What do you do at SIM?
My job title is Head of Operations, which encompasses a wide variety of things across the organisation. My team is responsible for buildings and IT systems, policies and procedures, and donation processing.
Personally, I have responsibility on the leadership team for HR, safeguarding, and crisis and risk management. Plus, anything else that doesn’t fit within any other part of the organisation usually comes under me!
What does your job look like day to day?
It’s very varied and in some ways, quite a reactive job. In terms of managing my team, I make sure donation processing goes smoothly and will answer any queries my team have on that.
I respond to a lot of situations as they arise, really. In terms of crisis management and safeguarding, if something comes up, then obviously I must deal with that fairly quickly. The biggest thing I’m working on at the moment is a new software system we implemented last year. The process is still being rolled out, so I’m still very much involved in training, tweaking and updating it to make sure it’s working across every team, as well as being available for people if they’re unsure about what to do or how they’re using it.
What makes you passionate about working for SIM?
I came from a Christian organisation in my previous role and I wanted to stay in that place. I love working for a Christian organisation and my heart was to be in the Christian charity sector. My heart for the gospel, my heart for mission, and wanting people to come to know Jesus drew me to SIM.
Being in operations can be quite challenging as you’re often sat behind a computer and don’t see people out on the field; but it underpins everything we do to as an organisation to ensure we send out our workers and support them as best we can. So, I’m passionate about using my gifts and skills to make sure our operations are running smoothly to be able to send people out to serve Jesus.
Tell us the great story of how God brought you to SIM
I wasn’t looking to move jobs as I was quite happy where I was! But with my kids all in secondary school, it was a point in our family life where I could increase my hours, so I said to God, ‘If you want me to move, you’ve got to make it happen, because I’m not actively looking to move,’ and I left it at that.
We then had a couple of months where our bank account was looking quite low by the end of the month and we didn’t really know what was happening – we weren’t spending any more than usual, so I looked at what jobs were out there, not intending to move, but just to see – and the Head of Operations job was advertised, closing in a couple of days.
God knows that I tend to over-process things and that I wouldn’t have applied if I’d had time to think about it, so, I shared the advert with a few people close to me, who encouraged me to apply.
Everyone around me was praying for me and they all felt God was saying that I needed to take the job, but I felt way out of my depth and wasn’t sure. However, having that support around me reminded me that God knows what we need. Once I was offered the job, our financial situation improved.
God had clearly been in that situation to prompt me to look for a new job because I wouldn’t have seen the job advert at all had we not got to the end of the month and asked, ‘Where’s all the money gone?‘ In all this, I really feel God wants me here and is using me.
How have you seen God working through your job?
On a day-to-day basis, it’s the encouragement of working with everyone across the organisation and the relationships I’ve built with people and being able to support and come alongside them not just operationally, but in a pastoral way too. God has honoured what I’m doing and is allowing me to use my gifts and skills to facilitate and enable other people to do their jobs well.
In what ways do you continue your ministry of your life outside of work?
For me, my heart for mission is focused on my local community. In my village I co-lead a missional community with my husband and another couple where we use the Acts two church as our basis. We’re trying to live our lives alongside other people and being Jesus.
We do that in various ways, but we meet a couple of times a week always around the table – we always have food together! It’s an ongoing journey that we’ve been on with quite a few people over the last few years; praying for them, having conversations with them, and supporting them in crises are all at the heart of what we do. We’ve had people just turn up, knocking on the door, saying: ‘We don’t know where to go, but we know you pray, so will you pray for us?’ My heart is to come alongside people and show them the love of Jesus through these relationships.
How can we pray for you?
- for wisdom to know on a day-to-day basis what priorities need to be dealt with. There’s always lots coming into my inbox, so being able to prioritise well and to look after my team well;
- to serve well across the whole organisation, making sure that everyone’s fully equipped to do what they need to;
- for juggling the businesses of three teenage boys, church, and elderly relatives and to be able to find the time and the space for me and Jesus in all this.