The Office of the Archbishops Workshops 2025
For everyone who works at Lambeth Palace 2025 is a year of transition.
We are waiting for the arrival of the new Archbishop of Canterbury and the building work is in its last phase. Over the coming weeks and months we will move into our new offices. All these things will make for a new working environment.
For some of us transitions feel unsettling. What will the future bring? What will working in Lambeth Palace feel like? Transitions also come with opportunities. Opportunities to take stock. Where are we? What changes do we want to make to the way we are working?
In due course the new Archbishop will set out new priorities. This in-between season comes with excellent opportunities to do some good work on ourselves and on the way we operate.
"Transition always starts with an ending. To become something else, you have to stop being what you are now.”
— William Bridges, Transitions: Making Sense of Life's Changes
Week 1: 13, 14, 15 May 2025
Transitioning Well Workshop
This extremely practical workshop will give you plenty of tools, strategies, hacks and encouragement to help you Transition Well.
Starting from William Bridges’ Transition model of ‘endings’, ‘new beginnings’ and the ‘neutral zone’ this workshop will help individuals and teams to better understand their particular situation and to transition well, whatever their circumstances.
Whether people are facing a life or work transition, any transitional wilderness can become a place for practical and spiritual blessing.
Relevant issues can be identified and worked on in the workshop or immediately afterwards. A follow-up session will take place a few weeks after the initial workshop.
Duration: 0,5 day, plus optional follow-up
Option 3
Date : Wednesday 14 May 2025
Time : 09:30-12:30
Location : Pink Drawing Room
Option 4
Date : Wednesday 14 May 2025
Time : 13:30-16:30
Location : Pink Drawing Room
Option 2
Date : Tuesday 13 May 2025
Time : 13:30-16:30
Location : Conference Room
Option 1
Date : Tuesday 13 May 2025
Time : 09:30-12:30
Location. : Conference Room
Living Well Workshop
Life and work can be very demanding. Stress and overwhelm are never far away. How to organise life and work wisely?
This extremely practical workshop will help individuals and teams to become more resilient (and hopefully more Christilient!). You will receive plenty of tools, strategies, hacks and encouragement by looking at various well-tested Time, Energy and Soul management and care practices that will enable you to make changes to your current 'system' in order to live, work and lead from a place of purpose and peace.
Relevant issues can be identified and worked on in the workshop or immediately afterwards. A follow-up session will take place a few weeks after the initial workshop.
Duration: 1,0 day, plus optional follow-up
Who? : Open to all
Date : Thursday 15 May 2025
Time : 09:30-15:30
Location : Guard Room
Week 2: 10, 11, 12 June 2025
Some possibilities for these dates:
1-1,5 day(s) of short follow-up sessions with individual teams/people who have done the Transitioning Well Workshop in May
1 x 1 day Living Well Workshop
1 x 0,5 day Cooperating Well With Others Workshop of Self Organisation Bootcamp
Based on what comes up decisions will be taken on the exact programme for September and November. So possibly…
Week 3: 30 September and 1-2 October 2025
Week 4: 11-13 November 2025
Possible workshops for these later dates:
Self Organisation Bootcamp
Many people experience overwhelm in their life and work situation. This will be very beneficial for individual wellbeing, but also for team performance. This module is fundamental. Many professionals have never been taught how to do this well.
Duration: 0,5 day, plus optional follow-up
Cooperating Well With Others Workshop
A very interactive workshop to look at various issues that can sabotage our work, and our working with others. This workshop might well identify areas which can be addressed fairly easily. Selected topics:
the distinctions between 'please and serving' and between 'expectation and agreements;
elements of good teamwork
having courageous conversations
how to delegate well
Duration: 0,5-1,0 day, plus optional follow-up
Clarifying Culture Workshop
Culture shapes every aspect of an organization, yet it often remains an invisible force. Using insights from The Leader’s Guide to Corporate Culture (HBR), this interactive workshop helps leaders understand, assess, and shape their company culture for lasting impact. Through guided discussions and practical frameworks, participants will explore how culture influences strategy, performance, and change—empowering them to lead with clarity and intention.
Duration: 1,0-1,5 day, plus optional follow-up
Meet Your Host
Paul Vrolijk
Paul has over three decades of leadership and team experience in industry and the church (Anglican priest; former Archdeacon). An experienced facilitator, workshop leader, ICF certified coach and EMCC member his mission is to serve faith-based professionals to rediscover their passion, increase their impact and deepen their care. Paul is the founder of Christilience.org a non-profit that helps people and organisations find clarity and strength for their journey.
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact Paul on christilience.org@gmail.com
Testimonials
Clive Atkinson, Rector of Willowfield Parish Church, Belfast
Working with Paul during my transition from 10 years in China to a more demanding role in the UK—and while still navigating the early days of being a mom of two—was a lifeline. I felt far more overwhelmed by the move than I expected, and my sessions with Paul kept me grounded. His unique blend of life experience, coaching expertise, and faith-based approach helped me let go of old patterns, clarify my priorities, and reframe my perceptions in powerful ways. If you’re facing a significant life transition and want a coach who offers both practical techniques and a christian values-driven approach, I couldn’t recommend Paul more highly.
Rosine Bebwa, Senior Human Resources Consultant
I have been working with Paul since the beginning of 2024 addressing complex issues around leadership, staff team management, building projects, and fundraising…Paul's experience both in business and in church leadership has been invaluable in helping me understand the dynamics of leadership, be strategic in my thinking, see potential solutions and plan a step by step way forward. In fact, if I am honest, working with Paul has restored hope in the face of some challenging times. I highly recommend him to any one in church leadership.
Canon Andrew Wright, former Secretary General - Mission to Seafarers IHQ London
I am delighted to endorse Paul and his Christilience work. At The Mission to Seafarers we are greatly valuing his input, both at the individual and group level. He brings excellent coaching skills, effectively facilitating conversations and bringing an unusual combination of empathy, kindness, insight and challenge. All this within a gentle and appropriate theological framework. Importantly the experience is a proper combination of both the comfortable and the uncomfortable - a strong basis for constructive and creative personal and organizational development. It has also been fun and we have felt “understood”. We are much enjoying our engagement in the process.