Some time ago, I was privileged to be a guest among Christian students who were discussing with each other questions about being a Christian, about society, and about science. Christian Reformed students were also part of this discussion. Soon, when their studies are completed, each of them hopes to gain his or her place in the workplace, in business, in government, in health care, or in whatever other sector. It is a positive thing that they now try to imagine with which attitude they as Christians will enter into the active period of their lives.

Probing Questions⤒🔗

For the concluding event of three study evenings, I was invited to present a speech and take part in a debate on the theme of “being a Christian in the everyday practice of life in business.” Some of the questions prepared beforehand by the students were:

1. Can one, being occupied in the life of business, in everyday practice, demonstrate something of being a Christian?
2. Is a Christian actually allowed to build a career in a business position that requires perhaps 40, 50 or even 60 hours of work in the week?
3. Should a Christian strive for so much and so high? Wouldn’t it be better if they choose from a limited range of careers which will suffice to maintain the basic requirements of life, in order to leave more time available for active service in the work of God’s kingdom?
4. In the time in which you were active in the business life, did you encounter any resistance or enmity when you showed that you were a Christian? How did you deal with this?
5. Were you ever confronted with the dilemma of a “conflict of obligations,” when your conviction based on faith dictated one course and when what appeared to be the needs of the business dictated the opposite course?
6. Looking at the aspect of leadership, what was your relationship with your superiors and with your subordinates?
7. Were you able to share your faith by word, attitude, or deed?

These are intriguing questions that clearly state the question of some, and perhaps of many, of the Christian students: How will I make progress in building a successful career? And along with that, how can I be and remain a Christian in all this?

But Only a Few Are Truly and Fully Recognizable←⤒🔗

The first question, namely, whether it is possible for a person employed in the world of business to assert his Christianity, may be answered with an unqualified yes. There are plenty of opportunities. But one who has worked and moved around in the life of commerce for many years and has observed all sorts of contexts within this society, knows that only a few Christians, in their expression of their beliefs and insights into the application to life within their work environment, are truly and fully recognizable as Christians.

Perhaps many Christians seek to demonstrate their faith in attitude and behaviour, but in this they do not distinguish themselves from other, non-believing, fellow men, among whom one also counts honourable characters, people with a conscientious lifestyle, ready to help another and gifted with wisdom to help others who are in difficult situations or to point them in the right direction. The recognition of Christians through word and personal profession is relatively rare.

Perhaps it is generally known that one attends church and even perhaps that one is strongly orthodox. This might be obvious from a refusal to participate in football pools and lotteries or in the organization of events for the business employees that begin or end on the Sunday. But of a personal witness, of clear statements based on principles in main issues, of correction or warning during the development of happenings that, by their nature, give openings for this, of encouragement of colleagues in difficult situations, there is seldom evidence. One should, naturally, not generalize and should not fail to notice the exceptions that do exist. However, it is true that many Christians in the workplace, also those who, in the hierarchy of achievement in business, have risen to the top, very seldom reveal themselves with a clear Christian profile. Reformed people of strong orthodox origins, with the exception of abstaining in external things, do not, as a rule, show much of their Christianity. In the period during which I was active in the business world, I did inquire as to the cause with a response of a combination of heredity and the well-known “pearls before swine theory.” The practice of faith is an inside-the-church happening and a matter of the home, but in the workplace one had better keep it in the background. For the more modern Reformed believers, the same must actually be said with the difference that they would rather not admit any point of view because, in our liberated society, one would quickly be seen as old-fashioned or discriminatory if one would adhere to and carry out the deeper basic truths of the Christian faith. In lunch breaks, at the table, one can often see Christians squirming in their chairs when a colleague’s conversation heads in the direction of deeper questions of life, thereby asking a personal judgment of the participants. There are even people, church people, whose judgment is that an all too clear profiling of God-serving life principles exerts a detrimental influence on career advancement. People have and still do sometimes give expression to that in small things: for example, failing at a business dinner to make use of the opportunity for the ritual of prayer commonly used among Christians.

