The question came at about eleven o’clock on a Tuesday night, in a portacabin office at the edge of the Apapa port. Funsho was an operations supervisor with a freight-forwarding company, and he and his colleague Mohammed had been there since morning trying to clear a consignment of machine parts for a client in Ota. The paperwork was correct. The duty had been paid. But the release kept stalling, and every hour of delay meant more demurrage on the container.
Around nine, the client’s agent had arrived with a suggestion. There was a way to “settle” the matter tonight, he said. A certain sum, handed to the right person, would see the container out of the gate before dawn. He would add the amount to the invoice as “logistics”. Everybody did it. The client would not even notice.
Funsho had said no, politely, and kept working the phones and the proper desks. The agent had gone away irritated. Mohammed, a documentation officer from Kano who had worked beside Funsho for two years, had watched the whole exchange without saying a word.
Now, with the generator droning outside and both men too tired to pretend, Mohammed put down his pen. “Funsho, let me ask you something. I have seen you refuse this kind of thing many times. You covered my shifts for three weeks when my son was in hospital, and you did not tell anybody. You do not shout at the loaders. You are not even a pastor. So what is it with you?”
Funsho told me later that he almost laughed, because four years earlier he had been a very different kind of witness. At his previous job he had been a unit head in an office in Ikeja, and he had made the six young people under him attend a prayer meeting in his office every Monday. He gave out tracts. He played sermons from his laptop. He mentioned, more than once, that those who “stood with him in prayer” tended to do well at appraisal time. One of them, a young man in his first job, eventually went to Human Resources. Funsho was summoned, cautioned and humiliated. He went home convinced that he was being persecuted for righteousness.
PunchlineA senior colleague from his church set him straight a week later. “Funsho,” he said, “you were preaching to those children with your appraisal pen in your hand.”
That sentence changed him. And on that Tuesday night in Apapa, it was a man who had never once been preached at by Funsho who asked him for the reason.
This article is about the witness that colleagues see long before they hear an explanation, and about how to speak of Christ at work without exploiting another person’s position or dependence.
A quiet life that people can read
When Paul wrote his first letter to the believers in Thessalonica, he was writing to a young church in a busy Macedonian port city. They had received the gospel with great joy and in the face of real opposition. Their love for one another was already well known. But there was a problem in the church that Paul addresses more than once. Some believers had stopped working. Perhaps they thought the Lord’s return was so near that ordinary labour no longer mattered. Perhaps they had simply found it easier to depend on the generosity of wealthier brothers. Either way, Paul writes:
And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.
The phrase study to be quiet is striking. The word translated study means to make something your ambition, to strive eagerly for it. Paul is almost playing with words: be ambitious to be unambitious. Make it your great aim to live a settled, steady life. In a culture where public men competed for honour and attention, he tells believers that a quiet, well-ordered life is worth pursuing with energy.
Then he adds two more instructions: “to do your own business, and to work with your own hands.” Mind your own affairs. Do your own work. Many of the believers in Thessalonica were manual labourers and craftsmen, and Paul does not treat their trades as a distraction from the kingdom. He treats their faithful work as part of their obedience.
And here is the reason: “That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without.” Them that are without means those outside the church, the neighbours, customers and fellow workers who did not share their faith. The word honestly carries the sense of what is fitting, decent and becoming. Paul wants unbelievers to look at the way Christians live and work and find it honourable.
Notice what this means. Before Paul says anything about speaking, he says something about how believers are seen. The Thessalonian Christian who sat idle, lived off others and spent his days in excited speculation about the end of the world was preaching a message with his life, and it was not a good one. The Christian who worked steadily, paid his own way and minded his own business was also preaching, and his sermon made the gospel easier to hear.
Your colleagues are reading you in the same way. They notice whether you arrive when you say you will. They notice whether your figures can be trusted. They notice how you speak about the manager when he has left the room, and how you treat the cleaner who comes in at six. They may never open a Bible, but they are reading a letter every day, and you are the letter. Paul told the Corinthians, “Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men” (2 Corinthians 3:2).
Adorning the doctrine
Paul gives similar instructions in his letter to Titus, who was overseeing young churches on the island of Crete. Cretans had a poor reputation in the ancient world, and Paul even quotes one of their own poets on the subject. Titus is to teach older men, older women, younger women, younger men, and then a group of people whose daily lives were spent under the authority of others:
Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things ; not answering again; Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.
We should be clear about the setting. These instructions were written to household slaves in a Roman world where slavery was part of the fabric of the economy. Paul was not endorsing that system, and elsewhere he tells a slave who can gain his freedom to take it (1 Corinthians 7:21). What he does here is give people with very little power a dignity and purpose in their work. If these principles applied to a slave in Crete, they apply with greater force to a paid employee in Lagos or Abuja who has chosen his job and signed his contract.
