Kingdom Cubicles
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the fact that I work in real estate. Does that surprise you? I’m the executive assistant on a real estate team in Santa Barbara and Montecito (yes, where Oprah lives). We specialize in land and ranches—it’s our niche. It’s complex and nuanced and detailed and fun. It’s an opportunity to use so many of the gifts and skills I’ve cultivated over nearly two decades and I love it.
You might be wondering, “Kristen, I thought you worked in ministry.” I do. I’ll explain.
In 2021, I earned a B.S. (no jokes, please) in Leadership with an Emphasis in Christian Ministry, I worked in a formal ministry setting for over six years, I’ve written and led spiritual engagement courses, and I’m currently a student at Portland Seminary studying Spiritual Formation and Spiritual Direction. All of these milestones have been profound, formative, and obvious steps on the yellow brick road to…real estate?
Wait. What does any of this have to do with real estate and why would anyone deeply invested in a ministry track work in the secular world? Let me ask a question: why do we relegate real estate to the secular realm? What, or whose purpose does it serve to distinguish one type of work from another?
I’ll give you my answer first and then we’ll unpack it: real estate is not secular. It’s hard and holy work. It serves no purpose to label real estate, or any other meaningful work, as anything other than ministry—that is if you’re a Jesus follower and you work in real estate.
When I first shared we were moving from our home of nearly a decade to Santa Barbara, CA, a vacation destination, our friends and family expressed their genuine enthusiasm for our new adventure. Who doesn’t want to live in a gorgeous city on the best (west) coast and enjoy a Mediterranean climate year-round? It was a literal dream come true scenario. Coupled with their enthusiasm was, I think, a well-intended concern for me.
The reason we moved was that my husband had been offered a position as a full-time chaplain at a hospice organization. It doesn’t matter where you live—people die, even in Santa Barbara, and they often want someone to be with them as they walk that path. My husband is one of those someones. Being a hospice chaplain is very hard and holy work. Ministry work.
When he received this job offer, he was working as a custodian. He has a B.S. (no jokes please) in applied computer graphics, a Masters of Divinity (MDiv) from Fuller Theological Seminary, and is in the ordination process. While he searched for the job he wanted, he mopped floors, took out the trash, set up rooms for meetings, cleaned up after people, and scrubbed toilets. One time, he even picked up people poop. Turns out, being a custodian is very hard and holy work. Ministry work.
So back to the story. There were only eight weeks between the day he was offered the job and the day we arrived in Santa Barbara. Eight weeks. That’s it. In that time, we had to list and sell our home, pack up our entire life, find a place to live, kids had to finish school, and I wanted to find a job. I was so stressed in those eight weeks, I literally cracked a molar and needed to get a crown. I went to the dentist two days before we drove away. Absolutely wild.
Anyway, we had some money in savings from the sale of our house, so the need for me to find work wasn’t dire, but I love to check a box. Plus, I’ve always worked. In fact, I’ve always had to work, sometimes multiple jobs. It was never really an option. Now that I had the opportunity not to work, or at least to take considerable time to find something interesting, I found myself asking a question: do I want to work? After several long days and restless nights, I realized I wanted to work.
Naturally many people in my circle wondered what types of churches were hiring, what Christian higher-education options were close by, and even looked for some parachurch organizations in the area. I had been working as a member of the discipleship team at our church for several years and I loved it, so it made total sense for them to think along those same lines. However, I eventually had to burst their well-intended bubbles and let them know I had an interview with a real estate team.
I worked in real estate before taking my job at the church. In fact, I had worked in real estate for nearly fifteen years combined prior to pursuing a career in church ministry. I loved it. In my early real estate days, I cultivated some amazing relationships while learning the ins and outs of a transaction. I typed legal descriptions and organized files under the mentorship of people who had spent decades tending professional relationships with their clients. Real estate is a people business and I am a people person. To me, it was such a no-brainer to go back.
It was so interesting to see the expressions on my friends’ faces as the soap particles from our bubble-bursting sessions floated down around them and landed softly on the ground. Why aren’t you going to find a ministry job? The funny thing is that I had just finished writing and facilitating a course on the inherent value of our work outside of the walls of the church. I literally taught that meaningful work is ministry.
So many people I’ve met with aspire to quit their corporate jobs in order to work in a real ministry position. They’re tired of trying to figure out how they can bring up Jesus in the break room without getting into trouble with HR. They’d rather be free of the confines of the secular arena and race to embrace the freedom to pursue real ministry without borders.
The idea that some people don’t view their corporate work as inherently good, as a ministry, is disheartening. The passions that drove us to pursue the training required to step into the role of custodian, receptionist, florist, artist, floor manager, dentist, CFO, or entrepreneur were given to us by God. They’re gifts! They’re the method by which we bring God’s kingdom into the world.
If we all left our corporate jobs to work in churches because that feels holier, there would be no Jesus followers in the workplace, modeling what it looks like to live and work in the kingdom of God. They miss out on seeing God at work in us, guiding our daily decisions, influencing our conversations, and building relationships.
If we are only surrounded by like-minded people, we miss out on the opportunity to be salt in a bland office and light in a dark warehouse. Our salt and light muscles atrophy and we forget the power and authority we have been given in Christ. Friends, the corporate world needs us and frankly, we need them.
A few months ago, while I was at the office working, a colleague interrupted me and began sharing some deeply personal struggles. I was surprised, considering we’d only known each other a few months. We were just in the office—she was going through emails and I was working on a marketing piece. I stopped to listen, even though she was facing the opposite direction.
She had no idea I was trained for moments like this. After several minutes of pouring out a part of her soul that longed to be heard, she paused. I sat there a moment, allowing her words to take up the space they deserved. Her burden was heavy and she just needed someone to listen. It was a hard and holy interruption in the midst of an otherwise ordinary workday.
Henri Nouwen once wrote, “My whole life I have been complaining that my work was constantly interrupted; then I realized the interruptions were my work.”
Friends, don’t believe the lie that something magical happens if you cross over from the secular workplace into real ministry. The secular workplace, if we even have to call it that, is the sacred place where we are invited to do hard and holy work. It is the real ministry you seek.
Your cubicle, your desk, your office, your custodial closet—they are an extension of the kingdom of God by virtue of you occupying the space. You engage in hard and holy work every day. Every week is an opportunity to live and work under the influence of the Holy Spirit that resides in your heart. You bring the presence of God with you everywhere you go—even to work. You, my friend, are already in ministry.
