Fear and uncertainty have never been the garments of the faithful.
Most Christian business leaders who attend church on Sunday have yet to experience the transformational impact of a small group of like-minded individuals who are committed to each other and seeking to grow and have a spiritual influence through their businesses.
Those who wonder what would happen if their Sunday beliefs were carried into Monday behaviors will experience the bonding with other business leaders as they grow in their faith, focusing on how to lead their company for Christ.
They will grow closer to the Lord. They will increase the value and impact of their lives, and more effectively reflect the love of Jesus across the platforms of their lives—business, community, family, and church.
Our culture needs leaders to demonstrate their faith through their lives, even in the workplace.
But Bibles get left behind almost every Monday. In this presidential election, the Word of God has been left out of the debates. I firmly believe the topic of the Bible belongs in the debates as well as the workplace.
I know a man who agreed with me. In fact, his Bible was likely on his desk during one of the greatest consumer-product crises this nation has ever seen.
This crisis, known as the Tylenol tampering incident in 1982, involved several deaths in the Chicago community, and sparked officials to broadcast urgent warnings over public broadcast systems and loudspeakers from police vehicles for weeks. A nationwide recall of the acetaminophen product was issued, involving an estimated 31 million bottles with a retail value of over $100 million. This crisis led to reforms in the packaging of over-the-counter substances and to federal anti-tampering laws.
The leader of the company, James Burke, didn’t separate faith and work. He carried his faith with him to work daily. He lived by its creed and truth. On those days, with his company under attack, our company president had been at work with his Bible—probably a big thick one—to lead and guide his path. As an entry level territory manager at McNeil Consumer Products Company, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, during this time, I had been on the very front line of the incident, and it was prayers and God’s Word that sustained us through it. The example of James Burke, who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his business leadership before he passed away in 2012, sustains me as a leader some three decades later.
God intends you to use your business experience to honor and glorify Him. This life is a journey with winding roads and peaks and valleys. Who else knows the journey better and can serve us as a guide on this path? Faith in the workplace is a non-negotiable. We are called to work and to live a fully integrated and balanced life. There should be no sacred and secular divide or split in living out of faith in the workplace and life. Eternal values should take precedent over temporal values.
Faith in the workplace can truly transform businesses, lives, communities and nations. We have to be bold, courageous, and lead with faith. A Kingdom leader is at his or her best when
- They are mature and equipped in their faith.
- They are a servant leader.
- They have the characteristics of humility, dependency on a greater power, sacrifice, forgiving, and able to surrender it all.
- They understand God is the sovereign one and in control of all things.
- They are motivated by the love of Christ and faith-focused.
- They have discovered a larger purpose for their work, business and life.
- They are family-faithful and truth-driven.
- They consciously focus on Kingdom capital and financial stewardship.
Don’t leave your faith at home or in the car. Transport it with you into all of life, even the workplace.
Editor’s note: This article was first published in a special report by the Institute for Faith, Work & Economics and The Washington Times entitled, “Faith at Work: Individual Purpose, Flourishing Communities.” Reprinted with permission.