Look at the word purloining. It means pilfering, quietly keeping back small things for oneself. A household slave might skim a little from the market money or help himself to his master’s stores. In our offices it might be the fuel voucher used for a private journey, the printer paper that goes home for the children’s homework, the company data bundle spent on hours of personal browsing, or the “small commission” added to a purchase without anyone’s knowledge. None of these things would make headlines. Paul still names them.
Against purloining he sets “all good fidelity.” Fidelity is faithfulness, reliability, the quality of being trustworthy in big and small matters alike. And then comes the purpose that lifts the whole passage: “that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.”
The word adorn is the Greek kosmeō, from which we get cosmetic. It was used for arranging jewels to show their beauty, or setting things in order so that they look attractive. Paul is saying that the faithful conduct of ordinary workers makes the teaching about God our Saviour look beautiful. The doctrine is true whether anyone adorns it or not. But the way believers work can either decorate it or deface it in the eyes of those who are watching.
That is a remarkable dignity for a person at the bottom of the organisation chart. A messenger, a driver, a junior clerk or a sales attendant can make the gospel attractive by being reliable. And a senior manager who is careless, dishonest or cruel can make it look ugly, however many verses he quotes.
NuggetThe gospel is true whether we adorn it or not. But the way you work can make the teaching about God our Saviour look beautiful to the people who share your office.
Serving the Lord Christ in front of colleagues
Paul’s letter to the Colossians carries a parallel instruction to servants, and it explains what lies underneath the faithful conduct he is asking for. They are to work “not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God” (Colossians 3:22). Then he widens the instruction to every kind of task: “whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men” (Colossians 3:23).
The reason is given in a single phrase: “for ye serve the Lord Christ” (Colossians 3:24). This is the secret of a workplace witness that does not depend on being noticed. If Christ is the one I am really working for, then the quality of my work does not rise and fall with my manager’s attention, and my honesty does not depend on whether the auditors are coming this quarter.
It also explains why workplace witness is not mainly a performance. A believer who is anxious about his testimony can become strangely self-conscious, always wondering what his colleagues think of his Christianity. Paul points his attention elsewhere. Do the work for Christ, and the witness will take care of itself. Your colleagues will see something real precisely because you are not doing it for them.
There is a word here for believers whose faith has made them a little too heavenly-minded for their own desks. Some Christians are known in the office mainly for what they do not do: they will not stay for the send-off, will not laugh at the jokes, will not join the end-of-year party, and they spend their tea breaks reading devotional books with a faintly disapproving air. Others are known for always being at a vigil or a programme, and therefore always tired, always late on Monday and always asking someone to cover for them. That is not singleness of heart. It may be sincere devotion, but it is not adorning the doctrine. The faithful worker gives his employer the full measure of what he was hired to do, and his colleagues the ordinary warmth of a neighbour.
Ready to give a reason
None of this means that the Christian should stay silent for ever and hope that people guess. Peter writes to believers who were scattered across what is now Turkey, many of them suffering slander and social pressure because of their faith. He has already told them to keep their conduct honest among the Gentiles (1 Peter 2:12). Now he adds:
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.
Notice first where Peter begins: “sanctify the Lord God in your hearts.” Before a word is spoken, Christ is set apart as Lord on the inside. The oldest Greek manuscripts read “sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts,” and the meaning is the same. The believer who has settled who is Lord in his heart is not intimidated by hostility, and he is not desperate for approval either.
Then: “be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you.” The word answer is apologia, a reasoned defence, the kind of explanation a man might give in a courtroom. Christians should be able to explain their faith clearly and sensibly. If a colleague asks why you go to church, why you would not sign the false claim, or why you seem calm when the department is in uproar, you should not need to say, “I will ask my pastor.”
But look at the shape of the situation Peter imagines. Someone asks. The believer’s life has raised a question, and the explanation follows. Peter calls it “a reason of the hope that is in you.” Hope is visible. People notice when someone who faces the same economy, the same traffic and the same unreasonable targets lives with a kind of settled expectation that they cannot explain. Mohammed had been watching Funsho’s hope for two years before he asked about it.
Then comes the manner: “with meekness and fear.” Meekness is gentleness, strength held under control, the opposite of arrogance or aggression. Fear here is reverence, first toward God, and then a respectful seriousness toward the person you are speaking with. A Christian who wins an argument in the staff canteen by humiliating a Muslim colleague has defended the faith in a manner that contradicts it.
