by Shannon Steuerwald

The word secretary is slowly dying in today’s business world.  We no longer have secretaries; we have office managers, assistants, agents for the executive, and desk clerks. The job description has not changed, but in order to make secretarial work sound more professional and more important, the business world has changed the name.  There is nothing wrong with a name change.  And really, if you ask any executive or manager, they will tell you that having an effective secretary is key to succeeding in the business world.  Secretaries have always been important, no matter what career name is used.

Secretary comes from the Latin word secretus which means “secret”.  The Latin word secretarius means “confidential officer” or “one who is entrusted with secrets.”  One can trace the use of these words as far back as the 1400s where secretaries were used to record the king’s personal journals and accounts.

Although not termed secretaries in the Bible, we know from reading stories such as Esther, Ezra, Exodus, and the historical books that scribes and recorders were used to write down information whether that information was coming from God, a king, or the prophets and priests.  The Hebrew word for scribe means “to inscribe, to enumerate, to recount, to tell, to talk, to write, and to show forth”.  The Hebrew word for recorder means “to remember, to make mention of,” in a similar way that secretaries keep their bosses’ calendars and schedules.  Even the job of the prophet in the Old Testament is similar to secretarial work in that a prophet would receive information from God and had a responsibility to funnel that information to another group of people, whether he did so verbally or through the written word.  As I studied these Old Testament synonyms for secretary, I learned some interesting and important truths I can apply to my job description as secretary.

Examples of Bible Secretaries

Moses Exodus 24:3;

Deuteronomy 34:10

Elisha’s Servant 2 Kings 8:4-6

Elijah 1 Kings 17 and following

Nathan, the prophet 1 Kings 1 and many others

Ezra The Book of Ezra

Bible Lessons for Every Secretary

1. Secretaries represent their boss. 2 Kings 8:4-6
2. Secretaries help keep the ministry accountable and report information to their boss. 2 Kings 12:10-15; 22:8-13; 2 Chronicles 24:11-14; 2 Chronicles 34:14-21
3. Secretaries influence the ministry/office staff. 2 Kings 25:18-19
4. Secretaries need to be skillful and able to perform their job description. Ezra 7:6
5. Secretaries need to avoid being presumptuous prophets. Instead, they should be accurate in their presentation of information.  Deuteronomy 18:20-22

I realize that we are secretaries and not scribes or prophets, but there are similarities that we can evaluate and apply to our job description today.

1. Am I representing my boss/ministry properly? Am I a good first impression of my boss or ministry?
2. Am I working and reporting with integrity? Do I mishandle money, information, or paperwork?  Am I organized?
3. Am I influencing those I work with in a positive, God-honoring way or am I negative, cutting, and griping about my boss or the ministry?
4. Am I ready to do the job efficiently? Am I willing to learn new skills?
5. Am I presenting the information to my boss accurately and am I presenting the information from my boss to others accurately?

Many of us may not hold a job title as secretary; but if we are a wife, we are a secretary.  If we are a mother, we are a secretary.  What I like the most, though, is that God asks us to be His secretaries.

1 Chronicles 16:24—Declare his glory among the heathen; his marvellous works among all nations.

Psalm 9:1—I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.

Psalm 26:7—That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works.

Do I represent God properly? Am I showing His works or my own?  Am I influencing others to want to serve Him, too? Am I presenting God’s Word to others accurately?  Am I a good first impression of God to others?