Vocational Witness in the Romanian Workplace:

Realities and Responsibilities

 

By Cameron D. Armstrong, Țara M. & Jeff Cardell

 

 

 

 

 

 

Abstract

Romanian evangelical Christians face several challenges on the job, most notably from the majority of coworkers who often do not share their vibrant faith. Pressure may come from bosses, coworkers, clients, or even the competitive nature of their profession. Using qualitative data based on personal testimony from seven Romanians, this article examines how Romanian evangelical business people understand the missional task. Three significant themes that arise from the data are discussed through a biblical and cultural lens. The article concludes with further suggestions for church leaders concerning how to disciple their people to be effective witnesses at work.

 

 

 

 

Cameron D. Armstrong works in church planting and theological education with the International Mission Board and is currently a PhD Intercultural Education candidate at Biola University. Cameron lives in Bucharest, Romania, with his wife, Jessica, and daughter, Sara. Email: cameron_armstrong@ymail.com

 

Țara M., a Romanian and professional advertising creative, holds a Masters in Online Marketing from Bucharest University of Economic Studies. In his spare time, he writes fantasy stories and does freelance marketing. Țara and his wife, Elena, live in Bucharest, Romania.

Email: mircea.tzara@gmail.com

 

Jeff Cardell is a missionary with Adventures in Missions. He desires to equip and encourage believers to live out the gospel in their everyday lives. Jeff holds a MA Intercultural Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary and lives with his wife, Lauren, in Timișoara, Romania.

Email: thecardells@gmail.com

 

 

 


 

 

Vocational Witness in the Romanian Workplace:

Realities and Responsibilities

 

            With the company Christmas party just around the corner, our Romanian friend Marcel knew the question was inevitable. “Why don’t you drink with us? Are you an evangelical Christian or something?” Though not morally opposed to alcohol, Marcel chooses to abstain. Seizing the opportunity, Marcel replied casually, “Of course I am.” Marcel then proceeded to drink multiple Coca Colas, interact with his colleagues until the dousing of the last candle, and joyfully continue his newfound friendships.[1] A young business executive with a passion for doing his work well, Marcel also views his collegial relationships as fundamental to the task of bringing others into the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

            Marcel’s experience is not always common for Christian business people, especially in Romania. The Romanian evangelical in the secular workplace is often among one or perhaps two other evangelical Christians. Pressure may come from bosses, coworkers, clients, or even the competitive nature of their profession. The most common strategy we have found concerning evangelicals on the job is to keep one’s head down and bear the persecution until closing time. We submit, however, that there is a different path Romanian Christians may follow in regards to their work. It is the path Marcel is walking. It is the way of vocational witness.

While several notable studies concerning a biblical vision for work have been released in recent years, nearly all such inquiries are generated in the Global West. There are a few regional Christian universities offering business majors. For the majority of Romanians who have not attended these programs, however, materials and/or conferences equipping Romanian evangelicals to live out their faith in the business workplace do not readily exist. Here we are concerned especially with materials created by Romanians for Romanians. This paper is written with the intention to begin filling this gap. Using qualitative data based on personal testimony from seven Romanians, this article examines how Romanian evangelical business people understand the missional task. Three significant themes are discussed through a biblical and cultural lens: diligence in work, taking advantage of spiritual opportunities, and creating community. The article concludes with further suggestions for church leaders concerning how to disciple their people to be effective gospel witnesses at work.     

            Throughout this article, we will refer back to our friend Marcel and seek to answer the question of how the Church may learn from and further equip him to boldly live out his faith. We begin first by briefly defining discipleship and explaining a few cultural challenges Romanian workers must navigate. Along the way, we will introduce several other Romanian business people from different regions of Romania who also appear to be meeting these challenges well.

 

 

 

Name of Romanian Interviewee[2]

Position

Mihaela

Entrepreneur

Nelu

Small business co-owner

Marcel

Multinational Co. exec

Mihail

Multinational Co.

