What happens at work forms the central content of our lives. It fills our minds both on the clock and off. It structures our time. It shapes our health. It bends our dispositions. It flows into the quality of our relationships—whether for good or ill.

Most of us are bound to work by the necessities of life. Most of us experience tension between our role as worker and our roles as spouse, parent, friend, member of the community, and participant in the community of faith. Yet we who are Christians know our faith extends into and is often deeply expressed through our life of work.

If God is with us, then our work, our workplace, our product become ministry. They are life-giving, with adventure and wonder. Infused with new meaning, the entire process of work becomes part of the redemption of a broken world. Our work becomes a sacrament—a visible presence of the invisible works of God.

If through ignorance we fail to see our workplace as the laboratory of the Spirit, we miss our most important mission. We lose an amazing opportunity to join our Master’s heart. We stand in danger of being mauled by life-denying world systems. Poor management, downsizing, re-engineering, outsourcing, global economy, and “laws” of economics toss us like rag dolls. We find ourselves in the service of Mammon—even though we really never chose it.

Christians in the Workplace is written to help us all transform the workplace with the love of God. Each of us can enter our own arena of service and make a difference for the kingdom. Each of us has a ministry of Life right where we are. God wants to go to work with us! Empowerment and adventure await us.

Jan Wood
Seattle, Washington
December, 1997

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