I’m gonna spend one more day on this idea of us as workplace pastors, since I think it is so very important. It is necessary that we begin believing that we are called of God to be the chaplains of our offices and companies.
Many people want to feel used by God, but haven’t been freed to understand that their place of employment is the mission field that God has sent them into. It might seem a bit strange, but think about if a missionary or pastor was hired for your office/company – what would they do to meet the spiritual needs of the people there? Pray with people, reach out to them during crises, talk to them about God? What if God has placed you in your office for that specific role? In fact, I think that is EXACTLY what God has done. Let me remind you that after Jesus’ death, the veil of the Temple was torn. No longer does God reside in a building built by human hands where we have to come to Him in one location on earth, but rather He now dwells within each Christian, so that His church is to leave the one location and take Him outside the church building to people everywhere.
“[We feel] incomplete inside the church walls – we want to be equipped by our church to find kingdom significance and purpose where we interact with culture, outside the church walls…. I’ve come to understand that there are millions of us who feel disconnected from our true purpose at work. Maybe you’ve had feelings at times that are similar. You sense your job or career has something critically important to do with God’s bigger story, and yet no one seems to be there to help you understand how it really works and why it is so biblical.” Have you ever felt like this? Have you ever felt that God wanted to use you, but weren’t quite sure how? Well, the workplace is where you spend a large portion of your day, and He wants to use you there!
“God has placed us into that workplace for a specific purpose. Paul explains that this task is not to be done just on Sunday or a few times a week, but this is a 24/7 ‘all-the-time’ assignment from God.”
“[Too many of us believe that] the pastor, the missionary, and the church staff workers are chosen, gifted, and paid to do the professional ministry…. [We] do not realize that we will come into contact with and influence more people in one day in the workplace than the “professionals” will encounter in a week or even a full month…. Yes, YOU are in full-time ministry for Jesus Christ, but you get your income from your employment in the workplace and not from your church. What a bargain for God’s kingdom work! We are paid by the secular world’s system yet are placed there in strategic positions for His purposes.”
This is the mindset that we must take. Why is this mindset so important? Why does God want us to represent Him in our workplaces to our co-workers who do not know Him? Because “Most of them will not seek out our churches, but every day they are at the next desk to us in the marketplace.” So you have to begin seeing yourself as the pastor there – praying for each person, looking for ways to speak God’s love into their lives.
Look for opportunities to speak God’s life and love into the lives of the people around you at work today. Some of them are hurting and need an encouraging word. Some of them are experiencing crisis and need your prayers. Find ways to meet their spiritual needs as their workplace pastor.
How have you seen people you know be effective in the role of “workplace pastor”?
(Businessman Kent Humphreys wrote a small book titled Christ at Work Opening Doors about us being on mission in our places of employment. The quotes above are from his book.)