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11: A Curiosity Context That's Communal · Finding God at Work

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  (Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi, I'm Chris.
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  This is Finding God at Work.
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  Our current series is Gentle Witnesses, sharing the
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  good news at work in a way that
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  actually makes sense.
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  We'll be going through a paradigm called the
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  Five Thresholds of Faith.
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  This comes from InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, specifically from
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  a couple leaders named Don Evertz and Doug
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  Schaupp, and we're right now in the second
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  threshold, becoming curious.
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  A lot of the examples that I've used
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  so far in this series have been in
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  one-on-one conversations, the idea that you
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  might be having a conversation with a coworker,
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  with a client, with somebody else you meet
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  in the workplace, and just build that friendship
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  in a one-on-one context.
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  But I always want to be careful.
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  Am I thinking too individualistically?
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  I grew up in the United States in
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  a Western culture that tends to be very
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  individualistic.
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  When you read the New Testament, you see
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  communal language a lot more frequently, and we
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  see dynamics of the good news being proclaimed
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  in communities and through communities of people.
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  For example, think about the book of Acts
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  on the day of Pentecost, and the Holy
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  Spirit is poured out on the disciples.
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  How does that story open?
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  Let me read it.
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  It's Acts chapter 2, verse 1.
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  When the day of Pentecost came, they were
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  all together in one place.
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  So Luke, same as the Gospel of Luke,
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  same writer writing Acts, he's emphasizing when the
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  Holy Spirit comes and it catalyzes the proclamation
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  of the good news, and many people come
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  to faith.
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  What started that was the disciples being together
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  in one place.
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  There was a community of worship, a community
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  of mission that had deep trust with each
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  other that were all dedicated to Jesus, and
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  that's the setting in which this amazing movement
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  of God was catalyzed.
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  So this is also going to be true
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  when we think about sharing the good news
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  in a way that actually makes sense.
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  It's not just something that each of us
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  does individually as Christians or as disciples of
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  Jesus.
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  It's something that communities of believers do together.
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  Now, that word communities of believers might immediately
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  make you think about your local church, and
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  that's great.
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  That is, I would say, the primary context
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  where we should think about the community of
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  faith, is in our local church.
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  And so thinking about what are ways that
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  we as a community can invite people in,
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  so that it's not just one-on-one
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  connection and conversation, but people encountering multiple friends
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  who are disciples of Jesus and exploring faith
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  in that context.
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  Maybe there's a way that your church small
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  group could become a place like that that's
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  hospitable and open to people who are still
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  asking spiritual questions.
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  Or maybe there are church events that would
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  make sense to invite people to.
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  Maybe there's a course like the Alpha Course
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  that's specifically designed to create space for people
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  to ask those questions.
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  So all those are good things to think
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  about.
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  But in this series, we're looking at sharing
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  the good news at work in a way
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  that actually makes sense.
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  So what does Christian community mean when you're
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  at work?
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  Well, what I have found is often really
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  powerful if you're in a secular workplace.
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  So assuming this is a place where not
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  everybody around you shares a commitment to Jesus
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  because of the organizational mission that your workplace
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  has.
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  Assuming you're in a secular workplace where not
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  everybody is a Christian, it's really helpful if
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  you want to be somebody who can share
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  the good news to find fellow disciples of
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  Jesus in that workplace, who also want to
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  become people who can share the good news
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  and then to pray and work together toward
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  that.
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  So I just want to share an example
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  from my dad's life.
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  My dad worked at McDonald's Corporation at their
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  corporate headquarters.
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  It used to be in Oakbrook and now
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  it's in Chicago.
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  This is a couple of decades ago.
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  And he would find a Christian friend at
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  work.
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  One Christian friend who he found was a
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  gentleman named Darwin.
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  And he and Darwin started meeting together, praying
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  together.
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  And then they would co-lead a spiritual
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  conversation group at their workplace and invite people
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  from all different backgrounds to participate.
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  And so that was a way that my
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  dad found a way to not just by
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  himself as an individual, but as the Christian
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  community, at least him and Darwin as Christian
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  friends together to be on mission.
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  And they created that conversation group and they
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  had atheist participants, Jewish participants, Muslim participants, Hindu
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  participants, varieties of Christians, people who were irreligious.
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  And people just shared what they thought about
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  different spiritual things.
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  And my dad would sometimes facilitate, Darwin would
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  sometimes facilitate, and they would, they would make
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  that a space where people could be curious
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  together.
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  So that's one of the best ways that
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  you can encourage opportunities for curiosity is to
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  create basically a curiosity context that's communal in
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  your workplace, curiosity context that's communal.
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  Now there's a few different ways that you
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  can do this.
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  And this may not be your personality type.
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  If you're like, I'm not a leader, I'm
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  not somebody who starts things.
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  That's not what God's asking me to do.
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  Like that's okay.
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  Ask for God to bring a Christian friend
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  who is a leader and you can be
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  their wing man or wing woman and be
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  part of the thing that they're leading.
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  That's great.
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  Um, or question, could God be gifting you
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  with just enough leadership to start something like
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  this?
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  So, uh, it doesn't have to be something
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  that isn't a good fit for you.
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  It can be a fit for the way
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  God made you, your spiritual gifts, your personality,
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  but just be open to this possibility that,
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  that maybe a group could come about.
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  So, so one way to do this is
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  with a paradigm called employee resource groups.
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  Uh, and here I'm drawing on the work
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  of a great organization called the faith and
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  work movement.
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  So you can learn more on their website,
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  faithandworkmovement.org.
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  Um, we'll try and put a link to
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  that in whatever resources we have on our
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  website, missioncentral.church related to this series, just
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  so you can click through and find that
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  their resource pages quickly.
