I work as an administrative assistant in a public school system. This has been challenging and often discouraging, but I’ve also been able to share my faith with non-Christian colleagues. My bigger challenge is actually fellow Christian colleagues, some of whom are so liberal I’m not sure what parts of the Bible they believe. Do you have any advice on how to share Christ with people who think they’re already walking with him?
“Would you be up for connecting weekly to pray together?”
I still remember the weight that was lifted from my shoulders when my new work friend posed this question to me mere minutes after we learned we were both Christians. She didn’t know I’d spent many months praying for a Christian friend to walk the workweek with. While I enjoyed my coworkers and had solid friendships with many of them, I didn’t have the unique comfort and camaraderie I knew I could share with a fellow Christian at work.
We held that weekly prayer call for years, until we both moved on to new phases of our careers. To this day, she and I still connect often for accountability and prayer.
Meeting a professing Christian at work doesn’t always bring the peace and joy that it did to me many years ago. Sometimes it can feel like a bait and switch as a coworker tells you he or she is a Christian and, on further inspection, you wonder if the contents match the label.
While your colleague has liberal theology, other Christians might be navigating relationships with co-workers who are nominal or hypocritical. Perhaps the guy they bonded with over shared beliefs isn’t honest in his business dealings. Maybe the same coworker who prays with them before lunch also has a sampling of bumper stickers on her car that celebrate unbiblical ideas.
How can we navigate such dissonance with grace and truth? We need to pay attention to both our heart and our actions.
Manage Your Expectations
Throughout Scripture, we see examples of hypocrites who present an incongruent outward appearance (Matt. 23:27). Jesus warns against being a tree without fruit (Luke 13:6–9). He tells us that, in the end, not all who claim the name of the Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 7:21).
In the ’80s and ’90s in the small town where I grew up, it was still en vogue to call oneself a Christian. I remember realizing early in life that, while a majority of the town wore the label, the corresponding behaviors were relegated to the church building or church-sanctioned potlucks and events. Many of those I worshiped with on Sundays weren’t living a Christian life throughout the rest of the week. Sometimes we call such individuals “Sunday-only Christians,” “cultural Christians,” or “nominal Christians.”
What you’re facing isn’t new. We’re simply the latest in a long history of Christians living and working among those who are Christian in name only.
Protect Your Heart
In this situation, keep a couple of common pitfalls in mind.
First, don’t let your standards fall. You may start to assimilate into the group’s norms—whether in the words you choose or in what you value and emphasize. Remain rooted in Scripture and make sure you aren’t watering down your faith to function within your professional ecosystem. The nominal Christians you’re observing may have slowly slipped over the years.
Second, don’t let resentment build in your heart. Unmet expectations of another person’s behavior can easily morph into resentment over time. Guard the posture of your heart.
Lean into Grace and Prayer
Not one of us has lived a blameless life. Someone could look at your life at another point in time and skeptically ask, “That person is a Christian?”
Remain rooted in Scripture and make sure you aren’t watering down your faith to function within your professional ecosystem.
We fall short. We deviate from the Scripture’s commands. By the grace of God, we’re offered the opportunity to repent, turn away from the sins that tempt us, and follow Jesus.
Pray for your coworkers. Just as you ask God to give you the discipline to avoid sin, ask that the Holy Spirit would do a powerful work within your colleagues as well. Don’t neglect the power of prayer in illuminating truth and changing hearts.
Provide Accountability Where Appropriate
It can be disheartening to see coworkers wearing the Christian badge while misrepresenting Christ, potentially giving his followers a bad rap. How can you shine a light on the hypocrisy and help them understand how it might be hurting their witness? Should you say something?
When I work with executive leaders who want to become more comfortable with giving constructive feedback, we always focus first on relational foundations. It’s a simple truth that stronger relationships allow for straighter-shooting feedback. They also provide more opportunities to ask questions about a fellow believer’s behaviors.
Ask God for wisdom in how to navigate the feedback, and pray that the conversation will be fruitful and received with an open heart. You can approach the discussion in different ways, depending on the specific situation.
1. Connect for coffee and open dialogue. Use questions to learn more about your colleague’s faith journey. Share how being a Christian has changed how you live. Be transparent about the challenges you’ve faced. This deeper connection and conversation will likely cause further reflection on his part. This approach can be especially wise if you don’t have the existing relational currency to have a more pointed conversation.
2. Take a clear, compassionate, and collaborative approach in calling out the behavior. A closer friend might receive this better. You may say something like “I’ve always appreciated having a fellow Christ-follower here at work. Recently, I’ve noticed a pattern of gossip and inappropriate language in our colleagues. I understand that’s the norm here and that it’s difficult to navigate. I worry it could compromise the positive witness we could otherwise have. How can we support one another in representing Christ well?”
3. Extend an invitation for regular times of prayer and Bible study. This could happen over lunch or a couple of mornings a week. God’s Word will speak for itself. It’s possible the person is struggling in her faith and has fallen out of step with God’s Word and the guiding of his Holy Spirit. Sharing in Scripture study will be a blessing for both of you. Behavior change is likely to follow as a heightened awareness of scriptural teachings is achieved.
Be a Living Example
You likely have abundant opportunities to serve as an example of biblical living. The way you spend your weekends, choose your language, and present a calm presence form a powerful witness. As does explaining why you can’t support the alternative-sexualities club. Taking such a stance prompts your coworker to analyze his convictions and gives you an opportunity to highlight the biblical basis for your decision.
Don’t neglect the power of prayer in illuminating truth and changing hearts.
Keep praying for opportunities to have gospel-centered conversations at work. It can be frustrating, confusing, and even isolating to watch someone profess Christ while living in ways counter to his teachings. But don’t lose sight of God’s greater story amid your day-to-day struggles. Pray faithfully for others, ask for wisdom only God can provide, and humbly step into opportunities to speak truth with grace.
The Gospel Coalition