ELLINGTON, Conn.-Office politics and workplace competition have entered church dialogue, and Bible study and prayer may replace gossip at the water cooler in what experts describe as a growing faith-at-work movement, according to The New York Times.

An assortment of programs and groups, often unconnected to churches, are seeking to increase the presence of religion in the workplace.

One 2003 directory lists more than 1,200 Christian groups devoted to workplace ministry in North America. That is double the number of groups that existed five years ago. Last year alone more than 200 groups formed.

"After a long period of people saying religion was a private matter, a lot of people are now trying to integrate these two part of their lives," said David W. Miller, who runs the Center for Faith and Culture at Yale and helped compile the directory.

Some are office prayer or Bible study groups; other programs are presented at conferences for executives. Other groups form in local churches, mosques or synagogues to apply religious principles at work.

Russ Stone, a financial planner who helped start Wesleyans at Work, said that after recent corporate accounting scandals, his clients had become more open to mixing faith and business. "I've had people say, ‘I'm having a hard time making a decision.' I'll say, ‘Why don't we pray on it.'"

Angie Tracey started a Christian fellowship at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. The agency's management and lawyers gave her the approval to e-mail a message to 8,000 co-workers. She said within one day she had 200 signed up.

"It's a tremendous benefit to management," she said. "We teach biblical principles like rendering yourself as a servant. That's very pro-management. And, ‘Do your work as unto the Lord.' That's very good for employees. We've solved many disputes using prayer or applying passages from the Bible."

Laura L. Nash, a senior research fellow at Harvard Business School said the rise in workplace ministries reflects three trends. After recent corporate accounting scandals, Nash said, business and religious leaders want to foster an ethical business climate. Workers want meaning in their jobs. And churches want to extend their influence beyond weekly services.

"This is about self-improvement, good behavior, good conscience and networking," she said. "It's all very American."

Under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, companies must make reasonable accommodation of their employees' religious practices as long as the practices do not interfere with their work. Evangelism is not excluded as long as it does not involve harassment or hiring and promotion influence.

In the past many religious leaders avoided speaking about the business world, said Edmund Gibbs, a professor of church growth at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif.

"Or they didn't know much about it," Professor Gibbs said. "In one church after I preached a sermon, a man asked me, ‘How can I be a litigation attorney and a disciple of Jesus?' I said, ‘I haven't a clue; let's get some of the lawyers together and discuss it."

The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has made workplace ministry one of its four focus areas for reaching non-Christians.

"We have found that most people come to Christ through a relationship, and most people today have most relationships at work," said Jack Munday of the Graham association.

Doug Spada owns His Church at Work, a nonprofit organization based in La Mesa, Calif., that provides resources for churches to develop an Internet-based workplace ministry. Spada recently began working with Southeast Christian Church, a nondenominational congregation of 24,000 members in Louisville, Ky. More than 5,000 have joined the church's workplace ministry program, he said.

"We're equipping them to do ministry where God has called them," Spada said. "If every church member has the audience of about 25 people during the workweek, then that church is now influencing 100,000 unchurched people through the workplace."