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Christians…let’s get to work!

Christians…let’s get to work!

There are currently over 4,000 Workplace Chaplains who have been

hired by secular companies…Ford Motor Company, Sears, Pilgrim’s

Pride Chicken, and many others…to come into their facilities and

minister to their employees. This does not include hospital chaplains,

military, fire and police chaplains. The Harvard Business School has

determined that those businesses who do likewise will receive a $4

return on every dollar invested in areas such as increased loyalty and

decreased absenteeism. It is estimated that, at the current pace, by the

end of the decade, there will be over 20,000 Workplace Chaplains

serving American businesses.
Whether one is a Workplace Chaplain or not, the fact remains that

there is a faith at Work Movement taking place in America right now.

God is moving in the one place where we spend up to 70% of our lives:

The Workplace.
Sadly, according to Pete Hammond of Intervarsity Christian Fellowship,

“Workplace believers seldom feel served by their churches in their

jobs and careers on issues of faith and biblical ethics.”
WHAT ABOUT YOUR CHURCH?

Is Workplace Ministry part of most local churches today? Is the massive

Christian army of the Lord being trained and equipped to advance the

Kingdom in the one place they’re all marching headlong into on Monday

morning? Unfortunately, no. In many cases, where Workplace Ministry

training CAN be found, it’s merely as another bolt-on evangelism

program that isn’t taken too seriously by leadership. Personally,

I’ve spoken in my share of churches across denominations and I’m not yet

aware that I’ve seen one with a workplace ministry.
Consider this statement by Doug Sherman, author of “Your Work

Matters to God.” He writes, “Our surveys reveal that 90-97% of

Christians have never heard a sermon relating biblical principles to

their work life.” Most church members have never been trained,

equipped and released into the workplace by their church leaders, the

one place where they spend 60-70% of their waking hours. The

problem is that the teaching Christians DO receive is often not relevant

for what most Christians need in order to impact their workplaces.”
Workplace ministry can change the world.
One employee at a time.
THE ROLE OF CHURCH LEADERSHIP
One of the keys to the success of this burgeoning Workplace movement

will be how well-received and promoted it is by America’s Church

leaders.
Os Hillman, Director, International Coalition of Workplace Ministries,

says, “I believe pastors will be the last to really embrace this movement

because it is such a new paradigm. However, ultimately, they will be the

instruments God will use to make the greatest impact in the movement

because of their influence in so many people’s lives.”
Ed Silvoso, author of “Anointed for Business, Harvest Evangelism”

writes, “The most common self-inflicted put-down is ‘I am not a pastor—

I am just a layperson.’ This is all part of a clever satanic scheme to

neutralize apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers along

with the entire army of disciples, already positioned in the marketplace.”
The world needs ministers and leaders to equip their people to be

effective where they spend the majority of their time. In order to do this,

it has to be intentional, long term and foundational to the church. Church

leaders must buy into the concept completely.
Pastor Dick Halverson once said, “There is a distinction between church

work and the work of the church. Church work is what you do for the

organized institution of the church. The work of the church is what is done

between Sundays when the church is scattered all over the metropolitan

area where it is located - in homes, schools, offices, on construction

jobs, in market places.”
I concur with this statement by Os Hillman: “The Church in the workplace

is the purest form of the body of Christ today due to its diversity.

Workplace believers are less prone to denominational differences because

they have a common goal of representing Christ in their workplaces. The

movement will break down denominational barriers that have been held in

the past.”
As a Workplace Chaplain myself, hired by secular companies to minister

in the work environment, a Bible Study I conduct, entitled “Jesus Said,”

attracts people from across denominational lines. In 7 years, not one fight

has broken out as Christians read for themselves the sayings of the One

thing they all have in common, their mutual King, Jesus Christ. Where there’s

unity, there’s Power!

Dallas Willard wrote, in “The Spirit of Discipline”: “There is truly is no

division between sacred and secular except what we have created. And that

is why the division of the legitimate roles and functions of human life into

the sacred and secular does incalculable damage to our individual lives and

the cause of Christ. Holy people must stop going into “church work” as their

natural course of action and take up holy orders in farming, industry, law,

education, banking, and journalism with the same zeal previously given to

evangelism or to pastoral and missionary work.”
IS THIS A MOVEMENT?
Dr. Billy Graham said, “I believe one of the next great moves of God is

going to be through the Believers in the workplace.”
“Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know

it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” -

Isaiah 43:19
Is God doing something new?

Is He moving in the marketplace?
You decide.

If He IS, what are YOU going to do about it?
NEED HELP?
I am making myself available to speak to Church congregations of ALL

denominations on Sunday mornings beginning September, 2007 within a

300-mile radius of my home in Stephenville, Texas.

YOUR congregation NEEDS to hear this message.
For bookings, please contact team1min@our-town.com.
Thank you and God bless you.
In Him,
Michael Tummillo
Workplace Chaplain

“[Mike's] day job is as a corporate chaplain to a 500-employee

corporation. (Yes, several thousand people in the U.S. are paid

to do that now–with their salaries paid by the secular corporation!)

…I think you’d find him a great catch.”

- Jim Rutz, Author of Megashift and The open Church