Sent Together: Living and Sharing Your Faith In the Office

Before I retired, I avoided saying anything at work that made it obvious I was a church-going Christian. For example, in a conversation with a co-worker, I might think of saying, “A woman from my church said, …,” but would instead say, “A friend of mine said….” I would avoid the words “from my church.” 

I don’t think I was ashamed of my faith. I feared people would think they knew all about me based on one thing they knew – that I went to church. 

I wanted to be professional. It was easy to justify my faith-related filter. If I were honest, professionalism was not my reason. I didn’t filter out other things in my life – my children, husband, hobbies, and other things not strictly work-related. 

It was quite common to be left out of discussions because those in the discussion figured they already knew what I thought and that I was so closed-minded there was no use even including me. Because I went to church. 

It also broke my heart that sometimes people thought I would be mean and judgmental. Because I went to church. 

Early in the ‘80s, there were still a lot of people “in the closet,” fearful to reveal their homosexuality. I once happened to see a co-worker at the grocery store with his partner. For weeks, he avoided me. I was in HR, so I often needed to talk to people. Finally, one day in an awkward phone conversation, I said, “It’s okay, Joe. I know you’re gay, and it’s fine.” He said, “Well, I know you go to church and everything…” 

He thought I would be unkind to him because I went to church. So opposite of “They will know we are Christians by our love.” More like, “They will know we are Christians by our hate.”

I filtered my words because people would dismiss my faith. I was fortunate to work at a company filled with nice people. That meant co-workers dismissed me without saying anything aloud. When I said something that showed my reasoning was grounded in my faith. I could “hear” the reaction of “Isn’t that quaint?”

These were reasons I tried to avoid being too obvious about my Christianity. As I grew older, maybe because I worked with the same people for many years and our mutual trust grew, maybe through the work of the Holy Spirit (definitely!), quite a few years before I retired, I decided to stop applying the faith filter. If I thought of it, I would say, “A woman from my church…” or offer thoughts grounded in my faith – and attribute them to that faith. I am sure I was left out of some discussions and people prejudged me, but there were some positives, too.

If someone had a question about faith, they asked my opinion. One person even said, “I thought I’d ask you because it seems like you think about things and have good reasons, not just based on what the church says.” 

Some are called to take up vocations directly following Jesus’ mandate to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” (Mark 16:15). All are called to share the gospel – the good news, God’s love. One way to answer that call is to be open about our faith and worldview when the opportunity arises, or we feel God’s urging. 

We do not need to try to persuade others to believe what we believe or to “prove” that our faith-based opinion is right and theirs is wrong, or to embarrass or shame anyone.

Letting it be known that I was a church-going Christian, much like how I let it be known that I have a particular hobby or am a fan of a particular sport, opened the door to some heart-to-heart talks that would not have happened otherwise. Gently bringing it into a conversation invited curiosity and trust rather than discomfort or fear of unkindness. Don’t get me wrong! I blew it multiple times. When that happened, I asked for forgiveness.

We are God’s hands and feet in the world. Being open about my faith in the office was one small way I tried to do that. I thank God there were signs that my openness opened the door for a few people to become curious about faith. I am telling you this to encourage you if, as I did, you studiously avoid saying anything about your faith or Christian life at work. I encourage you to ask God to give you the courage to be open without being unprofessional. Ask him to give you the words and discernment as to when and where to use them. He will! It’s kind of amazing.