Cornel

Informational Technology

Cristina

Start-up Co.

Teodor

Informational Technology

 

 

Discipleship and Navigating Cultural Tensions

             

A disciple, simply put, is a follower of Jesus who daily chooses to love Christ through obeying his commands. Mark 3:14 details what disciples of Jesus actually do: “And he appointed twelve . . . so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach” (ESV). There are, then, two critical aspects to the Christian life: being with Jesus and doing mission by proclaiming Jesus. Such is also the crux of the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20), in which Jesus emphatically calls his people to “make disciples” wherever they go. It is out of the overflow of one’s relationship with Christ that disciples of Christ are made. David Platt notes, “If you are truly a disciple of Jesus, you will be supernaturally compelled to make disciples for Jesus. True followers of Jesus do not need to be convinced, cajoled, persuaded, or manipulated into making disciples of all nations.”[3] In order to avoid confusion, we will use the term disciple to refer to a genuine follower of Jesus and discipleship to mean the act of living out one’s faith and making disciples.  

            Yet how is a disciple like Marcel supposed to make disciples in his cultural context? To begin, Romania as a whole is a majority Eastern Orthodox nation (86%) that is now a full generation removed from Communism.[4] Even though Romania as a whole houses one of the largest evangelical percentages in Europe, evangelicals still find themselves among a small religious minority.[5] A unique blend of old and new Europe, Romanian business people often speak English well and are generally concentrated in larger cities such as Bucharest, Cluj, and Timișoara. Multinational companies such as Ernst & Young, Sprint, and Coca Cola invest in the up and coming labor force of Romania, bringing Western concepts of egalitarianism and secularism which mix with deeply held worldview concepts. On the whole, Romanians welcome this trend.[6] Indeed, secularism with its egocentric-agnostic focus seems to rule the day in most Romanian businesses.

            In terms of leadership style, Romania is considered a “high power distance” culture.[7] Leaders are accredited a higher degree of status than may be expected among those from a lower power distance culture, like in the United States or Great Britain.[8] For example, in the Romanian business office, managers are often addressed as Mr. or Mrs. Director instead of by name. Top-down, authoritarian leadership is the tendency, and followers are expected to obey willingly. According to a study on Romanian leadership by Ingrid Aioanei, it is assumed that individual leaders providing stricter project boundaries will yield the most effective results and security.[9] Refusing to obey one’s superior in what workers should and should not do or say causes conflict and confuses others at a cultural level. This is significant for the discussion because Marcel and evangelical colleagues like him must know how to engage others with the gospel without stepping out of expected cultural patterns.  

            In particular, we have found three significant themes based on our research of Romanian evangelicals’ understanding of vocational witness in the workplace. First, vocational witness involves working diligently for the glory of God. Second, individual disciples take advantage of spiritual opportunities that God places in front of them. Third, vocational witness necessitates creating community, even though it is often lacking in the Romanian workplace. These themes will each be developed in turn below. 

 

Theme One: Diligent Workers

 

            What I learned . . . is that everything I do, I must do for the Lord.”[10] These words flowed naturally from Marcel’s lips when telling us what the number one lesson was that he learned from his boss and Christian mentor. The same belief is echoed by some of our other interviewees. Says Mihail, “God’s calling for us isn’t to be mediocre; far from it.”[11] Their belief is that the workplace is inspired not necessarily through the quantity of work they do – sometimes 11-12 hours a day, 6 days a week – but especially through the quality and added value of their work.

One interviewee summed it up beautifully. “It is important to serve your colleagues and do things for them.”[12] Interestingly, these Christian disciples understand the practicality of verses such as those found in 1 Corinthians 10:31, that all should be done for God’s glory. Clearly their faith has influenced their perspective on work.

