God's "RTO" Plan

Despite what you might think, blogging isn't my career. By day, night and weekend, I'm a Consultant for a Corporate Real Estate advisory group and a residential REALTOR®. Both commercial and residential real estate have been impacted significantly by the pandemic. In the commercial world, the impact was that people couldn't go to work in an office. Corporations locked their doors and told their employees to go home with their laptops. The rest is history. It's been a wild ride since March 2020 to say the least.

Skipping ahead to the present day, most office doors are open again and people are coming back to work in a group environment...slowly and many times, reluctantly. Corporate real estate professionals have been wrestling with how many seats they will need, how much space they should keep (or dispose), and so on. What I'm talking about is their Return-to-Office planning (RTO). Companies are adding amenities to attract talent back to the office, upgrading technology, and doing whatever they can to entice people to come back.

I'm a believer that we have a social and economic responsibility to go back to the office and work alongside our peers. I'm also a believer that we, as Christians, have a greater calling to go back to our communal offices. I believe that God wants us to return. Did He speak to me on a mountain and declare it? No. But the more I read His Word and apply it, the more I understand how our lives should look as disciples...and sitting at home on our laptops, sending emails in pajamas just seems to fall short.

I've decided to outline the Top 5 reasons God would want us to be back in the office. If you don't work in an office, or if you have been in an office this whole time without disruption. no worries. What I'm about to share applies to everyone!

1 - Don't Forsake the Gathering

And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. (Hebrews 10:25)

The Bible makes it clear that believers are to meet together frequently for worship, fellowship, engage one another in discipleship, and to serve Jesus together. So what does that have to do with being in an office? You see, God knew that the body of Christ could only grow and thrive if the people (the church) gathered (Ephesians 4:16). Paul writes that the church of Christ is like a body - each person playing a different part to make the body function (Romans 12:4-5, 1 Corinthians 12:12-27) . And if you know anything about motor function, you know that the body has to be in sync to complete certain tasks. Throwing a ball requires your fingers, arm, shoulders, back, legs, and eyes to work together. I think the same is true with any company. Companies work better together when they are in alignment. The church gathers to sync up and align themselves with God's Word. So too, should companies looking to grow and prosper.

2 - The Great Commission

He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. (Mark 16:15)

Jesus leaves His disciples with a "Great Commission" to preach the good news of salvation to everyone. He commands us to leave our homes and GO OUT into the world. Too often, in the American church, we rely on people coming to our Sunday gatherings via invite or happenstance. Jesus said that we, His church, are the light of the world, and that we cannot be hid (Matthew 5:14-16). I think the most important reason to be back in an office is so we can be THAT LIGHT in our workplaces, spending time around colleagues who may never step foot into a church service. Not everyone can assume the role of Lead Pastor at their local church organization. Some of us are called to be in an office, honoring God with our talents, and also honoring the LORD in how we represent Him to others. It may be considered "taboo" to mention Jesus or bring up "religion" in the workplace but more often than not, people are willing to have conversations and hear about you and your faith journey. I'm not saying we need to stand up in the middle of our office with a bullhorn, but God will give us opportunities in our normal conversations with others to share our faith and the grace and truth of Jesus Christ. It is our responsibility as His disciples to share the good news of salvation through Jesus - this is our most important calling and our most important mission.

3 - Work Heartily as Unto the LORD

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. (Colossians 3:23-24)

Paul writes that whatever God gives us to do, we must work at it with all our heart. I remember being a young adult working at a bowling alley and the general manager assigned me to clean windows on Fridays. I vividly remember him critiquing my work and saying, "Come on, I know it's only windows and it sucks, but take some pride in what you do. Make it look good." This always stuck with me and when things like this stick, it's because it's truth on a higher level. Whatever work the LORD has blessed you with, we must approach that assignment as if we are doing it for God. I'm not saying it's impossible to do great work alone - people do it all the time. But let's consider how many great ideas came about. Apple was technically born out of a garage in 1976 - however Steve Jobs didn't do it alone. He had the help of Steve Wozniak and an entire neighborhood! Many of the entrepreneurs featured on the TV show Shark Tank once worked together for a larger company - and that's where they developed their big idea! The point is - it often takes community to inspire innovation, to inspire the next great idea. I think if we are looking to do our best work, we should be around others as often as possible.

4 - Relationships with Others

Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. (Philippians 2:4)

It's hard to be a disciple of Christ and ignore relationships with others. Jesus is all about relationships - with His Father, with us, and encouraging us to form them with others. We are called to not only consider our own lives and our own selves, but to also consider the lives of others. That requires us to be intentional about how we develop relationships with others. Some of the most critical relationships we have are those with our colleagues. We spend a significant portion of our week with them - if you work 40 hours a week, that's almost half of the time you spend awake per week. Would you say that your relationships with your colleagues improved or fizzled out during the pandemic? Unless you worked hard to virtually keep those relationships strong (which is possible), it is more likely your relationships fizzled. Furthermore, it's very likely that you were unable to form any new relationships with colleagues that were hired during the pandemic. I know personally I didn't even get a chance to meet some people that came and went! Think of all the opportunities that we, as Christians, have missed to pray for others, support others' kids' fundraisers, rejoice with them in their success, and comfort them in their distress. Returning to what I shared earlier, we are the LIGHT of the WORLD. We cannot be hid at home.

5 - Raising Children in the Way They Should Go

Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6)

The pandemic taught us that it's difficult for children to learn collectively in an online environment. Public and private schools struggled to provide a platform where children could develop cognitively and socially (and I'm not blaming them). Now, there are statistics that "prove" homeschooled children do better on testing. In the right environment, I am sure it's true. However, I do not believe statistics always tell the full story. Can you imagine a world where everyone is homeschooled and then suddenly at the age of 18 or 22, we are all forced to come together and work. I cannot imagine that. I personally believe that children develop better in community. I think the Bible supports it. Jesus didn't disciple Peter alone. He assembled a small classroom of 12 strangers. The relationships those disciples formed with each other grew over time so that they would be able to carry on the work of Christ (through the Holy Spirit) together, even after His death, resurrection and ascension to the Father. What does this have to do with being an office? I believe that if we are sending our children to school again, we must also return to the physical workplace. Not only are we setting an example for our children, but we must stop robbing ourselves of the educational, social, and developmental experiences that can only happen when people are together.

To conclude, I will say that I am convinced God sent us home for a reason. From the perspective of a disciple of Christ, I can think of many reasons why this had to happen (I won't explore any further on this post). The New Testament of the Bible itself is a collection of letters written from one person or group to another. If the Bible was written today, these letters might have been emails or text messages. So I know the Holy Spirit is not limited by us working from home. If working from home is absolutely right for you, under your unique circumstances, I don't want to make it sound like you're not obeying God if you're not in an office. However, I do believe these points above are valid arguments for why it would make sense for a Christ follower to desire to be back in the workplace as opposed to being at home. These are all things I have considered in making my return to the office recently. And I hope you will prayerfully consider them too!

Grace and peace my friends!