牧师教导职场基督徒的七个方面

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牧师教导职场基督徒的七个方面

                                                                                               

在当今这个每日充满贸易和经济活动的世界，大多数人每天的大部分时间都花在了职场。纵观当代历史，职场在塑造我们的世界中起到了无与伦比的作用。全球化把无数个小市场变成了一个巨大的世界市场。科技和通信的进步也以让人炫目的速度填补了地理和文化的鸿沟。

与此同时，职场的语言和规则也改变了其它社会机构包括教会的思维和行为模式。甚至家庭生活也不可避免地受到了影响。

然而职场不是单一的同质体。它是一个复杂的系统，不容简单定论。一个水暖工的经历和一个公司资金管理人的经历迥然，一个银行职员的工作也不同于教师的工作。的确，工作可以

• 在各种场所（家里，远程，飞机上，汽车上，办公室，隔间，仓库，空地，摩天大楼，地下、水上），
  
• 有各种职业形式（自由职业者、雇员、承包商、顾问、雇主、独资经营者），
  
• 在各种组织机构中（公司、小型企业、大型企业、特许经营、事务所、合做伙伴、政府、学校、非营利组织）。
  
  
  

因此，作为一名牧师，要对职场人员依据圣经原则进行教导的话，就有必要去加深对会众中各种职业的理解和共鸣。

那么牧师对职场基督徒该教导些什么呢？

1. 教导他们圣经是如何描述工作的。一个帮助人们认识工作的最基本的经文是“创造的使命”：“神命令亚当要生养众多，遍满地面，治理这地。也要管理海里的鱼，空中的鸟，和地上各样行动的活物。”（创1：28）。尽管牧师不可能完全了解自伊甸园以来经济发展和社会不断增长的复杂性，但牧师却有机会致力于认识圣经的永恒智慧。帮助那些在职场基督徒爱上并活出箴言中的智慧，帮助他们正确了解他们的工作，以及如何利用工作来荣耀神，服侍邻舍。

2. 教导他们敬畏神。职场是一个充满恐惧的地方。一个员工可能会害怕他的老板，一个总经理可能会害怕非常公开的失败，还有人会担心市场不稳定，失业和政府法规。全球化、媒体和技术都是为了增强不受控制的意识。因恐惧产生的愤怒和骄傲会带来一连串的不安全感，罪恶和失败。

在圣经里，神命令他的百姓不要害怕。保罗提醒我们，“因为神赐给我们不是胆怯的心，乃是刚强、仁爱、谨守的心”（提后1:7）。然而我们被吩咐敬畏神：“敬畏耶和华是智慧的开端”（箴9:10；诗111:10）。不幸的是，许多基督徒在工作中被恐惧和焦虑主宰，这使他们无法活在神的智慧中。

3. 教他们祷告。许多职场基督徒觉得没有力量为他们的工作祷告，更不用说在职场上祷告了。鉴于职场中如此蔓延的恐惧，再加上人们对基督教信仰及其做法的敌挡，这些职场基督徒所能做的最佳事情就是祷告。然而，职场中需要的祷告可不能和主日敬拜时听到的祷告那样。牧师可以教导这些职场基督徒如何为求勇气，求胜过试探，求正直祷告，并教导他们为求有技能的工作祷告，为同事祷告，为求神建立他们手中的工作祷告。那么在回应这些祝福的同时，他们应该被装备去向神感恩。

4. 教导他们，他们的终极价值并非在于他们的表现。职场基督徒面临着谋生、完成任务、晋升的巨大压力。不警醒的话，职场基督徒就可能认为他们的身份只不过是基于一、某个职位，某种责任，或某个产品单元而已。

诗篇的作者告诉我们，神与人不同，他不会像人判断马力那样判断我们。相反，“耶和华喜爱敬畏他和盼望他慈爱的人”（诗 147:11）。在一天结束时，我们得到神的赞同和认可，是因我们信耶稣基督而得称为神的儿子，而不是基于我们的行为。

5. 教导他们，对于地方教会而言他们是非常“有用的”。牧师会不自觉地倾向于这样做，那就是根据对教会项目的支持力度或对于预算的帮助大小来看待他的会众成员。尤其是当某个教会成员很有才华或在职场上很成功时，这种试探会变得更大。就这一点而言，牧师向他们施加了同样的压力。就是一周以来，他们从老板、领导和主管那里所经受的压力。教会应当看重人，胜过预算和项目。一个教会的成员需要知道，他们之所以重要，绝不仅仅是因为他们对教会的作用。

6. 教导他们知道自己的地位绝不逊于牧师和传教士。许多教会，也许在不知不觉中，潜移默化地传出一个谬误，那就是牧师和宣教士比木匠、呼叫中心的工作人员和企业家更为重要，或本质上是更加神圣。教会聘请牧师和差派宣教士，但神国度绝大部分默默无闻的工作是由蒙召在不同行业的基督徒所做的。牧师应该寻找办法门训会众中来自职场不同领域的基督徒们，而不是仅仅门训那些所谓“基督教事工”的人。

7. 教导他们去爱他们手中的工作，并且把它做好。短时间内对一份工作保持热爱并不难，但当环境，机会，关系，和奖励发生变化的时候，人们就会感受到困难和挫折。一定程度上讲，这是不可避免的，但如果工作是被悲观感或宿命论主宰的话，员工是不会有出色表现的，他不会满足，那么他的福音见证就会枯萎、死亡。信徒需要时时想到歌罗西书3:23，就是在这个破碎的世界中他们最终是在为主工作。在每一个季度，在每一个任务中，这个真理都可以提供从事所有工作的激情和追求卓越的动机。牧师也会面临事工中的困难和挫折。但他们找到重燃工作热情秘诀的那些真理，反过来也会与从事不同职业的基督徒们分享智慧。


7 Things Pastors Should Teach Those in the Marketplace

The marketplace, the everyday world of trade and economic activity, is where most people spend the majority of their days. In modern history, the marketplace has played an unparalleled role in shaping our world. Globalization has turned countless local markets into one massive global market. Advances in technology and communication have managed to bridge enormous geographical and cultural gaps with blinding speed.

