Opening Doors to Faith at Work

Evangelism in the workplace is the outcome and extension of the preaching and ministry of the local church. By God’s grace my experience has been that of being equipped in my church congregation for witness in various spheres of life outside of that congregation. This equipping happens through pastors and elders who regularly preach and teach God’s Word, and through lay men and women who teach and model that Word among the body of Christ in all kinds of ways. The gospel among believers is not something that happened to us long ago; it is the constant focus of God’s Word taught and the reason for our joy and hope: we believers are those whom God has redeemed and whom he empowers through the Spirit of the risen Christ in us.

God places us in particular professions and callings so as to be his witnesses, spread like salt and light in the world. We take in the Word of God regularly among God’s people, learning to understand and apply it in our Christian walk—and we carry that Word with us as we walk! We hear and trust the promise Jesus first gave to his disciples following his resurrection:

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

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Evangelism grows out of the regular patterns of our lives. As witnesses of Christ, we understand that evangelism in a working environment can happen because that is where we often spend at least eight to ten hours per day. We share life with the people around us during those hours—and they must see the gospel at work in our lives. We must be good news as we share the good news. The apostle Paul puts it this way, writing to the people in Thessalonica with whom he had shared the gospel:

We were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us. (1 Thess. 2:7–8)

Paul is clear: we must communicate the gospel not only with words but also by showing love and care for others. Such a combination results in an open door to share more about our faith in Christ.

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In my own workplace, I’ve learned the power of combining love and words. I work at a hospital in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, as a perfusionist in open-heart surgery. A perfusionist manages the heart-lung machine that takes over the function of the heart and lungs during open-heart surgery. Basically, the life of a patient is in my hands as the cardiac surgeon is operating. The anesthesiologist will switch off his ventilator when I start my machine.

In Colossians 3:17, 22–24, the apostle Paul addresses such matters, calling all believers to live and act as representatives of the Lord Jesus—and bondservants in particular to do their work not just to please people but ultimately to please our Lord Jesus:

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him . . . Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

In so serving the Lord Christ, we reflect him to those around us, drawing others to him. We show his goodness often without words, by who we are and what we do. Those in the medical profession care for human beings who were created by God in his image. We show forth God’s image even as we care for his creation by caring for the bodies he made. And, of course, we show his goodness in the way we relate to everyone around us, especially in the words we speak.