I have been writing up the last of my field
education assignments: the verbatim yesterday was a trigger for me to think
more deeply about the integration of my faith and my work. Coincidentally I received
news of a “Faith and Work” seminar at Morling this week. It was too late to
cancel my Saturday morning work in the clinic so I could only attend the
afternoon part of the seminar. It was a seminar that got me thinking about many
things. Bought two books: “Workship” by Kara Martin, and “Spiritual Disciplines
Handbook” by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun. Just starting to read the Workship book and
found the material very relevant to what I had been thinking about yesterday
when I wrote up the verbatim, so I have a feeling it will be a useful book to
read. The book preface opens like this: “For a long time, the church as divided life, and work, into sacred and secular compartments. Hence work that is related to the institutional church like the work done by pastors and vocational missionaries, was considered sacred. Those who worked in the world outside the church were doing secular work.” This leaves many Christians unsure of the spiritual value of their daily work. Many church ministers are theologically trained, but have difficulty understanding or engaging in the congregation members’ world of work. The church also needs help to better equip those in their congregation who face the Monday-to-Friday challenge of living out their faith at work.
Some of the main points I heard from the
afternoon seminar sessions:
Theology of work:
l Genesis 1: God’s work in creation…. And humans being made in the
image of God.
l Genesis 2:15: Humans as stewards over his creation.
Mark McCrindle has some data about what
attracts people to Christianity, and what turns them off.
Attractors:
1. Seeing people live out a genuine faith
2. Comfort when going through a tough time
3. Stories of people with faith
Turn off:
1. Philosophical discussions
2. Reference to the miraculous
3. Faith celebrities
Attractors and repellants are on page 26.
Felicity Hill, Residential Manager,
BaptistCare Shalom Centre for Aged Care:
l Aged care is not an attractive field to go into: stressful, low pay
etc.
l Work as worship: to be of service to others, give my best, seeking
the kingdom of God.
l Advocating for those who cannot advocate for themselves:
n For the elderly.
n Marginalised foreign workers: since aged care is not an attractive
field, many workers are marginalised foreign workers who have to work >1 job
to support their families.
John Sandeman, Editor of Eternity, Head of
Content and Publishing, Bible Society Australia:
l He was a Fairfax Journalist previously.
l Why do Christians make good journalists:
n Christians are about truth telling, eg. The gospels books were written
as records of truth. Writing things down is a good thing for Christians to do.
Be a contributor to truth telling.
l Christians are often scared of the newsroom because it is a secular
environment. Yet John decided to “be a loudmouth and declare myself at work”
because he feels it is necessary, he has limited time on earth so might as well
do something, and he’s called not to success but to follow Christ.
l The media is hostile to Christians. An emerging reality: the trend
now is that people perceive Christians as evil, so people are not exactly going
to smile at you when they know you are a Christian.
l So if you’re an “out there Christian”:
n Work harder
n Give good value for money for your employer
n Pour your life for others: help others advance
n Be the person who cares for others, be a safe person for others
n Form specialist Christian groups in the workplace
Cassandra Pendlebury, State Executive
Officer NSW/ACT, Christian Schools Australia:
l Cassandra grew up inheriting her family’s values: be useful, don't
be decorative. So she defined “who I am as how I work”, which works as a
double-edged sword.
l She shared some amazing testimonies where several near-death which
reoriented her back to God: she listened to God and her obedience eventually led
her to a job which she knew God had created her for. That’s where she found a
very strong sense of personal fulfillment.
On the other hand, during the closing
discussion, Rev Dr Andrew Sloane reminded us that there are some people in the workplace
who are really stuck. They are not in a position of influence and have no
ability to change their environment. He suggested that rather remaining in a
state of paralysis, there are many passages from the New Testament on the topic
which we can potentially look at. This made me think of a movie I recently watched
called “Silence” where people really were stuck! I guess in those
circumstances, the only thing we can offer is our physical presence and
prayers. Spiritually, we have to constantly remind ourselves that we are called
not to success but to follow Christ, and that everything in this world will
pass, but there is also an everlasting home to return to.
