By John Chandler
The can’t-miss trend of 2016 will be that North American disciples pay strategic attention to what it means to be a follower of Jesus at work. “Faith@Work” is not a new topic, but it is and will be the topic for discipleship in North America for the foreseeable future. The action in disciple-making will not be talking about how to convince people from the workplace into serving on committees in the church. It will primarily be about how to equip the people of God to function like disciples (ethically and evangelistically) where they work.
One interesting thing to watch is how this will take place when the workplace environment is changing so radically. There are rapidly changing patterns of how people work, and followers of Jesus will have to adjust for maximum influence and impact.
The first reality is that many offices have disappeared, and more will disappear. More people will work remotely, and much of what was done in person will be done by video and audio conferencing. Disciples in this changing context will be early adopters into accepting this reality and not insisting that “real discipleship” can only be face-to-face. You can get work done spiritually over the telephone, Skype, and online — and the sooner you accept and embrace that instead of arguing about it, the more discipleship work you’ll get done.
Some offices will remain, of course, though they won’t be the offices of a decade ago. Some will make positive changes. The office of the future will deal with many of the irritations that have been demonstrated to be serious impediments to productivity. Two big improvements will be temperature and noise. Employers are learning that freezing workers out and tolerating constant workplace interruptions hurts the bottom line, so offices will create more comfortable environments, and places where more intentional conversations (and silence) can take place.
The office of the future will create contexts in which workers can have both “productive collisions” with fellow workers (for creativity and collaboration) and also appropriate “do not disturb” time and space (for focus and system-building). The smart disciple in this environment will learn to take advantage of both.
Finally, the new office will measure and record metrics of productivity with unprecedented rigor and granularlity. Future employment and promotion will be based on measurable impact to the bottom line. Conversations will have to count! Disciple-makers in this environment will do a lot less “hanging out” with seekers at the office, and will have to find ways to work creatively with them so that their time together can make both contributions to the company’s goals and to the work of the Spirit in the relationship. The pure “hanging out” time will be after hours.
As in every environment, those with purpose, focus and intentionality will win the day. I love the new work climate and find that I am not only a better worker but a better disciple in it. What about you?