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Your Workplace Is Your Mission Field
In my last column, I mentioned that while putting my husband through seminary, I spent nine years working for a subsidiary of a S&P 500 company. And although for the past twenty years I’ve been in vocational ministry, I’m grateful for what I learned in my so-called secular job. Here’s my encouragement to those working for a living—whatever the vocation: Know that your ultimate employer is the Lord. Paul advised the Colossian believers, “Whatever you are doing, work at it with enthusiasm, as to the Lord and not for people” (Col. 3:23). If God is the one for whom we ultimately work, we can’t get lazy as soon as the…
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Job or Ministry—Must It Be One or the Other?
While putting my husband through seminary, I spent nine years in the financial services sector working in Human Resources. The parent company has morphed and divided, but basically it’s an S&P 500 company. So, as you can imagine, we had quite the food chain going. Initially, I thought of myself as “working a secular job” while my husband was preparing for ministry. I certainly did not view myself as being “in ministry.” Never mind that I had multiple opportunities to minister to my fellow workers—one lost her sister-in-law when a worker in her home murdered her. One guy was surprised I expressed empathy when his marriage ended due to his wife’s…
