A probably controversial take on evangelizing in the workplace
The images taken from the gospel of salt, light and leaven, although indiscriminately applicable to all Jesus' disciples, are specifically applied to the lay faithful. They are particularly meaningful images because they speak not only of the deep involvement and the full participation of the lay faithful in the affairs of the earth, the world, and the human community, but also and above all, they tell of the radical newness and unique character of an involvement and participation which has as its purpose the spreading of the Gospel that brings salvation. - John Paul II, Christifideles Laici
At one point, I was going to write an entire book on the lay vocation. I suppose I haven’t entirely closed the door on that, but the project is, at least, on hold for right now. I’ve done an unnecessary amount of research for someone who isn’t going to write a book, and I want to share some of what I’ve learned, and some of my own thoughts.
I’m writing with a couple specific people in mind. They are Catholic of the more “serious and devout” types and they work in very secular environments. They have expressed to me that it is difficult to evangelize in the workplace and I think a few things need to be said about this.
First of all, we need to distinguish evangelizing from recruiting. This distinction is not often made, and that is a shame. Recruiting is like, “I want you to join my club, because my club is great and I want it to grow.” It may even contain elements of “Your skills and talents would be put to good use here. This would be a good place for you to develop those skills and grow your resume.” But ultimately it is about growing the club.
Evangelizing is a different thing. Evangelizing is about love, and it is done in love. Evangelization is like, “I know God, who is perfect love, and I know you, and I care about you, and I want you to know this perfect love, too.” Yes, we do want to build up the kingdom of God. But that is not the same thing as a larger tally on church membership. The kingdom of God has to grow in our own hearts; most (probably all) of us who are still on earth are not fully converted. I’m baptized, and I am registered with a parish, and I attend Mass at least weekly. I check a box. But the kingdom of God is not about checking boxes. It is about personal love.
This brings us to another point. Evangelization is personal, and that is why it is (in many respects) more difficult than recruiting. I’ve heard people point out how eager we are to talk about our favorite movies and restaurants and other things, then shame us for not being equally eager to talk about God. I think they are wrong. Let’s do a different comparison. How eager are you (or would you be) to talk about a medical treatment that is addressing a really embarrassing medical problem? No matter how happy you are to find relief from this problem, you’re not necessarily inclined to let the world know that you have (or had) this problem. And I don’t think we are wrong to be more protective of our more personal information.
Why am I comparing the Gospel to a solution for an embarrassing medical problem? Because the Gospel is a solution -- is the solution -- to a very personal and very embarrassing problem. Most people find ourselves haunted by questions like, Am I good enough? Do I matter? Am I loved? Am I even loveable? Does my life have any meaning? What is the point of it all? Why does everything hurt so much? Why is my breaking down? What do I do about the fact that I’m going to die? Why is there so much suffering and injustice in the world, and what do I do with my own helplessness in the face of it? We are also haunted by the inclination to evil that we all find in our own hearts. We have regrets; we’ve done things that were indisputably wrong, and we don’t know what to do with that. We find ourselves desiring to do things that we know are evil. We find it difficult to do what we know is good and right. This is a normal human experience, and most of us are deeply uncomfortable with it. We don’t want to think about it, and we don’t want to talk about it. We absolutely do not want someone else diagnosing us with this problem.
But this is the problem to which the Gospel is the solution. God loves you. God loves you as you are. He became human and healed and taught and ultimately died because he loves you. Yes, your sins are real. Yes, the evil inclinations in your heart are real. God loves you as you are, and he wants to free you from those sins and evil inclinations. He shows us the way. He is the way (John 14:6). Yes, it is impossible to purify our own hearts. It is impossible for us to make right many of the wrongs we know that we have done. But with God nothing will be impossible (Luke 1:37, et al). God can do it! He wants to do it! He gives us grace, and other things, which help in freeing us from the evil we find inside ourselves. He not only died; he suffered, died, and rose. He made a way through suffering and even though death. He is the reason our suffering is not empty or useless. He is the reason we can live forever after death -- and not in a bored, ongoing, painful existence, but perfectly restored and even glorified.
This, right here, is the gospel. God loves you. He made you, and he loves you. He died for you, because the evil you find in your heart and know in your past matter a great deal, but his love for you is greater than that. He rose and made a way through suffering and death to perfect restoration and glory with him for eternity.
