Faith in the Workplace

by Dan Ridley

The struggle of bringing faith into the workplace is real. According to Pew research, roughly 35% of Americans attend church services on a weekly basis. That means a whopping 65% are unchurched. This is a real concern because it clearly proves that statistically speaking most employees are probably not spiritually grounded. As Christians, we should be deeply burdened by this. However, it has always been a delicate balance of incorporating our faith into our workplace.

As a Christian, I have always struggled with how I could effectively share and model Christ, yet still make the tough decisions on my job. As a great basketball coach for years, it was particularly tough to be tough on players, do what was necessary to win and still impact my players for Christ. Honestly, most of the time I feel like I fell short. Since coming to Mid South, for the first time in more than 25 years of work, I am no longer having to fight that internal battle.

For me being able to openly discuss faith at work has been the greatest benefit Mid South could offer. I realized many years ago that my spiritual gift was teaching. Over the years, God has blessed me with opportunities to teach, speak and train. For years I have been able to use those gifts to provide for my family and I. When I came to work at Mid South I was able to use these gifts to serve God. I have found that when we use our gifts to serve God, he will provide for everything else. Matthew 6:33 says “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you”.

According to the Pew research I mentioned earlier there are at least 5 benefits of working for a “Kingdom-minded company”:

1. Lower absenteeism

2. Higher quality services

3. Fewer employee morale issues

4. Safer work environment

5. Better perceptions by our patients

More importantly than all of these is the opportunity to align our lives and our talents with Christ’s will for our lives every day. In his famous sermon on the mount in Matthew 5, Jesus tells his followers to be “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world”. What a blessing/benefit it is to work at a company where that is happening every day.