Where is God on Monday? - Christianity Today

The subject line of Ellen's email read, "Urgent." Her job in the fashion industry placed her on a team with a woman whose presence she had recently begun to dread. Over-worked and under-resourced, the pressures of a deadline can make enemies of us all. But this day was different. Her coworker had been handed a two weeks notice letter. A single mother of a teenage girl, she was already $5,000 behind on rent and the repeated eviction threats on her door served as daily reminders of that ominous reality. Welcome to Manhattan.

The woman had long since jettisoned any semblance of faith. And so the email Ellen sent to us concluded:

People are the hinges that swing wide the doors of cultural change.

"Would you prayerfully consider joining me in raising $5,000 for this woman over the next 48 hours? I think that showing radical generosity in the name of Jesus will be a powerful display of God's heart towards her in this time. May God's mercy be released over her life through this."

It was a big ask, and for the first time in a while, Ellen felt her faith inform her work. She was beginning to discern where God was on Monday.

Manhattan

The Lenape Native Americans called it Manna-hata. What once meant "island of many hills" was repurposed into a level, concrete plain of labor. With vacancy rates hovering at a low 2.8 percent and subways jammed, Manhattan is where people come to work.

When moving here a few years ago, I was haunted by the prospect of gathering a church amidst a society of compelling options. I mean, who would really seek out faith on Sunday in the home of Broadway, Lincoln Center, and Shake Shack? It occurred to me very early that if my ministry did not equip the congregation for the other six days of the week, we simply would not be around for the long haul. And this was no shift of accommodation, but essential to having a biblical witness in a post-agrarian, pro-industry, post-Christian era.

As pastors, we would do well to heed the question of Dorothy Sayers: "How can anyone remain interested in a religion which seems to have no concern with nine-tenths of his life?" Any religion with little concern about the coalescence of faith and work must derive from a different book than the Bible. The Bible begins with a God at work who quickly, it seems, commissions humans to join in and take the narrative forward. As pastors, are we equipping the congregation for the other "nine-tenths"? Or are we overly concentrated with pulling off one hour a week on Sunday morning?

We've never had more tools for this topic than we do today. We stand on shoulders from the recent past such as Abraham Kuyper, the 20th-century Dutch journalist, theologian, and politician. His famous proclamation, "There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry: Mine!" is the reminder that should resound in the ears of every Christian in the work force.

More recently, we have helpful guides in scholars such as Richard Mouw, Steven Garber, and Miroslav Volf; pastors such as Tim Keller, Jon Tyson, and David Kim; writers such as Dorothy Sayers, Gabe Lyons, and Skye Jethani. And there are dozens of others doing important work and creating excellent resources on this topic.

Yet despite these significant voices, does the average congregation grasp even the essentials to create a richer vocational imagination? I suggest these essentials lie in understanding the following questions:

Identity: Who has God called us to be?

Two significant obstacles stand in the way of advancing faith at work for our congregations. The first is that far too many are over-identified with their work. In other words they view work as the context to achieve identity rather than express identity. When our identities are not settled in Christ, we subconsciously put them up for negotiation—and that negotiation is usually based on our "success" or "failure" we experience in the marketplace. Am I good enough? Is my future secure?

There are few environments that bring together so many disparate people for a unified purpose than the church.

But what we search for most through work is already ours in Christ. To be sure, there is a place for these internal conversations, but when they become driving obsessions, our identities hang in the balance. When the work of Christ ceases to be our grounding, we grab onto whatever we can as forces of meaning. And the word for this is bondage. Until Christians in the work force find freedom from over-identification, they will only view work as meaning, while never getting around to approaching work as mission. This is where our church ministries can help disentangle them from that illusion.

The second obstacle we must come to terms with is that most congregations are under-empowered. In churches where the staff oversee all the ministry, it is no wonder that congregations feel spiritually paralyzed at the office. Many feel they have never been released and resourced to effectively make disciples beyond Sunday.

Outside of sporting events, entertainment gatherings, and the DMV, there are few environments that bring together so many disparate people for a unified purpose than the church. In any given congregation, there are representatives of each major industry present. In our church context, we create salons throughout the week by pairing a lay member up with a pastor to facilitate discussions on various industry specific issues. The salons allow the congregation to reimagine their particular industries in light of biblical truth. The pastoral presence helps guide the conversation theologically, while a designated lay member leads the conversation pragmatically.

More often than not, this produces robust discussions and naturally leads to intercessory prayer. From there we often hear accounts of the Holy Spirit inspiring new ideas, initiatives, and innovations. It is then up to the members to remain accountable and continue to meet at their discretion.

Shifting our congregations from the posture of occupational over-identification to security in Christ, and from feeling under-empowered to the place of vocational commission is a necessary first step. As the Franciscan, Richard Rohr, once said, "When you get your 'Who am I?' question right, all the 'What should I do?' questions (begin to) take care of themselves."

Equipping: What must the congregation know?

The first thing we want our congregations to know is that as much as they may care about their industries, God cares even more than they do. This is inspiring. Paul writes that creation itself longs for the revealing of the children of God (Rom. 8:19ff). And this revealing isn't arbitrary. It carries with it the expectation that we, as God's image bearers, will finally receive our call to steward the earth as God intended.

Faith at work is relational (people-centric,evangelistic) before it is structural (equal pay,good work conditions).