Each of the interviewees claim a genuine relationship with Christ, understand the importance of “serving,” and find that one way of being a good testimony for God is through diligent work. “If you’ve been gifted by God with the capacity to learn and do well in your society and you don’t use it, then you are being lazy and a negative witness to what it means to be a Christian,” comments Mihail.[13] On the contrary, work is often seen as a place that simply helps workers provide for their family and make a living. Providing only minimal results for minimal pay, Romanian evangelicals are often anxious to rush back home to their prayer group, their Bible reading, or sadly to watching television.

Hundreds of prayers can be heard in today’s Romanian evangelical churches asking God to make one a daring fighter for the faith like the apostles Paul or Peter. Christians appraise and want to imitate strong men of God in the Bible. However, they may choose to ignore how these men achieved their high rank. Such lofty positions were the result of hard work, sharp learning, hours of labor, and the grace of God. Paul was a scholar, a first among Pharisees, and a tent maker. He was certainly accomplished in Greek language and culture (Acts 17:22-34; 21:37). David was a skillful warrior and tactician. We may also consider Moses, schooled in Egypt and brought up as one of Pharaoh’s sons.

In order to be excellent, Christians must be willing to sacrifice time, energy, and money to move beyond what is asked. It is said that, “The average person will spend about 70,000 hours at work.”[14] One wonders what might happen if men and women focused all these hours on giving their best on the job.

Although we targeted white collar workers, all the interviewees shared this same guiding principle of applying their faith at work: be excellent in what you do. Each one agrees that the quality of our work reflects our faith in God. It is love for God that pushes them to become better, to strive for excellence, and to serve as diligent workers.

We praise God there are Christians today in Romania that understand that excellence is needed in order to become a good witness and to be able to reach those often considered unreachable. Sadly, many Romanian Christian professionals, from CEOs to managers and architects, do not feel entirely integrated and involved in their churches. Who will train them to show their colleagues the higher path of Christ? Diligent work brings us closer to such people and adds weight to our words, while also becoming living evidence of the inner work of the Word in us. “Who knows but that you have come to your position for such a time as this?” Mordecai’s prophetic words for Esther may also hold true for business people today.

 

Theme Two: Spiritual Opportunities

 

Cristina works with several different multinational companies in Romania. In her last job, she truly realized how many Romanians were not “Christian,” at least not of the stream of Christianity that she has experienced in her own life. Obviously, Cristina is not the only one who feels this way. Today she does not feel persecution or someone forcing her to be someone else.[15] For some business people, it takes several weeks to find such freedom. For others it may take years.  Instead, the Christian faith challenges the Romanian Christian to see this type of atmosphere as an opportunity to bring light to the darkness.  In this section, we include three subthemes detailing interviewee responses concerning how disciples take advantage of spiritual opportunities in their workplace.

 

Opening our Eyes

 

In Every good endeavor, Tim Keller shares, “We are to see work as a way of service to God and our neighbor.”[16] Realizing work as not just a way to make money or pass the time, the Bible portrays that it is the role of the Christian to ask through prayer and wise counsel how he or she might best glorify God through work. Often, in both Romania and elsewhere, there is a significant difference between “church language” and speaking with others outside of the church. Christians can hold eloquent and lengthy conversations within the church walls, but when it comes to relating to people on the street, the struggles start to begin. Cristina shared that she grew up in such a world, being constantly in church. Upon examination, she realized the disconnect between what was being taught in church and what she was encountering in the office.[17] Being able to see the opportunities around her was not a skill learned from a master’s degree; rather, it was through constant prayer that God would open her eyes and treating ordinary conversations and situations as opportunities to exemplify Christ’s love.

 

Listening and Discussing

 

Once a Christian sees an opportunity, it is important what happens next. When spiritual needs arise, it may be hard to know what to do. Marcel, Cristina, and Teodor all shared that they had been able to help other colleagues, whether Christian or not, go through hard times. But how might one do this? For many, the idea of ministry remains only for trained pastors. To truly reach someone, to really be there for them, does take an investment in a relationship. Relationships are built by listening and basic discussions about normal life. Deeper conversations often come later.