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  But there were a bunch of Christians like
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  this in Silicon Valley who realized, Oh, we
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  have special interest groups in our company, like,
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  like social groups and people who want to
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  study certain topics.
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  Why don't we create an employee resource group
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  about faith?
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  And so they started doing this and would
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  create spaces that had official company sponsorship as
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  an employee resource group, but where the explicit
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  purpose was for people to explore questions of
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  faith and spirituality and things like that.
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  And so now there's resources on that website
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  for how you could do that in your
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  workplace, create an employee resource group where people
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  from all different backgrounds, Christians and others can
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  come together and have a space for having
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  those kinds of conversations.
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  Again, a curiosity context that's communal.
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  So that's one option is you could initiate
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  an employee resource group in your workplace, and
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  that organization could guide you through the steps
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  of how to do that.
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  Another option could be less formal, just starting
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  like a lunch get together.
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  This is the approach that I've taken in
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  my current workplace.
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  So I work at a food bank and
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  it's not a Christian organization, although there are
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  a lot of Christians who work there.
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  So I found a friend of mine who
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  was a Catholic and asked her if she
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  was interested in starting a conversation group.
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  And I found a friend of mine who
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  doesn't have any particular religious commitments at all,
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  but I knew she was really good at
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  facilitating things and asked if she would want
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  to help.
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  And they both said yes.
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  And so we started putting together some topics
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  and because we're a food bank, we called
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  it hungry for more.
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  So kind of just a food themed or
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  food banking themed title for our conversation group.
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  And it's sometimes we talk about spiritual things.
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  Sometimes we talk about social things.
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  Sometimes we even talk about political things like
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  this week we're going to be talking about
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  the U.S. economic system and does it
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  provide opportunities for some or opportunities for all?
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  Is it just or unjust?
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  And how does our philosophy, our personal faith
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  affect that?
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  We're creating a curiosity context that's communal because
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  when we're at that lunch table conversation in
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  my workplace, it's not like I have to
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  like have all of the amazing things to
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  say.
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  I'm listening to other people.
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  I'm asking questions to understand their perspectives.
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  And sometimes a Christian coworker who I didn't
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  even know as a Christian shows up and
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  suddenly says something like brilliant and insightful that
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  really helps people see how like, oh, yeah,
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  like when we think about complex topics like
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  economic injustice, like the Hebrew scriptures actually speak
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  to that in the prophets and it's like,
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  oh, wow, I didn't know Jonathan was that
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  insightful.
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  Sometimes it's somebody from a different religious background
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  who opens up and is sharing about like,
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  hey, man, one reason that I'm so passionate
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  about food banking is because of the justice
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  issues.
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  We're creating an opportunity for people to be
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  curious and it goes in all different directions.
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  So again, it's not like there has to
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  be some agenda of like, we're going to
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  get the Christian message across in this meeting.
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  No, no, no, no.
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  It's we're going to create a space where
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  everybody can be curious.
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  Everybody can be open.
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  And of course, obviously those who are disciples
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  of Jesus then also have the opportunity to
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  be curious and open and share their perspective,
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  which includes sharing the good news.
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  Here's how the good news motivates us in
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  regard to whatever the issue of the day
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  is.
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  So these groups are easier to start than
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  you might think.
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  It just takes finding one or two other
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  people.
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  And I want to commend one more organization
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  to you.
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  I guess this is the like infomercial podcast
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  episode where I talk about other ministries, but
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  it's Q place.
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  So you can go to Q place dot
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  com.
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  They have great training materials on how to
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  start this kind of informal neighborhood or workplace
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  conversation groups and explore what it means to
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  believe in God or what people think about
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  God in those groups.
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  And so if that's something that you're interested
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  in, you just you don't know how to
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  take the practical steps.
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  Just go to Q places website and sign
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  up for one of their coaching sessions or
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  look at one of their how to guides
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  and just start thinking about are there other
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  disciples of Jesus in my workplace where I
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  could invite them to talk, to pray, and
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  it just facilitate something simple.
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  That's a curiosity space that's open to everyone
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  who wants to come.
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  When you create a space like that, curiosity
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  can blossom and bloom more and more over
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  time.
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  And then some really exciting things can happen.
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  Lord Jesus, thank you that you work not
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  just in each of us individually, but in
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  your body, the church, in your people, wherever
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  they're scattered throughout the world and wherever they
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  are in their workplaces.
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  We pray that you would catalyze a mission
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  that goes beyond individual conversations and creates these
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  contexts for curiosity where your good news can
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  be shared openly and without fear in an
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  appropriate way that makes sense in different workplace
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  contexts.
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  We pray that you would guide even those
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  who are listening right now and thinking about
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  whether this is possible to find the resources
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  they need, whether that's from a faith and
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  work movement or Q place or our ministry,
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  whatever you're doing, Lord, give the confidence that
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  it's not too hard that people can take
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  the step forward and that by your grace,
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  they can become more curious about their coworkers
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  and see their coworkers become more curious about
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  you.
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  Jesus, do your work in us as we
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  do our work with you.
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  Amen.
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  Thanks for listening.
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  Finding God at Work is a production of
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  Mission Central, a ministry based in Aurora, Illinois,
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  dedicated to forming Christians for mission in everyday
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  life.
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  You can subscribe to the podcast wherever you
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  listen to this episode to get 10 minutes
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  of teaching on faith and work every Tuesday
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  and Thursday to get resources to go deeper
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  with each podcast series, read our blog and
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  get info about upcoming courses on faith in
• 10:40
  the workplace.
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  Go to our website, missioncentral.church.