How to Share Your Faith at Work
Aug 28, 2020
Did you know that God wants to use you to share your faith with others, even at work?
Talking about God at work? Is that even allowed?
Yes, yes it is. It's more than allowed, it's a responsibility that you have as a Christian.
You have a responsibility to talk about God and to invite others to experience the same love of Jesus that you've experienced.
As a Christian, you have a calling on your life to share your faith with others and to spread the good news of Jesus Christ.
The call to share our faith comes from the Great Commission, the calling and responsibility to go out and make disciples.
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” – Matthew 28:19-20 NIV
The Great Commission isn’t just for pastors or super Christians at your church. And spreading the gospel isn't just for people with the gift of evangelism.
If you call yourself a Christian, meaning a follower of Christ, you also have a responsibility to go out and make disciples.
You have a responsibility to share the gospel and love of Jesus to others who have not received the gift of salvation yet.
Sharing your faith with others and talking about God at work is one way you can fulfill the Great Commission.
But sharing your faith at work? How are you supposed to share your faith or talk about God at work?
You may be thinking, 'Nobody at work mentions God.' 'It’s not socially acceptable to talk about religion or spiritual matters at work.'
Some of you may want to talk about your faith and God more at work but have no idea how to start.
You may be afraid of what other people will think of you if you talk about God at work. You may be worried of offending people by bringing up God in the workplace if they don’t share your beliefs.
If you want to serve God at work and help others know Jesus, it starts with making the decision to be bold and to stand firm in your faith.
It is Time to Share Your Faith With Boldness
So many Christians are afraid to talk about their faith or bring up the big G word, God, at work.
But in a world where so many other controversial topics have made their way into the workplace, we shouldn’t feel afraid to bring up the one thing that actually matters.
As things get more chaotic in the world around us, it is time to be bold as a Christian and to stand firm in your faith.
I believe we are living in a time where people are more open and hungry for God more than ever. As Jesus talks about in the book of Luke, the harvest is abundant but the workers are few.
"He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." – Luke 10:2 NIV
Are you going to be one of God's workers in your workplace?
If you are a Christian, God wants to use you right where you are in your current job or workplace to represent him. He wants to use you to spread the light and love of Jesus to others around you.
God needs you to accept the call to go out in your job, your harvest field, to share your faith and to make disciples.
But what will others think of me when I start sharing my faith?
When I was first saved, I was nervous about what others would think of me and my new relationship with God. I was so excited about my decision to go all in for God but I was worried that others would think I was weird or that they would judge me.
In a season where I was traveling a lot, my long plane rides across country were the perfect time to read my Bible.
But some days I worried what others would think of me. Some days I chose not to take my Bible out because I worried what the person sitting next to me, a complete stranger, would think.
One day where I chose not to read my Bible, God brought me to the verse below later that week and convicted me in the most powerful, yet gentle way.
“Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” – Luke 9:26 NIV
God showed me that I needed to be proud of my faith and not to hide it. He showed me that if I am ashamed to share my faith, he will be ashamed of me.
As I started to share my faith with confidence, I realized that the more I shared my faith, the more I realized that other people around me were also Christians.
I had worked with someone for about 5 years and we had never discussed our faith or God at work. One day as we were getting into my car to head to lunch after a client meeting, he picked up the Bible that I had left on the passenger seat.
“I didn’t know you were a Christian.” He said. Which led to both of us sharing our faith and experiences with God.
When you share, you give others an opportunity to share and you give God an opportunity to move.
What do you have to lose by sharing your faith?
Whenever you think about sharing your faith, it’s common to ask yourself, ‘What do I have to lose?’ and it can be easy to chicken out.
You may worry about sounding awkward. You may fear being treated differently because of your faith. You may be worried that you’ll get in trouble for talking about God at work with HR.
But asking yourself what you have to lose is the wrong question. The question you need to ask yourself when God is leading you to share your faith with someone is, ‘What do THEY have to lose’?
