Meet up with other Christians at work
It’s an amazing encouragement for living out our faith in our working lives when we gather together with other Christians within our workplaces to pray together and/or study the Bible. These groups are known as Christian Workplace Groups or CWGs.
ChaplaincyPlus and Transform Work UK (TWUK) seek to strengthen, support and encourage Christians across Birmingham by supporting the leaders of existing groups as well as encouraging people who want to start up a group in their workplace. If either of these apply to you… READ ON!
We have a solid series of meetings scheduled for 2020 – please consider whether you would like to come to one, or all of these!
THE WORD AND OUR WORKPLACE
We will be learning from the Bible and from each other about…
…Praying Together at work
Friday 7th February, 13:00-14:00
The impression given by the media is that as Christians we are forbidden from praying together at work. But is this actually the case? And is praying together at work something I should actually bother doing anyway? Join us as we connect with Laurence Sharman from World Prayer Centre who will share his perspective and stories about praying with others in our places of work.
Book in via our Events page.
Other meetings this year:
…Staying Encouraged whilst leading a CWG
Friday 24th April, 13:00-14:00
We believe that there is an inherent value in belonging to a Christian Workplace Group. We appreciate these groups don’t happen by themselves, they require somebody (a leader) to arrange the room, decide the theme, send out the invitations etc. etc. But what if (when) nobody comes? As a leader how do I deal with this situation? Join us as we hear from Rev David Butterworth, Lead Chaplain for the NEC Group and Peter Bethell, coordinator of the Birmingham City Council CWG who will be exploring how we can stay positive and encourage ourselves when leading a CWG.
…Sharing the Christian Faith as a CWG
Friday 19th June 2020,13:00-14:00
Ok, I’m a Christian and I’ve somehow found myself leading a CWG. It’s great we meet together regularly and pray and study the Bible together. Somebody in the group has now said that we should be a witness to our non-Christian colleagues but I’m worried about how this will seem to the organisation and my boss. Is this something we should even be considering doing as a group? Join us as we hear from Margaret, Balbir and Hazel from HMRC, who will be sharing how they go about appropriately expressing the Christian faith as a CWG.
…Operating in a “Multi-Everything” context
Friday 18th September 2020, 13:00-14:00
The 21st Century workplace is a massively diverse place. As Christians we believe that all people are created in the image of God and therefore have value in His eyes. But what is the place of the CWG in these diverse working environments? Are we one among many or is there something more? We will be joined by Dr Karamat Iqbal, an expert on diversity in the workplace, who will help us consider how we can learn from the Bible and each other about leading our CWG in a multi-faith/ multi-ethnic, multi-everything context.
…Embracing Christian Diversity in our CWG
Friday 13th November 2020, 13:00-14:00
In our churches we will almost certainly mix with Christians from a similar background and who share a similar theological outlook as ourselves. In the context for a local church then tailoring the ‘right’ worship style, preaching, etc is fairly straightforward. However, the workplace and subsequently a CWG will likely contain a variety of Christian backgrounds and church expressions. How do I best meet the needs of those who are part of my group, especially if I’m not even sure what the others believe about certain aspects of our shared faith? Join us as we hear from John Butcher, local church leader and Lead Chaplain for the West Midlands Police Force exploring the Bible’s take on lovingly and sensitively navigating the diversity of Christian expression in a CWG.
The aims of this group are:
- Leaders see value in running a CWG
- Leaders learning from one another
- Leaders feel equipped to run a CWG
- Leaders appreciate the importance of their CWG
- Leaders feel strengthened in their faith
- Mutual Encouragement
Each session includes a light lunch and roughly runs to the following format:
13.00 – 13.15 Arrive, lunch and networking
13.15 – 13.20 Introduce speaker and topic
13.20 – 13.35 GUEST SPEAKER
13.35 – 13.50 Q & A and Praying together
13.50 – 14.00 Close
The group meets at the ChaplaincyPlus office at One Colmore Row, B3 2BJ.