“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.
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