When my client told me she was hesitant to work for a firm she suspected was a "Christian company," I wanted to know how she knew and why that was an issue.

She said she was leery because the receptionist's voice mail tells callers to "have a blessed day."

"I've been in community meetings with her when she wants everyone to pray to Jesus for good weather for our fundraiser," my client said. "Another employee dropped phrases that made me think he is overtly religious. I wondered if it was a coincidence or a company culture."

Being agnostic, working there would make her feel uncomfortable — especially if they routinely begin meetings with prayers. "It would definitely get on my nerves," she said. "I am a little irritated by people who assume that everyone in the room shares their beliefs. It's arrogant and paternalistic."

Curious to know more, I invited companies who consider themselves Christian and employees who have worked in them to share. Here's what they said.

Denise Dorman — a "lifelong Christian" — said she was "appalled" by her experience working for an advertising agency that claimed to operate according to biblical principles. That included management "telling our office manager her mother went to hell because she was a Methodist and not a 'born-again,' giving the chief financial officer and me, a Lutheran, the label of 'seculars'," and establishing a policy to charge secular clients 30 percent more than Christian clients. Employees were expected to take turns reading a Bible verse at weekly meetings followed by a Bible lesson and prayer.

"I fled the moment I had the chance, before they started serving the Kool-Aid," she said.

"Christian companies can be wonderful or terrible, depending on the spiritual maturity of their leaders," says Margaret Benefiel, author of "Soul at Work" (Seabury, $20).

She cites as a wonderful example Reell Precision Manufacturing in St. Paul, Minn., "committed to do what is right, even when it does not seem to be profitable, expedient or conventional."

Describing her Texas company, Booher Consultants, CEO Dianna Booher said: "Our mission is not just to make a profit, it is to fulfill a calling. ... An ethical standard is higher than a legal standard."

They don't advertise themselves as "Christian" companies. When someone does advertise this way, she grows "suspicious of motives for making that point so public."

The religious values of Jordan Rubin, founder of nutritional supplements company Garden of Life, permeate the workplace, with Bibles, crosses and religious calendars prominently displayed.

Meeting attendees are encouraged to "lift up" and pray.

Other companies turn down business or those with lifestyles they don't agree with and employees who do not follow their beliefs.

One Midwestern social service agency told one of my associate's children — a volunteer there — that although they love her work, since she doesn't claim Jesus Christ as her savior, they won't hire her.

Although she doesn't expect employees to share their faith openly, Booher says she expects them to "live their faith by the excellent job they do and how they act. The Bible says, 'Do your work as unto God' and so I encourage employees to serve customers as if they were serving God himself."

Jill Hart, who runs Christian Work at Home Moms, says she once worked for a Christian company and "actually found it to be very demanding and I felt as if I was expected to be perfect and never make mistakes."

Often, Christian bosses don't live up to that ideal, says Booher, adding that "we all need help in that regard."

Write Andrea Kay at andrea@andreakay.com