“Going Public with your Faith” in the Workplace

 
“Going Public with Your Faith” by our pal, Bill Peel, is a great introduction to workplace evangelism as a process, not an event. It takes time to cultivate relationships that include an opportunity to present the gospel message, especially at work, where the majority of a believer’s time is spent. 

We recently completed a series of podcasts in which Bill talks about evangelism built on sincere relationships. You can hear the podcasts on your computer here. 

In his book, Bill quotes church growth experts Win and Charles Arn as saying, “Webs of common kinship (the larger family), common friendship (friends and neighbors) and common associates (work associates and people with common interests), are still the paths most people follow in becoming Christians today.” In a survey cited by the Arns, 14,000 people were asked, “What or who was responsible for your coming to Christ and your church?” The top response, given by 75-90 percent of the respondents was “a friend or relative.” We want you to be able to be that friend for a co-worker! 

Our workplace training and workshops focus on all four elements of workplace evangelism:

• Relationship building — Living as a Christian in the Workplace
• Pre-Evangelism — Speaking their Language
• Evangelism — Sharing the Good News and Answering Objections
• Coaching — Guiding a New Christ-Follower

Read Bill’s book!   Join us in our workplace training and workshops! Get ready!

God will use you!

Workplace Ministry FAQs

What does EvanTell’s “workplace ministry” do?
EvanTell’s Workplace Ministries creates and delivers training, coaching, specialized materials, and worldwide networking for believers no matter where they work. Our goal is to help believers share the gospel clearly and simply, based on authentic relationships with their co-workers.

Can we even do evangelism at work?
At work a person is supposed to work! So we approach workplace evangelism as relationship evangelism. As a believer trying to live the Christian life at work, enjoy your non-Christian friends; treat them with kindness, concern, and fun! Learn to “go public” with your faith. You can pray for your friends and for opportunities to present the gospel outside of work time. We can help you (1) build the relationship, (2) present the gospel clearly and simply, and (3) coach and support a new believer.

How do you tailor workplace ministries to my kind of work?
Because an oilfield worker and a nurse face completely different environments and challenges, here’s what we are doing:

• We’re joining forces with associations and networks of Christian believers in many industries. You can see those connections at www.thegospelatwork.org. From truckers to authors, there’s an association for you. You can sign up for their newsletters, events, and service activities and get tips directly from folks who know your environment best.
• We’re writing special materials for you. A tract is in process for real estate developers that helps relate issues their colleagues face to the gospel. We can do the same for your company or industry!
• Online training, distance learning, and DVDs can help you and your network of Christians fit training into your busy schedules. We even have worship programs for people who work on Sunday!

Draw People to Him, Not Away

A man who came to Christ, attributed his conversion to a very timid neighbor. The surprised neighbor said, “I never spoke to you about Christ the way I should have.” The neighbor answered, “No, you didn’t. But you lived me to death. I could refute arguments and upset logic, but I could not refute the way you lived.”

 Your life can have a powerful impact. In Acts 2 about 3000 people were converted. We are told, “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need” (Acts 2:42-45). The fellowship of believers was so close and so unified that they had all things in common.

Look at how their conduct impacted non-Christians. Two verses later it reads, “Praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”

Our lives in the workplace ought draw people to Christ, not drive them from Him. Unbelievers are often intrigued when they find out you’re a Christian and observe your work ethic, treatment of others, conscientiousness, integrity, and dependability. That opens up an opportunity for the gospel. Paul emphasized this when he wrote to the church in Philippi and commanded them, “Do all things without complaining and disputing that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:14-15). Nietzsche, a philosopher who proclaimed God was dead, said, “Show me first that you are redeemed and then I will listen to you talk about your Redeemer.”

Too often non-Christians say, “My neighbor says he is a Christian but he only lives it on Sunday morning.” They ought to say, “My neighbor says he is a Christian and he lives the life he preaches.”Your life shouts. What does it say?

Guest Blog: Mary Margaret Gibson – Back from Israel – Full of History

Every Christian should go to Israel, have a good guide, and be amazed! I just completed my first trip to Israel and I’ve got thoughts to process for many years to come. Someone asked me at lunch today what I have learned, and I know that I’ve learned more than I can explain, but I’ll try to give you a little overview.

Even tiny, tiny interventions of God go out into the centuries. I learned that the history that the archaeologists uncover under almost every foot of the ground relates to the truth of Scripture somehow, even if we don’t understand yet how God has planted each little thing for us to find. An example of this was the little plaque in a big Canaanite dig in Dan that said on it, “the House of David.” Buried for thousands of years, this little signpost was the first “find” that named the House of David and verified the existence of the King David of Scripture for those who had contended that he was a figment of the Biblical writers’ imaginations! It was a tiny love letter to the faithful who believe without seeing and confirmation for those who must see to believe.

