Share At Work Confidently
Because work is a place where we can most readily meet people and engage in conversations about the gospel, Satan is very committed to stop this from happening. This might be the biggest battle we have with Satan.
Over the years, we have found the following to be true:
- There are many people at work who believe in God and are anxious to talk about Him. In many cases after we talked about God, people came forward expressing gratitude for us having done so. They said they felt liberated to speak of Him as well.
- Explaining what we believe is not the only way to boldly and directly share the gospel. We can use the gospel to develop solutions to problems and challenges at work. Our associates can feel the Spirit of God as they see gospel principles applied to situations they encounter every day.
- Because the truth works, there is no reason why we ever need to feel timid in using it, nor in mentioning where we learned it and have practice using it.
- Just as we use Mormon words in everyday conversation, we can and should describe gospel principles in the same matter-of-fact tone of voice with which we might draw upon an article in the Wall Street Journal or Science.
Share An Experience With This Principle
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This has been the most impactful chapter/video of the whole book for me. I noticed how I segregate my work from everything else. I have always been open about the Church at work and am willing to answer questions, but I have never proactively used gospel principles in solving problems and finding solutions at work.
Thank you!
I am taking a set of scriptures to keep in my office starting tomorrow and will refer to them regularly.
Love it. Eager to hear about your first experience.
I am a family physician and own a medical practice with a staff of ten. Four of us are members of the Church. After 25 years of monthly staff lunch meetings, I was prompted at our last meeting to start the meal with a prayer. It was a prayer of gratitude, and the spirit lingered throughout the day.
Ed! What a simple way to begin using the gospel at work. Thanks for sharing how you found such a simple way to do that. Do come back and share what else you see!
How can a manager share the gospel or invite his or her employees to church without making them feel discriminated for not reciprocating? What insight do you have for sharing the gospel when in a position of power/influence?
Spencer, thanks so much for asking this!
Decoupling is a good principle to use here. How you could do that is to first say something like, “For most of you, who I am for you is ‘your boss’ or ‘your colleague.’ It’s great to work with you.” You’re pointing out what is true and what is likely the default relationship.
Then you create something new. “And I want to invite you all to something. And this invitation is not coming from me, [position at company], ‘your boss,’ ‘your coworker’ and so on, it’s coming from me, Spencer, your neighbor and friend.” Say why you are inviting them. “I’m inviting you because this is something important to me, and I see all of you as people for whom [topic] is important for your lives as well, so I want to share.” Confirm their choice has no implication on work. “What wouldn’t work for me is if you respond to my invitation with any consideration for our work relationship, because what you choose won’t have any impact on our work relationship. I don’t want to you choose something to please me. I’m inviting you to choose for you. Cool?”
As I said on the decoupling page, this may seem like a lot to say to just say, “Want to come to church?” But the opportunity is to be fully responsible for how your invitation will land, which includes setting an appropriate field in which the invitation can land. So where relationships already exist and where future interaction is likely and where, as you point out, there are structured dependencies at play, it’s worth taking a minute or two and several dozen words to clear the current stage and set up for the new act.
What do you think?