Partner with us to Empower Christians in the Workplace Across Scotland
Thrive’25 is seeking to catalyse a powerful movement of workplace faith across Scotland — from Glasgow to Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh. This first of its kind national multi-city conference is a partnership between The Business Connection, Transform Work, and Solas CPC, designed to inspire, equip and connect Christians to live out the gospel through their work.
Rooted in the success of the first Thrive conference in 2019, Thrive’25 will build on a growing coalition of churches, ministries, and marketplace leaders to support a new generation of believers living out their faith at work.
Our vision is to see Scotland’s scattered church rediscover its confidence — living out the gospel not just in Sunday gatherings, but through everyday work and relationships. With your partnership, we believe Thrive’25 can be a spark for spiritual renewal across Scotland’s workplaces.
What is Thrive’25?
Workplaces are one of the most significant mission fields of our time. Many people may never enter a church — but they work alongside believers every day.
Thrive’25 exists to:
- Build networks of workplace Christians in every Scottish city
- Gather Christians in community within their organisation (Christian Workplace Groups)
- Empower individuals through building community, mentoring and stories of transformation
- Support local churches in their mission to engage the working world
- Create safe, non-threatening environments for people to explore faith and purpose
We’ve seen this model grow in Aberdeen and Dundee through monthly breakfasts and accessible, no-pressure events led by speakers who share our values. Now, we’re scaling across Scotland.
The People
Thrive’25 organising committee
Martyn Link
The Business Connection
TMartyn Link currently works in a consultancy role helping major businesses with corporate strategy. Prior to this Martyn spent 11 years at the global engineering giant Wood Plc, where he was the Chief Strategy Officer. Martyn lives near Dundee, is a member of Central Baptist Church and is married with three teenage children. Martyn co-founded The Business Connection in 2014.
Alan Dunn
The Business Connection
Alan Dunn Financial Management is part of the St James’s Place Wealth management partnership and provides face to face financial advice. Alan joined the Board of The Business Connection in 2024.
Ian Ferguson
The Business Connection
Ian Ferguson studied Mechanical Engineering and Divinity before serving in the Royal Navy. He joined a major international energy company in 1998, taking on roles in the Netherlands, US, and UK. He is now Vice President of Wells Engineering and a Fellow of the IMechE. Ian sits on three non-profit boards and lives in Aberdeen with his wife Lucy and their four children, enjoying church life and the outdoors.
Ros Loaker
Transform Work
Ros Turner is CEO of Transform Work. Ros has been involved with workplace ministry since 2003, supporting and growing leaders of Christian Workplace Groups across the professions, industry, and commerce. Her passion is to see Christians thrive in their workplaces.
Mal Shaw
Transform Work
Mal Shaw is a programme delivery consultant who has worked with many major financial services companies. He is Transform Work’s South West ambassador which includes Cheltenham, Gloucester, Bristol and Swindon areas.
Gavin Matthews
Solas Centre for Public Christianity
Gavin Matthews is Solas’s Assistant Director (Scotland) and speaks for Solas in churches and at conferences, co-ordinates the website, writes articles and other Solas communications and presents webinars and podcasts. Gavin is married to Elaine and they have three adult children. He has been a member of Perth Baptist Church since 1999.
Simon Wenham
Solas Centre for Public Christianity
Simon Wenham is Assistant Director (Operations and Communications) at Solas. He spent 15 years at an apologetics organisation, overseeing communications and supporting Prof. John Lennox. He holds a DPhil in History from Oxford, tutors in Victorian history, and has written two books. His interests include youth work, football coaching, sport, apologetics, and travel. He is married to Angela and has two sons.
Lindsey McCowan
Thrive’25 Project Manager
Lindsey McCowan is the Thrive’25 Project Manager and is excited to connect her faith in Jesus and her passion for business together through workplace mission so others can experience the joy of knowing Jesus in their lives too. Lindsey is a co-founder and director of RTRFIT Ltd. She is married to Grant, with three grown-up children, and is a member of Central Baptist Church in Dundee.
Register
How do I get involved?
- Sign up for conference – booking via Eventbrite
- Click here to request to be involved in the conferences
- Click here to find out more about setting up a Christian group in your workplace
- Click here to sign up for our newsletter
- Follow us on Eventbrite and YouTube
Thrive’25 Events Schedule
Glasgow Conference
Saturday 13th of September
9:30am – 4:00pm
Inverness Conference
Tuesday 16th of September
6:30pm – 9:30pm
Aberdeen Conference
Wednesday 17th of September
6:30pm – 9:30pm
Dundee Conference
Thursday 18th of September
6:30pm – 9:30pm
Edinburgh Conference
Saturday 20th of September
9:30am – 4:00pm
Donate
We are entirely funded by individuals who are passionate about the valuable and important work we do in supporting those within the marketplace across Scotland.
In order to ensure the continuation of this work and continue to develop Thrive Scotland, we need to increase the level of support we receive. The Business Connection (SC045163) is the parent charity of Thrive Scotland.
Values
The strapline of Thrive is “living the gospel in and through our workplace” and this is the heartbeat of what we would like to see – our values being:
- affirm the Calling of those in the workplace to live their best life for Jesus, there is no second class citizen in the kingdom, and they are fulfilling their God given calling,
- build their Confidence in where they have been placed, to help them feel secure that “I am where I should be” under God, and
- become more Connected to likeminded people across their sector and city, both within work (Christian Workplace Groups) and between companies with people in their professional community and city (The Business Connection).
Our passion is to restore the confidence of the scattered church in Scotland, wherever it is to be found – primarily in the workplace, but not neglecting to affirm those in other callings too, including retirement, raising families, caring for others and seeking work.
Vision
Our vision is to encourage, equip and empower every Christian in the workplace in Scotland to feel confident in their calling and connected to others in their organisation, sector and city in order to transform society
Partners
We have partners who are part of the Thrive Scotland network who we would need to bring into our discussions / planning, namely:
Thrive Scotland Advisory Board
Adom Otoo
Adom Otoo was born in Ghana and raised in Glasgow before moving to Aberdeen where she studied Law. She recently moved to Edinburgh and has worked and served in the third sector for over nine years with churches and charities.
Colin Stewart
Colin Stewart was the Managing Director and the Country Head of Citi in Scotland. He was responsible for all Citi activity for Scotland, employing close to 500 people. He is a former trustee of Business Matters Edinburgh which had an influential impact on the business community in Edinburgh for many years.
Ken Janke
Ken Janke co-founded City Table in 2022 after 35 years serving both the for-profit & non-profit sectors. City Table works to broker the interactive ecosystem that exists between civic, cultural, church, and marketplace leaders, believing transformation is possible through collective ideas and collaborative actions.
Tony Hodges
Tony Hodges founded City Vision after a building his own business. City Vision is an enabling agency to help the business people of peace and the church leaders of peace in a city to find new ways of working together to bless their city.
Alan Dunn
See bio above
Gavin Matthews
See bio above
Ian Ferguson
See bio above
Martyn Link
See bio above
Ros Loaker
See bio above