Teodor shared an experience where he had a colleague who was talking flirtatiously about a girl who was not his girlfriend.[18] This type of awkwardness is bound to happen as Christian disciples work alongside colleagues who hold different values. As a relationship develops and deepens, areas of discussion will come up. By showing love, respect, and dignity, interviewees found that colleagues began to open up and trust them. For example, on one occasion, an unbelieving colleague felt comfortable enough to stay with Cristina for a few days. Cristina continues to build trust like this, leading to more opportunities for socialization outside the workplace.[19]

 

Opening your Home and Table

 

With regards to conversations at work, there is only a certain level of depth that can be achieved. Both Cristina and Teodor soon found how sharing a meal or hosting an informal gathering assisted them in sharing deeper with their friends and colleagues.[20] Cornel also shared about some of the opportunities he missed due to the type of events that happen with his colleagues. Cristina fittingly stated that sitting at a table for a meal relaxes people.[21] These informal events are far less intense and yet provide opportunities to share about why disciples of Jesus live and act as they do. Such moments allow trust to deepen and encourage opportunities to share what it means to daily follow Christ. As disciples, we must seek to capitalize on these opportunities.

 

Theme Three: Creating Community

 

When asking interviewees where they learned to actively live out their faith in the workplace, their answers quickly came to a halt. Mihail took a few classes on business ethics at the Christian college he attended. Cristina and Teodor listed a couple of books by well-known authors and preachers from Western contexts, such as Tim Keller, N.T. Wright, and Michael Frost. Cornel told us he liked listening to John Piper’s podcasts because “[Piper] tackles subjects that are of real interest to modern times.”[22]

Only half of the interviewees admitted to hearing a sermon in person on the subject of being a Christian in the workplace – what it means and what it requires. Further, those were only memorable because of their refreshing subject. We can extrapolate, therefore, that there seems to be a lack of materials on the subject, at least in Romania. Modern Romanian Christians learn what it means to be a disciple of Christ in the workplace mostly on their own, confronting day-to-day situations none of them might predict.

When asked if he heard any specific teaching or sermons on the subject of “work,” Cornel confessed, “There certainly have been some messages, but for something that I face daily, I feel totally unprepared.”[23] Cornel is not alone. Hundreds of Romanian Christians working in top-level jobs face the same issue. Though some workers may prefer to focus on their work and ignore their missional calling, others struggle to keep a balance between the guilt they feel for being passionate about their work and not as much for “church things.” This type of thinking betrays the idea that many disciples believe they can only please God in church. There is a palpable need for more focused teaching dedicated to Christians who are passionate about striving for excellence in their work. Christians active in the professional world often feel like they lack an authentic community that understands their passion, drive, and motivations, as well as their struggles.

Evangelical business people understand that their faith sets them apart. “I don’t panic or get angry when difficult situations come. I try to find solutions while my colleagues get very distraught. I think that your relationship with God affects the achievements that you have,” states Nelu.[24] Further, Marcel contends that his faith helps him focus and be “100% committed” for the work he does.[25]

Cristina and Teodor consider their prayer group a great blessing, not because of any special and purposeful teaching, but just for the fact that they were able to open up about their jobs and find a listening ear and someone willing to pray with them. One wonders how a gathering of professional business people might also positively affect these communal needs. Perhaps these communities must be built. Perhaps they already exist and we are not looking.

In every major business domain there is at least one event that gathers together like-minded employees. Such conferences help professionals grow, network, and meet those who generate significant results. These types of events are held at an international, national, and local level. We feel that Romanian Christian professionals may start here in their need to develop a faith-focused, missional community.