And finally: “Having a good conscience.” The answer is only as strong as the life behind it. If the colleagues who slander you discover that your conduct is actually good, Peter says, “they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.” Conversation in the King James Version means your whole way of life, how you behave. The life is the evidence that makes the explanation credible.
Preaching without the appraisal pen
This brings us to the part of the subject that Funsho learned the hard way. At work, you are rarely speaking to someone as an equal in every respect. You may be their supervisor, their landlord’s friend, the person who signs their overtime, the one who recommends them for promotion, or the senior colleague whose good opinion they need. Or they may hold those powers over you. Every workplace is full of dependence, and dependence changes the meaning of an invitation.
When a unit head invites his staff to a prayer meeting, they do not hear an invitation. They hear a manager. A junior staff member cannot easily say no to the person who writes her appraisal. A contract worker cannot comfortably refuse the man who decides whether his contract is renewed. When we use that kind of leverage, even unintentionally, we are no longer offering the gospel freely. We are adding pressure to it.
Paul was very conscious of this danger. Describing his ministry in Thessalonica, he writes:
For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloke of covetousness; God is witness: Nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome, as the apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children: So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us.
Paul refused three things. He refused flattery, the smooth speech that tells people what they want to hear in order to get something from them. He refused “a cloke of covetousness,” using ministry as a cover for personal gain. And he refused to seek glory from people, even though, as an apostle, he could have made demands on them. He had authority, and he deliberately laid it down. “We were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children.”
He also refused to be a burden. Just after these verses he reminds them that he worked “night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you” (1 Thessalonians 2:9). He would not let money or obligation tangle up the message. They could receive the gospel or reject it, and nothing in their material lives would depend on the answer.
Writing to the Corinthians, Paul puts the same principle another way. He has “renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness,” and commends himself instead “to every man’s conscience in the sight of God” (2 Corinthians 4:2). The gospel is addressed to the conscience. It asks for a free response. Anything that bypasses conscience, whether a hint about promotion, a favour that creates a debt, or a threat to someone’s job, has stopped being witness.
In practical terms, this means a few things. A manager should keep a clear wall between his faith conversations and his management decisions, and make sure his staff know it. Christian fellowship at work, where it is permitted, should be genuinely voluntary and should never take place in a way that makes non-attendance noticeable. A believer should respect the policies of his organisation, and should not preach on company time that belongs to the employer. And where someone depends on us for help, a loan, a recommendation or a job, the help should be given freely, with no spiritual condition attached.
None of this silences us. It purifies the witness. A colleague who knows that your kindness has no hook in it is far more likely to listen when you speak about Christ.
Seen before heard
There is an extraordinary scene in the book of Daniel that shows what a long, faithful witness in a workplace can look like. Daniel had served in the Babylonian administration for decades, under several kings. By the time of Darius the Mede he was an old man, and the king planned to set him over the whole realm. His fellow administrators were jealous and began to look for something they could use against him:
Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him. Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.
Think about what those officials did. They examined his work, presumably his accounts, his decisions and his dealings with people, hunting for corruption or negligence. They found “none occasion nor fault.” Their conclusion is one of the great compliments in Scripture: “We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.”
Even his enemies knew two things about Daniel. He was faithful in his work, and he was devoted to his God. They knew about his faith because he had never hidden it. He prayed with his windows open toward Jerusalem, as he always had. But his faith was something they had to attack, because his work gave them no handle. His conduct and his convictions told the same story.
That is the witness Peter and Paul describe. It is visible faith in the context of trustworthy work. Daniel never used his authority to force anyone to worship his God. He simply served, prayed, told the truth when he was asked, and stood firm when the law turned against him. And in the end a pagan king made a decree that men should “tremble and fear before the God of Daniel” (Daniel 6:26).
Respect across difference
Nigerian workplaces bring together people of every faith and none. A Christian may share an office with devout Muslims, with colleagues who keep traditional practices, with people who have left church in disappointment, and with others who are simply too busy to think about God. Witness in that setting has to include respect.
Peter’s instruction is brief: “Honour all men” (1 Peter 2:17). Not only those who agree with us. Not only fellow believers. All. That means taking another person’s convictions seriously, even where we believe they are mistaken. It means not mocking another faith, not spreading careless claims about what other people believe, and not treating colleagues as targets in an evangelistic campaign. People can tell when they have become a project.
Paul gives a principle that is especially useful at work:
Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: Even as I please all men in all things , not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.
“Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” Eating and drinking, the most ordinary activities of all, can be done for His glory, and so can filing, driving, teaching, nursing and selling. Then Paul adds: “Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God.” He is careful not to create needless obstacles. The cross itself will offend some people, and we cannot remove that. But we can remove the offence of arrogance, rudeness, laziness and hypocrisy.
