Workplaces offer “holy ground” to witness for Jesus, Bible expositor says Lausanne 4
INCHEON, South Korea — The first disciples were mainly workers in various trades and the workplace still offers sacred ground to be a “priestly presence” to witness for Jesus, heard delegates at the Fourth Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization.
These were the opinions of Julia Garschagen, Bible exhibitor at Lausanne 4 and director of the Pontes Institute for Science, Culture and Faith, also a guest speaker at the Evangelistenschule Johanneum in Wuppertal and co-leader of “truestory”, a digital youth outreach event in Germany.
“How did the Gospel spread so quickly and so widely in a time without the internet?” asked Garschagenbefore saying that it was due to “an often overlooked, very diverse missionary force, which is the people in the workplace who spread the Gospel.”
Garschagen pointed out that the Gospel initially spread quickly, as recorded in the book of Acts, through working people such as the Ethiopian eunuch, a politician who was employed as “a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure” ( Acts 8:27), or a saleswoman named Lydia, “a dealer in purple cloth (Acts 16:14), or Aquila and his wife Priscilla, who were craftsmen – the apostle Paul “was a tentmaker, as they were; .” (Acts 18:3).
“The Gospel traveled in the suitcases of politicians like the Ethiopian eunuch. It was handed down with the goods of saleswomen like Lydia,” said Garschagen, who said the importance of workplace missionaries today often goes unnoticed.
In her opinion, the first Christians accepted a synergy between work and Gospel testimony to such an extent that “Paul did not even bother to write a chapter on evangelism and the workplace.”
For Garschagen, the witness of people in the workplace is “mentioned everywhere. It is woven into the DNA of the mission of the early Church.” The significance of this fact is a valuable prototype for evangelistic strategy today because 99% of church members spend their lives in the workplace, she said.
When the first believers gathered in Jerusalem for Pentecost, Garschagen again noticed that they were people from different career backgrounds: fishermen, tax collectors, political activists and food industry workers. “They become the new temple of the living God,” Garschagen said, referring 1 Corinthians 3:16. She used the phrase “Heaven and Earth people” to describe this spiritual identity supporting working Christians.
Garschagen then examined how Paul and Silas were imprisoned in Acts 16 where the warden is doing his normal job looking after the two prisoners. However, these two men carried the presence of God, like part of the temple of the living God, embodiments of Heaven and Earth. As a consequence, the warden becomes a believer and continues his work but “his workplace becomes holy ground.”
“What we can learn here in Philippi is that we carry the presence of God wherever we go,” Garschagen said. “And if the jailer's workplace, a prison, can become holy ground because of the presence of two Christ followers, surely your workplace can also become a holy place.”
The division between the secular and the sacred has been removed, Garschagen said, reiterating the point: “Here in Philippi, we see that just like this jailer's prison, your office, your workplace, your company can become holy ground.
“You bring the presence of God to a meeting on Monday. You bring the power of God to your business on Tuesday, you embody Christ as you cut people's hair, as you teach, as you cook, as you do your scientific research, wherever you travel on a business trip or as a labor migrant, you bring with you the presence of God, just as Paul and Silas did.
This brings a different dimension to the workplace and a new dignity, according to Garschagen.
She referred a friend, working as a business consultant, who saw that her colleagues were not believers with no one praying or pastoring them. This acquaintance understood her workplace as a mission field with a responsibility to witness for the Gospel by praying and caring for co-workers.
Every workplace is different and there may not be scenarios to openly sing worship songs, or talk openly about the Christian faith, but Garschagen said there are plenty of opportunities to seek direction from the Lord for the organization itself, as well as pastorally care for colleagues as a “priestly presence.” “
“Ask the Lord for wisdom, creativity, courage and sensitivity, and ask Him to help you lead life so that people ask questions because they see your integrity.”
Garschagen gave a personal illustration of a Zambian hairdresser in London she knew who would pray over people's heads as she cut their hair and got to know them personally.
“I saw many people leave her salon transformed, not only because they had a new haircut, but because they also tasted the love of Christ through her priestly presence.”
Garschagen acknowledged before the delegates that being a “priestly presence” in workplaces brings various challenges. Integrity requires a level of courage. She related a story about another friend involved in a hedge fund that refused to agree to finance the arms industry, despite the large amount of money offered. His business partners saw him as a traitor for refusing the business opportunity. Being a priestly presence at work is therefore a “hard call”.
