3 C’s for living your faith at work

Gerry Lewis July 31, 2018

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Faith. Work. Faith at work.  

If you are a person of faith and you have a job, you have possibly asked yourself (and maybe others), How can I effectively and appropriately share my faith at work?

One of the greatest hindrances to that is a narrow definition of “sharing my faith” that is limited to “telling people about Jesus.”

A hard truth of the matter is that we’ve all met people who “told about Jesus” but undermined their spoken message by their observable habits.

Perhaps a better starting place is asking, How can I live my faith at work? 

I want to suggest three C’s for first living our faith at work in order to build a foundation on which to articulate our faith. These three C’s are calling, character, and core.

Calling

During a recent road trip, I happened upon a delightful coffee and gift shop owned and operated by a small town co-vocational pastor and his wife. What an incredibly serendipitous pause it turned out to be!

The shop is not simply a way of supplementing the income he receives from the small church he pastors.  It is a way of expressing his calling. We chatted briefly about our mutual love of coffee, food and books. He told me he has come to understand that the best job in the world is finding what you love and doing it.

Not every person has the skill set or resources to start a business. But every person can assess their own life and understand the difference between doing what you’re paid for (job) and doing what you’re made for (vocation).

Calling—vocation—is the place where value and vitality overlap. When you understand what energizes you and what you do best, and you turn that energy toward bringing value to the lives of others, you are well on the way to living out your calling, no matter where you are employed.

And people will notice.

Character

It is a rare person who has never had a miserable work experience. Sometimes that miserable experience comes from the work itself. But more often, miserable work experiences come from miserable work conditions.

Almost every person, if given the chance, can articulate his preferred work atmosphere and the preferred character qualities of his ideal coworkers.

Here’s a great secret to work satisfaction and success: be the coworker you want to have.

We who desire to share our faith in the workplace often miss the greatest opportunities to do so because we are too focused on what we will say, rather than on the character we will display.

Dallas Willard said, “What would Jesus do,” is the wrong question.  A better question is, “What would Jesus do if He were me?”  

The character of Christ—incarnated in my personality, gifting and habits—is a powerful indicator of a vibrant life of faith.

Integrity, perseverance, grace, excellence and kindness demonstrated first toward coworkers, supervisors and direct reports, and then extended to customers and clients, will inevitably provide opportunities to articulate the source of the demonstrated character.

Core

Great workplaces have a great culture. Culture is created through clear and compelling core values.

Do you know who is most likely to engage the clear and compelling core values of their workplace orto have a positive impact on those workplaces who lack such values? It is those who are internally driven by their own set of clear and compelling core values.

So what does a set of clear and compelling personal core values look like?  

I can only answer that by sharing mine. These are my constant reminders of why I do what I do in every circumstance.

• Travel joyfully because “gospel” means “good news” and no one wants to travel with a critic.  

• Focus forward because the journey is amazing and the view is worth the climb.

• Pack strategically because a backpack full of amazing strengths is worth more than a trunk full of mediocre intentions.

• Listen intently because sacred truth is often found in unexpected way stations.

Can you see how those internal motivators can positively impact every external circumstance in which I might find myself?

Photo source: istock 

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Dr. Gerry Lewis serves as Executive Director of the Harvest Baptist Association in Decatur, Texas. He is also Founder and CEO of YLM Resources, which includes Next Step Coach-Sulting and Life Matters Publications. He is also an author of four books, including Why Bible Study Doesn't Work. He and his wife live in Azle, Texas and have two grown children and three (so far) grandchildren. His weekly Life Matters blog and Your Church Matters podcast can be found at drgerrylewis.com. Learn More »

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