“I’m prepared to contend that the primary location for spiritual
formation is the workplace.”
This remarkable
statement is by Eugene Peterson, written in his book, Christ Plays in Ten
Thousand Places. [Emphasis added.]
Does your church provide
training for spiritual formation in the workplace? It’s unusual to
find a church with a program specifically to help construction workers, bus drivers and
short-order cooks integrate a biblical worldview into their daily work.
Marriage? Yes.
Parenting? Yes. Missions? Yes. Music? Yes. The workplace? No.
I was blunt and
forthright last week with pastors. Am I going to "hit" them again
today? No apologies here. My aim is not to be critical, but to be constructive.
Again, the stakes are too high, and the time is too short. The bottom line is, if the
workplace really is “the primary location for spiritual formation,” then we
have a problem, Houston.
I once interviewed
twenty senior pastors in the Seattle area, asking about their own church
practices regarding helping congregants connect their faith with their work. 20
out of 20 pastors (100%) indicated they believed the local church should play
a role in influencing the Monday-through-Friday workplace. A strong majority
felt the church should be training, equipping, encouraging, instructing and/or
supporting its members in this endeavor.
When I asked what their
level of satisfaction was with how their own churches
were doing in this regard, the average response was 4.58 on a
level of 1-10 (with 10 being the highest). Twelve pastors gave themselves a 5 or
lower. Six pastors gave themselves a 3 or lower. In total, 80% of the responses
were a 6 or lower.
About 75% felt that
having classes that focused on applying Christianity to the workplace would be
a positive thing to do, but only one pastor indicated such classes had
ever been taught in his church.
When I mentioned the
idea of commissioning working people during Sunday morning services to live out their faith in the workplace, most pastors liked the idea. But hardly any had
ever done so. A couple of pastors had Sunday service prayer for teachers,
police officers and firefighters. Accountants, car mechanics and civil
servants, however, were off the radar.
Here’s what Paul
Stevens, the author of The Other Six Days, had to say about this
matter in an interview I did with him a few years back when he was a
professor at Regent College:
(If the video does not play, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4jLkPzdkuc)
Posted by Dr. Christian Overman