Support for workers in Kent

Christians can sometimes feel a lone voice in their workplace and may have morality issues regarding the nature of the work that they do. KWM can provide access to resources for coping with these challenges.

Work has been getting tougher for UK workers for at least the last 15 years – whether you are a Christian or not. Longer hours, more pressure, less joy.

We support and promote the mission service of people of faith and particularly Christians at their place of work. We have links with faith based organisations committed to helping Christians take their faith into their work. We hope to get strong support for this in the partner churches of the KWM LEP.

Prayers

Father God,
In this complex mix of banter and monotony
You are here,
Listening and loving,
In the midst of pressure to do and to be.
We seek your ear
To turn our work into worship,
Our toil into a prayer of praise,
As we your people, the people of your tent,
Seek share your gospel of love and restoration,
By simply being who you made us to be.
In Jesus Holy Name
Amen
Alex Cameron

Enlarge the place of your tent,
stretch your tent curtains wide,
do not hold back;
lengthen your cords,
strengthen your stakes.
Isaiah 54:2  

Father
It’s hard to be yours in this place,
Where words can cut to the bone,
And cruel laughter follows me.
But your amazing gift of perfect love
Overpowers the mockers jeers,
Restores my peace,
And enables me to see their hurt.
Its depth and emptiness
With your eyes I can see,
With your heart I can forgive.
Compassion replaces the hurt and the anger.
In my weakness, you make me strong.
Amen
Alex Cameron

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10

O Lord,
Thou knowest how busy I must be this day. If I forget thee, do not thou forget me.
Amen
Sir Jacob Astley before the Battle of Edgehill on 23 October 1642 in the English Civil War, submitted by Clive Mansell

Lord,
We do not always do see how the work which we do and the will which you have come to meet together. Perhaps it was the same for your Son, Jesus Christ, as for many, many years he toiled and laboured as a carpenter, daily providing for the physical needs of those around him and patiently observing their spiritual needs, until such time as his public ministry began and he taught parables from the events of ordinary life. Take and use our work to good purpose, whether immediately or in due time, and grant us grace to trust you to work out your good and perfect will in what we do now and in times ahead.
Amen
Clive Mansell

Lord,
What do I do now? When do I speak up? And when do I shut up? Help me to know how best to stand up for what is right when others do not see things as I do and when they want to see me do what I believe that I should not do.  Help me to have the right combination of wisdom, courage and grace to do what is best in this situation –for the sake of others, for my sake, and, above all  for your sake.
Amen
Clive Mansell

Today, Lord,
Help me to bring some light into the life of another person, some godly yeast into the dough of our workplace, and some salt to season and bring out the best in all of us.
Amen.
Clive Mansell

Lord,
Help me to be a good steward of all entrusted to me at work on behalf of others and to be a good steward of all entrusted to me through the kindness of others and through your goodness to me.
Amen.
Clive Mansell

Father,
You were there for me when I started out,
As I struggled to make my way,
Meeting the challenge of management,
Facing up to redundancy,
Rebuilding confidence,
Starting again,
Approaching retirement.
Help me to help others feel your presence
In their working lives.
In Jesus’ name.
Amen
Brian Bowes

Let us toil as though we don’t need the money.
Let us sing as if no one can hear us.
Let us look after our bodies as if we were going to live for ever.
Let us look after our souls as if we were going to die tonight.
Let us do all things for the greater glory of God.
Amen
Daniel Mulcahy

Lord God,
I give you my hands to do Your work.
I give you my feet to walk Your way.
I give you my eyes to see as You do.
I give you my tongue to speak Your words.
I give you my mind that You may think in me.
I give you my heart that You may love in me.
Lord Jesus live, pray and work in me.   
Amen
Daniel Mulcahy

On a Monday morning:
Back to the daily grind - why must life be so?
there are so many other things I would love to do.
But I have to live and needs demand that I go to work.
Why can't I enjoy it - why has it to be a burden?
Jesus did you feel this way about the carpenters shop?
did you get fed up, browned of?
I know I should'nt - but I do.
Please help me as this new week starts
 Help me to realise that you are with me
today and every day.
Amen
Ray Mills
 
For the unemployed:           

Lord what day is it?
You know that when I was working, I knew what day it was
and how I looked forward to Friday - to the pay packet and the weekend.
but now every day is the same, they just run into each other. But then I am not alone in this
there are so many like me. Do you understand Lord? I hope you do and that you will help me
and others to come to terms with it and to know you are with us, hard though it may be.
Amen
Ray Mills

Lord how demeaning it is
standing in this dole queue
answering questions - being kept waiting, pushed around from office to office
at the whim of some bureaucrat
treated as a number, as an object.
Dehumanised, depersonalised, made to feel a nobody
But I am Somebody because you are my Father and you love me.
Help me God to rise above it all and walk with my head held high.
Amen
Ray Mills

Testimonies

Here are some stories from people of faith at their workplace

Contacts

Here are the numbers for local groups