One of the great temptations in life is to divorce what we do from who we are called to be in Christ. We see this all the time in public discourse where people say they believe one thing in creed but in practice they promote something entirely different. They divorce what they say they believe from what they do. We have all been guilty of this, and as Christ-followers we must remain diligent to honor Christ in every endeavor. 

Not If, But How

While traveling with my family recently, we went into a store that sells containers of every kind imaginable. If we need to organize our office, they have containers. If our garage needs to be cleaned, they have something for that too. This store has a container for every room in the house to make sure things are divided according to purpose. 

This store teaches us that every item in our house belongs in a specific compartment, but there are differences between organizing our homes and organizing our spiritual lives. Our drill set belongs in a toolbox, but Christ is not a tool who can be restricted to a fraction of our lives. He is Lord, and we are called to carry his presence into every conversation, every work meeting, and every family dinner, because we cannot afford for any areas of our lives to be untouched by his presence. Our calling to share Christ cannot be divorced from our vocation because God, in his sovereignty, has placed us into our vocational settings for the purpose of advancing his kingdom. Therefore, the question is not if we should share our faith with coworkers, but how?          

I work for an evangelical seminary, so sharing my faith with coworkers has more to do with edification than persuasion. Some of my coworkers have been my instructors, and they are men and women who are committed Christ-followers. We share Christ with one another daily because our jobs exist for the purpose of training men and women to be leaders for the advancement of the Gospel. The purpose for my job is rooted in the command from Christ to share my faith (Matt. 28:19-20).  

However, how does someone share their faith with coworkers while working in a non-ministry setting? How do we share our faith with coworkers when our work environment discourages spiritual conversations? If you work in a “secular” setting, your job is not any less sacred than mine. In both settings, we are called to share our faith, and we need Christians in every sector of life because Christ is Lord.

Describe, Not Just Prescribe 

I believe the greatest testimony in life is not that God can set us free from drugs, alcohol, sex, or any other vice this world offers. If God can create this world “ex nihilo” (Gen. 1:1), he can set us free from these vices. The greatest testimony is that of every Christian, and it is the testimony that Christ, and Christ alone, is sufficient to satisfy our greatest needs. Many coworkers have heard a Gospel presentation, but have they heard specifically how Christ has transformed our own life?

When we think of evangelism, we often focus on prescribing truth claims about Christ. This is vital and necessary, but we must also learn to share the story of Christ’s redeeming power in our own lives.  

In most work environments, it is difficult to prescribe the Gospel to coworkers. In fact, our companies may provide guidelines about proselytizing at work, but this does not have to stop us from sharing our faith. Instead of focusing solely on presenting the Gospel as the prescription for our coworker’s spiritual ailments (which it is), we can look for opportunities to describe the transformation Christ has brought about in our lives.  

Non-Christians often get hung up on doctrine because they do not yet believe in the existence of a resurrected Jesus. Our coworker can argue with us about the virgin birth, but it is much more difficult for them to argue with us about our personal experience of being born again. They will have to either consider our testimony as true or consider us crazy, but God can do an incredible work in this tension.

Doctrine vs Testimony

Correct doctrine is absolutely necessary, but it is not the end goal. The ultimate goal is a personal, living, vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ, and correct doctrine positions us to know his character, presence, and will. The danger of false teaching is that it distorts the will of God and can put us on a path that leads to eternal separation from him.

Our aim is not simply to know truth claims about Christ, but our desire is to know Christ personally and to enjoy his presence for eternity. This makes having sound doctrine even more important because it is the vehicle that positions us to experience the majesty of Jesus’ character and presence. 

It is very important that our coworkers come to know the foundational truths in scripture, but they will be more attuned to the truthfulness of scripture if they are aware of the reality of our resurrected Savior. Describing the relationship we have with Christ can help open the spiritual eyes of our coworkers to realize he is a living God who is calling them to a personal relationship with him.

When our coworkers realize Christ has transformed our lives, this can cause them to wonder whether Jesus can do the same for them. As Christians, we know the answer to this question, but God might be using us as carriers of the Gospel to awaken our coworkers to the reality of our resurrected Savior. Let’s share with them the work Jesus has done in our lives, and then let’s watch him do a work in their lives.

A Testimony Worth Sharing

We have a testimony to share, and it is the message that our identity is found in Jesus, he has redeemed us from our sin, and we get to enjoy his presence for eternity. We have in Jesus everything our coworkers are trying to find in this world, and we can point them to Jesus by sharing with them what he has done for us. Let’s never underestimate the power of our testimony because each one of us was on a path toward hell because of our sin, but Jesus took the wrath of the Father upon himself and rose from the dead, and now we have been blessed “in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Eph. 1:13, ESV). This is a testimony worth sharing.