Integrating Faith and Work
InterVarsity’s vision is to transform students and faculty, renew the campus, and develop world changers. Through internships, beyond gaining experience in their chosen field, students are learning to incorporate their faith in Christ into their daily lives.
Brian Flyg, a student in the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University is one of those world-changers. In his internship at Becton Dickinson, a medical products company in San Diego, California, Brian sees how his faith in God has influenced his decisions.
“It depends on where our confidence comes from. Do we believe that God will provide and open doors for us or do we rely on our own abilities? We can’t credit our success all to ourselves,” he said. Brian had several good internship offers he could have taken, but he believes that his authentic responses to the interview questions and God provided him the opportunity to help develop the company’s marketing.
As an example of his authentic responses, when asked by the interviewer, “Where would you like to be in five years?” Brian answered, “Wherever I can have the greatest impact in improving the lives of others.” Though a general and unscripted response, Brian explained to InterVarsity, “We don’t know where we’ll be tomorrow. It’s important to have long-term goals but God may dramatically change them.”
“Very few people answer that way. Many people say they want a particular title or level of responsibility,” the interviewer, an entrepreneur, observed. He appreciated that response as his own career path had changed drastically in the past five years. According to the interviewer, there is a lot of pressure to conform and tell the company what they want to hear.
Brian’s interest in health care largely stems from his Christian faith. The opportunity to help people and improve their lives attracted him to this company. “I look at pain from a biblical standpoint. Jesus healed people, so we should seek to do the same,” Brian said about his interest in medical-related fields.
Brian has looked for opportunities to share his faith with co-workers. Forming relationships is an important aspect of sharing the gospel with someone. According to Brian, “It also can be the riskiest and most challenging part.” One evening his coworkers invited him to a bar. Although he’s not particularly into the bar scene, he went as an opportunity to, “Get to know people and invest in relationships. Our actions will speak of the gospel before our words do,” he said.
InterVarsity trains students to integrate their Christian faith within their jobs. What does Christianity have to do with a medical products company? Brian’s experience demonstrates that the gospel of Christ is relevant regardless of the career path you take.
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