Second, we want our congregations to know faith at work is relational (people-centric, evangelistic) before it is structural (equal pay, good work conditions). We often pursue structural renewal with little regard for relational transformation. I often hear zealous pastors with good intentions use the language of "industry renewal," but few articulate what this would actually look like. Furthermore, much of the renewal insight offered is applicable only to the top tier of the workforce who sit in positions of significant structural influence. In this framework, most congregations in the work force wrongfully conclude joining God in cultural transformation as both elitist and unattainable.

What we find at the heart of every industry (including the tech industry) are people. And people are the hinges that swing wide the doors of cultural change. Cultural transformation begins internally, within the hearts of people, and then manifests externally into society. The simple fact is that renewed people renew industries. Therefore, reclaiming winsome evangelism as a part of cultural renewal is vital to the whole.

Now, at this point you might argue, "And are you suggesting that coworkers must become Christian before common good such as fair wages and gender equality can be pursued?" No, but let's not forget that the Bible teaches us that in the future every knee will bow. I am suggesting the road to human flourishing is holistic, and in our time evangelism has been omitted as an imperative in the work place. In fact, it is usually the last thing Christians get around to, if they get around to it at all. Furthermore, when the Spirit of God dwells in the hearts of people, equality, reconciliation, and flourishing work conditions becomes more plausible.

Many in the Western church have forgotten that, through the power of the Spirit's work, we are God's design for cultural transformation. For some mysterious reason, God has always empowered broken yet redeemed people to renew society. I'm not convinced many congregations in America believe Jesus was talking to them (and not just clergy) when uttering the Great Commission.

Here is where this gets difficult. Because faith at work is highly relational, our congregations must know that being faithful precedes being fruitful. In a post-agrarian context, this a hard truth to swallow. We expect instant fruit. And if we don't see it in our timeline, then we think something must be wrong.

"Lord, save me from spectacular," Henri Nouwen cried. Many have heard inspiring testimonies such as New York's Businessmen's Revival or tales of the Clapham Sect. These capture the potential of what God can do. Yet my fear is that most struggle to reconcile their ordinary work experiences with the spectacular stories they hear. So they don't do anything. They learn of the glorious movements in times past, and disqualify themselves based on their mundane everyday lives. Few recall that the Businessmen's Revival began with just six people who showed up (late, I might add) to pray for the marketplace. And they forget the entire Roman Empire was brought to its knees in the fourth century because of the faithfulness of a few praying in an upper room in the first century.

'Lord, save me from spectacular," Henri Nouwen cried.

Every spectacular moment in the kingdom is preceded by days, months, and even years of faithful sowing. Beauty is only made manifest after much toil. The farmer spends months attending carefully to the field before expecting a harvest. It is no different with cultural renewal. If all we are after is the spectacular, we will neglect the ordinary moments to sow the necessary relational seed that makes the harvest possible.

Action: What should the congregation do?

Ten years ago Elaina, my wife, landed her dream job in New York. While working at an architecture firm on Wall Street, at times her team labored 16-hour days to make their deadlines. As the only Christian in the office, it felt peculiar to her that she was the one her coworkers confided in when life crises arose. I like to think of her as the Brother Lawrence of the interior design industry.

These crisis moments opened doors for her to share the gospel as the solution to whatever they were facing. Years later, she crystalized why they entrusted her with their darkest moments in three words: Grumbling, Gossip, and Glory.

She explains, "In some ways, being light has never been easier." Elaina had resolved to never grumble to her coworkers about the work load, to refuse to partake in office gossip, and to commit to vocational excellence in every project, believing excellence glorifies God. Over time, redemptive moments naturally surfaced when sowing these three values in the workplace. She believes when we commit to these ways, over time people view us as trustworthy and our truth claims become credible. It is in that moment when cultural transformation becomes possible at every level.

This isn't spectacular. But it's faithful. And being faithful is always the foundation of spectacular.

In response to Ellen's plea for a few of us to join in resolving her coworker's plight, within two days she arrived to work carrying a sealed envelope. Laying it on her coworker's desk, Ellen informed the woman that there were a few folks at church who believed in her comeback. Later that day Ellen sent an email to those who supported the cause. It read:

Being faithful is always the foundation of spectacular.

"So thankful to share the story of today with you. I wrote a letter to her this morning, and put the full amount in the envelope. I wrote of grace being a free gift, that she is indebted to no one, and that all who gave did so out of the belief that they've received that same but infinitely greater gift of grace from God. When she came in and read the letter, she called me to her office and embraced me weeping. She said she'd never received unconditional help before, and that it was the most profound thing she's experienced. 'Thank God, thank God,' she kept saying. She is now able to stay in her apartment. She has a promising job interview next week.

"Later in the day, another coworker came to me with tears in her eyes and hugged me. The woman had told her what transpired, and said, 'Not only have you changed her life, but you've revived my faith as well.' Just last night she had told her husband that she felt her faith in Jesus was dead. She said that in all her life she had never seen such a thing, and it reminded her of truth."

We are attracted to stories of hope like these because of the conclusion. Yet we only get to the spectacular ending by starting with a routine, relational beginning.

For 10 months Ellen simply showed up to work, her ordinary job, with an ordinary team. And at the right time, it was appropriate to move out in faith to display the grace of God. It is the simple, mundane moments which create bridges of trust that change the world. Renewed people renew culture.

As we equip our congregations for faith at work, perhaps the question isn't "Where is God on Monday?" Maybe, instead, we should wonder, "Where isn't God on Monday?"

AJ Sherrill is pastor of Trinity Grace Church in Manhattan, New York.