“Not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.” Paul’s desire for people’s salvation was real and strong. He wanted them to come to Christ. But it expressed itself through considerate, self-giving conduct.
What does that look like in an office? It might mean learning when your Muslim colleagues are fasting and being thoughtful about eating in front of them. It might mean visiting a colleague’s family when there is a bereavement, whatever their faith. It might mean praying for your colleagues by name, privately, and being genuinely glad when good things happen to them. It might mean admitting your mistakes quickly, which is rarer in many workplaces than it should be. A Christian who says, “That error was mine, I am sorry, and here is how I will fix it,” preaches something about grace and truth that many people have never seen at work.
When your conduct has already spoken against you
Some readers will recognise themselves in the earlier Funsho more than the later one. Perhaps your colleagues know you as the person who preaches loudly and works poorly. Perhaps you have used your position to push your faith on people who could not easily refuse. Perhaps you were the one caught padding a claim, and now your Christianity is a joke in the office.
Do not despair, and do not retreat into silence for ever. The gospel you want to share with others is the gospel you need yourself. God forgives fully, through Christ, and He does not withdraw your calling because you have handled it badly.
But repair what you can. If you have pressured someone, go and apologise, plainly and without excuses. If you have taken something, return it. If your work has been sloppy, let your colleagues see a change over months, not just a promise. Trust is rebuilt slowly, and that is right. A colleague who has seen you fail, own it and change will often understand the gospel better than one who has only ever seen you appear perfect.
So what did Funsho say to Mohammed in that portacabin?
He told me he prayed one short sentence in his heart first. Then he said, “Mohammed, I will tell you, but you must stop me if I am talking too much.” He told him that he had not always been the man Mohammed had seen. He told him about the office in Ikeja and the appraisal pen, and Mohammed laughed out loud. Then he told him, quite simply, that he believed Jesus had died for his sins and risen again, that God had forgiven him and made him His son, and that he did not refuse the “settlement” because he was afraid of being caught. “I refuse because I belong to Somebody,” he said. “And I do not want to bring His name into a thing like that.”
Mohammed was quiet for a while. Then he said, “We also believe God sees everything.” Funsho said, “I know you do. I have seen you pray at work when nobody is watching.” They talked until nearly one in the morning, about God and judgement, about their fathers, about the port. Funsho did not press him for a decision. When Mohammed asked, a few weeks later, whether he could see “the book about Jesus that you were talking about,” Funsho gave him a copy of the Gospel of John and said nothing else about it until Mohammed raised it again.
PunchlineThe container cleared two days later through the proper desk. The client complained about the demurrage and then quietly kept using the company.
Mohammed has not become a Christian. Funsho told me that honestly, and I respect him for it. But a few months later, when a new graduate trainee joined the team, Mohammed brought him over to Funsho’s desk and said, “This one is a Christian. If you want to know how to work here without stealing, follow him.”
Your workplace is also a place of witness. It may be a portacabin, a classroom, a ward, a banking hall or a stall in the market. The people around you are reading your life before they ever hear your reasons. Do your work for the Lord Christ. Honour every person. Keep your kindness free of hooks. And when someone finally asks you why, be ready to tell them, gently, about the hope that is in you.
Teaching Companion
For Reflection
- If your colleagues described your Christianity only from what they have seen at work, what would they say?
- Where might “purloining” have crept into your working habits in small, unnoticed ways?
- Do you hold any position of influence over someone at work? How can you make sure your faith never comes to them with pressure attached?
- How ready are you to give a clear, gentle reason for your hope if a colleague asks you tomorrow?
- Who in your workplace holds a different faith from you, and how could you show them honour this week?
This Week
Choose one colleague this week and pray for them by name every morning, asking God to bless their work and family. Then look for one practical, unconditional kindness you can show them, with no spiritual conversation attached. Alongside this, write down in three or four sentences how you would explain your faith if someone asked you why you live as you do, and read it over until you could say it naturally and gently.
A Prayer
Lord Jesus, You are the Master I really serve. Thank You that my ordinary work matters to You and can make the teaching about my Saviour beautiful to the people around me. Forgive me where my conduct has spoken against You, and where I have pressed my faith on others in ways that were not free. Make me faithful in small things, honest in hidden things and kind without any hook. Give me respect for every colleague, whatever they believe. And when someone asks me about my hope, give me the words to answer them with meekness and reverence. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Truth received brings freedom. Truth believed establishes the heart.
Scripture quotations are from the King James Version. · Illustrations using first names only are composites unless stated otherwise.