Helping Christians connect faith and work

John Longhurst

When he left his first church after seven years of pastoral ministry, former Mennonite Brethren pastor Ray Bystrom scored himself "a D or F" in terms of his contribution to that congregation. "People repeatedly asked for help in connecting faith to their daily lives," says Bystrom, now associate professor of pastoral ministry at Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary. "I thought I was doing that, but on reflection I realized that I hadn't done a very good job."

When he accepted a call to another church, Bystrom vowed to do better. "In everything I did, I tried to find a way to focus on the everyday life of the person in the pew," he says. "In teaching and preaching, I tried to find biblical perspectives that would help people at work, at school and in the home. I wanted to help people see that they had an important ministry outside the church from Monday to Saturday."

One of the things that Bystrom did differently in his second church was visit his members at work. "For most people, this was a totally new experience. They had never had a pastor visit them in their workplace before." For Bystrom, the visits offered a window into the worlds of his members. "It helped me learn more about their daily lives, how they were struggling to find ways to connect their faith and work."

Bystrom also created a display in the church foyer which contained a city map showing where members worked and lived. "The display raised awareness about where we spent most of our time representing Christ out of church, at work and in our homes."

According to Pete Hammond of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship's Marketplace Division, finding ways to build bridges between what happens on Sunday and what happens the rest of the week is high on the agenda for many North American Christians today. Unfortunately, he says, the church isn't doing a good job of connecting the two. "Ninety-nine percent of the church spends 60% of its energy at their places of work and with family. How well does the Kingdom of God connect with work and family today? Quite poorly, it is sad to say."

Hammond thinks that an old way of thinking about how to do church is keeping Christians from being effective in ministry to their friends, neighbours and colleagues. "We've compartmentalized ministry into things that professional clergy do and things that the rest of us do," he says. "But we're all called to be ministers, not just paid clergy or missionaries."

Failure to break out of these boxes will be very harmful for the church, he believes. If people don't find that the message of the church is connecting with their everyday lives, "they will vote with their feet. The witness of the church is absolutely dependent on the laity. Setting them free to be ministers in their everyday life is the work of the church."

John Longhurst is coordinator of marketing and media relations for Mennonite Economic Developement Associates.

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