We conclude this section, before detailing some practical recommendations for churches and church leaders, with Teodor’s thoughts on community when asked if he has Christian coworkers. The rich data provided merits quotation at length:

“I have one [Christian] colleague. But in the business center where I work, there are several more people I can meet with. So, I do have some people in the same field [of work] that I can discuss with. I have had several encouraging conversations with one of them, whether about work, technology, or our [common] Christian faith. Pure and simple it is just really encouraging . . . These discussions are great, although very underrated”.[26]

 

A faith-focused community that allows professionals to be vulnerable could bring them together and help them realize that they are not alone. Churches must find ways to help and encourage them. Next generations of Christians should join professional business domains prepared to diligently set standards of excellence in their fields, while taking hold of every opportunity to profess Christ and make disciples.

 

Discipleship Suggestions for Church Leaders

 

The following seven suggestions are offered to further deepen the discipleship conversation leaders might have with the Romanian Christian business people in their churches. The first six consist of practical teaching that stems from a biblical perspective of work. The seventh suggestion moves beyond teaching to training believers to boldly proclaim the gospel when opportunities arise. It is recommended that these conversations happen in an informal, mentoring relationship outside church walls. By no means do we claim this list to be exhaustive, but we pray it will be a start in catalyzing a community of vocational witness.

1.      Teach the value of working with excellence. When God first looked at his creation, his conclusion was that his work was good. Christians are called to live their lives in the image of Christ (imitatio Christi). Likewise Paul tells the church in Corinth that whatever they do should be performed with a mindset focused on the Lord (1 Cor. 10:31).

Excellence is a requirement of God for his people. Church leaders need to teach well the value of working excellently, seeing their daily work as worship. In much the same way that excellence in music is reflected in an uplifting worship session, Christian testimony rooted in healthy missional practice will reflect excellence in work.

2.      Teach that business involves our mandate to subdue the earth. On the sixth day of creation, God commanded that man “multiply, fill the earth, subdue and have dominion over it” (Gen. 1:28). We interpret this command as using the earth’s resources to advance society and fill the earth with worshippers of God. As such, business as “culture making” is a divine and fundamental good that should be encouraged. Men and women who make their livelihood out of using the earth’s resources for the betterment of society must be reminded that their work is valued and holy because it is an ancient mandate from God to do so.

A second passage from Genesis affirming the inherent goodness of work is Genesis 2:15: “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work and keep it” (ESV). From the beginning, work is the means God has chosen for people to accomplish on earth. And because this verse stands before the narrative of the first sin (Gen. 3), we may be certain that work is part of reflecting God’s image. Man does what God does, and that means work. As Wayne Grudem writes, “It is the key to understanding why human beings have an instinctive drive to work, to be productive, to invent, to earn and save and give, and to do the thousands of specific activities that fill our days. This additional way to glorify God is imitation.”[27] Work that is ethical and fruitful imitates God.

3.      Teach that business plays an integral role in loving one’s neighbor. Just as work fulfills the cultural mandate of Genesis 1, work also fulfills the Great Commandment of loving God and neighbor (Mat. 22:36-40). Because God has graciously endowed us with unique gifts, we as God’s people are to use those gifts to assist others around us. If we own a business selling car parts, we love our neighbor by providing quality car parts that truly merit the price he is willing to pay. Now we are able to buy something also that costs the value of that purchase, and in the end  everyone is happy and benefits from the transaction.

Such neighbor love is glorifying to God. Again, Grudem is helpful in this area when he notes, “This is evidence of God’s common grace, because in the mechanism of buying and selling God has provided the human race with a wonderful encouragement to love our neighbor by pursuing actions that advance not only our own welfare but also the welfare of others – even as we pursue our own.”[28] Christian business people find themselves daily at the very cusp of such ability to demonstrate neighbor love.

4.       Teach that investing in relationships is ministry. One of the recurring themes arising from the interviews discussed the necessity of forming profound relationships with colleagues. Profound relationships are long-lasting. Taking time to build deeper relationships with one’s colleagues and communicate in deeper conversation forms the backbone of effective vocational witness.

Christian disciples working in any domain need to better understand that God lovingly set them in the place they work in order to make an impact in the life of their colleagues. Churches need to encourage meaningful relationships with non-Christians so that disciple-making may begin through deep communication rooted in loving service. Superficial faith that is easily withered, as in the parable of the sower (Matthew 13), will be better guarded against when such relationships are built.

