At Work on Purpose (AWOP) shared its collaborative ministry model which supports both vocational and cultural flourishing.
CINCINNATI, July 18, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- At Work On Purpose (AWOP) celebrated its 20th anniversary at its annual Summit, XL 2023, on July 15 at Grace Chapel in Mason, Ohio. As a celebratory experience, more than 200 Christian workplace leaders from around the globe came together for the milestone half-day event.
"A decade ago—with the help of Jason Benedict, who came up with the phrase—we declared our identity as a citywide workplace ministry," said Chuck Proudfit, AWOP Founder and President. "And now, after 20 years, we're declaring our trajectory: that we're going to be spreading citywide workplace ministry all over the world, and we're going to be helping to propagate a 21st century expression of the 1st century church at work," explained Proudfit. "XL 2023 marks 20 years of building out and refining our citywide workplace model, and it also marks the beginning of this new season of proliferation," added Proudfit.
To that end, Jason Benedict of Regent University was awarded the 2023 Transformation Trailblazers award. Benedict was honored for his pivotal role in originally helping AWOP formulate its identity as a citywide ministry—a ministry whose unique DNA is transforming the city of Cincinnati, Ohio through the workplace.
"Jason pioneered this idea of a citywide workplace ministry years ago, helping to give us our identity as a ministry, one where in Cincinnati, Ohio, we have a citywide network of working Christians and workplace ministries that know each other and collaborate with each other. We're uniquely supporting both vocational flourishing and cultural flourishing here, and Jason helped us see that," explained Proudfit.
As a part of the Summit's theme of "cultivating an ecosystem of workplace ministry," the event featured conversation with Evans Nwankwo of Megen Construction; Jane Edelmann of INTACT Counseling Group; and Brad Grosjean of Young Professionals AWOP. During their discussion, Nwankwo, Edelmann, and Grosjean shared how they operate from a place of Biblical wisdom (their "roots"); the awareness they have of their unique purpose (their "trunk"); and the different channels of influence based on that purpose (their "branches"). Each person talked about the "fruit of the tree"—that is, the impact that's occurring in both the workplace and throughout the surrounding city because of these efforts.
The Summit also included a deep-dive into how faith-based workplace initiatives are transforming cities throughout the country. Interviews with practitioners included: Amy Willmann of Nehemiah Foundation; Paul Hemminger of StoryConnect; Kirk Lithander of Fairhaven Church; Caleb Ingram of Ohio Good Community; and Matt Jensen of the National Christian Foundation.
Additionally, attendees learned about AWOP's ongoing collaboration with Harvard University. In a landmark study on human flourishing, Harvard University has discovered religious community is one of four necessary pathways to flourishing in our individual lives, and to flourishing in the communities where we live. "This collaboration with Harvard University and others will come together with an innovative dashboard measuring quality of life with a spiritual foundation," explained Proudfit.
At the conclusion of the Summit, Proudfit talked how AWOP is serving as a model for other citywide workplace ministries in cities as diverse as Minneapolis, Minnesota; Raleigh Durham, North Carolina; Orlando, Florida; Nairobi, Kenya; and Cairo, Egypt. "And in this next decade for AWOP, we're going to be proliferating this model of citywide workplace ministry—all over the world," said Proudfit.
About At Work On Purpose (AWOP)
At Work On Purpose is a pioneer in the workplace ministry movement, advancing citywide workplace ministry around the world. With offices in Mason and Blue Ash, Ohio, more than 12,000 individuals from the private, public, and social sectors are a part of the AWOP community in Greater Cincinnati alone, with thousands of others in the AWOP network globally. For more information on AWOP and its specific initiatives, visit http://atworkonpurpose.org/ or call 800-513-9580.
Media Contact
Laura Jackson, At Work on Purpose, 800-513-9580, ljackson@skillsource.com
SOURCE At Work on Purpose
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