How can I be a true follower of Jesus Christ at work? Setting the scene – 1

Dear Friends,

Thank you for coming to read my very first blog! I am thrilled that you are here; I fully appreciate your time and I look forward to your continuing support on this platform.

This and subsequent blogs in this series are written to encourage and support Christians to become true followers of Jesus Christ in the place where they spend most of their waking lives, at work. In the current climate, we must also consider that the ‘virtual’ workplace is a reality for most workers.

Work is created to be beautiful

The Lord Jesus Christ commands, instructs, and expects all his followers to represent him wherever they are. We are His ambassadors as though God were making his appeal through us (2 Corinthians 5:20). He expects us to be the salt and light of wherever we are and to shine before others, that they may see our good deeds and glorify our Father in heaven (Matthew 5:13-16).

It is, therefore, a matter of eternal significance for Jesus Christ-followers to ensure we obey him fully where we spend most of our waking time, at work. I shall include activities such as volunteering, looking after the home, caring for children, and our other vulnerable ones in my definition of ‘work’. But the physical definition of the workplace has changed in the last few months for most of us. As you would expect, the majority of people who don’t have the luxury of an extra room available as an office at home. My workplace is currently my dining table in a living room shared with my 3 children and my wife and it is from this sometimes chaotic environment I interact with my colleagues and ‘customers’. 

Most of us already know that we spend a lot of our waking lives in settings that are broadly described as ‘workplace’. A survey published in The Independent UK Newspaper in 2018 reported that a British will work for an average of 3,507 days over a lifetime. This is a whopping 9.6 years of someone’s life before adding travel and overtime! https://bit.ly/Indysurvey28sept2018 . New studies coming through is showing that people work longer hours from home https://bit.ly/nationalsurveyApril2020.

This blog, therefore, aims to encourage all of us who call ourselves followers or disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ to:

• Live our best life for him at work
• Grow in discipleship as we learn from each other
• Find and fulfil our life purpose of service to the Lord
• Be impactful in reaching out to others with the gospel
• Keep our focus on making more disciples and
• Keep pressing on to our final goal of eternal life with Christ

We are supposed to model discipleship in work

For those that do not know me well, I am a relatively young Christian and this year is only my 10^th year of following Jesus Christ. You can read my testimony in my first soon to be published book ‘Freedom to Choose: Reflections on a Father/Son Relationship’.

I have however been a member of a workplace Christian Fellowship Group for 7 years and I believe my experience will be a vital tool that can be used in these blogs. Please visit the websites of the existing and well-established organisations already positioned to serve workplace Christian groups such as https://transformworkuk.org if you want to find out more about workplace Christian groups.  I am also willing to offer my personal experience and support to anyone who is interested in starting a Christian workplace fellowship or who needs support with an existing one.

So to confirm, the materials I plan to use are:

• Biblical texts – exploring principles, applications, and Biblical workplace characters
• My personal experience in trying to be a true follower of Christ in my workplace
• The Group experience of a Christian workplace organisation
• Relevant third-party experiences wherever appropriate

My fervent prayer and hope are that these blogs will help all of us in our discipleship journey of growing in the image of our Lord Jesus, fulfilling His divine purpose for our lives on this earth, and ultimately to make it to eternity with Him. I believe that as we grow more like Jesus, we will be able to make a more positive impact on the life of all our colleagues at work. And hopefully, through us, others may come to experience the grace of God and be saved into his kingdom.

I, however, want to be upfront and inform you that materials developed through these blogs and interactions will be used in the next book to be published by FM Publications – a Subsidiary of Fishers of Men Ministry. 

This new book titled ‘Subtle Evangelism: A Model of Workplace Christian Ministry?’ will investigate the crucial and delicate issue of evangelism in the workplace. The core Bible passage is going to be taken from Jesus’s instructions to his disciples in Matthew 10:16 “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves’’. I believe all Christ-followers in the workplace will need to work hard on this in practice to be and to remain as an effective witness of Christ in the workplace.

I hope you would be pleased to know that your contributions to this forum will contribute to a published resource that will be used to encourage and support other Jesus Christ-followers. Please contact us if you will like your contributions to be specifically listed and recognised in the material that will be published. 

I know that if you are like me, the most important words you want to hear from our Lord are – ‘‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’’ (Matthew 25:21).

I would, therefore, like to end by inviting you to partner with me in exploring what God may choose to use this blog, and together we can give HIM all the praise. Please leave your comments below and subscribe to our email list so you can be alerted to when new blogs are posted. You may also connect with us on Social Media.

God bless you and let’s keep growing in the image of the Lord.

Adesina

Our motto for work place discipleship:

“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves’’ – Matthew 10:16