KARA MARTIN on what it means to live out a ‘soulful life’ in your workplace…
There is a fundamental misconception in this headline, I wonder if you can spot it? It is the problem that stops many Christians from expressing their faith in a Biblical way.
It assumes that we are compartmentalised. That, somehow, we can choose whether or not we take our soul to work. Our soul is part of who we are. Whether we like it or not, our soul is always at work when we are.
Are you conscious of taking your soul to work? PICTURE: Timon Studler/Unsplash
Yet many Christians do think of their faith in this way: as something they carry to work in their backpack, which they sneak out every now and then, very briefly.
“What did you do on the weekend?”
“The reality is that we are soulful bodies. We cannot be separated out comfortably. The concept of a ‘private faith’, a ‘personal faith’, is a misnomer. Talking about church on the weekend in some ways just reinforces the stereotype.”
“I went to church.”
“Oh, that’s nice. I went mountain climbing.”
Maybe it comes out in a meeting.
“We need to offload a thousand widgets. They aren’t selling well because they keep breaking, so do what you can to move them.”
“Um, isn’t it a bit unethical not to tell our customers that the widgets could break?”
“We can deal with any issues through customer complaints, in the meantime, be a team player.”
The reality is that we are soulful bodies. We cannot be separated out comfortably. The concept of a ‘private faith’, a ‘personal faith’, is a misnomer. Talking about church on the weekend in some ways just reinforces the stereotype.
Our faith is the fundamental organising point of who we are. It is not simply a set of beliefs or a lifestyle choice. It is not a club that we are part of, or a community group.
Accepting Jesus as our Saviour and Lord means that we are in relationship with God the Father, God the son and God the Holy Spirit; it means we enter into their relationship, and are seeking to show others what they are like.
Christianity is not a religion in which we enact certain rituals to guarantee reward in the next life; but a way of life – modelled after Jesus – which seeks to give people a taste of the Kingdom of God in this life.
So, our souls are always with us, and always want to be freed from their cage.
Living our soulful lives at work may have a few different expressions:
• In the quality of our character. Our soul yearns to be holy, showing the fruit of the Spirit: being loving, joyful, peace-making, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle and self-controlled.
• In our defence of truth. Whether it is proclaiming the Gospel (illegal in some work roles) or upholding integrity, we have an opportunity to defend what is true and right and wise.
• In our prayerful attitude. Our soul loves talking with God, praying for every work decision, every work colleague, and for God to reveal himself in our work context?
• In our modelling of Jesus. When we identify as Christians, people will look at us and expect to learn about Jesus, not just from what we say, but from the way we work, and relate to our colleagues, and by what we are prepared to tolerate.
• In our willingness to be Spirit-empowered. In the Old Testament God’s presence was in the at Tent of Meeting, and then in the Temple. Since Jesus died, and Pentecost happened, God’s presence is in us. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We are Spirit-empowered wherever we go.
• In our desire for justice. Throughout the Bible, God reveals a bias for the poor, the weak, the vulnerable. Jesus focused His attention on those who needed healing, and the outcasts of society. How can we care for the vulnerable at or through our work?
If we live our soulful lives at work then our conversations would be different.
“What did you do on the weekend?”
“I heard a really great talk about the need to be spiritually open, and the benefits of an attitude of gratitude.” (That was the sermon recently at my church.)
“Being soulful at work is more demanding than being a hidden Christian, but helps bridge the gap between Sunday and Monday, and ultimately leads to flourishing in our faith, as well as positively impacting our workplace.”
“Wow, tell me more about that.”
In the meeting: “We need to offload a thousand widgets. They aren’t selling well because they keep breaking, so do what you can to move them.”
“Um, I have a problem with offloading a product that doesn’t meet our quality standards”
“We can deal with any issues through customer complaints, in the meantime, be a team player.”
“Hang on, before we rush in, how does this fulfil our values of ‘excellence’ and ‘customer first’? What if we promoted the fact that we were protecting customers by refusing to sell widgets that might break? We could turn this into a positive message to build customer respect and loyalty.”
Being soulful at work is more demanding than being a hidden Christian, but helps bridge the gap between Sunday and Monday, and ultimately leads to flourishing in our faith, as well as positively impacting our workplace.
Kara Martin is the author of Workship: How To Use Your Work To Worship God, and ‘Workship 2: How to Flourish at Work’, and a lecturer in leadership at Alphacrucis College in Sydney. She also coaches social entrepreneurs and marketplace leaders through seed.org.au and is on the Marketplace Ministry Board of Lausanne Global. Her third book, How to Shape Christians for the Workplace, is awaiting publication. She has spoken, taught and written across four continents.