5.       Teach that calling is not just for pastors and missionaries. Calling and vocation are integral to the walk of the disciple. Based on our research, emphasizing calling and vocation for the Romanian businessperson seems to be lacking in many churches. In Jeremiah 29:7, Jeremiah writes on God’s behalf in his letter to the Israelites in Babylon, “Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper” (NIV). God’s people, therefore, are not to neglect loving those different from them, even if sometimes they act as God’s enemies. Instead, God’s people should work for their good and pray for them.

Jesus commands all believers to go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19). All aspects of ministry flow out of this commandment: to disciple. In addition, Peter contends in 1 Peter 2:5 that the priesthood now extends to all believers. Church leaders should be discipling their people in such a way that equips believers for all aspects of ministry, yet specifically the command to make disciples.

6.       Teach that biblical ethics depend upon practical, day-to-day choices. Alongside the need to teach on calling and vocation, there is a need to understand what holding a biblical ethic looks like. Psalm 25:21 urges, “May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you” (ESV). Believers must be equipped to wrestle biblically with ethical issues that arise at their workplace, even if those issues that tempt the disciple to commit sins appear pleasing in the short run. As Keller says, “being good distracts us from coming to terms with our sin.”[29]

It is important to bring the question of holding a Christian ethic back to the gospel. In light of the believer’s transformed heart, disciples in the workplace must know how the situation might be reworked from a biblical worldview. Keller again helpfully shares, “The study of adult learning has shown that people change only when they hear the new thinking (so we equip them), can discuss it among their peers (so we connect them), and can apply it in simulated or actual situations (so we try to mobilize them).”[30] Ephesians 4:12 reminds us that God tasks teachers and pastors with equipping the saints and building up the body of Christ. As such, creating such opportunities for Christians to discuss and find application for real life situations rooted in the Bible assists the Christian business person for the next day’s trials.

7.       Train believers to train others in verbally sharing both the biblical Story and their personal faith story. It is intentional that we changed the verb here in this final suggestion from teach to train. No church leader should assume that their members know instinctively how to go about verbalizing their faith. Therefore, teaching should be both modeled (taught) and mentored (trained) to the level of personal obedience. While it is true that Christians must live authentic lives that back up precisely what they say they believe, it is also true that no one will be saved without hearing a verbal presentation of the gospel (Rom. 10:17). Every Christian must always be ready to verbally share the reason for their eternal hope (1 Pet. 3:15).

For this reason, we suggest that church leaders take time to train individual business people to be able to share aloud at least two messages. First, winsomely delivering a two or three minute presentation of the biblical storyline (Creation, Fall, Rescue, Restoration) will give the proper context for the Christian worldview and how all people may come to find their part in God’s Story. Second, each believer should be able to relate their personal faith story, including their life before knowing Christ, Jesus’ rescue of them, and how their lives have changed since that time. Again, the nature of such training merits informal meeting times, such as conversations over the coffee or breakfast table, that will assist believers in knowing both that leaders care for them and are giving them easily reproducible tools.

Conclusion

This article examines realities of and responsibilities for Christian vocational witness in the Romanian workplace. Through the interaction of interviews with seven Romanian Christian business people, a clearer picture of the missional task in the Romanian workplace is presented. Our great hope is that this conversation will not end here. Indeed, our vision includes a multitude of Romanian disciples making disciples in the business sector. To accomplish this dream, church leaders and business people must be willing to sit down together with open Bibles and closed prejudices concerning who holds power to disciple and who does not. Pathways to vocational witness multiplication will be blown open when businessmen and women catch the vision that they too are called to live out their faith for the furtherance of God’s kingdom.
            Glancing up at the clock, we notice that nearly an hour has passed since Marcel began narrating how easily he discusses faith issues with colleagues at work. Pausing a moment to catch his breath, we recall that Marcel consistently returns in his narrative to the Christian boss who shared more than just work details with him. “Everything I do, I must do for the Lord,” Marcel echoes (personal communication, June 28, 2016).[31] With a smile on his face, Marcel recounts coffee runs, yardwork, and late night chats with his boss-mentor concerning bringing faith into the office. Such is the essence of discipleship and missional living, of life-on-life training that goes beyond the workroom. For, in the end, discipleship is the Christian’s business.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References:

Aioanei, Ingrid. “Leadership in Romania.” Journal of Organizational Change Management

            19, no. 6 (2006): 705-712.

