For people in your church, it is crucial to investigate its significance as the average worker spends at least 40 percent of their waking hours in some form of employment. Based on more than 150 countries surveyed globally under “The World Poll,” analytics and advisory firm Gallup found what they call to be one of the “most important discoveries Gallup has ever made.” Jim Clifton, CEO of Gallup, says in his book The Coming Jobs War,
More than anything else, humans yearned for love, money, food, shelter, safety, peace, freedom. The last thirty years have molded us. People today want their children to have a decent job as well as themselves. For world leaders, this alters all. Everything they do—from waging war to creating societies—will have to be done within the new framework of the need for a decent job.
Clifton’s application is for “world leaders,” but as a church leader your implication is just as crucial. Regardless of their cultural, geographical, or socioeconomic background, this data shows that work dominates almost everything else in people’s life. Work comes above love, money, food, and shelter!
If you care about what people care about, this general attitude—driven by different reasons—is hard to overlook. If work takes such a significant role in most people’s life—surpassing even love, based on the statistics—then it must become a vital backdrop for discipleship. Furthermore, since your congregation members value a good job so highly, discussing employment offers a special chance to fulfill one of their basic needs.
Work as Context for Heart Change
The cause of this need differs as well. For those severely impoverished, survival may be the motivation for their need. For those yearning for self-actualization, it might be more about meaning. Whatever the reason—geographic, economical, or cultural context—work counts significantly. Work, then, is the last realm you have to pass through to bring your people to a closer relationship with God. Those in your church family will almost certainly never undergo complete heart transformation without a focus on work.
Given the importance people have to their jobs, it is not shocking that they also cause a great deal of stress. Over 85% of Americans said they experienced work-related stress in 2017; just 30% of people globally said they were totally engaged at their jobs. A recent New York Times piece on money and happiness notes a study concluding “work is the second-most miserable activity; of 40 activities, only being sick in bed makes people less happy than working.”
Work then causes suffering as well as a fundamental need. This gap demands the gospel to be relevant in the very field where individuals spend much of their time and energy. They need assistance in harmonizing their daily experience with what the Bible says about labor. Work is the very stage where God meets and changes your congregation, sanctifying them among all the ups and downs; it is the platform with intrinsic problems and rewards.
Whether your church members work in construction sites, banks, schools, companies, or any other field—they will go through great suffering, delight, uncertainty, and conflict. You can help people see their work as a context to push into their connection with Christ, as an opportunity to reform or alleviate damaged systems, and as a means of analyzing their relationships and interaction with colleagues, rivals, and subordinates.
Work Contextual for City Impact
Apart from being a means of on-ramp for heart transformation, emphasizing faith-and-work integration can inspire Christians to influence their local communities and cities all week.
Certainly you want those in your church to change your city. Labor week after week on sermons and instruction can be quite taxing when you discover that daily life of your congregation is unaltered. Work is a focal point for urban transformation.
Workers spend over 2,000 hours a year at their jobs; they only spend roughly 50 hours annually at church and around 52 hours annually volunteering in other NGOs. Still, most churches concentrate on volunteer labor and/or alliances with charity organizations when they develop projects and initiatives to influence the city. Imagine the impact if the additional 1,948 hours per month were used for Christ through your congregational everyday operations. Matthew Kaemingk and Cory B. Wilson say in their book Work and Worship,
The complex calls and professions of the five hundred other people seated in the pews will rejuvenate the city instead of five church planters and five nonprofit executives. The local church’s goals go beyond a one-time outreach event. It is not confined to one missionary person. It’s all-inclusive, complicated, and pluriform. The varied labor of every individual living all around the city reflects the mission of the church.
Your church cannot rely just on a few hours of participation from members, who, after employment and family, have little time to spare, if it wants to really influence your city and battle against the immorality and brokenness in the community. Attempting to transform a neighborhood with just volunteer hours burdens your congregation and you unnecessarily.
But consider the probable knock-on effects in your community if you equip your church family to include their faith into their work. Your church could become a potent catalyst for citywide renewal and influence when you urge them to work for renewal in government, finance, education, healthcare, the arts, manufacturing, media, technology, and transportation.
