Loving people in the workplace

Eight hours of your day are spent with the same people day in and day out at your workplace. Are you leveraging your time at work for the sake of the kingdom? Many Christians desire to share Jesus with people around them but just don’t know how. It’s much easier than we think to be a witness for Christ at work. It starts with knowing people. 

As you look around your office this week, how many of your coworkers do you really know? Here are a few ways you can be intentional in knowing and loving those around you.

• Know the simple things. Do you know their spouse and kids’ names? When is their birthday? What’s their favorite snack? 
• Know the deep things. What’s their story? What are they most passionate about? What makes them most afraid in life?
• Know the spiritual things. What do they think about the church? Who do they say Jesus is? Do they have a Bible?
• Know the personal things. What do they do on their weekends? What makes them tick inside? What are they hurting over right now? 
• Know the random things. What’s their favorite sports team? What kind of music do they like? Are they an introvert or an extrovert?

Many of these things you can’t learn just by listening to their phone calls. Take a coworker to lunch and get to know them for real. You see, when we know people—really know them—we will see the opportunities to minister to them that we would have missed otherwise. Is a holiday coming up? Does their family live out of state? Invite them to celebrate Thanksgiving with your family! Do they love baseball? Do you have a team in your area? Buy them tickets to go to a game with you. 

Find ways to connect with your coworkers everyday in the office to build a relationship, then look for opportunities to take that relationship outside of office hours. Then, when you’re at the Thanksgiving table or sitting at a baseball field, share Jesus with them! 

Your workplace is a mission field to which you have been assigned and Ephesians 5:16 tells us to “make the most of every opportunity.” Will you be intentional to befriend those God has already put in your path and talk to them about the hope found in Jesus this month?   

Autumn Wall is an author, speaker, worship leader, pastor’s wife and mom of three in Indianapolis. She is the co-author of Across the Street and Around the World.