Highlight: Sharing the Gospel at work

When is the appropriate time to share the gospel at work and when do we need to be reserved?

Professor Mark Muska says that when it comes to sharing our faith in the workplace, we need to use God’s gift of discernment. He refers to 1 Peter 3:15,

“Peter does tell us that we are to be ready to give a defense for the hope that it is within us, yet with gentleness and reverence. We are to be prepared, but it may mean that we have to use discernment in when we do this.

“I wouldn’t say it’s just a blanket thing to just say, ‘I’m going to talk about it whenever I want, if you want to fire me you can!’ I don’t know if it would have to be that way to be obedient to this example that Peter gives us.”

There is a time and a place for sharing the gospel with others, especially while we are at work.

“When we share our faith, we are attempting to try to draw people towards Christ.”

There are some settings where it would not be effective in drawing people towards Christ. It’s important to know if your organization has restrictions on expressing religious beliefs in the workplace. Professor Muska shares an example,

“Christian teachers have had to really use discernment in the ways that they speak about the Lord with students or in their schools.”

Having a conversation with your employer will help you determine if and when it’s appropriate to openly share the gospel with co-workers or customers.

“Maybe they would arrive at some kind of an agreement that you can talk about certain things about your faith at coffee break, or at lunch time, but as far as on the job you have to stick to your work.”

Professor Muska shares an example from the book of Daniel,

“In Daniel 1, he was commanded to eat the king’s food and he negotiated with the king’s servant there so that they could eat vegetables, instead of the king’s food that would defile them and it was a good outcome there because he worked with the authorities over him – it wasn’t just all or nothing.”


Each 3rd Thursday of the month we invite Bible professors from the University of Northwestern into the studio and open the phone lines for your questions on the Bible, faith and the church. Call-in during the live show, or submit your questions via email on Connecting Faith’s show page.

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