Living Loved In Work
Dont’ love reading? Listen instead!
Today, I'd like to introduce you to a few of my friends who are helpfully navigating the waters of faithful work one day at a time. We have a hard time imagining things we've never experienced, and stories help facilitate freedom and stimulate the imagination.
But first, let’s set the stage for the stories.
HOW WORK FITS INTO FAITH
Work has always been part of the good life for human beings. According to Genesis, God placed humans in the Garden to work and keep it. Since this precedes "the fall," work appears to be a good, right, and natural aspect of life.
If work was there from the beginning, we must admit how we work is more relevant than that we work. But, work often gets a bad rap as an inherently negative, distracting, menacing part of life. We treat it as a necessary evil, a stepping stone, a self-justifying story, or an escape from the pain of life.
If work was there from the beginning, we must admit how we work is more relevant than that we work.
Last week, Russ and Tony talked about Finding Freedom in Work on the Larkcast. They identified workaholism as one of the most pervasive religions in America.
If that is where you live, you likely wrestle with the tensions between making ends meet and finding meaning and purpose in life. Sprinkle in the Christian anxiety of making a difference for the kingdom and a dash of the false dichotomy between ministry and secular work. You have a recipe for a spiritual identity crisis.
…you likely wrestle with the tensions between making ends meet and finding meaning and purpose in life.
But what if we don't need freedom from work but freedom in work? What if work is a space to be who we are with a message of Good News and encouragement, whether we're a plumber, parent, pastor, photographer, or president?
What might it look like to see work as less about personal dignity or contributing to God's desired utopia?
Here are a few little snapshots to encourage you as you are going.
THE SIMPLICITY OF FRIENDSHIP
First, meet Chad Mezzera. He is a career firefighter and a beloved husband and father. After attending Moody Bible Institute, a well-traveled pathway into full-time ministry, he decided to pursue something different.
The American firehouse is an environment where toughness almost always means suppressing emotion and pain and a refusal to admit the need for help. While seeing some of the most gruesome and disturbing tragedies imaginable, many of these firefighters and EMTs suffer from deep depression, an unimaginably high suicide rate, and dysfunctional home life.
What struck me about Chad's perspective was how comfortable he is in his own skin. Instead of joining all the characteristic heckling and machismo, he remembers things that matter to his coworkers and brings them up later to check-in.
…he remembers things that matter to his coworkers and brings them up later to check-in.
Inevitably, this simple way of tending to the real lives of his brave friends ends up creating a safe friendship, somewhere they can be known and not judged. It's disarming, encouraging, and, sadly, uncommon. As people become more comfortable with Chad, they express more about how they're really doing.
That is where Chad can offer simple Good News and a sympathetic, meaningful friendship. His strategy is not to ask, "if you die tonight, do you know if you'll end up in heaven or hell?"
He has far more opportunities to speak the words of life because he begins with friendship.
He has far more opportunities to speak the words of life because he begins with friendship.
Cheers to Chad.
THE POWER OF HEARING A STORY
Now meet Chad's wife, Sarah. Sarah is a tattoo artist with her own business in Hannibal, Missouri, Butterbee Tattoo. She also attended the Moody Bible Institute but began earning income in a way she hadn't planned!
She shared that she usually asks her customers if they feel comfortable telling her about the tattoo she's giving. She then feels like an "unlicensed therapist tattooing over all sorts of painful memories."
Sarah also told me, "Tattooing is automatically an intimate and vulnerable environment as I touch their skin and hear their story. I may not bring up Christ in the conversation, but I want to ask questions that help them feel seen as a human being."
“I want to ask questions that help them feel seen as a human being.”
What's so striking to me is that instead of feeling like she has to force a conversation or pursue a particular outcome, she allows the interaction to breathe. And often, the conversations take a very personal, encouraging turn.
Another insight Sarah offered was this: "Be relational around people where they are relational. None of the church jobs I held were conducive to this because so much of our mission was about getting people to enter the fold or the building. Little time was spent in their neighborhoods, coffee shops, libraries, parks, or bars."
"Be relational around people where they are relational.”
Not everyone has a job where people are readily vulnerable as they are with Sarah. Still, we can all learn from her willingness to honor people's stories on their terms. And we can be encouraged that our message is powerfully communicated and platformed by a friendly, faithful presence.
Cheers to Sarah.