Meanwhile, the language and norms of the marketplace have changed the way other social institutions, including the church, think and operate. Even family life has been shaped by the marketplace in seemingly indelible ways.

Yet the marketplace is not a single homogenous entity. It is a complex organism that defies easy definition. The marketplace experience of a plumber is not the same as a venture fund manager, and the work of a banker is different from the work of a teacher. Indeed, work happens

• in a variety of locations (from home, remotely, in the air, from a car, in an office, in a cubicle, in a warehouse, in a field, in a sky rise, underground, on the water),
  
• in a variety of employments (freelancers, employees, contractors, consultants, employers, sole proprietors),
  
• and in a variety of organizations (firms, small businesses, large corporations, franchises, practices, partnerships, governments, schools, nonprofits).
  
  
  

Therefore, as a pastor seeks to teach biblically about marketplace dynamics, it is helpful for him to deepen his empathy and broaden his understanding of the vocations represented in his congregation.

So what should pastors teach to those called to the marketplace?

1. Teach them how Scripture informs their work. One of the most foundational texts for understanding work is the “creation mandate,” where God commands Adam, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Gen. 1:28). Though it is impossible for a pastor to keep up with the ever-growing complexity of social and economic development since the Garden of Eden, pastors do have the opportunity to devote themselves to the timeless wisdom of Scripture. Helping those in the marketplace love and live the wisdom found in Proverbs will shape how they understand their daily work, and how it can be used to glorify God and to serve their neighbors.

2. Teach them to fear the Lord. The marketplace is a place of fear. A worker may fear his boss, an executive may fear very public failures, and others fear market instability, unemployment, and government regulations. Globalization, media, and technology all serve to amplify the sense of not being in control. Like anger and pride, acting from fear produces a range of insecurities, sins, and failures.

Throughout Scripture, the people of God are commanded not to be afraid. Paul reminds us, “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Tim. 1:7). We are, however, commanded to fear God: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Prov. 9:10; Ps. 111:10). Unfortunately, there are many professing Christians whose work life is dominated by fear and anxiety, which cuts them off from living in the wisdom of God.

3. Teach them to pray. Many Christians do not feel equipped to pray about their work, much less to actually pray in the marketplace. Given the fear that is so rampant in the marketplace, coupled with hostility toward Christian faith and practice, the best thing for workers to do is to pray. Yet the kinds of prayers needed in the marketplace may not be the kinds typically heard on Sunday mornings. Pastors have the opportunity to teach Christians how to pray for courage, against temptation, for integrity, that they might work with skill, for their coworkers, and that God would establish the work of their hands. And in response to the many blessings of work, they should be equipped to give thanks.

4. Teach them that their ultimate worth isn’t found in their performance. There is massive pressure in the marketplace for workers to earn their keep, meet their quotas, and climb the ladder. Without vigilant resistance, Christians too can come to believe they are nothing but a job title, a level of responsibility, or a unit of production.

The psalmist teaches that, unlike man, God does not judge us like one evaluates the strength of a horse. Rather, “the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love” (Ps. 147:10-11). At the end of the day, our approval and identity are found in being adopted as children of God by grace through faith in Christ—not on the basis of anything we do for ourselves.

5. Teach them they are more than “useful” to their local church. There is a subtle tendency for pastors to see members of their congregation in terms of their utility in supporting church programs or contributing to the budget. This temptation becomes even greater when a church member is known to be talented in their craft or successful in the marketplace. In this regard, pastors apply the same pressures on them that they likely experience throughout the week from their employers, leaders, and supervisors. Before churches are about budgets and programs, they are about people. The members of a congregation need to know they matter for more than just their utility.

6. Teach them that they’re not inferior to pastors and missionaries. Many churches, perhaps unwittingly, subtly propagate the myth that pastors and missionaries matter more, or are intrinsically holier, than carpenters, call center workers, or entrepreneurs. The church may employ pastors and send missionaries, but the silent majority of kingdom work is done by those of diverse callings in the marketplace. Pastors should find ways to disciple members for the variety of vocations represented in the congregation, and not just those in so-called “Christian ministry.”

7. Teach them to love what they do, and to do it well. It is easy to love one’s work for a time, but when circumstances, opportunities, relationships, and rewards change, difficulty and discouragement quickly set in. A certain degree of this is inevitable, but if work is dominated by a sense of pessimism or fatalism, the worker will not do his work well, he will not be content, and his gospel witness will shrivel up and die. Believers need the reminder of Colossians 3:23 that in a broken world they ultimately work for the Lord. In every task and in every season, it is this truth that provides the motivation to do all work with passion and excellence. Pastors face difficulty and discouragement in their work as well. But those who have found new, life-giving ways to rekindle the love for what they do will in turn be able to share that wisdom with those in different occupations.

作者：Lukas Naugle

Lukas Naugle作为亚利桑那州凤凰城救赎教会的成员，是Marketplace One事工的负责人，也与全美的许多企业家和思想领袖一起合作。

翻译肢体：邱晴晴

来自群组: 金灯台团契分享组