Who wants to tell their co-worker, “I made a really terrible decision once, and I cannot forgive myself for the harm I caused, and the regret is so deep that I cry about it at least three times a week”? Who wants to admit, even to themselves, “I’m working 80 hours a week and excelling in my career because I’m afraid that if I fail, I will be useless, and the only value I actually have is in my usefulness”? Who wants to say, “My body is a lemon; different parts keep breaking. I’m no good. Anyone who loves me is wrong to do so”? Even if our interior hauntings are smaller, these are not things we normally talk about in public. Or even in private.
What, then, do we do? Is evangelization impossible? No. I think we do need to acknowledge the reality that we’re dealing with -- that the Gospel is something that everyone needs, but not everyone is immediately attracted to. The Gospel touches us personally, and we don’t need to assume we know the details of people’s interior lives. It seems to me that in many cases, especially in a generally successful secular environment, a kerygma-forward approach doesn’t always make sense. Many times, what makes the most sense is to treat everyone with dignity and respect -- something that is lacking a lot more than we often realize.
I remember a time when I was in high school; it was just a few days before Christmas and I was done with all the preparations I needed to make, and I moved on to getting some photos printed at the drugstore. I was a teenager on Christmas break and evidently had nothing better to do. I went into the store to pick up the photos, and they weren’t filed in the correct bin. The woman at the counter got really flustered and apologized profusely and I just shrugged and said something like “that’s fine, I’m not in a rush,” because it genuinely wasn’t that big a deal. I could wait an extra 15 seconds for her to find them! She was startled; I saw a look of unexpected relief fill her face. At that point, I realized I had not thought through my decision to do unnecessary shopping on Dec. 23, and I suspected that she had probably been yelled at by impatient customers (and possibly her boss) all day. I don’t want to over-read into her experience that day, because I don’t know anything about her except for our brief interaction. But it seems to me that this kind of thing is an essential part of evangelization. We demonstrate, by our words and actions, what we think of other people. We can choose to affirm, “You matter as a person. Your existence is good.” This is a huge part of the gospel. And if we read the gospels in the Bible, we see that this is often where Jesus starts.
We can choose to tell the truth. We can affirm good news as good news and bad news as bad news; we can respond with genuine joy or care. We can work diligently and (generally) cheerfully, and expect that others do the same, which communicates what we believe about our work and the people we serve with our work. We can respect the fact that nobody is perfect and that we all make mistakes, and not berate people for a minor misstep. We can refuse to gossip, and refuse to speculate into the private details of someone’s life when we’re chatting at the water cooler. We can try to direct conversations away from anything disrespectful. We can try to make things better for our patients, clients, students, or whoever we serve with our work, and not just take a paycheck and go home. We can be a force -- what kind of force depends on our personality, skills, and position -- for a more person-oriented place of work, resisting the cultural inertia that treats people like machines to be used for profit. When people want to take time for their family, we can support that -- through policies, if we’re in a position to do so; otherwise, through understanding, encouragement, and example.
All of this says: You matter. Love matters. People matter. Life is good, even though it isn’t always enjoyable and doesn’t always make sense to us. There is reason for hope.
We often hear about fellow Catholics who started talking about the faith with friends and co-workers, when the story ends with an unexpected baptism. Those stories are great. But not everyone’s story is like that. Before a tree can bear fruit, it needs to grow. Before that, a seed has to be planted. Ideally, that seed is planted in rich soil. Maybe our role isn’t to harvest the fruit but to cultivate the soil. I believe we can cultivate the soil by affirming the unearned, intrinsic goodness of the people we work with.
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There are other things, too. I don’t think we should hide the kerygma. I think we ought to be prepared to answer questions that we can reasonably expect to be asked in the course of our work, and if a co-worker asks us a question and we don’t know the answer, we should go find out (generally, in most cases). I think we all ought to have a life of prayer, and we ought to care about the people God has given us to love, which normally includes co-workers. But if we feel deeply uncomfortable with the idea of having a particular conversation, sometimes we need to push through and have the conversation anyway, but often that’s an indication that this isn’t the right time for this conversation. Your life is valuable is central to the Gospel. That’s why God became man, suffered, died, and rose. Often, I think, this is the place to start.