Portable Faith: Ora Et Labora with Alan Williams
For Alan Williams, the path to ministry began in an unlikely place.
“I changed the trajectory of my life because of a cigarette lighter in a car,” he said, to ripples of laughter from members of the Kuyper community assembled in the Vos Chapel on February 1 for Ora Et Labora, a weekly time where speakers come to campus to talk about their work and how their faith impacts that work.
Though he studied business as a college student and planned to become an entrepreneur, on the drive home from an important job interview, he sensed God pointing him in a different direction.
“I felt Him telling me to go into ministry,” Williams, now an ordained pastor serving as a missionary to the Czech Republic, told the audience.
Hoping for a tangible sign from God, he pressed his broken cigarette lighter.
“It popped open, glowing bright red, and it never worked again,” he recalled. “I felt like that was God speaking to me. It set me on a course to ministry and, eventually, to missions.”
Much of his work now involves empowering new and experienced missionaries to integrate their faith and mission work with outside vocations.
This is something Williams says he practices as well. One of his vocations is teaching English to locals, alongside his wife, Amy, and faith is an integral part of that work.
“The faith component is always there, we’re just looking for opportunities where there’s a spiritual openness, where people are willing to have spiritual conversations. We try to integrate that into our day-to-day existence,” he said.
He added that a strong theology of work is necessary for sharing the message of Jesus. Without that kind of foundation, we spread a weak Gospel that has no real meaning for daily life.
“A lot of people think that work and faith don’t mix. But, when I think of the creation story, I see that God made the two to coincide,” said Williams. “It’s not about going to church on Sunday and then putting it away until the next week. We take our faith with us wherever we go,” he said, smiling.
