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Christian Discipleship in the Workplace

“The Church is for discipleship. But discipleship is for the world. And the World is God’s” were helpful words by the theologian and philosopher Dallas Willard that I came across this morning (Oct 16, 2014). I am in a season where God’s call for me has led me far away from “home” to working for a utility company, charged with powering people for better lives. The last statement may be a cliché for Kenyans, but this is for another day. Having only graduated a few months ago with a Masters degree in theological studies, is the salvation of souls any more important than Christian discipleship? This forms the central problem for our topic of conversation today with different schools affirming an either/or response instead of a both/and response that is indispensable for the workplace. A corrective answer is that God’s call over our lives affects both our past and our future lives, all spheres of our lives are sacred because God’s presence is everywhere. Such a right understanding of God, ourselves and salvation can provide a healthy framework of Christian discipleship in the workplace.[1]
In the quoted statement above, I shall begin my essay in a roundabout manner to fit Dallas’ framework. I shall begin with how our idea of God, or lack thereof, shapes our worldview. Secondly, I shall delineate the role the church plays or should play in discipleship and lastly, how Christian discipleship can shape the world and more specifically, shape our workplaces. More broadly defined, workplace may be considered as the place where we practice our professions or more specifically, vocation. I shall expound on this later.

The Big Idea

            Our contemporary society’s addiction to the new and big ideas is as old as humanity itself. The human experience, given its unique context in different historical times, is perhaps captured by novelty for its time, new advances and new things. Man himself grounded in his unique reality somehow assumes that all that he experiences is totally unique to him. Different people attribute different things to “the big idea” of their time. In distant times, it was God who was central to all of time; at other times in the middle ages, power and authority were king. The rational abilities of man were embraced by the pioneers of the enlightenment and emotional romanticism courted afterwards upon the failure of rationality as the big idea. It has been said that Nairobians thrive on drama. Drama, especially in the manner in which many love to watch television series, is the big idea of the day.
            Whatever our big idea is drives us as a people. For the follower of Jesus Christ, God is her big idea. He is the sun around which the stars revolve; the source from which the tributaries of life flow. Our idea of God influences how we view life. If God is non-existent, then we bring his non-existence to our workplace and we become a people who want to de-god God. In this de-goding, at the heart of the matter, we become the prime centers. It’s all about us, our opinions and our achievements. For the person who sees god as among the powers of the universe, not related to his day to day activities, then the workplace becomes the stage upon which he plays. The follower of Jesus, by extension, daily seeks how to become more like Jesus in light of new challenges and experiences that he comes across in the workplace. The big idea in the biblical account is the idea that God has created mankind (even work was created as good); that man has sought to establish a life without God (fall of man); that God has responded by offering a restoration to the initial perfect purpose (restoration of man) and that He will bring everything to its proper end (consummation). The follower of Jesus finds herself in the middle of this drama, grounded upon the reality of Jesus Christ, his first coming, his life and his second coming.
In effect, discipleship becomes the process of continuously asking “how would Jesus live my life were it His?” In effect, just as the wheel and axle work together, discipleship is a two-fold mix of human freedom and divine grace. It is doing or being all that we are in Christ Jesus. It is both a posture of heart, a posture that realizes that we are recipients of grace and mercy and also a response on our part, whose end goal is conformity to looking like Jesus. Discipleship emphasizes salvation by impressing upon us a continual walking and following, and not just a sitting, in order to aid in becoming: to aid in being like Jesus.[2] Yes Jesus Christ has done it all for us, but how can I see that newness play out in my life?
Our problem in the first place is solved because we now see that salvation is only the beginning of a lifetime of discipleship. Biblically, the Old Testament together with the New, affirm this idea of discipleship. The conditional clauses prevalent in scripture as well as the commands to do or to be, are guidelines to character formation, spiritual formation (Exod. 20:1-17; Ezra 10:10-14; Ps. 41:1-3; Jn. 8:31-32; Phil. 4:8-9). The “if you do this, then I will do this and that” of scripture is not meant to foster a robot-like following of rules, but it is to get us to a place where we do those things willingly: It is to get us to a place of character transformation.

