Life Happens at Work
News coverage of the mass shooting in the elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, rightly focused on the loss of so many young lives. But few reports noticed that this tragic event occurred in a workplace. Teachers, administrators, and staff people at Robb Elementary School all reported to work at that location.
The first murder in the world occurred in Cain’s workplace. In the U.S. between 1982 and May of 2022, “workplace shootings” have taken place 46 times. (These do not include school shootings.)
Several years ago, the mass shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, and Gateway Center in Orlando, Florida, brought me to one of those aha! moments. Beyond murder and injury, what did those tragedies have in common? All the victims were hit while in the workplace. According to a study done in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, between 750 and 1,000 people in the U.S. are killed every year in their places of work. Why does this workplace connection matter? It points to how much of life—and death—happens in our workplaces.
Only days following the Fort Hood and Gateway Center shootings, my wife and I attended a memorial service for a family member. Those who came to honor him must have numbered between 800 and 1,000. During the open mic time, many stood to recall their relationships with this 31-year-old man. Aside from a few in his immediate family, nearly all who spoke had come to know and treasure him by working with him.
Years ago, the church, the corner grocery, the Grange Hall, or similar gathering spots served as the social centers in our society. Today the workplace fills that role. For great numbers of people, life happens on the job—life in all its complexities, pleasures, and pains.
Out of curiosity, I Googled the phrase, “in the workplace,” using quotation marks to bring up those exact words. What, I wondered, would appear just in front of that phrase? In moments, I found more answers than expected. Each term in the following paragraph showed up at least once to fill the blank, “_____ in the workplace.”
Aggression, Alcoholism, Automation, Babies, Bias, Bullying, Burnout, Challenges, Change, Civility, Collaboration, Complaints, Conflict, COVID-19 protections, Creativity, Depression, Discrimination, Diversity, Drug testing, Equity, Ethics, Fatigue, Fear, Gossip, Grief, Harassment, HIV, Hazards, Managing emotions, Meaning, Narcissism, Pain, Parenting, Privacy, Religion, Respect, Safety, Search for meaning, Security, Sex/Romance, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Smoking, Social relationships, Spirituality, Substance Abuse, Suits, Teamwork, Tuberculosis, Violence, Wellbeing, Women.
Our work cannot be divorced from our lives. So much of life happens in the work world.
Jesus sends us, his followers, into the world as lights. The “world” includes the darkened world of work. Jesus came that people might have life, “life in all its fullness” (Jn. 10:10, Today’s English Version). Consider Jesus’ mission and our assignment. Should our churches, then, equip believers with a theological underpinning for their work? What is an underpinning?
Bryan Dalinghaus, an expert in repairing foundations, defines underpinning as “strengthening and reinforcing an existing foundation of a structure, typically by extending the depth and breadth of the foundation.” A theological underpinning for work expands and reinforces the traditional biblical foundation. It prepares Christians to shine the light of Jesus into workplaces—those challenging arenas where so much of life happens for so many.
• How much does your church budget for preparing members to serve Christ in their workplaces?
• Does workplace ministry show up in your church’s mission statement?
• When was the last time in a church service you heard a workplace testimony or a sermon on living the Christian life in the work world?
Those are real, not just rhetorical, questions. How would you answer them?
