Here is a story from Thursday's print edition on Faith in the Workplace. What's your take on mixing religion with work?

By Mark W. Olson

For even the most casual shopper at The Mustard Seed in Carver, it’s hard to miss the signs.

Christian music plays on the radio; a reference to Christ is imprinted in the middle of the floor; and business advertisements include seasonal Easter and Christmas poems.

Religion, and how it interacts with business, occasionally makes headlines – the “Merry Christmas” versus “Happy Holidays” debate; Somali Islamic immigrants who don’t want to scan pork in check-out lines; Christian pharmacists who don’t want to dispense the “morning-after pill.”

However, in a climate where most business owners keep their faith quiet in the marketplace, The Mustard Seed founder Mark Halla wears his Christianity on his sleeve.

“(It’s important) to honor and glorify God. You can’t do that if you don’t talk about him,” Halla said.

Halla isn’t alone.

For other Carver County businesses, such as Valeo Health and Wellness Center in Chanhassen, and Christian Companies Corporation in Mayer, Christianity serves as the core of their business plan.

Praying for health

Like The Mustard Seed, the faith of Valeo Health and Wellness Center owners is clear.

The business, at 78th Street in Chanhassen, includes a mural of the Cross. Its employees pray for the patients. Its last newsletter included the slogan: “experience life God’s way.”

 “We ask people if it’s alright to pray with them in the office. The power of prayer is very healing, so we bring that into the office,” said Dr. Aaron Morland, a Valeo chiropractor, and one of its founders.

In school, Morland said, he was always told not to discuss politics or religion. “You’ll get into debates you don’t want to get into, and it can lead you down paths you don’t want to go down,” he recalled.

However, Morland asserts, faith and business are “inseparable, if you’re living by faith.” Morland said everything he does is guided by faith and his relationship with God.

The name says it all with Christian Companies Corporation, out of Mayer in western Carver County. “I guess that first and foremost, I want to try and spread the word,” said Mark Cherry, owner of the new snow removal and landscaping business. Cherry’s business cards include a Bible verse on the back.

Segmenting lives

There are Christians who are in business, Halla said, and then there are Christian businesses.

“I think that’s almost a human tendency for us to segment our lives, so you have your faith life and you have your personal life or business life. People can make categories almost like rooms of your heart and spend time in each one, but the doors aren’t all open.

“I think I lived that way for quite some time too,” Halla said. However, now he ascribes to the concept of “one big great room.”

“I’m a Christian first and foremost in every aspect of life,” Halla said.

Other Christian business owners echo similar sentiments. “I get up in the morning, I know where I’m going. I know who I’m working for. I get to get up and work for the Lord,” Morland said.

Not for everyone

Religion isn’t beneficial in reaching all customers.

Halla said he usually receives a couple of negative phone calls or e-mails after he sends hundreds of customers his annual Christmas or Easter poems. “I don’t want to offend anyone. I hope they give us a chance,” he said. “I don’t want to push (Christianity). I also don’t want to hide.”

Morland said Valeo has similar situations. “We have lost some business,” Morland said. “Some people say it’s just a little too much over the top,” he said. “Some people might say ‘I’m just not too comfortable being prayed for.’”

“One thing I don’t want to see is, this is where Christians go, this is where the secular community goes to. That is segregation we never want to see. It’s like doing things in a fish bowl, and we’d rather do things in an ocean,” Morland said.

Cherry hasn’t received much feedback on his new business’ Christian outlook. “Some of this may have an adverse affect on my business. If we can even save one person, it’s worth it,” Cherry said. “If it fails because I’m saying I’m a Christian, so be it.”

Christian business owners also say they keep an open mind about the faith of their employees.

Mustard Seed employees span the spectrum of faith, Halla said, adding that hiring comes down to qualifications.

“All of us are Christian employees,” Morland said. “At the same time, we would accept anybody. (Otherwise, it) would be discrimination. We do attract who we are – a lot of Christians want to work in the office because they can feel the same thing we feel.”

Cherry, who only has one other full-time worker, said he typically networks with fellow parishioners at Howard Lake Christian Church when he’s hiring seasonal employees.

Danger of hypocrisy?

Dr. Jay Steele has taught at Crown College, a Christian-based school in St. Bonifacius, for 21 years. Steele, the chair of the business and information technology department, said he teaches students faith-based ethics in accounting and finance courses.

“What I work on with students is bringing the solid ethical foundation to the classes I am teaching,” Steele said. “It’s faith that helps you set the standards.”

Steele points to recent corporate scandals rocking Wall Street. He said he works with students to understand the pressures they may face in the workplace, so they have thought through issues before they are faced with them.

“We don’t advocate using (a) work position as a pulpit. That’s not what we’re here for. I feel, and my colleagues feel that, yes, the workplace can be a place of ministry. But it’s going to be your life and your lifestyle and your life choices that will be the message to people.”

One of the dangers in using a business to espouse faith, Steele said, is the danger of hypocrisy. “I think that sometimes people use (faith) as a gimmick, and I just have a problem with it. … People will say one thing in order to develop a business, but in reality they’re living a fraud in their whole lifestyle.”

Steele said he leaves it up to the student’s discretion, whether or not they feel comfortable espousing religion in their businesses. “I don’t have a theological problem with that, as long as you’re consistent,” Steele said. “But you really do set yourself up – marking yourself as a Christian – and sometimes set standards that are hard to live by.”

Christian standards are tough standards, admitted Halla. He said he finds the moral bounds of the Bible even tighter than legal requirements. “There is more accountability,” he said.

After pondering the question of fearing hypocrisy, Halla responded, “Of course I’m a hypocrite, that’s why I need Christ, because I can’t lead a perfect righteous life,” Halla said.

“I don’t want to be worried about humiliating myself,” he said, “as long as I don’t dishonor God.”