And if they don’t know Jesus, their life is at stake. They have their life and eternity to lose.
You may be the only person to invite someone to church and to experience the love of Jesus in their lifetime. Some people never grew up in church and if other people back down from sharing their faith, who is going to tell them about Jesus?
What if God has orchestrated you to meet someone at work, just so you can share the truth and love of Jesus with them so they can receive eternal life?
It is time to stop hiding your faith at work. It is time to stop worrying about what others will think.
“If you stand before others and are willing to say you believe in me, then I will tell my Father in heaven that you belong to me. But if you stand before others and say you do not believe in me, then I will tell my Father in heaven that you do not belong to me.” – Matthew 10:32-33 ESV
“Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven.” – Matthew 10:32-33 NLT
It is time to start sharing your faith with boldness. It is time to start focusing on what God thinks of you and how he wants to use you to bring others to Jesus.
If you need an extra boost of boldness, I encourage you to read Crazy Love by Francis Chan. He will encourage you to live all out for God and to boldly share the love and truth of Jesus with those around you. Click below to shop on Amazon.
So where do you start? How do you start sharing your faith at work?
Before you run around your office asking people if they love Jesus (which I highly don’t recommend by the way), you need to seek God and ask him to guide you.
Prayer
Start by praying to God and ask him to guide you through the Holy Spirit.
Pray and ask God how you can share your faith in your workplace. Pray and ask God to bring you divine encounters with people and opportunities to talk about him.
Pray for God to highlight certain people that need to hear your testimony or be invited to church.
Pray and ask God for wisdom and discernment. Pray and ask God for the right words and wisdom to share your faith when the opportunity arises.
“…for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what needs to be said.” – Luke 12:12
“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” – James 1:5
As you do your thing at work, you have to trust God to guide you when opportunities do come up. It may not happen instantly and it may take time with some people to develop a relationship before God prompts you to share your faith.
Tell Others What God Has Done for You
Sharing what God has done for you and your testimony of how you came to know God is such a powerful way to share your faith.
Sharing your testimony as a Christian is one of the greatest tools to share the power and love of God with others who may not know him yet.
When we share our testimony and what God has done for us with other Christians, it helps build their faith and reminds them what God is capable of.
While some people that don't know God yet may argue that God isn’t real, it’s harder to argue that your life and your experiences aren’t real.
Your life and your testimony are evidence of the power of God and what God can do, especially to others around you who have seen the change and impact in your life.
And the Bible calls us to share and tell others what God has done for us.
Jesus . . .said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” - Mark 5:19
The book of Psalms is full of praise, calling us to praise the goodness of God and to tell others all that God has done for us.
In John 4, Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at a well. He basically tells her that he knew she was committing adultery and told her that she could receive the living water of God where she would never get thirsty again.
This woman, astonished that Jesus knew these things about her, ran to tell others that Jesus knew about her life.
“Then the woman left her water jar, went into town, and told the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” – John 4:28-29
This led to many others in her town believing in Jesus and being saved. All because this woman shared what God had done for her.
“Now many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of what the woman said when she testified…” – John 4:39
When you start to develop relationships with others around you at work, they will start to notice that there is something special about you. They will start to listen to you and look up to you.
God will bring you opportunities to share your testimony or what God has done with certain people. Trust God to guide you and be courageous as you share what God has done for you with others.
You don't have to share your life story and all the things you struggled with right away. You can start small.
For example, I didn't always talk about how God helped me overcome drinking and sexual sin with others at work but I would often share how God brought me to my local church in San Diego where I met so many true, genuine friends and my fiance.
The Easiest Question to Ask - How Was Your Weekend?
If you aren’t ready to share your life story with others at work, you can start with the simplest question of all by asking people, ‘How Was Your Weekend?”
When I worked in public accounting, Mondays and Fridays were my favorite days to share my faith because the weekend was a natural topic that came up in most conversations.
So many people ask this question anyway and it’s up to you to be brave to actually share what you did on the weekend.
