This is a text-only version of an article first published on Wednesday, 15 May 2019. Information shown on this page may no longer be current.
Church on Sunday can feel worlds away from our day-to-day lives.
We asked two Christians to tell us how their lives connect with their faith for our Whatever You Do prayer initiative.
Sam Partington on working in the computer industry. With a background in computer science, for the past five years I've been working for a web agency as a backend web developer.
The main part of my work involves writing code which runs "behind the scenes" of our clients' website, giving them their functionality.
Sam Partington.
Fisher Studios I feel very strongly about my faith making a difference in the workplace.
I'm very fortunate to work in a fairly small company which is sociable, friendly and open.
This means that I can get to know my colleagues quite well, and sometimes move beyond the usual "how was your weekend" small talk.
In the past, God has provided some exciting opportunities to talk quite openly about faith with my colleagues, and even the chance to meet up with some at lunchtime to discuss the book The Reason for God by Timothy Keller and the Uncover study of John's gospel.
Such discussions are really exciting and challenging, but I hope that I can live out my faith in smaller ways too, whether or not I have the chance for such deep conversations. I try hard to be an encouragement to those I work with, whether that's helping with technical challenges, offering to pray for people, or buying chocolate!The technology industry has a definite diversity problem, with women leaving the profession at twice the rate of men, and some recent high-profile cases of alarming sexism and racism.
Thankfully, the company I work for understands the importance of changing the culture and is making a positive difference in this area. I feel that working to change attitudes and empower under-represented groups is a real reflection of God's care for individuals and heart for justice and I'm keen to do more to help here.
Another area where I feel able to make a difference is in environmental initiatives.
For example, increasing options for recycling in our office and encouraging the company to use electricity from renewable sources And finally, I really value the chance to get involved with the Open Source movement (making code available for others to use and contribute to) and I'm keen to explore this kind of collaboration and openness further.
One particular aim for me is to be an encouragement and support to those who use the code that we publish in this way (answering their technical queries, for example).
Another is to make the experience of contributing to our Open Source projects easier and more welcoming, as diversity within the Open Source world is even worse than in the tech industry as a whole. I've got a lot to learn, but I hope to grow in a deeper and more holistic understanding of the gospel and to take the opportunities I'm given to join in with what God is doing!Sam worships at St Swithun's, Kennington and Christ Church Long Furlong in Abingdon.