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Christian Community at ExxonMobil: Fueling the Body of Christ in the Marketplace
by Courageous Third Communications
September 18, 2024
This month, we are excited to speak with John Dillon from ExxonMobil, who shares the incredible work being done through their Christian Community, CCEM. This is no ordinary group of Christians at a big corporate company! Join us as we explore the various ways they engage their members and how they help other non-formal ERGs to get established.
John, please tell us a little bit about yourself.
I am currently located in Spring, Texas, where I serve ExxonMobil as a supervisor in Asset Integrity and Risk Management for our America’s Fuels and Pipelines Operations. Basically, that is a real fancy way of saying that I lead a team of engineers whose job is to make sure our products stay inside our pipes and tanks.
I am also really driven to call Christians to make the most of their time at work. I believe that the church has not done a good enough job teaching about the intrinsic value of our work and how, when we see our “secular” work the way God intended us to see it, we can take a more intentional approach to our jobs which can both honor God and advance His Kingdom.
Speaking of intentionality… Another area within this general sphere involves discipleship. Churches have been struggling to “figure out” how to do discipleship better. When we look at how Jesus discipled, he invited 12 guys to just follow Him. They did life together, worked through challenges together… they saw how Jesus interacted with difficult people. What better place to invite others into intentional relationships than in our workplace… a place where we spend much of our time with the same people every day. It’s the perfect place for more mature Christians to invite younger Christians into a discipleship relationship.
Through this, I believe that all of us can impact the Kingdom of God right where we are, as well as personally grow to look more like Jesus because of our time at work not in spite of it.
Tell us about the CCEM framework and how it supports the community of believers at ExxonMobil.
CCEM started in 2014 and currently we have ~1200 members. The majority are based in Houston, Texas but we do have members from offices around the world and “sub chapters” in countries like Brazil, Thailand, and Hungary. Every year we host a Global Day of Prayer, where representatives from across ExxonMobil call into a single bridge to pray for the company, and things going on in their countries. Last year we had participation from ~50 different ExxonMobil Sites across ~30 different countries.
CCEM’s Mission is to Connect and Encourage Christians to Confidently Live Out Their Faith in the Workplace. We do this through three avenues that allow people to engage however they are comfortable with…
- First (and most simple), sign up for our newsletter. We send out a monthly newsletter that typically has some sort of article, as well as highlights of what’s going on in our community. At the very least, our members get a monthly message in their inbox that reminds them that they don’t need to hide their faith at work.
- Secondly, we hold Quarterly Large Gatherings, as well as a few Special Events (National Day of Prayer, Global Day of Prayer, See You at the Pole). These events allow people to connect 1-2x a quarter with a larger group of Christians, in person, and see co-workers (who they may not have known were Christians) practicing their faith in the office.
- Finally, thirdly, we have several weekly Bible Studies/Prayer groups that occur on our campus (at any given time, ~5+). This gives our community the opportunity to connect with others at least once a week, and to study scripture/pray together in our offices.
What else sets CCEM apart from other Christian ERGs?
We are not a formal ERG, but a recognized club. As such, we do not get any funding or material support from the company. At the prodding of one of our members, we set ourselves up as a 501c3 and thus all our events, materials, service, etc. is fully supported by members of our community.
There’s a wealth of great work taking place with CCEM. What other programs do you have to engage the CCEM community?
We have several great programs to edify and grow our members and to really build on the discipleship piece that I spoke of earlier:-
- The Alpha Program – We have run the Alpha Program at ExxonMobil for the last 10 years. We have received (and recorded!) testimonies of some of our members who found Jesus through the Alpha Program.
- Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) – We have satellite men’s and women’s Bible Study Fellowship groups here on campus.
- Young Professional Christians – We have a specific team within our Core Team that is focused on ministering to Young Professional Christians. We recognized the transition from College to Real Life is a big one, and as such, wanted to create an intentional community to serve this group. We are in the process of finishing up a pilot where we recruited 30 newer hires to participate in a discipleship program with a more experienced Christian at ExxonMobil.
- Senior Leaders Group – We also recognized that our senior leadership faces different challenges in the workplace. As such, we started a monthly small group for senior leaders at ExxonMobil to have fellowship and study together.
How have you seen God moving in the people of CCEM or within ExxonMobil as a whole?
As I mentioned, we are not a formal ERG… as such, we do not get funding OR the ability to promote ourselves through the same channels as other formal ERGs. However, we are still one of the largest affinity groups on campus (last I checked, we were the second largest… pretty close to the first). We are also one of the most active on campus. We have continued to see people bring their time and talents to support CCEM and others within our community. When we have lost a key member to retirement (or job moves), someone new has popped up with the ability to fill the void. It is clear to me that God is moving here!
Looking ahead to 2025, what plans – or hopes – do you have for CCEM in the next year?
Our Vision for CCEM is that we would be A Community where all Christians are confidently walking by faith and love in the workplace. I think that in a company as large as ours, if all the Christians here at ExxonMobil were walking by Faith and Love, it would be a small glimpse of Heaven. I want our community to be so full of love and care and be performing our jobs with such excellence that we would be creating a company (and community) culture that draws people to ExxonMobil.
You mentioned helping other non-formal ERGs to get established. Where can they go for more information?
- We have an external website: ccemhc.com that others can see resources we have (open to all). We have several articles, videos, even a Bible Study we wrote about Leadership Through Crisis (written during the COVID years).
- Our 501C3 is Christian Community at Work (christiancommunityatwork.org). This org supports CCEM as its core purpose, but we are also set up to help other non-formal ERGs get established.
