Getting To Know You
“Welcome to ‘Getting to Know You,’ the series where we explore the stories, passions, and faith journeys of leaders in our Christian professional and sector group network. Join me as we uncover how their work is shaped by their faith, and the impact they have in their communities.”
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Welcome Karen Paterson it's great to have you as our first guest on our Getting to Know You podcast series.
Hi, thank you Ros for inviting me on to this podcast series. How exciting.
I've known you now for around 4 years when you took over the leadership of the Christian Dental Fellowship and I've gotta say, I've loved working alongside you. You've been a faithful member of the CPSG network joining each Tuesday lunchtime. What made you keep turning up on those calls?
In October 2022 I was elected as the president of the Christian Dental Fellowship, this was a privilege and an honour to be asked but it was also challenging and daunting at the same time. I was a retired dentist, and although I was on the leadership team at our small Baptist church, leading this national professional organisation was a massive step up for me and one I felt inadequate to take on.
On the CPSG lunchtime calls I found support, encouragement, and guidance, as there were other CPSG leaders who willingly and lovingly shared their own experiences, knowledge and wisdom. It became a place of acceptance where I could share my hopes and dreams for CDF, and also my own fears and inadequacies in a safe place and where there was prayer readily available. And so I observed and I learnt what it meant to be in leadership from this wonderful group of people going through similar experiences as I was, and I grew into a better leader as a result. I am still a work in progress I hasten to add. That’s what drew me to the lunchtime calls and still does.
Amazing, love that leader within the CPSG network basically mentoured you collectively through shared experiences. In one sense that's what Transform Work does - enables connections and through those connections ongoing support and equipping. So good!
Last year the network decided to break into monthly sector prayer meetings and we were so thankful that you volunteered to lead the Health and Social Care sector.
The sector prayer meetings, of which I lead the Health and Social Care sector, is a good opportunity to meet with those in this sector. This is where needs can be addressed and the prayers focussed on those that are specific to the sector. We’d like to see if either in addition or as an alternative, whether there is a better time to meet than a Tuesday lunchtime once a month. So we’ll send out a poll over the next month to see what people would find helpful.
See you're brilliant! A born leader. OK so lets move on to find out more about you. What inspired you to join the Christian Dental Fellowship and how has it influenced your career?
I joined as a student back in 1983. In my first year at Newcastle Dental School. There were older students and staff who were CDF members who inspired and encouraged me and even back then helped me to join the dots between my faith and my career. And how I could live for Jesus through and in my chosen career of dentistry.
Amazing to learn that CDF is a real support for students starting out in their careers. It can make such a difference seeing role models in your own discipline. Can you share a memorable moment where your faith and dentistry intersected in a meaningful way?
Even before I graduated, God had put it on my heart to serve him overseas through my dentistry. So 3 years after graduating and after having gained valuable experience and knowledge, and after marrying Mike my husband, we moved to Malawi in Africa, where I was a local volunteer teaching dentistry in the Queen Elizabeth Central hospital in Blantyre.
There I started a workplace Christian dental fellowship group with staff and students. We lived there for 3 years and had intended to stay but the political situation changed and we weren’t able to stay. So we resettled back into family life here in the UK, in dental practice, and teaching students and post graduates, and specialist NHS oral surgery practice. God has a way of repurposing us through the different seasons and circumstances of life.
Since our return, God has since led me back to Africa on several short-term teaching programmes helping to equip and empower the local workforce there to provide safe and effective dental care.
Wow Karen, I had no idea about your ministry in Africa. Love that we're doing this Getting To Know You series! OK so what advice would you give to other professionals in faith-based networks, like Vets or Paramedics groups, about integrating faith with their profession?
Our living faith is part of our spiritual DNA, it is an integral part of us, and so we don’t or can’t leave it at home or at the door to our surgeries, or pharmacies or hospitals, instead we learn to express it lovingly and persistently through and in our work. We are taking the best of us to work each day when we take our Christ-centred ethics with us; when we exhibit the fruits of the spirit and where we put on the armour of God. Be creative and bold in how you express your God-given, spirit-led DNA at work.
Amen and amen, I couldn't agree more. Tell us a little more about how the Christian Dental Fellowship support its members in their daily work and personal faith journeys?
We have a network of regional groups around the country including in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, that meet, some monthly, others a few times a year. This is where members will find fellowship, pastoral and peer support, and prayer. We hold an annual Bible teaching conference in England and also one in Scotland. We also have various on-line zoom groups that meet and connect on Whatapp; we have a student and young graduate group, a Dental mum’s group, a group for dental care professionals and International dental graduates also.
This year we also had a stand at the British Dental Association Dental Show and Conference in Birmingham. We had an opportunity to meet with Christian dental colleagues who are not members, but also to meet and chat with our non-Christian dental colleagues. In addition we have a prayer diary and magazine called 3in1 that is published 4 x a year.
Above all of this, are the personal relationships that we have built over many years of doing life and dentistry together as the CD Family.
Lots of different ways those working in the Dental profession can engage and be supported. As this email is for leaders of Christian Professional and Sector Groups, I'd be interested to know what three things you have learnt about leadership in your role as CDF President that you can pass onto others?
1. Be teachable where your own good character and walk is concerned as well as in leading your CPSG, being humble and open to other’s ideas.
2. Make yourself accountable to others, inside and outside of your organisations, with people who are godly and good friends enough to gently guide you. The CPSG network is good for this.
3. Hold things lightly, empowering others. Always pause, pray and wait til morning rather than sending emails late at night when you’re not at your best.
Brilliant advice, I've learnt the hard way on point 3!
What is the best piece of dental advice everyone should follow but often ignores?
You don’t need to brush all your teeth … just the ones you want to keep!
That's funny! I want to keep all of mine 😀
Which part of dentistry do you find most satisfying: solving a tricky problem, relieving someone’s pain, helping an anxious patient relax, or seeing a confident smile at the end?
All of the above. Latterly in my career in oral surgery, where I spent my time taking out teeth, showing a patient, especially those that were particular anxious, that pain-free, or at least minimal pain dentistry is possible, and restoring their faith in dentists, was particularly rewarding, as it also spoke of the compassion and care of Jesus in restoring what was broken and redeeming what was painful or infected.
Right so just for a bit of fun... I've titled this part of the interview the
“Quick Smile Round”
Tea or coffee? Tea
Electric or manual toothbrush? Electric
Floss or interdental brushes? What works best for you
Favourite smile in film or history? Julia Roberts
Ha haa yes the film Pretty Woman comes to mind.
Thank you for taking the time to be interviewed. Any last thoughts?
It’s been a pleasure as always to chat and share with you Ros, and through this pod cast, to encourage the CPSG network in the amazing work they are doing in their professional groups. Thank you for asking me.
Until next time... if you wanta keep your teeth... brush them all!
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