose we don’t have to have Christian rights day, or Christian parades, or even come out of a closet and tell everyone that we are a believer of Christ, to be living a Christian life, with a following relationship with Jesus, in the world.
We have eternity, where everyday will be a parade. How are ‘dem apples nAncY?
As temporal consequences are weighed for having no fear, there are also the blessings to be considered.
Nicely done, David. And it’s about time the boy from Colorado put Western wear on his profile pic.
why thank you ma’am
i just joined the site and put my badge on my blog today…wow…that sounded official.
i wish, wish, wish i would have made dangerous choices for God in my career in the music industry. God allowed me, to meet music artists who were believers, but I chose the backroad of faith and became camoflauged to the point that my own husband and children didn’t quite recognize me. I have since left my career to stay at home, but I pray that as I continue to move forward in God’s grace, I will boldly live to proclaim His name!
Melissa, I’m not sure what you mean by camoflauging yourself when you were at work in the music industry. I know there are times when I wore my faith on my shoulder, and there are times when I chose to blend in.
Paul said he was all things to all people. Depending on how far you want to extend that logic, it can be quite scary in what we are called to do to earn someone’s trust. It very well may be that your role was simply to be Christian and not be a jerk. (Another thing I learned from Bill Peel by the way.) Sometimes, that is message people need to hear the most.
Thanks, Marcus!…The camoflauging was me being an under cover, in the closet believer that led me to become a stray sheep… Not simply obstaining from talks about my faith, but engaging in behavior and attitudes in direct opposition to my love for the Lord and faith in Him. And I totally get what your saying, that at times we LIVE our faith out loud and God will draw them in His way…
Thanks for your insight and your desire to live dangerously!
Melissa…
First of all, welcome to the High Calling
You talked about the “backroad of faith”. That’s an interesting way of putting it. I remember the story in John 3 about Nicodemus, who was a member of the ruling elite. “He came to Jesus at night.” Interested, but still wanted to hide.
I think that’s one of the reasons for public baptisms…and not private in the hot tub. Its to make that proclamation. And once you do….it’s much easier to live your faith, because you no longer have to worry about being ‘found out’
May you blessed on your new walk !
David…this is so very true. There is freedom in the Lord and I never knew I could be a Christian and live in a state of hiding and bondage…it was a slow fade to that dark (very dark) road…but as you know, God’s glory illuminates even the darkest of nights…and I praise God for the exposure even though my eyes had to adjust for a bit.
Thanks for the welcome.
David, great post. Your tightly wound co-worker’s attitude is exactly why we need to be courageous about our faith at work. How will they ever see Christ if they don’t see our faith being lived out and spoken of wisely and naturally in the workplace?
Bill…thanks for the inspiration and your great, timely stories on your blog.
I must always come from a different perspective, since I don’t work outside the home. First, although our nest is empty now, there was a responsibility to teach our children to live their faith wherever they were. For me, it means stepping out a bit in the dailiness of my life. Being willing to share my faith in any way I can (perhaps just a word of encouragement or a friendly smile) and not worrying about what people might think of me.
I really enjoyed this article. Very thought provoking!
Linda
Of course, living ‘dangerously’ isnt just for work — as you expressed so well. Homemakers, retirees, students,…we all have a chance to take a chance on God
Great conversation going on here! This is a subject that many of my Christian colleagues and friends discuss on an ongoing basis. Especially as leaders, fairly high up in an orgainzation, and often in public companies, we’ve got to be prudent and sensible with these things in order not to skew perception. I like what Steve Reinemund (former Chairman of Pepsi) said: “We must be sensitive not to create a situation or perception that in order to advance, one must embody the same beliefs as the leadership…I do not want people to feel that they can not succeed if they believe differently than I do.” I kind of think the same way. I respect all employees and managers, regardless of their beliefs, and look to shine as an example of godly behavior at work. I don’t want or need to convert people to Christianity. I am more about genuine relationships and setting a good example. People are people, and at work we are all just trying to get a job done. If I can build them up in the process, that is God’s working through me. I do not feel fear or scared to be myself, or to share who I am as a Christian. But it’s got to be genuine and appropriate, loving and respectful.
You’re right. The higher up in leadership the trickier this gets. Reinemund’s warning is important. If a leader ever gives the impression that Christians are favored, that’s a problem–to God too I think. I was pondering this issue today with a former executive and something hit me. John Calvin taught that our first responsibility as a disciple was to do good work. Sometimes Christians get confused about this, but people should be advanced based on their competence first, then of course character matters, but competence comes first. If a leader ever gives the impression that favoritism comes from anything else I think he or she is exercising less than biblical leadership. Whether a leader is advancing someone or making a new hire, the first quesiton ought to be who can do the best job in this situation. And of course firing an incompetent Christian would help dispel any perception of favoritism as well.
“Shine as an example”….shine as an example of attitude, of giving, of cooperation, of cheer….that’s what we bring to the the table
I’m afraid my faith takes a “muted tone” at work. That being said, I pray daily for the the high schoolers I teach and those I interact with daily.