HELPING PEOPLE SEE EACH OTHER
Next up is Ryan Mayfield, a Teamwork Coach, husband, and dad hailing from Arkansas.
After working in a church job, Ryan felt he needed a change. "This work was a way to be around people who are not already inside a church bubble. In church and many other communities, you can suddenly find yourself talking only to people in that bubble."
“In church and many other communities, you can suddenly find yourself talking only to people in that bubble.
While helping teams and leaders, he doesn't have many opportunities to talk about faith explicitly. But helping leaders and teams function healthily means teaching each person to celebrate and lean on every other team member's unique value and contribution.
The goal of his work isn't sharing the Gospel. Still, people learning more about themselves and their teams are often willing to dive deeper during in-between conversations. Ryan sees this as a great natural outworking made possible by genuinely helping make their lives and work better.
Ryan is an encourager whose availability to his customers surpasses the value of his compensation. He believes that his work helps people get closer to experiencing the freedom of being who they are in Christ.
…his work helps people get closer to experiencing the freedom of being who they are in Christ.
Cheers to Ryan.
THE BEAUTY OF HOSTING WELL
My friend, Annette, owns Smalltown Coffee Co. They're all about "Roasting the highest quality coffee for coffee geeks, restaurants, cafes, breweries, cities, and businesses in Crown Point, IN."
She shared with me an incredible moment of gratitude that struck a chord. While coming downstairs from her apartment into the coffee shop, she noticed a brand new relationship sparking at that very moment, a common occurrence at Smalltown.
Annette has artfully cultivated a business where meaningful interactions can occur while caring about coffee farmers, brewers, and drinkers alike. You never know when making that cortado for the newcomer who didn't know you weren't open yet will be a gesture of kindness that launches a brand new friendship.
Annette has artfully cultivated a business where meaningful interactions can occur while caring about coffee farmers, brewers, and drinkers alike.
After some experiences in church and ministry, she also shared that "You can be part of a church for a long time and still feel extremely disconnected. Doing work like this helped free me up to be more myself than if I was in a ministry setting. It also encouraged others to be more comfortable in their own skin."
As Annette reflected on her business's value of care, she brought it home by saying, "Isn't that more what God is like anyway?" I smiled and said, yes, I think so!"
"Isn't that more what God is like anyway?
Cheers to Annette.
THE PRODUCTIVITY OF VALUING PEOPLE OVER PRODUCTIVITY
Lastly, I wouldn't feel right ending a piece like this without telling you about my dad, Tom Allen.
Few people have so helped me see what it really means to do good work in the world without neglecting the people you work with and for. His profound trust in Christ has worked itself out in every area of his life for the benefit of everyone he knows.
He grew up a Christian, and he has always been a professional tradesman. It didn't take long for him to start building what is now a more than 35 year successful business as a sales representative and consulting agency for a commercial roofing product.
When asked what made his territory perennially successful, he explains that caring about the real lives of contractors and treating them as people instead of pawns makes all the difference.
…caring about the real lives of contractors and treating them as people instead of pawns makes all the difference.
My dad has been known to show up to a contractor's office with a list to conquer. But they never touch the list because the big, burly roofer ends up weeping and sharing his burdens.
Whether it's deep debt, divorce, internal disorganization, self-doubt, or basic ignorance, they tend to feel safe sharing it with my dad. Someone finally cared to ask and took time to listen.
After all, when you help a person heal toward wholeness and help improve their business skills instead of demanding success, you end up with a better result anyway. People are loved, product is sold and installed, and more people can make ends meet.
It turns out that investment in people makes their productivity better than it ever could have been otherwise. Who would have thought?
Cheers, dad.
PLAYING IN FIELDS OF GRACE
Undoubtedly, there are countless other ways to talk about how we can be relieved of the pressure to make something of ourselves or God's kingdom with our work. I only intend to begin a conversation here.
At the very least, I hope you feel some spark of inspiration or a note of encouragement. Since God's not expecting anything of you, you are free to go out and play in the fields of grace. You are already safe and secure; when God sets his love on his children, he never removes it.
…when God sets his love on his children, he never removes it.
Living loved is good for you, for whatever you set your hands to, and for the rest of the world. Enjoy the freedom you have in work!
This blog explores what Jesus said and did. Everyone’s questions deserve conversation, not answers. You are invited to press in with us. Hit the link above to reach out or access all our resources. We'd love to hear from you.
If this post struck a chord, consider passing it on by clicking below.