Who do you work for?

This is the ever present question in most social contexts in Australia, maybe the entire Western world.

I seek to use my answer to this question to frustrate the estimation of pecking order, which is at least its unspoken purpose. Sometimes its asked because the questioner has run out of conversational maneuvers after they've made their greeting.

Now I'm working for a church, what do I say to keep my tactical conversational options open?

I'm going to suggest that all church employees be employed by 'ABC Enterprises, P/L' (ABC is the initials of my church).

So I can say 'I work for ABC Enterprises', and to 'what do they do?' I can say: 'We provide educational and community support services to ethnic communities (Anglo-Celtic being one of them). Then I might talk about my role, in similar terms, and so on, until I've got to know the person, found out about them, then I can lead to a conversation about Christian faith, world views, or 'helping people sort out their life questions'.

See, its not about hiding my work or my faith, its about staying in control of the conversation to be able to make a relevently meaningful conversation that will at least identify me as Christian, or 'leave a stone' in their shoe about their own world-concept, or maybe invite them to 'a public meeting we are having about "Navigating a Fast Paced Life", come along, I can get you a free ticket. All tickets are free, by the way. 

OTOH, if I don't want to talk to the person, I'll just say, 'I work for a church.'