faith

It was 2007 when I moved from a very white collar, desk and laptop, type job, into a hard working trade environment as I started an irrigation and landscaping business. It was unfamiliar territory and it took me a while to get my bearings. My soft pastor hands came home with knuckles skinned and covered in green irrigation glue, but at the same time I became conscious of the mass of people in our churches who work in these jobs, but are often unsure of what it looks like to live faithfully in that space.

This book, Hi-Vis Faith, is birthed out of my concern for tradies and service workers,[1] both men and women, who want to follow Jesus faithfully in their workplace, who want to be part of planting churches and mission, but who don’t connect easily with much of the current crop of books.

So, “Hi-Vis” is a description of the type of workers who will find this book most valuable—not a term to describe the kind of missional presence a worker should have while on the job. In fact I suggest “low-vis” as usually more appropriate for a secular, trade environment. There are few building sites that appreciate an evangelistic zealot on the warpath, but a quiet, faithful presence that consistently demonstrates the life of faith and answers questions with gentleness and respect is almost always appreciated.

So what do tradies and service workers need to hear?

There are chapters on calling and vocation, staying faithful under pressure, dealing with ambition in healthy ways and on the role of work in shaping our character. You can discuss integrity and humility in a Bible study, but the workplace is where we need to figure out how to actually practice these virtues in real time. While faith is celebrated in church, it is lived in the hours outside of Sunday worship, as we figure out what an authentic life of discipleship looks like.

My hope is that our tradies and service workers will have a valuable resource that is easy to read and theologically accessible, while offering some very practical stories and insight on how the life of faith takes shape in tough and sometimes toxic work environments.

The book opens with a quote from Martin Robinson’s book Invading Secular Space, where he asks a provocative question.

What would it look like for a church to function in such a way that the primary goal of church life was not to attract more people into attendance and membership, but to produce people who had a profound sense of their personal relationship to God, their resource in Christ and could take that reality into the world with them?

It is provocative because it challenges our default imagination of how church ought to function. While we have learnt how to say “it’s not about the numbers on Sunday”, most church planters still feel a sense of joy when the crowd grows larger and a sense of concern when things dwindle.  It’s not bad or wrong to want a church to grow – but when it comes to our posture and priorities Robinson is asking what the impact would be if we focused our best energy on empowering and  sending rather than attracting. He is calling us to engage in our workplaces and communities with a sense of purpose and mission that goes well beyond building our own congregations.

If our work becomes the focal point for expressing the love of God, for serving, showing kindness and generosity then we begin to demonstrate to people the beauty and wonder of Jesus’ way. It isn’t about moving the conversation from football to faith in 3 snappy steps, followed by a bridge to life presentation and a sinner’s prayer. It’s about showing up every day and doing good work, of listening, “reading the room” and knowing what shape mission needs to take among your workmates. And then choosing to be extraordinary in your attitude and actions so that people “observe your good deeds and praise your father in heaven”.

If you’re a pastor / church planter with a crew of people who work in these types of roles then I’d encourage you to point them to this book as a resource. It can be read alone or in groups using the questions at the end of each chapter to facilitate discussion. The book is available in print and audiobook formats, with the audiobook narrated by me and available now on Spotify.

[1] I use “tradies and service workers” to try and cover everyone from carpenters to cleaners, childcare workers to nurses, retail jobs to gardeners. Tim Keller and many others have written excellent books for the professional tribe.