Be open about being a Christian

It’s easy to stay quiet about being a Christian at work. We don’t want to upset the people we spend 40 hours every week with. We want to be accepted as normal. We don’t want our career prospects damaged.

It’s easy and convenient to leave our Christian identity at the door after church on Sunday and not bring it into the office on Monday.

Stop and Consider: How open are you about being a Christian at work?

Don't give in to fear

It’s important for followers of Jesus to be open and honest about belonging to him. There are a number of reasons.

1. Jesus might ignore you if you are ashamed of him

Jesus warns his followers not to be ashamed of him:
“For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:38 - NIV)

I don’t think Jesus is talking about the occasional lack of courage we all suffer from time to time. After all, the apostle Peter denied Jesus in a big way on the night Jesus was arrested—but he repented and was quickly forgiven. So I think that Jesus is talking here about being ashamed of him in an ongoing and consistent way.

This verse also alerts us to the fact that being open and honest about belonging to Jesus isn’t easy. If it were, Jesus wouldn’t have to issue such a stern warning to his disciples.

2. Honesty opens the door to conversations

On a more positive note, being open and honest about belonging to Jesus makes the Christian message more accessible to those who don’t yet know or believe it.

My friend Mark works for a large insurance company, where he is open and honest about being a Christian. He’s also a very likeable guy and helpful when he can be. Mark and his colleague Laurence have worked together for many years, and Laurence has always known that Mark is a keen Christian. So when Laurence was at a point in his life where he wanted to explore spiritual things, he approached Mark for help. This wouldn’t have happened if Mark had kept his beliefs to himself.

3. Openness is an incentive to be godly

Finally, if you put it out there that you’re a Christian, people will expect you to live up to that. It’s not the most noble motivation to be Christlike at work, but it works. You don’t want to hear those searing words, “That’s not a very Christian thing to do”.

Some tips for being more open about being Christian at work

• Put it on your résumé.
• Be upfront about it when you start a new job. When you meet your new work colleagues, and they make an effort to get to know you, this is the time to mention that you’re a Christian and that you like to learn from the Bible.
• If you go to an interesting Christian event like a missionary commissioning or a conference, be enthusiastic and mention what was good about it when talking to your colleagues. This helps to break stereotypes of what Christians do with their time; it shows that being a Christian is about more than just going to church on Sundays.
• In conversations where people are discussing an issue that the Bible has an opinion on, say: “Well as a Christian, I believe that…”
• Leave a Christian book on your desk.

Treating people in a Christlike way at work might make people curious, but unless they connect your actions to your faith in Christ, you are just another ‘nice person’ in the office.

Action: What will you do to be more open about being a Christian at work this week?

Pray: Ask God to help you be unashamed of Jesus in your workplace. Ask him to give you courage and the right words to say.