In Exile Surrounded by People
“Any day now,” he thought, “They’ll take my job from me.”
Marcelin had spent years trying to share the gospel with his co-workers in Cote d’Ivoire, and the consequences of speaking about his faith so openly were finally appearing. Rumour had it that the price of his words would be his position with the United Nations.
Pushed to the brink of losing his job, he gave up on sharing his faith; bringing his beliefs to work was futile, and it was better to keep God out of the workplace, leaving him contained in Church.
Marcelin didn’t lose his job in the end—but he lost the feeling of being welcome at his work, and his excitement over being there began to dry up. “This is how it has to be,” he decided.
“Clear boundaries between belief and work.” Marcelin resigned himself to exile in his own workplace.
Outsiders Outside the Sphere of Influence
Since the Enlightenment, the Church’s influence across societies has been waning. People look to man, not God, to create culture through rapid, man-made progress. Many Christians know the feeling—that their faith is only welcome in their church and a few other select venues. That any attempt to bring it to their coworkers or friends might be met with skepticism or hostility.
“Better to bring people to church, if they’re willing,” many often think, “rather than bring Christianity into my workplace, which is too obvious.” Though when faith does come up and the name of Jesus is mentioned, it drops like a bomb. Silence. Conversation razed to the ground.
We identify as outsiders in this world on the fringes of society; but we were always meant to be culture creators at the heart of the world. We’re meant to bring godliness out of the church and into communities in a way that enriches cities and societies.
When the Israelites were taken from Jerusalem to an exile in Babylon, even then God didn’t tell them to remain closed off and separate from the city; he said, “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens . . . Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” (Jeremiah 29:5-7)
We were never meant to keep our faith confined to church, and church was never meant to be the only place that faith is available to be found. That’s what Marcelin discovered—and that’s when his life changed.
Lessons from the Flower Man
For years, even before his job was threatened, a friend had been trying to convince Marcelin to join something called a Leadership Circle, which was designed to empower Christian Leaders to share and embody their faith in new and unexpected ways within their spheres of influence. Though still unconvinced, Marcelin finally decided to go.
On the screen at the meeting, there was a video: The Flower Man. It goes something like this:
The scene is black and white. A man trudges into a silent city, quietly, but with great intent. He is the only thing in colour, and he sets up home in a broken down house, immediately getting to work, replacing brokenness with beauty. The house comes into colour. The trees in his yard come into colour. The little girl next door notices and is in awe.
Just as a thief in the city comes to steal the beauty, the man gives it away in the form of a flower to the little girl. The neighbours notice, and some are shocked; some are inspired. But the man keeps doing what he came to do: give flowers away. The beauty spreads, and soon, the entire city is in colour.
Marcelin wondered: had he been spending years telling people about beauty and colour that they couldn’t see in him, instead of offering people flowers? Had he been trying to coax people into coming to church, where they could discover colour, instead of bringing it to others?
The lesson he learned was this: as believers, though we may be in exile, we’re called to bring not just saving grace and news of salvation to our acquaintances, but common grace—flourishing and beauty—to our entire communities and cities. Our entire lives and work are meant to be so infused with our faith that people around us should be able to recognise something different—a colour that they’ve never seen before—in how we interact with them, even if the name of Jesus never comes out of our mouths.
People were drawn to the Flower Man because his whole house and yard were in colour—not because he waved people down, inviting them to come discover something called colour hidden inside.
Marcelin was shaken. For years, he had been trying to tell people about the beauty and colour—about Jesus; but he himself was not in full colour at work. He left that at church, believing that his faith life and work life should be separate. It was a revolutionary idea that he could fully integrate his faith with his work, and by doing so help to create a culture of redemption and beauty.
Awakening, Equipping, and Unleashing Leaders to Transform Communities
Many Christians do want to live an integrated life where their faith is intertwined with their work, but the assumption that faith at work must take the shape of an overt “winning converts” method is mistaken, as Marcelin found.
The Leadership Circle that Marcelin agreed to attend is a program of Cities Project Global, which exists to awaken workplace leaders the way that he was awakened, empowering them to live out their God-given purpose in a way that impacts those around them and transforms their communities for the common good.
It reveals to people that they are uniquely gifted, experienced, and valued, placed in a setting and designed for a purpose that no one else could fulfil.
It teaches people that work is inherently good, even if it’s not in the sphere of the church or missions—all work can build righteous, loving culture and societies, which was God’s original mission for us.
It shows people a way to become upright tsaddiqim—leaders defined by their righteousness—building relationships with those around them with God’s hesed, faithful covenant love, reflecting God’s nature in a way that cannot be ignored.
And when leaders are upright and actively care for their community, cities are redeemed and flourish—just as the Flower Man showed Marcelin.
A Change of Heart Can Create a Change of Reality
When Marcelin no longer viewed the church as the sole domain of his faith life, he began to pour care into his work and family in a way that he had never done before. Coworkers began relating to him in a new way, coming to him for help because they saw how deeply he cared about the work they were doing and the people they were impacting. Their trust and respect for him grew, and he is well-recognized as a leader in his community today.
“I felt like an old tractor, abandoned in a field—useless,” said Marcelin.
But now he feels renewed excitement for his purpose, integrated with his faith and work.
After the Leadership Circle experience, Marcelin and some peers held gatherings, inviting contacts to listen to why they treat their work with so much care. And over the course of a number of weeks of people coming to visit, 30 people came to Christ.
After years of no movement, transformation came to Marcelin’s community like a rain to drought-stricken lands. What began as a change of heart became a change of being, which became a change in his entire community.
Applications for the 2022-2023 Global Leadership Circle are now open.
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