Are you interested in the latest trends and behaviors in American business? If so, you might find this particular topic of interest to you. It is about the spiritual “revival” that is taking place across the country right now. Hundreds of large American corporations now have chaplains on their payrolls, an emerging trend as caring employers scramble to meet the needs of staff who want access to spiritual direction when needed.
A Wall Street Journal survey revealed a 50% dissatisfaction rate among executives and an 80% dissatisfaction rate among the general workplace population. A University of Michigan research study revealed that more people turn to the clergy than any other profession when they need help. According to another study, published by the Harvard Business School, for every dollar spent to incorporate some type of Spiritual Enrichment Program into an organization’s Employee Assistance Program, there is a return of $4 in increased loyalty, productivity, and employees. happy.
Business-oriented publications have also taken note:
“…a largely unorganized mass of believers, a counterculture springing up throughout corporate America, that wants to bridge the traditional gap between spirituality and work. Historically, these people operated under the radar, on their own or in a small workplace groups where they prayed or studied the Bible. But now they are organizing and publicizing themselves to campaign for change.” – Fortune Magazine, July 16, 2001
“People who want to mix God with business are rebels on several fronts. They reject the centuries-old American conviction that spirituality is a private matter. They challenge religious thinkers who dismiss business as an inherently impure activity. They disagree with businessmen who say religion is inevitably divisive.- Fortune Magazine, July 16, 2001
“Today, a spiritual renaissance is sweeping corporate America as people of all stripes are mixing mysticism into their management, importing into office hallways the lessons usually taught in churches, temples, and mosques. The Old Taboo Against Talking About God in People is Gone – BusinessWeek Magazine, November 1999
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From Heaven’s point of view, workplace ministry makes sense. Because? It is where we spend most of our lives. As spiritual beings enduring this earthly experience, we cannot separate the two and expect to employ happy and productive employees.
Jesus knew this, of course. In the New Testament, of the 132 public appearances of him, 122 were in the marketplace. Of his parables, 45 had a work context. Of the 40 divine interventions recorded in the Book of Acts, 39 took place in the market square. Jesus spent his adult life as a carpenter, taking orders, producing, and delivering a product. He did so until he was 30 years old before beginning his workplace preaching ministry. To help him, Jesus called 12 people in the workplace, not clergy, to build his church.
Work is worship. In fact, the Hebrew word “Avodah” is the root word from which we get BOTH the words work and worship. Work in its different forms is mentioned over 800 times in the Bible, more than all the words used to express worship, music, praise and song combined.
IMPORTANT QUOTES FROM CHRISTIAN LEADERS
“The spiritual manifests itself in a life that knows no division into sacred and secular.” -Oswald Chambers
“Workplace spirituality is exploding.” – Laura Nash, business ethicist, Harvard University
“I think one of the next big moves of God will be through believers in the workplace.” -Dr. Billy Graham.
“God has started a workplace evangelism movement that has the potential to transform our society as we know it.” -Franklin Graham
“God is leading his people in the workplace like never before in history. God is up to something. The next spiritual awakening could take place in the marketplace.” -Henry Blackaby
“Workplace ministry will be one of the central future innovations in the ministry of the church.” -George Barna, Boiling Point, Regal Publishing
“Our surveys reveal that 90-97% of Christians have never heard a sermon that relates Biblical principles to their work lives.” -Doug Sherman, author, Your work matters to God.
“The workplace church is the purest form of the body of Christ today because of its diversity. Workplace believers are less prone to denominational differences because they have a common goal of representing Christ in their workplaces. The movement will break down denominational barriers that have been held in the past.” -Os Hillman, International Coalition of Workplace Ministries
“Indeed, as with first-century Christianity, it all begins in the marketplace, where Jesus’ disciples rub shoulders with the lost daily.” – Bill McCartney, Promise Keepers, Anointed for Business, Reqal Publishing
“In today’s global community, the largest distribution channel for ‘salt and light’ is the business community…the marketplace.” – Bill Pollard, President, Head of Service
AN OVERVIEW OF THE FAITH AT WORK MOVEMENT
Many refer to this labor phenomenon as the “Faith in Work Movement.” The secular media were among the first to recognize its impact.