When it’s your turn to respond, this is the perfect opportunity to mention that you went to church on the weekend. It’s the perfect opportunity to mention the bonfire you went to with your friends from church.
It's the perfect opportunity to ask someone if they also go to church.
One Friday in the office, I was feeling particularly bored with whatever accounting memo I was writing at the time and was counting down the minutes until I could get on the road back home.
I found myself in the bathroom washing my hands and a lady came up next to me at the other sink. I hadn’t met her before but we found ourselves making the usual small chat for strangers that just met in the bathroom.
‘What are you up to this weekend’? she asked.
My Spirit instantly perked up. The perfect opening!
‘My women’s small group from church meets on the beach tomorrow morning so I’m excited to see everyone and spend time on the beach.’
The women’s eyes lit up and she started to ask more about my small group and which church I went too. Ten minutes later, we found ourselves still in the bathroom by the sinks talking about our faith in God.
It was like we were both so excited to have met another Christian in the workplace. We both felt inspired and we instantly connected over our love for God.
This was a divine encounter and it all started with talking about our plans on the weekend.
Other Conversation Starters to Bring Up Your Faith
Like I said before, you shouldn’t be running around your office asking people if they know Jesus. You don’t need to be weird about it and you don’t want to force it.
In addition to asking people what they did on the weekend, below are my top conversation starters that I use to bring up my faith in God naturally in a conversation.
With all of these questions, the key to bringing up God naturally is you. You must be bold and talk about your experience with God or your church when the time is right.
1) What are you passionate about?
People love talking about what they are passionate about and you can learn a lot about someone with this open-ended question. Sadly, you may realize right away that some people don’t have any passions at all.
As a Christian, God gives us passions and dreams to serve him and his Kingdom and to make an impact on this Earth. If someone doesn’t know what they are passionate about or have any interests outside of work, this may be an indicator that they don’t have God in their life.
When someone asks what you are passionate about, be ready to talk about the impact you want to have on the world and your love for Jesus.
2) What do you enjoy doing for fun outside of work?
You can learn a lot about someone by how they spend their time. Similar to passions, if someone has a relationship with God, their life should be full of things they do for fun.
When it’s your turn to respond, talk about all the fun gatherings you do at your church and with your connect groups.
3) What are you celebrating or most excited for this week?
Christians love a good God story. Here is your chance to share an exciting story or something you are celebrating and give God the credit.
Positivity is contagious. Even if people don’t know God, they will appreciate the positivity instead of the complaining or negativity a lot of people bring to the office.
If you don’t have anything super exciting going on, you could mention that you are excited for church or excited to see your friends at your connect group this week.
4) What do you think your purpose or calling is?
This question is huge! As Christians, we know we all have a responsibility to love God and to love others and to go out and make disciples.
We also know that God has specific plans for each one of us and calls us to unique assignments to make a difference for his Kingdom. If someone doesn’t know their purpose or calling at all, they may not know Jesus yet.
Be ready to talk about how God helped show you your purpose and calling in life.
If you are still struggling to understand your purpose at work or in this world, I recommend reading one of the books below. These books helped me discover my purpose in general as a Christian and God's specific calling for my life.
God at Work: Live Each Day With Purpose by Ken Costa
The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren
Consider the Lilies: Get Rooted In Your Destiny by Discovering God's Plan by Shari Rigby
Dream Big: Know What You Want, Why You Want It, and What You’re Going to Do About It by Bob Goff
5) What is one goal you are working towards this year?
Goals can tell you a lot about a person’s passions and interests. If someone doesn’t have goals or anything that they are working on in life besides earning the next promotion and making lots of money, that may be a sign that they are lost and don’t have God in their life.
Be prepared to share one of your many goals and how you want to make an impact in this world.
If you are unsure of what your goals are, you can use this free Spiritual Goals Worksheet to assess and set your own spiritual goals.
As a Christian, we should always aim to grow closer to God and to other believers in our local church. Assess and set your goals in 10 different spiritual areas with this worksheet that includes 46 example spiritual goals to consider.
