Bethlehem Family,

Please join us in celebrating Bethlehem’s recent recertification as a “Best Christian Workplace.”

Since 2003, the Best Christian Workplaces Institute (BCWI) has served hundreds of churches, missions agencies, Bible colleges, and seminaries with a vision to see Christian workplaces set the standard as the best, most effective places to work in the world.

In November, more than 100 Bethlehem staff participated in the BCWI engagement survey, a tool to measure staff engagement—what is going well, and what can be improved. The survey included standardized, open-ended, and Bethlehem-specific questions, with the standardized questions representing eight themes of a “flourishing” staff culture:

• Fantastic Teams
• Life-Giving Work
• Outstanding Talent
• Uplifting Growth
• Rewarding Compensation
• Inspirational Leadership
• Sustainable Strategy
• Healthy Communication

The survey used a five-point scale to measure staff engagement, where 5 is “strongly agree” (positive correlation) and 1 is “strongly disagree” (negative correlation). Among all surveyed organizations, 98% receive a score between 3.5 and 4.5, with half scoring below 4.0. Those that score 4.0 or better are certified as a “Best Christian Workplace,” and those at 4.25 and higher are deemed “flourishing.”

We are both encouraged and humbled to report that Bethlehem has again been certified as a flourishing Best Christian Workplace, with an overall score of 4.53—an improvement over our strong 2015 survey results of 4.27. We are also pleased to see 88% of Bethlehem employees noted as “engaged” (defined as having a “sense of ownership, passion, purpose, and confidence in the organization—energized, enthusiastic, and self-motivated”).

On Monday, December 18, BCWI’s Cary Humphries led a survey debriefing session for Bethlehem's leadership team, which called out many evidences of God’s grace among our staff. Cary wrote ...

Thank your staff for their openness and candor in participating in the survey. We encourage fully communicating survey highlights in face-to-face meetings. You have much to celebrate. Your progress, and absolute overall scores, are among the highest in our church database. Praise God! Take note of how He has worked in and through the Bethlehem Baptist Church team to deliver these results. Consider ways to share your learnings. The broader Church needs your encouragement.

Join me in thanking God for the excellent staff he’s assembled to serve you, our beloved Bethlehem congregation. Thank you for your faithful support and encouragement that makes serving on staff at Bethlehem a joy. As you make plans for year-end generosity, may these BCWI survey results provide one more reason why Bethlehem is a good place to invest kingdom resources.