In November 1999, Business Week reported:
“Historically, these people operated under the radar, on their own or in small work groups where they prayed or studied the Bible. But now they are organizing and going public with their campaign for change. People who want to mix God and business are rebellious on several fronts reject the centuries-old American conviction that spirituality is a private matter challenge religious thinkers who dismiss business as an inherently impure pursuit disagree with businessmen who say religion is inevitably divisive.”
In 2004 and 2005, major secular media also carried articles about the trend. On October 31, 2004, the New York Times magazine published a cover story on Christianity in the workplace titled “With God at Our Desks.” The article said:
“The idea is that Christians have practiced their faith on Sundays for too long and left it behind during the work week, and that there is a moral vacuum in the modern workplace, leading to treacherous careerism, empty routines for the employees and CEOs who push for profit at the expense of society, the environment and their fellow human beings.” -Russell Shorto, “With God on Our Desks,” New York Times Magazine, October 31, 2004, p. 42.
Subsequent articles have appeared in the London Times, Boston Globe, CBS Morning News, the BBC, the Atlanta Journal, CNN, National Public Radio, CBN’s 700 Club, the Los Angeles Times, and the Charlotte Observer, to name a few. On March 31, 2005, CNBC aired an hour-long story on faith at work. The international media have also taken note of the stories or reports that appear in the mainstream media in Hong Kong, Germany, England and France.
HOW DOES A BUSINESS START?
Well, you’ve heard the reports and agree that there is a definite “need” within your own organization.
Now what?
As many can attest, and as the military has known for generations, a chaplain might be exactly what your staff needs. Contrary to many assumptions, having a spiritual resource available to your team is NOT a threat to your workplace environment. A workplace chaplain will not pray in the water cooler or preach in the break room. In fact, whenever necessary, a workplace chaplain will try to find Buddhists, rabbis, and other spiritual leaders for those employees who feel most comfortable with them, or support them as they seek more specialized help, such as drug treatment or alcohol. Workplace chaplains serve in every situation and serve employees with or without a religious background. They are available to send messages about deaths or injuries to family members after accidents, provide pastoral counseling, perform funerals and weddings, speak to employees about workplace issues, visit hospitals and prisons.
When a Labor Chaplain hires a secular company, the employer informs the workers that they can go to him when necessary, but that they do not have to do so. The presence of a minister is not intended to set a religious tone in the workplace. Ministers make weekly visits to their designated workplaces, getting acquainted, checking in, and conversing with willing employees. One workplace chaplain said, “As a workplace chaplain, one day you’ll be talking to a guy about last night’s game, but the next day he might come looking for me to talk about his wife’s departure or his hospitalization.” your cousin”. He says that the trust built makes workers comfortable in confiding their problems, and that unexpected life events often lead workers to seek his services. “They do it via email and IM all the time. I think they feel more comfortable that way AND they can remain anonymous.”
Workplace believes that companies hire them because they believe it increases productivity to provide support to employees in need and reduces discord in the workplace. Rather than being part of management or perceived as a co-worker who might gossip with other employees, the Chaplain is someone neutral who can listen to employee concerns, assured of confidentiality. Layoffs, downsizing and recent publicized cases of workplace violence have contributed to increased workplace stress in recent years and business owners are concerned about the need for this type of spiritual assistance in the workplace.
WHAT IS THE COST OF A WORKING CHAPLAIN?
The cost of these services varies depending on the size of the business, but the truth is, there probably isn’t anyone on your payroll whose presence has such a big impact on your bottom line. A key to the success of this type of ministry is that an employer must allow time for relationships to develop. A chaplain’s fee is generally tax deductible as a consulting fee and will vary from company to company. In today’s work environment, one thing is certain: it would seem that it is more expensive for an organization NOT to have a chaplain on board.