 

Armstrong, Cameron D. (2015). “Honor and shame cross-currents in Romanian culture.” Jurnal

            Teologic 14, no. 2 (2015): 95-123.

 

Djuvara, Neagu. A Brief Illustrated History of Romanians. Bucharest, Romania: Humanitas,

2014.

 

Dutu, Carmen Beatrice. “A transatlantic ‘romance’ in Romania.” Irish Journal of American

Studies 13/14 (2004):139–148.

Grudem, Wayne. Business for the Glory of God: The Bible’s Teaching on the Moral Goodness of Business. Kindle edition. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2003.

Hofstede, Geert, Hofstede, Geert Jan, & Minkov, Michael. Cultures and Organizations:

            Software of the Mind. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010.

Keller, Tim. Every Good Endeavor: Connecting your Work to God’s Work. New York, NY:
            Penguin Group, 2012.

National Institute of Statistics Romania. What does the 2011 census tell us about religion?

            Bucharest, Romania: National Institute of Statistics Romania, 2013.

Platt, David. Follow Me: A call to die, a call to live. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 2013.

Welton, Karen. “Go to work on purpose.” Desiring God blog. December 28, 2015. Accessed

            August 10, 2016. http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/go-to-work-on- purpose.

 



[1]Personal communication, June 28, 2016.

[2]Names changed to protect anonymity.

[3]David Platt, Follow Me: A Call to Die, A Call to Live (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 2013), 71.

[4]Neagu Djuvara,  A Brief Illustrated History of Romanians (Bucharest, Romania: Humanitas, 2014). 

[5]National Institute of Statistics Romania, What does the 2011 census tell us about religion? (Bucharest, Romania: National Institute of Statistics Romania, 2013).

[6]Carmen Beatrice Dutu, “A transatlantic ‘romance’ in Romania,” Irish Journal of American Studies 13/14 (2004):139–148.       

[7]Cameron D. Armstrong, “Honor and shame: Cross-currents in Romanian culture,” Jurnal Teologic, 14, no. 2 (2015): 95-123.       

[8]Geert Hofstede, et. al., Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010).

[9]Ingrid Aioanei, “Leadership in Romania,” Journal of Organizational Change Management 19, no. 6 (2006): 708.

[10]Personal communication, June 28, 2016.

[11]Personal communication, June 27, 2016.

[12]Ibid.

[13]Personal communication, June 27, 2016.

[14]Karen Welton, “Go to work on purpose,” Desiring God blog, December 28, 2015, accessed

August 10, 2016,  http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/go-to-work-on- purpose.   

[15]Personal communication, June 28, 2016.

[16]Tim Keller, Every Good Endeavor: Connecting your Work to God’s Work (New York, NY: Penguin Group, 2012), 67.

[17]Personal communication, June 28, 2016.

[18]Ibid.

[19]Ibid.

[20]Ibid.

[21]Ibid.

[22]Personal communication, June 27, 2016.

[23]Personal communication, June 28, 2016.

[24]Ibid.

[25]Ibid.

[26]Personal communication, June 22, 2016.

[27]Wayne Grudem, Business for the Glory of God: The Bible’s Teaching on the Moral Goodness of Business, Kindle ed., (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2003), Location 117.

[28]Ibid., Location 386.

[29]Keller, 245-246.

[30]Ibid., 249.

[31]Personal communication, June 28, 2016.