The Church as Classroom

            And transformation is meant to find fullness in community – Loving God and loving others with the whole of life. The church as a community of disciples, hence becomes a classroom where the students learn from the master Teacher himself, reminding one another of the lessons learnt and having the whole field to play around and see how the lessons are applicable in the domain of life. No wonder the writer of the Hebrews reminds the followers of Jesus not to lose the habit of meeting frequently in order to aid one another in character transformation. Since the church is the bulwark of truth, then the body of believers are accountable to one another to encourage and affirm one another in character transformation.
            Yet, many churches are unaware of the role of discipleship in character transformation. Too many church leaders are concerned about numbers of saved souls with the neglect of numbers of sold-out disciples for Christ. Is it no wonder then that we have larger numbers of Christians and so much corruption? Asked another way, how come tribalism is still an issue in the workplace where there are many professing Christians? Yes, sin is still a reality that affects even regenerated Christians.[3] But if we are among those that know Jesus, then our lives gradually are transformed as we overcome inbuilt weaknesses and as we pursue the goodness of all of God’s glory – in creation, in history, in our souls and in our lives (Ps. 16:11; Rom. 8:28-29; 2 Pet. 3:17-18). Anchored by such truths then, we can be able to flourish in the workplace (at the character level as much as in the intellectual or material levels) and be signposts that point others to Jesus Christ.
            In effect it isn’t that those who are in full-time ministry are better off than those who aren’t. Everyone has an important part to play more like the strikers and the defenders in a football team are differentiated but both necessary for a successful winning formula. The role of teachers and preachers is to equip the saints for works of service (4:11-13). Therefore, the role of the church in discipleship is central, preceding the effectiveness of Christians in the workplace. The effectiveness of Christian witness is founded upon the realization and implementation of the various gifts and talents that have been accorded to all of us. The diversity of people in the church should not be an excuse for division but a call to unity. It is this unified witness, this unified collaboration that can revitalize the saltiness and illumine the light of this kingdom that we represent. This kingdom is already here and will also be realized fully in the future. The church as a community of believers then is a melting pot in which discipleship can pepper fallen humans with divine graces and abilities to walk in a manner worthy of the message of gospel transformation.

The Mission Field of Workplace

            How does the gospel, and Christian discipleship shape our conceptualization of the workplace? To be honest, I sometimes do not know how to answer the question “what do you do?” Am I supposed to talk about my profession, or the things that I love to do or perhaps, in an evangelistic caveat, should I mention my relationship with Jesus Christ? In our contemporary situation of specialization in professions, we end up viewing ourselves too narrowly. Does my answer that “I am a certified accountant” mean that I do not have the ability to write literature or play music? When I answer “I am fish farmer” does this mean that I cannot pastor a church? Or that I do not like to deal with people? The idea that our jobs define us results in a myopic view that cannot help us to see the grandeur of God’s call on us to have dominion (Gen. 1:26-27). Of course, such dominion is not to look down upon subordinates in the workplace, but it is a call to reign, to be all that we are meant to be in the sphere of all that God has called us to be.
            Such calling is the idea behind the word vocation. John Calvin in his Institutes of Christian Religion captures the idea of vocation in a manner that is helpful for us, for me at least, in light of Christian discipleship in the workplace:
In everything, the call of the Lord is the foundation and beginning of right action. He who does not act in reference to it, will never in the discharge of duty keep the right path, and besides there will be no harmony in the different parts of his life. . . in following your proper calling, no work will be so mean and sordid as not to have a splendour and value in the eye of God.[4]
It doesn’t matter where one is called to. Christian discipleship in the workplace is the continual process of listening to God’s voice. One may end up in a kitchen or behind an office desk, perhaps it could be in the field, building traditional housing designs: God is here too. Since God is here too, there is great value and dignity in your work, in my work. Regardless whether one is wrestling with two vocations at the same time, or a specialist in a specific field, harmony in our tasks in the “workplace” is brought about by the stamping of God’s call upon one’s life.
All these things matter: Our idea of God, the church and the workplace. All are interconnected by the vast glory of God which transcends all of them but is at the same time immanent in all of them since He is the one who sustains all things for His glory. Our task then, which is a continual hearing and doing, is to reflect this glory in all that we do. We may not have it all figured out now, but we trust that His transformation of our lives through His spiritual presence within us, will reveal His glory to all creation, and specifically for us, in the workplace. The workplace is God’s mission with us, as His hands and feet in our vocation.
By way of encouragement in the words of Paul, my brothers and sisters in Christ “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” (Col. 3:17)

End Notes



[1] Dallas Willard lays out this framework in more detail by considering the three outlines as Theology, Anthropology and Soteriology in his “Taking Theology and Spiritual Formation in the Marketplace,” accessed on 16th October, from biola.edu
[2] I use salvation here to mean “the experiencing of new birth” to make my point. I am aware that there are different interpretations of the same.
[3] In theological terms, this is referred to as the doctrine of indwelling sin in the believer. Classically expounded by Paul in Romans 7, though a variety of interpretations exist.
[4] John Calvin, Institutes of Christian Religion.

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