6) If you could have any job in the world, assuming that you would earn money from it, what would it be and why?
This was one of my favorite questions to ask people at work. Since I knew I didn’t like accounting, I always dreamed of what else I could be doing instead and loved hearing people’s answers to this question. I loved how excited people would get when they would talk about something they were passionate about.
Similar to the questions above, if someone has no clue what they would do or what they are passionate about, it could be an indicator that they don’t have a relationship with God.
7) What would your ideal Sunday look like if you could do anything you wanted for the entire day?
If someone is a Christian, they should mention that they would go to church. If a person doesn’t mention church, you can always ask if they go to church as a follow-up after you tell them that your ideal Sunday starts with church and worshipping God with your friends and family.
If someone does mention church, that’s your opportunity to ask more about their relationship with God.
8) How can I pray for you?
We spend a lot of time with our coworkers and know the ins and outs of their personal lives over time. People go through exciting life transitions and also trials and seasons of loss.
When we see a coworker going through a big change or struggling with something, we should never underestimate the power of prayer.
Be bold and ask how you can pray for them in this season. Even people that don’t have a relationship with God appreciate the fact that you are thinking and praying for them.
These Questions Work Anywhere, Not Just at Work
These conversation starters work anywhere to start talking about your faith naturally in a conversation.
If you are single and looking to date someone that also loves God, these conversation starters also work well in the dating scene.
You can read more about Christian dating tips and how to bring up your faith in the dating world in my blog post, Single and Ready to Mingle: How to Bring Jesus into Any Conversation.
Trust God to Guide You
Whenever you bring up your faith in the workplace, you need to trust God to guide you. This is called discernment and being led by the Holy Spirit.
When you start talking about God or your faith, you need to pause and wait to see how the person reacts.
Some people will be curious and ask more about your church or your experience. Some people may change the subject and make it clear they aren’t interested in talking about God.
If people seem closed off, you can’t force it. You can pray and trust that God will soften their heart and bring more opportunities for them to receive Jesus.
But if people are interested, this is where you can ask questions to get to know them better. You can ask if they go to church. You can ask if they have a relationship with God.
If they seem particularly interested, you can even invite them to attend your church.
You have to trust that God will guide you. We cannot lead people to Jesus in our own strength. It’s the power and love of the Spirit inside of you that will guide you and give you the strength and knowledge to share your faith.
You could also offer to pray for them. You can ask how you can pray for them or you can even offer to lead them in a prayer if you feel led.
Now, I wouldn’t recommend having all these conversations in the bathroom by the sink.
If someone seems interested in learning more about your faith, offer to buy them lunch or coffee and chat outside of work.
It’s Time to be Bold for Such A Time as This
God wants to use you, right where you are to spread the love and truth of Jesus. Trust God to guide you as you step out in faith today to share your faith with others at work.
As you pray and ask God to present opportunities to share your faith at work, reflect on the following:
- Are you proud or ashamed to talk about your faith with others? If you are ashamed or have been hiding your faith at work, what has been holding you back?
- Has God already highlighted certain people at work to share your faith with?
- How can you share what God has done for you with others at work? How can you share your testimony or parts of your testimony to encourage others to seek a relationship with God?
- Who can you invite to attend your church this weekend?
- Who from your work can you pray for this week?
Be bold. Be strong and courageous. Step out in faith today and watch how God moves in the hearts of others.
Do You Want to Strengthen Your Relationship With God?
Learn how to grow closer to God and strengthen your relationship with him with this free Spiritual Goals Worksheet. With this worksheet, you'll be able to identify and learn how you can grow spiritually in 10 different areas.
Related Blog Posts
How to Fulfill Your Purpose at Work as a Christian
The 5 Things I Learned in the Corporate World That Changed My Life
Single and Ready to Mingle: How to Bring Jesus into Any Conversation
Are You Flexing Your Spiritual Muscles?
How to Make God Your #1 Priority
With Love,
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