Light to the World
I’m 28 years old and I work at Unilever as an engineer. I have been here for the past year and 8 months. I’m extremely blessed to work where I do, as it was my dream to work here, because it is one of the top companies to work for, in my industry. Unilever is an international company, owning more than 400 brands, with over 1 billion people using our products, daily. How I was able to land my dream job, is a miracle story in itself. I thought this dream of mine was impossible, but God opened up the doors for me to work here. I knew God had a plan for placing me at this company, but little did I know what that would be.
I had my conversion experience from canvassing in the summer of 2014, and since then God has been faithfully working in my heart and has given me a greater burden for personal evangelism. When I started at Unilever, I wanted to represent God in the workplace, to the best of my ability. I wanted to show my managers and co-workers I could be an excellent engineer and glorify God in doing so, as well as show a loving, Christ-like character to those around me. I took the approach of being a silent witness and hoped others could see Christ through my life. During my time here, I’ve been able to build good relationships with my bosses and co-workers, and everyone knew about my values and faith.
Around August of 2019, there was a workshop at my company called the Purpose Workshop. It’s something that was picking up popularity at large companies. The premise was to help employees find their life’s purpose. Purpose is what drives a business, and Unilever wanted to help their employees achieve their purpose. The motto is: People with purpose, thrive; brands with purpose, grow, and companies with purpose, last.The day before going to my purpose workshop, I told another Christian co-worker of mine half jokingly, “I already know what my purpose is, there’s no need for me to go to this workshop.” When she asked what my purpose was, I told her it was to spread the love of God and help others to know Him. She said, “That’s awesome! You can even live out your purpose at work! You could even, you know, start a bible study or something like that!” When she said that, I thought it was a great idea, and something I hadn’t thought of before. But at the same time, I got a little anxious thinking about it because it would be awkward hosting a bible study at work, with people I only knew in the workplace context. This conviction wouldn’t go away, and I thought, “oh man…now I actually have to do this…”
I thought more about it later that night, prayed, and determined in my heart to do it. I was encouraged and strengthened to face my anxieties and start a bible study. But as I went back to work, day after day; the conviction started to slowly weaken and eventually I forgot about the idea.However, a few months later, I felt a strong urge again to do more for God in my everyday life. He’s done so much for me in my life, and out of gratitude, I wanted to be a workplace missionary for Him. This time, in order for me not to cop out, I decided to tell a couple of my non-adventist Christian co-workers about it (I’m the only Adventist at my office) so they could hold me accountable to it. They were super excited about it and kept expressing how they knew God was going to do big things at Unilever.
The next Thursday, we had a planning session and prayed for God to lead, and to give direction to how we would conduct these studies. I had a couple thoughts in my mind. I was thinking we could read an Ellen White book that was safe to introduce to non-adventists (they don’t know who Ellen White is), since her books are so filled with scripture and insight. The other idea, of course, was to study straight out of the Bible. Both my co-workers wanted to let me decide because it seemed to them, God had given me a plan. After further discussion, we thought it would be best to read straight from God’s Word.
Next, we had to decide which topic to start on. My co-workers thought that for the first study, we should prove to everyone that God’s word is true and valid, and a source we could trust. The first thought that popped into my head was the study on Daniel chapter 2, which is about the prophetic dream that king Nebuchadnezzar had, but its interpretation had been given to Daniel. It is an amazing prophecy predicting the rise and fall of kingdoms, which climaxes with Christ’s eternal kingdom coming to destroy all man-made kingdoms, and Jesus would rule as king forever and ever. After figuring out our game plan, we closed with prayer and thanked God for giving us guidance and courage to minister to our co-workers. Our first bible study would be the following week.
The week went by, and it was almost time for our first study. The day before the study, we all went around the office looking for Christian co-workers, and those who we thought were spiritually open, and invited them to our bible study. That day, I ran into a co-worker of mine in the kitchen. We had both been contractors that started at Unilever around the same time. We both started doing testing work in the labs, but since then, I had moved to full-time employee status with more of an engineer role, working on various projects, but he was still doing work in the lab.Just to paint a picture, he has tattoos all over his arms, and had diamond studded earrings. He was very foul mouthed, talked openly about women in very inappropriate ways, and overall, a very negative person with a dark atmosphere around him. However, I had heard from a co-worker that he had a recent conversion experience, and turned back to God after many years of living in the world. I could definitely tell he had changed a lot, from when we were both first hired. He no longer cursed, no longer wore his earrings, and the way he talked to people seemed a lot more genuine and kind.
I decided to invite him to the bible study. When I asked him, he said, “For sure, I would love to join. That’s crazy, because I was actually thinking of doing something like this!” At first, I thought he was joking, and I asked him if he was actually serious, since he was the type to always be sarcastic. But he confirmed that he wasn’t playing around, and actually wanted to have some kind of bible study at work. It’s amazing that God placed the burden for workplace ministry on our hearts, at the same time.
The next day, ten minutes before the bible study I went to the conference room where we would meet. I prayed earnestly for the Holy Spirit, for wisdom, and for God to speak through me. I’m normally awkward, speaking in front of groups. I get anxious in these situations, and I sometimes run out of words to say, so God really had to work through me, to make this a success. Finally, it came time for our study. We had six people show up. One of my coworkers and good friends, Chris, was in attendance. Earlier this year, he had gone through a bad breakup with his girlfriend of 9 years, and he came to me quite often to share his problems, and just for me to lend a sympathetic ear. I had prayed with him and given him Steps to Christ, of which he had only read the first chapter and lost interest. He appreciated my desire to help, but he didn’t seem to have much interest in spiritual things. I was surprised that he actually showed up.
We started the meeting with prayer and then jumped straight into the book of Daniel. As I was going through the prophecy, I was linking all of the historical events related to Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. We talked about the dates these kingdoms were in power, when they were conquered, and the prophetic implications of these events. As we progressed through the study, everyone was incredibly attentive and searching the scriptures with interest. As I finished the study, which was only supposed to be an hour long, most people stayed and started to share their testimonies of the amazing things God has done in their lives. I could strongly feel the presence of God in that room, as we were praising Him for His goodness.Finally, we ended the study, and I was thanking God for making this first bible study a huge success. What was even more incredible was that my friend, Chris who had not shown much interest in God earlier, was now inviting another one of our co-workers to the next study! I was amazed it had made such impact on him, which he was trying to bring others to join.
This Bible study group has only just recently started, but we are meeting every week to read God’s word and to get to know Jesus better. We are excited for what great plans God has in store for our office. This made me realize I don’t have to be in a foreign mission field, to be doing God’s work, but God wants me to be His witness right where I am, with my current sphere of influence. Please keep us in prayer, as God works through us, to be a light to our co-workers.
Brian Park is originally from Detroit, Michigan but currently reside in Fairfield, CT. He attends the Westchester Korean SDA church. He is an engineer at Unilever.