Marcus quoted someone above and said that sometimes our role of being a Christian can mean not being a jerk. That’s where I am. That’s where I believe my coworkers are, or maybe that’s just where I think they are…? Hmmm…maybe this needs more thought.
“What else would I have to hide?”
This is such a powerful truth. It is such a slippery slope to hiding who we are at our workplaces. What is interesting is that it is not just in corporate settings that this truth applies. It applies in ministry too… being who God has created us to be – with all of our bumps and bruises… is the most powerful testimony to Him
great post!
Oh, you are from Colorado!
Anyway, that part about what else you should hide was great. And, the one who wanted you to hide the book probably would not have wanted you to suppress kindness, integrity, selflessness, consideration for others,…
I work in a Christian setting.
So I feel like my “living dangerously” goes off in the opposite direction. Can I walk around without a Christian book in my hand all the time, a nice tidy Christian explanation for someone’s grief or guilt or suffering? To do so sometimes feels like living dangerously, because it asks me to not play a game for the sake of spiritual appearances.
I once was reading my Bible on the subway and was accousted by a man who was offended by my choice of reading materials. I quietly listened to what he said, and the vehemence with which he said it, then went back to my reading. I’m not sure how dangerous this was, but I felt more than a twinge of fear when he was going at me.
I’m a bit of a double agent these days. My day to day life is heavily filled with Christian culture yet we have two boys we are fostering who have no experience with Christian culture at all and who’s father was an athiest. Almost daily I am having conversations with their extended family, the social worker and couselors with the same theme of “what should we do?”. Almost each conversation I find myself walking a tightrope, trying to answer tough questions knowing the real answers come from a higher source. I carefully do a dodge and weave and present my thoughts with the least amount of “Christianese” as possible while still offering the truths I know to be true. Each phone call I hang up with my heart pounding and my head wondering if I served that person to the best of my ability. I am keenly aware of not comming across as a religious nut but can’t just turn off who I am either.
In response to having a christian book out at the workplace. I suppose for me I would have the book out at times and have it discreetly placed elsewhere at other times. If I thought it would open a door for conversation then it served a purpose. But if it closed people off to me I don’t think it would be doing God a disservice to place it in a drawer.
I understand your point, how do we decide to draw the line? I suppose it’s not an all or nothing thing. We need to be palatable to the secular community but without compromising our prinicples.
I blog occassionally at the highcallings.com and for lack of extensive readership yet, I send the links to colleagues at work using the official mail system. Once a while someone objects and I remove their names. Now I just realised that I was not hired to be a missionary and I truly have been working dangerously. May God help me. But my real fear now is for my son, Tayo who clocked 8 early this month. Tayo came home from schoool one day and told me he was not happy because one of his classmates, a muslim he had been trying to witness to was not yielding.
We live in an islamic community in the North Central zone of Nigeria. Only God knows what the parents of the boy Tayo had been preaching to would do if their son told them. I never suspected my boy was up to that. I was not too sure of how to encourage Tayo so I took the matter to God. There was no trouble from the school authority nor the parents of Tayo’s friend till the school closed for the end of session last week. But its just a matter of time….
What should I do? I don’t want to qench the Spirit in Tayo but I believe he’s far too young to understand the cost of what he’s doing. I need counselling, please
Dear Adelani, I read some on your website, and what you have to face in Nigeria. I asked the Lord to protect you and young Tayo. It is priviledge to see your faith and I can only imagine how amazingly pleased the Lord is, when seeing your childs faith. Scripture mentiones we need to be as gentle as doves and wise as snakes. Be gentle to Tayo and show him how proud you are of him for standing up for the Lord and what he believes in. Wow!!! I do not know how old he is, but let the Lord lead you in counceling him with more wisdom. As far as the situation where you live. Think of Mordecai in the Bible and the nearby extinction of the Israelites. Think also of the the Lor in the boat during the storm (I believe you are here), ask teh Lord to still the storm. I have come to see that Gods economy is amazing and the seed planted in the classmate was a planting of the Lord!! May God cause His face to shine upon you and give you the hope and future Jeremiah speaks about!!! Blessings my friend
In regards to being who you are in the workplace. Or Ditch the Safety Talk live dangerously. I don’t think thats what it is at all. I think its being me, being real. I have always been open and honest about who I am. Though many made it clear they were not interested in Jesus. Guess who they came to when hard times hit them? Guess who they called when they didn’t know how to handle someone? Yes , they came to me, they new I didn’t have the answer to all there questions. I would pray about it, or pray for them. Sometimes they got instantly healed, or saved, sometimes it was a process. Nevertheless the Lord always shows up. I don’t work to live. My life is covered, its others I am at work for. All for the Glory of God! Hallelujah!
Great discussion. Wish I would have tapped into earlier! I think I shall keep Becky Garrison’s quote someplace where I can see it often. The truth is living a transparent life as Christ would is the gut wrenching missionary work. It’s not always easy to shine our light brightly, but as the old saying goes, “actions [indeed] do speak louder than words.”