The Sunday Times says our Christian charity is a great place to work. Here’s why

You will likely spend around 80,000 hours – or a third of your whole waking life – at work.

We all want to spend this time in workplaces where we flourish and where our work makes a difference. Christian workplaces have an opportunity to model what the Bible teaches about working together and leading people. Sometimes, Christian organisations have fallen far short of the Bible’s standards – often with devastating consequences. But when we follow God’s teaching, we can be salt and light for the watching world in how we lead, manage and care for people (Matthew 5:13-16).

One of our core values is dependence on God - because the work is ultimately his

Last month, Wycliffe Bible Translators was recognised in the prestigious Sunday Times Best Places to Work list. So, what have we learned at Wycliffe that could apply to other Christian workplaces?

Good causes don’t justify bad culture

Wycliffe’s staff, volunteers and mission partners have one thing in common - we all want to see a world where everyone can know Jesus through the Bible. With 1 in 5 people still waiting for the Bible in their language, we feel an urgency to unlock God’s word for every heart.

But sometimes our drive can lead to a temptation to think God depends on us, rather than us depending on him. It can be easy for Christian organisations to expect their staff to consistently work more than their paid hours for the sake of the mission. Or to tolerate poor behaviour because the end justifies the means.

At Wycliffe, we have clear policies around time off in lieu, flexible working and whistleblowing. But we don’t just create policies because they’re best practice - we do it because we believe each person is made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27).

Remote working really works

A little over ten years ago, Wycliffe sold our centre near High Wycombe, moved into rented offices and invested the proceeds of the sale into Bible translation. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, we felt able to explore home-working more permanently, because we didn’t have our own office building that we felt obliged to call people back to.

For the last four years, we have been a remote-first organisation. We have a small office with hot desks in Oxford, but most of our team work from home, using technology to collaborate with purpose.

But just because we work remotely, it doesn’t mean people need to feel remote. We’ve developed some key habits to help boost wellbeing and productivity:

• Daily, we meet online to pray - sometimes in small groups, other times all together
• Weekly, we gather on Zoom for a staff meeting, to be inspired and hear updates
• Monthly, we hold in-person team days with time for vision setting, connection with the wider staff team and food
• Annually, we go away for an overnight residential, so we can spend quality time with one another.

Other organisations ask us if remote working really can work. The reality is that, whether your team works from an office or works from home, you need to be intentional about building culture. The switch to remote working forced us to be more intentional about ours. Because every organisation has a culture - the question is whether it’s the one you want or not.

Spiritual passion plus professional excellence

At Wycliffe, we strive for both spiritual passion and professional excellence. It’s not either/or but both/and.

One of our core values is dependence on God - because the work is ultimately his. That’s why we pray daily for the local partners around the world who we serve. It’s a rhythm that reminds us that unless the Lord builds the house, we labour in vain (Psalm 127:1).

Every organisation has a culture - the question is whether it’s the one you want or not

But just because God is sovereign, he doesn’t absolve us from our responsibility. Jesus’ parable of the talents shows how God has entrusted some of his resources to us, and he holds us accountable for how we steward them (Matthew 25:14-30).

The work of Bible translation is too important to do poorly. Whether it’s processing donations from the amazing people supporting this vital cause or providing expertise to a local Bible translation team, we’re called to do great work.

The Bible translation teams who we serve are bringing God’s word to their communities in the language which speaks to them best. It’s our privilege and responsibility to do the best job we can to help them unlock God’s word for every heart.