The Business Climate Is Not the Same Everywhere←⤒🔗

In the gathering with the students, the conclusion could be that the Christian—looking up to others, to equals, and to those in lower positions—can bring much of his or her faith to a valid consideration in word and in deed in all kinds of situations and at many moments, if they use time, method, and manner with wisdom. And that witness is without the consequence of enmity or scorn for him or her. There are naturally exceptions to that. The socioeconomic climate is not the same everywhere, and one can incidentally or sometimes generally be involved with people lacking in the decency and grace required to even show a modicum of respect for a Christian lifestyle. However, for those who in honesty and wisdom, in word and deed, desire to share the gospel of Christ, there is enough room in the workplace in order to witness to his or her faith from time to time.

Too Fixated on One’s Own Economic Success←⤒🔗

The question about the balance between the building of one’s own career and being available in the service of God is, for me, an intriguing question. I experienced joy when I heard the young people, busy with university studies, seriously ask themselves the question how one should deal with the tension between the two in our time. Do I not withhold too much from God if I become too fixated on my socioeconomic success and invest all my time and energy into that? Can I justify placing the calling to do something with and for the gospel continuously subordinate to my career ambitions, by being busy with intensive study besides my daily work? These questions should sound like music in the ears of consistories, who sometimes experience long periods of fruitlessness when extending a call to young people, who are busy developing their careers.

Reflection around this question yields the following conclusions:

1. The social economic system in all its disciplines, for the proper functioning of society, needs people who have acquired good knowledge and experience. This acquisition, through study, requires much time and energy; often this means depriving the family of significant time — if there is a family — and, for a Christian, the family is the first responsibility, but focusing on and acquiring a good education applicable to our society is no sin.
2. An unrestrained pursuit of a career, unhealthy competitive aggression, the desire to surpass others speedily — if necessary — by pushing them away, the desire to push for a higher scale in salary for the sake of a better lifestyle, without ever making oneself available for any task in the kingdom of God, does not point to a living faith. For the one who manifests these characteristics, a friendly, but at the same time clear, pastoral admonition is in order. One who prepares himself with the things necessary to function well in society should also be willing to be of service in the congregation of Christ, for that service also asks, in a diversity of tasks, for people with gifts and abilities.

Adjusting the Conscience←⤒🔗

And then, finally, there was the “conflict of obligations.” Every person who works in government or business bureaucracy in a position with more than average responsibility will experience this sooner or later. This will not be a major problem for some. I have experienced Christian people in greater or lesser positions of responsibility in socioeconomic life, who had no real problem connecting their names with certain acts or rules that were contrary to the norms of Christian ethics, and were able to quiet their consciences simply because these decisions were generally accepted in the economic environment. But examples may also be presented of Christians who, at this point, conscientiously maintained and followed the voice of their Christian conscience and withheld themselves from acting or passing regulations with even the slightest hint of illegality. I will present a few examples of this.

More than once, fellow workers in export businesses have asked me what my thoughts were about their cooperation (the act of helping prepare) in preparing export documents which presented a lower than actual value for goods in order to suppress import duties in the country for which these goods were destined. Naturally, in the event of damage, the goods were insured on the basis of true value…

I have met Christians in businesses who refused to allow their signature to be legal for the Arabian ambassador, a signature whereby they had to undersign so-called non-blacklist affidavits, affidavits that included swearing to having no relations with Israel, because otherwise, they would not be eligible to deliver goods to Arab countries. Actually, non-Christians also sometimes had difficulty with this. But for some it was a given that in international commerce, it was unavoidable and fairly generally accepted and one just signed. That which was problematic here for one person, presented no difficulty to the other. The one has a broader adjustment in conscience than the other and the circumstances under which a conflict of duties occurs vary from situation to situation.

The fact that Christian students, in preparation for a life in commerce — or in whichever sector of society — are busy with questions such as these, is encouraging for me.

Is this not about things which may also be brought forward during a home visit? Perhaps these things must be brought forward more often, definitely in homes where these things are relevant to the experience of the people. And actually they are always relevant everywhere.