Our upcoming Men's Breakfast is all about integrating our faith and our work. Significant pressures in our culture work together to encourage us to relegate our faith to the private and personal aspects of our lives, while making it a taboo subject for polite, public conversation. This is all the more complicated in our places of work, where discrimination issues are in play, and we legitimately want to avoid offending anyone that we have to work with on a daily basis. One effect of this pressure is for us to compartmentalize our lives into separate "religious" (or "sacred") and "secular" segments. Some things-- like Bible study, prayer, evangelism, and worship-- are sacred; other things-- like work, gardening, household maintenance, and recreation-- are secular. Our faith has little to do with them... or so we think.
Yet many Christians are trying to resist the pressure to force life into "sacred" and "secular" compartments, who see even the tiniest activities as inherently spiritual because, "whether they eat or drink or whatever they do, they want to do it for the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31). For people like this, what difference does is actually make that they are Christians at work? How can they do their work "Christianly" in a way that is distinct from a purely "secular" point of view? How can work itself-- whether balancing books, building walls, representing a client, or washing dishes-- be "ministry"? How can the kingdom of God be increasingly manifested in the culture of our offices, departments, and companies as it is in heaven? How do we do all of that without being the annoying "proselytizer" in our places of work?
These are the types of issues we want to explore through the "Faith & Work Initiative," the new ministry we are working on launching in cooperation with other churches and ministries in Denver. Our Men's Breakfast on Saturday the 14th will introduce this ministry and the kinds of issues it seeks to address. You'll be introduced to a kingdom vision for Denver through the presence of Christians in their workplaces throughout the city; a biblical framework for work/vocation; and the purpose, vision, and activities of the Faith & Work Initiative. You'll hear testimonies of a few people, some from DCC and some from other churches, who have participated in the early prototype discipleship groups of the Faith & Work Initiative, and you'll be challenged to think through your next steps for what it looks like to follow Jesus at work.
Tony Blake, a DCC deacon, will be one of individuals who will share. Tony is Vice-President for Recruiting at DaVita, a Fortune 500 company providing kidney care services through dialysis treatment by operating 1,777 dialysis facilities, serving approximately 138,000 patients. Tony explains his own growth in these "faith and work" issues recently. "The last couple years I’ve thought a lot about how I can better bring my faith to my work. Part of this desire is to feel more purpose in my work, and part is to be a better 'Kingdom ambassador' and to feel that I’m living for Jesus 24x7." Addressing this all-too-common "sacred-secular dichotomy" he explains, "I really want to break down the walls between my 'work' life and my 'ministry' life-- which can be especially challenging for an 'HR guy' who has to be seen as 'fair and unbiased' at all times."
By breaking down these barriers while remaining fair and unbiased, Tony has intentionally sought to create a culture in his department and throughout DaVita as a whole that honors Jesus and expresses values that are informed by his faith in Christ. He truly sees his work as ministry. "There are 168 hours in a week, and I work about 1/3 of them. My hope is that if I can live missionally at work (where I spend so much time) that I will be able to more effectively carry this over to other facets of my life. After all, 'mission' isn’t just something we DO, it should be how we think and live."
Hear more from Tony and others on this topic as we introduce the new Faith & Work Intiatitve at our January Men's Breakfast. Get the details and register here.
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