Mercenary mentality

The New York Times Magazine ran an article in January on Faith at Work. Randy Cohen began the article this way:

I answered an ad for a job as a data-entry clerk at a faith-based charity, but I stopped filling out the application when it said I could not work there unless I signed a ''statement of faith,'' affirming that I had evangelical Christian beliefs. Isn't this religious discrimination?

What struck me was not that this charity asked its employees to sign a statement of faith, but that this Mr. Cohen has an overwhelmingly mercenary mentality quite without realizing it. For the reality is, that whether one signs a 'statement of faith' or not, in entering the employment of any organization, one is aligning oneself with their mission, values and goals. Doing data entry is supporting the cause of the organization. If one was doing data entry for Osama bin Laden, there is a tacit commitment of oneself to the purposes that he represents.

Doing data entry for bin Laden is different from doing it for a Christian charity. They serve different ends. That the charity asks its employees to make that commitment explicit only serves to focus attention on the fact that to hire oneself out to an organization is to support it.

It is precisely at this point that I believe that Christians need to demonstrate more faithfulness to the message of the gospel. I think hardly a person would willingly enter the employment of al Queda, but do we realize that our employment represents an allegiance? We do not simply work to take home a paycheck; rather we are compensated for advancing the cause of our employer. Therefore a Christian must ask: How can I advance the cause of my employer while being entirely faithful to Christ? My sense is that when we ask ourselves that (or at least when I ask myself that), we'll find that the gospel rubs against the mission of the mass of employers.

Consequently, we have two alternatives:

1. Maintain our first allegiance to Christ, and allow the gospel to define our actions in the workplace, or
2. Start new organizations that (in every righteous sector, not just the non-profit world!) submit to Christ.

In the first, we will be against the world for the world, and in the second, for the world against the world.