How to talk about faith at work
Have you ever wanted to share your faith at work, but are afraid to do so? If you are a person of faith, it is natural to desire to share your faith with those whom you spend the most time with during the week. At work, you can also achieve meaningful personal relationships with your coworkers, because of the closeness with which you interact on important projects, programs, and problems. So, in order to more fully live out our faith, while at work, we must first discuss how to have a conversation at work, about our faith. I have found two essential steps, and four keys to success, when having a conversation about faith.
STEP ONE: KNOW YOURSELF
The first step is to know yourself. Knowing yourself is harder than it sounds, and it includes knowing how others typically perceive you! Among other components of your identity, to know yourself means to know your characteristics and personality, tendencies and temperament, values and goals, and likes and dislikes. If you are aware of these parts of your identity, you can then understand more about how people perceive you. How people perceive you will shape how they interact with you when trying to have a conversation about faith.
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STEP TWO: BARRIER BREAKDOWN
The second step is to break down barriers. Despite the many differences people have in the particulars of their faith, most people in the world ascribe to a faith, and want to share this part of themselves with others. Therefore, faith barriers can be broken down between you and others, but it should be done so carefully. Part of this is barrier breakdown, is attempting to loosen the boundaries that seperate you from your coworkers. You will need to gain mutual respect with your coworkers, if you don’t already have it, in order to establish a safe space for discussing your faith. This step can be accomplished with the following four keys to success.
#1 Active Listening
The first key to success is active listening. In a social media-driven world, where we are encouraged to state our opinions and beliefs, many of us often neglect to listen to what other people are really saying. Thus, the first key to success seems counter-intuitive to talking about faith — and that is listening. Do not be thinking about what you are going to say next. Instead, it is helpful to ask questions to follow-up with people, after they share something, to show that you are engaged in the conversation.
#2 Find Commonalities
The second key to success is to find commonalities. You have to meet people in a space where they are comfortable — in either their territory or neutral territory; this is accomplished by being attentive to what you have in common with them. When discussing faith, do not focus on any disagreements you may have with people’s thoughts, beliefs, or experiences. Instead, respond to critical points of agreement; the responses will allow the conversation to continue, and to do what I call “building bridges of commonality.”
#3 No Proselytization
The third key to success is no proselytization. Evangelization is not proselytization! While it may seem like the opposite of your original intent of why you are sharing your faith, your goal should not be to “convert” others who think or believe differently than yourself. If you attempt to advocate or promote only your faith as “the truth,” not only will it make you appear shallow, self-centered, and close-minded, but it will also likely result in the termination of any future faith conversations.
#4 Patience & Persistence
The fourth key to success is patience and persistence. Patience and persistence are linked together, because you will need time and effort to grow in your shared experiences. You must continuously work at faith relationship-building — through dialogue, study, and prayer. Your personal faith, and the faith you share with others, will not grow if you let it stagnate. You have to nurture and nourish faith for it to grow.
In conclusion, by taking the two essential steps of knowing yourself, and breaking down barriers — through the four keys to success of active listening, finding commonalities, not proselytizing, and being patient and persistent — you can share in a fruitful conversation about faith at work.
Roger Huston, PhD, MPA is CEO and principal consultant at Faith Works Consulting, a management consulting company. He was previously the Executive Director of Testify, a religious education nonprofit organization.
