Julie is a regular at Headstart and would gladly cheer the All Blacks to victory in the Rugby World Cup (which is odd as she doesn’t hail from New Zealand but just ask her about NZ at your own risk!.. you were warned!) A hiker, a runner and lover of nature (has she told you New Zealand has some of the picturesque mountains in the world?), Julie tackles Untapped #2: Making the most of your 'non-work' work time and takes us on a personalised tour of this topic.
Following on from Untapped #1, I find myself writing this on my 1 hour commute to/from work and making the most of my ‘in-between’ time! On Monday, we moved on from this in-between time to with how we can make the most of our ‘non-work’ work time. I’ve been at Headstart for a few years now and this is the first time we tackled this topic.
So what is ‘non-work’ work time? Us young workers spitballed a few ideas as to what it is. Our work days and weeks are punctuated by ‘non-work’ times like lunch or tea breaks, coffee catch ups, birthday morning teas and in-house Fri-yay afternoon work drinks. Throughout the course of a year, our ‘non-work’ work time might entail going on work trips – conferences or retreats – or off-sites - whether they be for HR, recruiting or the famous “team bonding”.
When I looked at our list, I realised that my attitude towards ‘non-work’ work time has changed over the years.
I remember how excited I was to go on my first work trip to a client in the Gold Coast. What could be better – flights to the Gold Coast, a hotel by the beach, hotel buffet breakfast, a generous dinner meal allowance – all paid for by work! Then there was the time I went away on a work retreat to the Crowne Plaza in the Hunter Valley where I enjoyed many team bonding activities like a themed dress up dinner party and learning clay target shooting and archery.
However, more recently, there have been times when I feel like ‘non-work’ work time comes at an expense. Participating in company-sponsored activities like Friday work drinks or work conferences is time spent away from my desk. As life gets increasingly busy, it sometimes feels like time spent on ‘non-work’ work activities takes away from time that I could spend doing actual work or catching up on emails. Whilst Friyay afternoon drinks are fun, I could instead leave work earlier and start my weekend sooner.
It was refreshing to hear the perspective of Todd, a senior associate at a law firm. He was interviewed by Mark on this topic of making the most of ‘non-work’ work time. It was great to hear wisdom from a worker came to Christ in his mid-30s and has been working for almost as long as I’ve been alive! It’s always good to be reminded that there are many who have gone before us and experienced many of the challenges and struggles we encounter as young workers. Also, that a worker in their mid-30’s can come to Christ just like Todd - i can think of many workers just like Todd who appear unreachable and yet, here Todd is sharing to us! Amazing!
Todd shared about his perspective on ‘non-work’ work time being formative in building relationships with co-workers. Those small interactions during tea or lunch breaks with colleagues like discussing weekend plans can be a good opportunity to mention that you go to church on Sundays - for Todd, this was a easy way to find out if someone is a follower of Jesus so as to be able to connect them with other Christian workers.
The “coffee-dinner-gospel” model championed by Sam Chan in his book “Evangelism in a Skeptical World” espouses the idea that one-on-one time spent with non-believers can build relational capital that can create and facilitate opportunities to share the gospel. This helped me to see value in going on coffee runs or attending Friday afternoon drinks to help me build relationships with workmates. This also helped me to see value in spending time with colleagues outside of work which provides me with more licence to ask more personal deeper questions, and not just talk about work all the time.
Todd shared a story of the time he went on a business trip to Perth which meant that he was able to spend a lot of time with interstate-based colleagues outside of official work time. Work trips can be a great opportunity to merge universes with co-workers in the blend between work and personal time. Todd even grasped the opportunity on one of his business trips to share the gospel with his Perth-based colleague!
Todd’s sharing encouraged me to think more broadly about what being a witness at work entails beyond being a faithful honest diligent worker because God is our boss during our work time. It can also involve looking horizontally at our co-workers and having a concern for their salvation and their pathway to an eternal destination. It might look like capitalising on our ‘non-work’ work time to be involved in an in-house Christian fellowship group in the workplace and spending that time praying specifically for the salvation of our colleagues.
Above all, the one thing that left a deep impression on me was Todd's tock-solid persistence in praying for opportunities to share the gospel with our co-workers. With our co-workers being our neighbours, we can pray to God to burden our hearts with a concern for the salvation of our neighbours and to seek out and open up opportunities to share the good news with them. Doing so will change the way that we see people around us as being en-route on a journey towards an eternal destination.
Mark then wrapped up the evening by zooming out from the street view to the Google earth view. All we had spent the night doing was sampling what wisdom looked like. All we had done is untapped Colossians 4:4-5 and see that in the flesh: “Be wise in the way you act towards outsiders, make the most of every opportunity” (Colossians 4:4-5). These pearls of wisdom left me encouraged to make the most of my ‘non-work’ work time to seek to intentionally build relationships with my co-workers and love them as my neighbours.
