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Witnessing from Weakness at Work

One of the greatest shames of my life is that never once during my first job out of college did I share the Gospel with any of the people I worked with. While my friends there certainly knew I graduated from a Christian college, went to church, and believed in God, in several years of working together that was all they knew about faith in my life. At the time, my focus was so much on learning the ins and outs of magazine publishing and meeting my earthly achievement goals (after all, this was my dream!), that I failed to see the people around me as lost souls in need of a Savior and instead saw them as people to laugh with and learn from.

Though I know I'm forgiven for this sin, to this day I can't think of certain colleagues without wincing - and praying that they are surrounded by Christians, who, unlike me, dare share their faith at work.

While my self-centered career goals certainly kept the focus off of other people's eternal welfare, it was also that I totally misunderstood what sharing my faith at work would look like. I didn't learn this until I started working at Christianity Today International (GiftedForLeadership.com's parent company) years ago. While suddenly I was surrounded by once-lost people who had found their Savior, the sharing of faith was everywhere. The distinction was that we shared personal faith, rather than the faith. We talked of mighty ways God had moved, of huge disappointments, of doubts, of praise, of unanswered prayers, of our own often rocky journeys through a life of faith.

In my earlier job, I imagined sharing my faith at work would mean I had John 3:16 printed on business cards or had a huge "Repent or Burn" placard posted on my cubical wall. Maybe I'd have to invite a different co-worker to lunch every day and ask - immediately after saying grace loudly - if she knew where she would go if she were to die right now. Any image I'd conjure up just didn't jive with my working environment - or my personality - so I passed.

If only I'd have had the wisdom of John Nunes, a professor at Concordia University in River Forest, Illinois. I heard him speak recently on "witnessing out of weakness." I love this premise - especially for the workplace. It means that you aren't standing on soapboxes telling co-workers they're going to burn in hell (this may get you burning in the HR department!), but instead puts you in the drivers seat of conversations with co-workers that are less about personal righteousness and more about how Jesus has worked through your weaknesses.

Especially in a culture that so roundly attacks Christians - not always without good reason - it's important for the world to see Christians as we really are, not as we often pretend to be. They need to see us as messed up, wounded, and hurting people who have found the great Hope and their ever-present source of strength.

If you were to share with your co-workers the ways in which God has walked with you through difficult, stressful times at work and in life, it might offer glimpses of how God could embolden their own lives. If they knew that you too went through seasons of doubt - wondering if all this stuff about the Son of God rising from the dead could possibly be true - but were sustained by experiencing the Holy Spirit's work in your life, imagine the impact. And of course there's no better way to shine the irresistible grace that has saved wretches like us than to be willing to open up areas of struggle - and mercy - in our own lives.

Now, I'm not fool enough to suggest you need to bare your deepest sins to co-workers who may or may not use them against you. But I have come to realize that the strongest witnesses - much like the strongest leaders - are the ones willing to give glory where glory is due.

February05, 2007 at 9:08 PM

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