Transformed people transform nations
Growing up I often heard the phrase “Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life”, sage advice from not only Mark Twain, but also my Dad, who liked to enlighten me on the charm of finding an enjoyable role.
It was an exciting premise and I especially took a shine to the part of never having to work a day in my life – something I probably took all too literally. With this in mind and dreams of becoming the next Steven Gerrard, it was quite the blow when I fell short (well short) of my lofty goal of becoming a professional footballer. I went back to the proverbial drawing board and set my sights on becoming what I felt was the next best thing to a football player, a sports performance analyst.
However, after a very enjoyable placement year analysing the academy teams of a Premier League football club, I couldn’t help but feel slightly unfulfilled in the work. I began questioning if this was really what I wanted to be doing, and more importantly if this was what God had called me to do. In those quiet times of searching, the theme that kept cropping up for me was “what does a meaningful job look like?”. I prayed and read my Bible to answer this question and the passage I kept coming back to was the Great Commission.
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Now, excited by this call and being quite a literal person, I immediately applied to be an overseas missionary, because surely to do all of the above you have to be somewhere halfway around the world telling people the word of God. Right?
A change of direction
As that job application was ticking along nicely, I happened to come across Worship.Works and the idea that analysing data in a Maidstone office can transform nations and put an end to systemic poverty around the world as well. This claim made me stop in my tracks and take a moment to assess the impact this could have on my potential career: could I serve God and make disciples of all nations whilst working in a secular industry in the UK? I applied for the role and was delighted to be accepted onto the Worship.Works graduate programme, which taught me so much about inviting God into my work, co-creating with him and carrying his presence in all walks of my life.
Over a year has passed since I started with Worship.Works and I am very happy to report that I now find myself in a job which fulfils me and I enjoy because I know my work has meaning and significance. A central theme of this for me is that through my work I am able to be a part of transforming nations. When I am researching and analysing a topic for a client, I can bless that person or team by serving their needs with the Holy Spirit led insights that I find (with the help of God), these can lead to policy changes within a nation. When I am meeting with a client, I am carrying God’s peace and love to that person and can build relationships so that I know how to effectively pray for them and help transform their lives, which in turn can lead them to transform others’ lives. In all my interactions at work I am able to carry God’s presence with me and bless others, this is how I help transform nations through my work.
I do not know what God has planned for me in the future chapters of my life, but I do know that wherever he places me I will co-create with him in my work, and transform the lives of others through my work. For whatever work we find ourselves in, we can live and work with God as he helps us discern how we can best serve others through our work.
“Nevertheless, each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to them, just as God has called them. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches. ”
A new mindset
I would like to leave you with an encouragement and a short story:
One day in 1671, Christopher Wren observed three bricklayers on a scaffold, one crouched, one half-standing and one standing tall, working very hard and fast.
To the first bricklayer, Christopher Wren asked, “What are you doing?” to which the bricklayer replied, “I’m a bricklayer. I’m working hard laying bricks to feed my family.”
The second bricklayer responded, “I’m a builder. I’m building a wall.”
But the third bricklayer, the most productive of the three and the future leader of the group, when asked, “What are you doing?” replied with a gleam in his eye, “I’m a cathedral builder. I’m building a great cathedral to The Almighty.”
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”
When we have the mindset and knowledge that each brick we lay, every piece of data we analyse and every interaction we have with clients is unto God, and we can touch lives and bless nations through those things, that gives our work real meaning and power. Transformed people transform nations. As Christians, we are transformed and are called and have been equipped to bless nations and lift people out of poverty, which thankfully I am privileged enough to be in a position to do so.
Mark Sullivan
Mark is Marketplace Minister with Worship.Works and an Insights Data Analyst at CREATION.co where he co-creates with God to deliver insights to the global healthcare industry which blesses them in their work.
This post first appeared on the Worship.Works blog and is reproduced here by permission.
Worship.Works is a faith-based organisation that equips and supports Christians to thrive at work and live a faith-filled life throughout the 9-5. Find out more on their website.