I was delighted to have an article published in Faith in Business Quarterly, Cambridge, along with my co-author Peter Cumming. The article is called “Who am I?”
Here is the abstract:
An exploration of identity, identity work and leadership development for Christians in the workplace
Peter Cumming and Kara Martin use the Book of Ruth to illustrate how we develop our identity in the workplace as Christian leaders. They explore three theories of identity - Who am I as a leader? (Identity theory); How do others see me as a leader? (Social identity); How does my sense of self get impacted by the leadership role assigned to me? (Social construction). But they affirm that ultimately, our identity as Christians is stable and secure in Christ.
Below is an excerpt:
In the 2020s, even without the impact of a pandemic, our careers are being subjected to almost continuous change. This is especially so in relentlessly shifting organisations which are intent on transformation. Such change results from a business being under pressure to respond promptly to either disruption or opportunities. Not to change could result in either business failure or a lack of exploratory growth. These changes have an impact – often a negative one - on the long-term mutual obligations between an institution and an individual leader within the organisation, also termed the ‘psychological contract’. The relationship is felt to have weakened or deteriorated. Importantly, organisational change also disrupts our sense of self, the way we see or describe ourselves, known as ‘identity change’.
The Book of Ruth and ‘identity work’
For very different reasons to our own, Ruth’s time was also very disruptive. It was the age when ‘the Judges’ ruled. It was a time of civil, religious and moral chaos in Israel’s history. Notably, it was not a safe environment for women (Ruth 2:9). For us, the events of the last five years with increasing reports of the abuse of women, and more recently, COVID-19, all make it easier to empathically enter into the period of the Judges.
Our entry into this topic on identity is a simple question, “Who am I?” Orpah and Ruth answer this question with two different responses. Orpah stays in Moab, but Ruth follows Naomi as she returns to Israel. Ruth’s ‘identity change’ begins with discarding the identity of being a Moabite, and that region’s gods, to become part of Naomi’s people and her God, as described in one of the most poignant passages in Scripture (1:16–17):
“Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”
Kara’s story:
Like many workers these days, I have multiple employers. I lecture for a theological college, I coach for a business incubator, and I do contract work for various organisations. At times I am dealing with shifts in many of these organisations. I find myself sometimes overwhelmed by the amount of change, and that can lead to me caring less for each organisation that engages me.
The challenge for me is to continue to do my best work despite whatever is happening in the organisation. Sometimes I yearn for a simpler time when I worked for just one organisation, and my identity felt more contained and secure. However, there was a temptation then to identify more with the work itself, than to find my security in my relationship with Christ. I relate to Ruth taking on the risk of leaving what was familiar and known, and I am challenged by her flexibility, loyalty and initiative.
Identity as both ascribed and accomplished
In our post-modern world, identities are more often crafted - accomplished - by us than ascribed - that is, given to us. In the biblical context, it is helpful to link the granted or ascribed vertical dimension with our crafted or accomplished horizontal dimension. For instance, Abram’s blessing is granted or ascribed to him (Gen 12:2). In the New Testament, Paul names our ascribed identity as being “in Christ” (amongst others). Furthermore, Scripture also accommodates a horizontal dimension of identity as accomplished or crafted by us. Abram, and later Israel and the Church, are to be “a blessing to the nations” (Gen 12:3). They craft this identity to be a blessing, springing from their God-given vocation as priests and vice-regents (Ex 19:6; 1 Pet 2:9), carrying out the inherent responsibility of Genesis 12:2-3 to be a blessing to all peoples.
This theme of being given and also shaping our new identity in Christ is developed in Ephesians 2:10, where Paul explains that as God’s handiwork, and being in Christ Jesus, we are freed so as to “walk” in the good works that God has prepared in advance for us to do. This should be our lived experience in the workplace.
For Christians in the workplace, having a secure identity ‘in Christ’ allows us to experiment in crafting our identity, living out our Christian vocation of being a blessing in our workplace. We should increasingly be freed from the insecurities we see in our workplace culture and from the need to shore up our social or professional identities; instead, we can take risks and explore what it means to create opportunities for flourishing in the context in which we are placed.
Conclusion
We recognise that we live in a time where there is constant change within the businesses in which we work, and this impacts our own sense of identity which is complex and influenced by personal factors, how others see us, and by our professional roles.
However, as Christians, we are freed from some of the ‘identity games’ that our culture may nudge us to play, because amidst the change our identity is stable and secure in Christ. This frees us to embrace both the identity ascribed to us, and also to craft our identities so they align with God’s purposes.
It is important for us to be self-aware, to recognise how much our identity is being shaped by our work, and/or shaped by how others see us. However, working on our identities in work settings also gives us the capacity to change our situation. This is illustrated through the narrative of Ruth, who was transformed from a marginalised woman to one who is heralded as a woman of valiant character, and goes on to be named in the lineage of Jesus.
Email me at workship@gmail.com for a copy of the full article.