“It can come at the cost of your salary, your reputation, maybe even your entire career,” Garschagen said. “And it can feel stupid and naive like [Paul and Silas] singing hymns in a jail cell, but it has transformative power in your workplace.”
Garschagen believed that Paul did more than just make money when he joined Aquila and his wife, Priscilla, tentmaking, or possibly leathermaking in Corinth, as recorded in Actions 18. She hypothesized that Paul met personally, but professionally, the Jews and Greeks noted as being present in the synagogue when he preached every Sabbath.
Garschagen questioned why there were Greeks in the Jewish Temple and considered the thought that Paul became familiar with them as customers through his secular work.
“Perhaps they were his clients and his business partners,” Garschagen speculated. “Knowing Paul, he would spread the Gospel wherever he was and selling his wares.”
She offered imaginative perspectives on this possibility, such as Paul inviting clients to an evangelistic business lunch to talk about integrity in the business world or a dinner to discuss the meaning of life beyond careers.
Garschagen said Paul showed flexibility in his work life as a whole: one moment working at a trade and using it as an opportunity and the next moment devoting most of his time to preaching the Gospel after Silas and Timothy joined him.
“Paul was flexible as long as Christ was revealed and declared. And I think that is a guiding principle for the mission of the early Church throughout the book of Acts. We see that there is no division between the sacred and the secular. And that means there is no distinction in calling between laymen, full-time workers, part-time workers, whatever you are. There are no second-class citizens in the Kingdom of God.”
Garschagen speculated that the early Christians did not separate work life from other missionary activities: “Perhaps they would have said something like, well, if we are the temple of God, then we are all full-time for the Lord anyway in our work and in our work. life, wherever that work is and wherever this life and the Holy Spirit may lead us.”
The urgent point made by Garschagen, called the “incarnation principle”, is that Paul learned from Christ to become like others, to win them for the Lord, echoing. 1 Corinthians 9:22: “I became all things to all men, that by all possible means I might save some.”
“Leather worker to the leather workers, lawyer to the lawyer, cook to the cook, teacher to the teachers,” Garschagen said. “Programs will not win people's hearts. People will.”
For the Church today, exciting [development] actuality, is that Christians already work in these different spheres: as pilots, politicians, pharmacists and other occupations.
The key question is whether the Church recognizes this as a calling. Garschagen told delegates that this was a “word” to church workers with the labels of pastors, theologians, evangelists and preachers.
“We must be humble. The church is not a 'church.' We're not the cool kids who run the show. The church exists to train and love and equip and send the 99 percent of Christians who faithfully serve their Lord and master every day in their offices, their classrooms and their shops.”
Garschagen further suggested that churches reorient the emphasis of Gospel witness to learn from professionals, whom she called “workplace pastors.” She offered to give them space to be interviewed about their work, and to hold regular prayer meetings for them.
Again, she offered a personal illustration of a friend who had many praying for him as a church pastor, but no one prayed for him when he changed direction and became a businessman. The new scenario was more difficult and he met more non-Christians but “unfortunately, no one prayed for him anymore.”
“How about we bring together people of the same occupation in one space to think and pray about what it means to be a Christian salesperson or a Christian nurse or a Christian biologist? And how about the priests just sitting there and listening?”
Garschagen urged churches to consider developing a liturgy to commission people in their jobs as priests and reassure them of their value even if they do not volunteer in traditional church activities because they are fulfilling God's mission in another part of the Kingdom.
At the end of her speech, Garschagen invited delegates involved as working priests to stand and receive a prayer. Praying over them, she said:
“Lord Jesus, we are so grateful that we as a Church have so many different members, different cultures, different careers, different callings, but we are all united in the call to follow you and serve you.
“And today we especially want to commit our brothers and sisters to your hands, who faithfully work every day in the secular world. We honor them Lord, just as You honor them, we pray.
“Would you anoint them? Would you bless them? Would you give them courage? Would you give them stamina? Would you give them chances, Lord? And would you give them love and patience? And would you radiate through them, Lord, so that other people would ask questions?”
Originally published at Christian Daily International
Source: www.christianpost.com