I read the Bible with a different eye now because I’ve seen those places. Capernaum, excavated black basalt rock, was a little town back then, right up against the Sea of Galilee. It was so intimate that “finding” Jesus there was a matter of walking to the synagogue and opening one’s eyes!

Everyone was right there in the neighborhood, since the entire town was much smaller than a Walmart parking lot.

I see how a group of 5,000 men plus various family members gathered in one spot to hear the man from Galilee would be an immense crowd in that day. How alarming it must have been – Jesus was like a rock star! People tagged him, trying to get power from the decoration on his robe, and superstition became faith when his personality and power hurled sickness away and quietly revived someone’s little girl who had died. He was a walking miracle; a stunning invasion of the status quo; a marvel; a fearful threat to those who had invested their lives in claiming power over others.

I thought about the guys who had to take their blind friend, with Jesus-mud on his eyes, down to Siloam to wash. What happened to those guys? Imagine what they thought when their friend saw, really saw them! Did they just leave him there and run home – amazed and full of their story? How full of wonder Jesus was!

And when they killed him, they just did it the Roman way, by the road so people couldn’t miss the spectacle and get the message – if you want to fight the powers-that-be you’ll come to certain ruin, a wreck of a man, disfigured beyond recognition. Dead. They took his body to a place that might have been the place we saw, but then again, maybe not. Anyhow, he was truly dead. They put his body in a rock cave meant for someone else, and left him until the 3rd day when everyone was checked for dead-ness back then…no heart monitors…go put more spice on him, see if he’s dead. But he was gone – where? Where? What happened to all those soldiers? What? So, so, so the women said someone told them he was risen – not dead – alive. Has the Kingdom come?

You see what I mean? In the Garden of Gethsemane there are olive trees that are the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the trees that lived when Jesus lived. They are old and gnarled and in the way of all creation they are witnesses. The Bible says it, and it can be easily seen…Jerusalem was, and will be, the City of God. Go and see.

Guest Blog by: Mary Margaret Gibson

The State of Israel – God’s 4,000 Year Old Successful Start-up!

My recent trip to Israel coincided with the 60th anniversary of Israel’s statehood. In the scope of the number of years that God’s chosen have lived in the land, 60 years is a blip. But what a 60-year span it has been — a successful re-start that we can study to see God’s hand at work. Our Jewish cousins, upon whose Biblical foundation we stand, have succeeded in reclaiming a land, a people, and a dream.

It was great to celebrate the miraculous convergence of events and courage that resulted in the declaration of Israel’s statehood in 1948. The pioneers who came to the new state from the dispersion around the world even before statehood were persistent in the most difficult circumstances, buying land from Turkey that everyone thought was worthless and making it bloom. The hardy hopeful who were trying to create agriculture on top of limestone and desert had such physical and engineering challenges that we can hardly imagine them. The ink had not dried on their declaration of statehood before folk were taking up arms against them.

Over the last sixty years a testament to the sheer determination of free people has happened in the land of Israel. Only this country, in the history of all countries, has been able to successfully integrate millions of folk who did not know the language, arrived with nothing, and had limited future prospects because they had fled for their lives to reach their homeland. Many were highly educated, but poor. Some were secular, Jewish in heritage but not religion, some were tied to Jewish religious tradition through generations, some were Arabs who lived in the area declared to be Israel and who still live there – citizens in exactly the same way their Jewish neighbors are citizens. So many were coming, coming in waves, rescued, airlifted, willing to suffer passage in boats too small – it was an amazing migration. None of the effort really mattered to them – they were all coming home, going “up to Jerusalem.”

They had survived the worst that mankind could throw at other human beings. While almost the entire world sat in deadly silence they died in the Holocaust. When the world waked up and came to their assistance a generation of Europe’s fine Jewish heritage had perished. Every Christian owes every Jewish person an apology for the depth of suffering supported by our sins of omission. We all need to look at their subsequent “resurrection” as a nation and thank God for His mercy, His provision, and His grace. The Western world’s laws, religious heritage, culture, flowed out of their history into our daily lives.

Guest Blog by: Mary Margaret Gibson

The Gospel at Work

On an average weekday, full-time employees in America spend more time working than participating in any other activity – even sleep! Thus, it is no surprise that studies reveal the workplace is where non-Christians form their relationships. The people they interact with daily at work have an integral part in shaping their lives. For this reason, the workplace is full of opportunities for Christians to share the gospel, but most are too nervous to do it. No one has ever shown them how they can evangelize in the context of the workplace. This is truly a place where the harvest is ready but the laborers are few.

Through The Gospel @ Work, Mary Margaret Gibson will show working believers how they can share the gospel in their offices. Let her be your guide for workplace ministry and you will help Christians take the greatest news in the world to the place where non-Christians may need it the most. The workplace is where the gospel is desperately needed. We want every Christian in the workplace to be able to clearly tell anyone, anywhere how to spend eternity with God.