Hahaha starting a prayer group meeting at workplace isn’t as easy as i thought. certainly there are some rules @ work that i need to abide, which i didn’t think of before in my excitement of meeting fellow christians, and got me into trouble hahaha…
Instead of consulting with my manager and my bigger manager of the technical department (which i belong to) first about starting the prayer meeting, i told the big head director straightly about it, and both my managers weren’t very happy about it. They got me to sit down (which i wasn’t aware of the situation at all), and told me that they are very open to talk about religions/faiths, and so they couldn’t understand and felt very upset when i didn’t talk to them first and instead turn to WS straightly. They didn’t really agree with the idea of having a prayer meeting, coz it seems separating the christians from the other faiths in the workplace, it seems very exclusive, it doesn’t match with the company’s values; and the implication of this is that other religions must have the same chance to have their own meetings, and that has never been thought/happened before.
It’s not that they would forbid us the christians having prayer meeting, but it’s just that i didn’t tell them first and instead talk to WS, certainly it’s the number #1 rule at company that i broke: if there’s anything happen, tell your immediate manager first, then it becomes the manager’s responsibility. Now my bigger manager had to talk to the HR manager and the boss’ son JS about this issue.
Hmm it’s not the most pleasant conversation i had in my life, but i can totally understand their reasoning, and thank God that they talked to me in a very calm and nice ways (but deep cut into the heart of the problem lol); and i totally understand it’s my fault of not telling them. It’s just i myself also don’t understand why the thought of telling them first didn’t cross my mind at all. I told them when i talked to WS it’s purely coincidental (i bumped into him when i was making coffee!). I explained my reasoning behind the idea, that is, christians everywhere, not just in workplace or church but basically everywhere, love to meet and gather with fellow believers for encouragement and strengthening of each other. It’s the nature of christian gathering, and not meant to be an exclusive and seclusive group; it’s not like we had something to hide or secrets.
I felt really bad tho, i cried in front of ZG in the ladies changeroom, and thank God she’s there to comfort me. She said it’s partly her fault of not telling me to tell them first, and it’s just everyone is excited about the prayer meeting and we didn’t really think much about it. Half an hour later, my bigger manager approached me for the second time, she and the HR manager thought it’s not a good idea, but since WS owns the company and he can do whatever he likes, he’s christian too and he allows it to happen, and so be it. But there are several rules that we must obey: the meeting shouldn’t exceed 30 mins (coz that’s our lunchtime), no noise, company’s matter stands ahead the prayer meeting in regards to booking rooms, etc. And she warned me next time not to do it again, and i had to take full responsibility of my actions. I thanked her, and I apologised of not thinking through these matters.
At the end of the day, i apologised again to both my managers, and they quite understood that i did that not in purpose, and that i’m just an “over-enthusiastic youth” that don’t really think much about it. And this is how we solve a problem: talk about it openly, address the matter and fix it, so that on Monday we don’t have anymore grudge over each other. Certainly there are things to be learned thru this experience.
Oh by the way, we still have our first prayer meeting yayy! 5 ppl including me came, it went very short (we started late - coz no one was really sure it’s still on or not), and 3 out of 5 are very excited about this, i didn’t have to sort of lead the meeting they already talked what we wanna do with the meeting, what format, what we will do, how often, etc. (The boss’ son JS came by for a few minutes to explain the rules, and we’re happy about it). (And apparently all 4 of them had associations with hillsong if not going to hillsong themselves - which is a good indicator what ‘type’ of christian they are). The 3 excited colleagues are very mature (middle aged) christian i can say, who has been working in the company for years and years. They said they’ve been wanting to have this kind of christian support group for a long time, but it’s just no one had ever put the things together, and they’d got caught up with work etc and so forgot about it (and they thanked me for doing this). And so we’ll decide the stuffs at the next meeting.
When i reflect upon this at the way home, i couldn’t help but thinking back to Phillip Jensen’s talk at Challenge about church-planting entrepreuner - that a characteristic of an entrepreuner is they don’t think much when starting something, they just do it, and apologise later. Hahahaha perhaps i have that characteristic?? i dunno, we’ll see ^^. But just like Andrew Lim’s said in his elective “Giftedness in ministry”, he challenged us to start a new ministry by the end of this month and see how we go with it. And so i did, i started, i’ll be responsible, and i’m committed to make it work.
At the end of the day, yeah i might be just an “over-enthusiastic youth“. I might not have think much about the consequences of my actions. But what i want them (and not just them, but the rest of my colleagues) to see is what or more exactly, who I’m enthusiastic about - i.e. Jesus Christ and Him only. It’s not just a random enthusiasm, but a real, eternal one, may it be a fragrance of life for them too. And if it takes an “over-enthusiastic youth” to light up the sparks of the “once-enthusiastic-but-now-less oldies“, so be it. And now i just realised - it’s my mission at the workplace. May it be yours too. =)
