JLR Christian Workplace Conference 2024
Saturday 17th February was the inaugural Christians in the workplace conference host by Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) at their Gaydon site. There were around 200 attendees from a wide range of companies and Christian organisations present. The JLR facilities and catering were all excellent and the speakers were really inspiring, challenging and encouraging to hear. Simon Greathead, the JLR CWG chair, opened the conference sharing the dream he had before Covid for this conference.
Diego Medeiros also shared the prophetic word he had whilst in Brazil about Christians in an auditorium and how God had brought Diego to work for JLR and connect with Simon. Diego was challenged to move into the storm to experience God. Is it time to step into discomfort and do things we might not necessarily want to do but in so doing we step into the Supernatural?
John Harris, the chief engineer of the propulsion division, gave a welcome on behalf of JLR. JLR are developing their culture with 13 ED&I groups now. It was notable how the JLR CWG group had ambition which was encouraged by JLR running Easter events, workplace Alpha and Christmas carols to name but a few. JLR also have “Our Creators code” which has 5 main pillars:
(1) Customer Love
(2) Unity
(3) Integrity
(4) Growth
(5) Impact
The JLR code interestingly aligned well to John 3:16:
(1) For God so loved the world
(2) That He gave His only Son
(3) That whosoever believes in Him
(4) Shall not perish
(5) But have eternal life
Luke from CfAN spoke about the impact CfAN has had over 50 years. CfAN train Christians to be witnesses in the workplace. The UK has sown £40m into Africa. Given that events in Africa cost around £1m and see around 1 million decisions, that looks to be an excellent investment. Now is the time for the UK to reap from that investment.
Grant Smith is the author of “The accidental social entrepreneur” and the foundation he chairs has done great work in Kenya restoring dignity to people’s lives investing with impact. He was challenged whether he was truly prepared to change direction and give up his career, a decision which took time to arrive at and a lot more time before it was fully realised. Grant is now full time leading the charity having started his career as a quantity surveyor, although he still counts bricks.
He shared on his personal journey and how it was a roller coaster. Standing strong on principles so for instance not engaging in the bribery culture in Kenya, even though that meant planning decisions took a lot longer and cost more. However, when he was falsely accused of corruption, there was nothing to find and after 18 months was cleared which was a difficult time for a situation that came out of nowhere. A warning to us all to be prepared and solid in our walk with the Lord. Grant challenged us all with 3 questions which we all pondered and shared in small groups:
1. What are you good at and enjoy?
2. What particular skills do you have, that others don’t?
3. In your wildest dreams how do you think God can use who you are?
Grant reminded us that we need to be able to love ourselves and he personally found inspiration from a 40-page booklet called “Love yourself” by Walter Trobisch. We should all remember that God created us, and we are each unique. Equally, if you are waiting for God’s call on your life, still do something. Remember God builds character, so we should not be stressed about what is happening. What do we each believe God could do through you? Can you see a problem, and could you do something? It might only be one small step but look for and expect God to magnify those steps. There is nothing wrong with being career focused but where is Jesus in that career?
Are you prepared to grit your teeth and hold onto God?
Grant is also a member of the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity Alpha Marie from Alpha shared about Alpha in the workplace. This is something JLR have done and seen results. Alpha runs exactly the same in the workplace as any other setting and includes a Saturday Holy Spirit away day. Across all the UK, in 2023, there were 8,300 courses run. 200,000 people have been through Alpha. Prayer is the fuel Alpha runs on as it should be for all activities.
Sally Bundock, who regularly appears on BBC breakfast, spoke about her career as an international journalist. She shared how her original degree and experience at Bloomberg prepared her to become business journalist at the BBC. Her programmes reach 110m people across UK and the world via the world service. Three quarters of UK adults access the BBC news each week, so maintaining integrity and impartiality is very important and that is an area where can bring Jesus into the workplace. 2024 is a unique year with over 4 billion people around the world going to the polls in elections. There are challenges of fake news and deep fake videos, one of which featured Sally appearing to endorse and Elon Musk get rich quick scheme. The other challenges are the algorithms that feed news to young people on social media and other platforms.
We all need to remember that things do get hectic and can be stressful and at those times we need God’s peace as we read in Psalm 23. Sally shared her personal story of how around 2010 her first husband Paul was diagnosed late with stage 4 cancer and had to undertake intensive surgery and radiation therapy to treat it. This was something of a challenge for her managing work, treatments and also being pregnant with their third child at the time. Psalm 23 was what she lived by. Life happens but God is with us and is our shepherd. Paul died in 2017 which was a shock. Sally shared how things have moved on and she married Dave in 2021 and now is part of a blended family.
Finally in addition to the main speakers there was time for all delegates to interact over an excellent lunch, over coffee and pastries at the start and coffee and biscuits mid-afternoon. This was a useful time to hear what God was doing in different workplaces and to be able to share and encourage each other.
The plan is to run another conference in February 2025. Looking forward to it!
Andy Smith
Transform Work
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