Over one hundred thirty years ago, a spiritual awakening occurred in America that resulted in over one million people coming to Christ. Most say that this was the greatest revival in American history. The origins of that revival started and were sustained in the workplace. Today, there is a similar worldwide movement of God occurring in the workplace. God is raising up men and women who are beginning to understand their work (vocation) is their ministry. Evidence shows that believers desire to understand why God has created them, and what specific calling God has for their life and work. They’re discovering God has not called them to separate their faith and work, but true to the New Testament church they are one and the same.
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A great number of the people in our churches are wandering aimlessly from church to work, and then from work back to church, trying to gain meaning out of what they do for over 65% of their lives. One author called this aimless wandering a type of “Christian Schizophrenia” resulting in the workplace witness being anemic or damaged, and thus many believers concluding that Christianity doesn’t apply at all in the workplace. Over time, this has caused the church to grow more irrelevant in the very center of society — the workplace. Our Lord spent a majority of His life out in the workplace — where a majority of the people were, and still are. This dilemma is crippling the very people that God has placed in strategic positions in the workplace (world) to pray and care for the lost, and then share the great news about Jesus as opportunities come.
Where Do People Spend a Majority of Their Time?
God is calling us back to His original truth of being disciples in all of life, including work. A majority of the church congregation spends a majority of their time, and interacts with a majority of the lost world – not in the church, not in the neighborhoods, but in the workplace! Pastors and those in the workplace alike are sensing a call to rethink our premise of ministry. Obedience to this truth can ignite the church to awaken a sleeping remnant in the body of Christ — the workplace Christian.
Many churches and pastors are seeing the vision of what can happen when they equip their people to be ministers in all of life, including their work or vocation. The Bible says, “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry.” In accordance with Ephesians 4:11-12, let us equip the body of Christ to be ministers at work! Most people that are called to work can and should be an integral extension of the local church ministry, but need affirmation, teaching, leadership and support from the church in this critical area.
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WorkLife was born out of the conviction to provide the local church with the core infrastructure, teaching, encouragement and assistance in this area. Our goal is to provide servant leadership to pastors and the local church by helping them equip and release their people to fulfill THEIR ministry in and through the workplace. We provide the local church with a sustainable model for worklife ministry, including biblical teaching, mobilization strategies, as well as resources to train, encourage, and then mobilize believers into their God-given calling of work.
Jesus said, “The harvest is so great, but the workers are so few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send out more workers for his fields.” (Matthew 9:37-38). Nowhere is this truer than in the very place that the church spends most of its time — at work.
May God bless you as we together mobilize the church for His glory.
Written by Doug Spada, Founder and CEO, WorkLife, Inc. Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash All rights reserved. Content distributed by WorkLife.org > used for non-profit teaching purposes only.