BiG, short for Business in Glasgow was launched in January 2003. Our purpose and passion is to connect with people who work in business by offering relevant talks that engage with what people are experiencing in the workplace with compassion and sensitivity. The ultimate role of BiG is to serve the business and office community in the city centre of Glasgow and to enable business people to begin a relationship with Jesus Christ if they are not already in one and encourage those who are already on a journey of faith with Him. 
Initially we started with the strap line: " How do we help a client, friend, relative or colleague who is dealing with…." and last year we shortened this to "BiG Issues". Our speakers are experts in their chosen fields. 2010 has seen a radical shift for BiG as we continue to engage with business. We are still using our monthly seminars to connect with business but more importantly our "key" is to build relationship. We have started to introduce a networking lunch to deliver our seminars and are offering to take them into the workplace too. We are able to run at breakfast, lunch or dinner and are trying various times and settings to see what works best. Last year we were delighted to host some of our talks within business offices. Relationships are building and instead of preparing an annual program we are now only preparing a few months in advance so that we can respond to an ever changing work situation and leading of the Spirit. We are also embarking on a week of 24:7 prayer through BiG as part of the "BiG If" year of prayer for Scotland and wait with excitement as to what God reveals to us for the city, so we can align our offer with that. We want to be at the "cutting edge" and offer what people want not what we think they want. We are currently embarked on a community audit of the City Centre of Glasgow endeavouring to discover how people connect their work with their spiritual side. We are prepared to be adaptable & flexible.
In 2009 I read an article that radically changed my own thinking on mission. The article came from www.churchevolution.wordpress.com. It suggested that often we talk about growing a ministry, equating ministry with a thing. The article encouraged the reader to focus on looking at the human aspect - the ministry result that happens to a person, using the woman at the well encounter. As Jesus met, ministered and transformed her life, she was then able to transform the whole town through her testimony. Jesus and the disciples followed up on all the people she touched and touched some more. This is our prayer and heart for BiG, that our offer will touch and transform individual lives, using the God given gifts and talents of the BiG team, our speakers and all who attend as we network, connect & support each other. Our talks are a tool only, the first step in the process of building relationships. We are happy to add more tools to our toolbox at anytime. One of these tools has been the start of an after work weekly supper called Engage where people can gather, eat some good food and talk a little more freely about the issues that trouble them making it possibly for the Christians present to bear testimony to how they cope with life with the help of the Lord Jesus. At the heart of BiG is the desire to engage with the Business community in exciting, relevant and stimulating ways that will lead them closer to God's heart and support them in their place of work to be all that God intended them to be and to reach out to their clients and colleagues, with confidence.
Gayle Cattanach is a BiG trustee and a self-employed Chartered Surveyor who works with her husband Gavin, also a Chartered Surveyor in their Construction and Development business.
Share
EAUK.org
