While reading this book, I became keenly aware as a Christian of my role for Christ in the workplace. I had not addressed the issue of what I as a Christian could do in the workplace except share my beliefs with others when the occassion availed itself. In a way I believe I have been doing what the authors have suggested, sharing Christ with my coworkers. On the other hand, I do not think that I have taken it to the depth or with the conviction and missionlike attitudes ascribed by the authors. By that I mean I have always realized that there is a definite difference between how people act and react at work and how they act and react in church or at Christian functions and how some of those same people compromise their beliefs at work. I never fully understood how I as a Christian could make a religious difference in my coworkers lives by how I treated my work. Doug Sherman and William Hendricks touch on this ideal in the first section of their book Your Work Matters to God. The first section titled, "How Christians View Work" taught me first, that what I was observing and feeling was not unique. The fact that many people compromise their Christian beliefs or have no Christian beliefs at all in the workforce is saddening. What is even more saddening is the fact that many people are working and feeling that God does not acknowledge, appreciate or feel that their work is even worth the effort. Also, many are working for reasons that are not biblical, even though they profess to be Christians.
I agree with the authors that in today's workplaces, some people have chosen to keep Christ out of the workplace while communing with Him in a church setting. The authors describe this action as the Christian shuttling between two "disparate worlds".(p. 21) Doing so can cause tension for the Christian worker. Another avenue some Christians have taken in regard to their work is that their work is not as important as their religiou...