The Bible Society has suggested that next Monday should be "bring your Bible to work day"*. As it happens I will be starting a week's holiday so I won't be taking part.
However I do take my Bible to work every working day. I've got a small one that fits easily into my briefcase. I don't show it off at work, just read a psalm or the lectionary passage as I sit on the train.
My experience of the workplace is that overt displays of Christian affiliation are very much frowned upon. A couple of times in the last twenty years I have been "taken aside" and told that I should not discuss my religious beliefs during coffee break or whatever.
One massive change has been in what recruitment consultants tell Methodist local preachers. In the 1950s it would have been seen as a plus by a potential employer. Now it is best left off. Apparently the wider world sees Methodist preachers as nut cases.
By all means take the Bible to work. But our most effective witness is to clearly have the Bible written within out hearts and let that be seen in our behaviour. The nature of my work means that I see many work places and I note what a difference a committed Christian can make to a workplace. And it is more than displaying a Bible on the work bench or desk.
* This is on the front page of the Methodist Recorder but the only link that I could find this morning was from 2008![]()
However I do take my Bible to work every working day. I've got a small one that fits easily into my briefcase. I don't show it off at work, just read a psalm or the lectionary passage as I sit on the train.
My experience of the workplace is that overt displays of Christian affiliation are very much frowned upon. A couple of times in the last twenty years I have been "taken aside" and told that I should not discuss my religious beliefs during coffee break or whatever.
One massive change has been in what recruitment consultants tell Methodist local preachers. In the 1950s it would have been seen as a plus by a potential employer. Now it is best left off. Apparently the wider world sees Methodist preachers as nut cases.
By all means take the Bible to work. But our most effective witness is to clearly have the Bible written within out hearts and let that be seen in our behaviour. The nature of my work means that I see many work places and I note what a difference a committed Christian can make to a workplace. And it is more than displaying a Bible on the work bench or desk.
* This is on the front page of the Methodist Recorder but the only link that I could find this morning was from 2008
