Brian White
WBS Board Member
I was blessed to be raised in a faithful Christian home as a child. My father was an elder in the church and my mother was a Bible class teacher and active in loving and serving others. We were extremely involved in our church family, but I attended public school where I was the only Christian I knew of and most of my school friends experimented with (or recreationally used) alcohol and drugs. That is when the pressure to compartmentalize my life began.
When I graduated from college and embarked on my career, I found myself being on my own, living in a new city, forging new relationships. I was trying to be successful working 60 hours a week in an accounting firm that valued profits, long hours and a selling out of everything else in life in order to ultimately “make Partner” and be financially secure for life. Yes, I encountered good moral people who were kind and demonstrated honesty and integrity. However, my colleagues were generally not led by their faith, nor focused on transforming themselves into disciples of Jesus.
Why Does It Matter?
It matters because most Christians find themselves in a similar workplace environment. At work, we are isolated and alone on an island surrounded by the world — enticing us to conform to its values and practices in order to ‘be successful’ and be elevated into more lucrative positions of management and leadership.
We find ourselves becoming chameleons trying to look like them, walk like them, talk like them and work like them – all without overtly violating our Christian values. We strive to “win at their game, in their way” while trying to “do no wrong” by Biblical standards. The question we must ask ourselves is, “am I serving God at home and church, but serving man at work?” Let it never be.
Compartmentalization
The pressure to succeed at work, leads most of us to compartmentalization – an approach to life where we adopt different personas for different areas of life. We try to be faithful and ‘spiritually locked in’ at worship on Sunday, Bible class on Wednesday and at devotionals, fellowships and church retreats. We truly desire to be faithful Christians – walking, talking and acting like Jesus in those settings. But the workplace is just ‘different’ … right? So, we resort to just keeping our faith and spiritual walk to ourselves during the work week. Consequently, we are on our own to fight-the-fight against the temptation of ‘conforming to this world’ (Romans 12:2) to succeed at the game of business, and we rationalize our way into compartmentalization.
Faith Integration
Living a compartmentalized life doesn’t work! It’s lonely, it’s discouraging, and it saps the JOY that Jesus offers in His promise that we “may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). Maintaining two separate lives is hard – it’s heavy. It’s also inconsistent with the most important commandment to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). How are we doing that if we ‘back-burner’ our faith while in the workplace? So where do we turn to learn how to live a faith integrated life?
When Jesus chose his apostles, He didn’t apply a model of “a sermon on Sunday and a midweek Bible class on Wednesday” to grow the faith and transform the lives of His disciples. He didn’t just lecture them with the truth and then send them on their way to figure out for themselves how to apply it to their specific, individual lives. He walked ‘alongside’ them – every day, in the marketplace, along the walking paths, at meals and during major life events. He mentored and counseled them through daily situations in order to wisely apply spiritual principles in teachable moments.
It’s easy to sit and passively listen to spiritual truths being taught from the pulpit, or to even participate in a class discussion answering questions posed by a Bible class teacher among likeminded Christians. What is hard is to have a faith that works (James 2:14-24) when you are isolated among co-workers who might label you as a narrow-minded intolerant Bible-thumper, or who can influence or hinder your next promotion.
In those times, we need a strong foundation of faith and a proven spiritual support system of mentors we lean into who understand us well enough to exhort, train, and develop us. This gives us the confidence to truly rely on Jesus’ promises, rather than buckling under the pressures to conform to the world and retreat into compartmentalization.
How Do We Do That?
Integrating your faith into the workplace is challenging. Professional athletes have personal coaches, CEOs retain executive coaches, and the apostles in the first century had a teacher and mentor in Jesus. We need to seek out spiritually mature mentors who can guide, challenge and exhort us in the application of Christian principles in all aspects of our life – including the workplace! Bottom line – they can help answer our questions … and question our answers!
I encourage you to seek out experienced spiritually mature mentors who can offer seasoned counsel through trying times, exhorting you to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). We must never allow ourselves to be “Christians at home, but employees at work” – we never take the Christian hat off! Trusted spiritual advisors will exhort you in the spiritual disciplines as you integrate your faith at home, among your church family, and yes, even in the workplace – thus helping you THRIVE as God intended.
Finally, not only should we seek out mentors to help us, but we should be concerned for the interest of others (Philippians 2:4; Mark 10:45), striving to be a mentor and encourager. Even our own failures can become valuable experiences when the learnings are applied and then shared with others. When you seek opportunities to mentor others, it will make you a better ‘mentee’, but you will also experience personal, professional and spiritual growth through that relationship as well.
In my 30+ year business career, I learned that even secular business leaders find the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) to be REMARKABLE and highly beneficial in the workplace. Like Daniel, when we practice Godly principles while performing at high levels, God will be honored and glorified – even among nonbelievers!
Artisan Leaders is program being launched in 2025 by a group of Christian entrepreneurs, focused on effectively “integrating our faith into the workplace”. Learn more.
