Who we are

Space for Grace as a network comprises of people from all over the world who share a passionate interest in learning about Organisational Development with Churches and Christian organisations. The 500 plus individuals are organisational development consultants, staff of faith based organisations, Church leaders from 45 countries in Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia. The partner organisations include CORAT Africa, Digni, the Danish Mission Council Development Department and the Swedish Mission Council. There are also emerging cluster groups in the north as well as in the south.

The Space for Grace facilitators are Rick James and Elaine Vitikainen.

Rick Barca

Rick James is passionate about integrating the spiritual and professional dimensions to organisational change in a creative and inclusive way. 15 years ago he helped establish the Space for Grace learning group which now has more than 500 members from 50 countries. Rick has been meddling with NGOs and churches as a consultant on leadership and organisational change for the past 25 years. Rick is fond of writing up his learning from these experiences, resulting in six books including Creating Space for Grace; Inspiring Change and Demystifying Organisation Development and more than 50 articles. He has a PhD in OD and Leadership development. He is Course Director of NGO Management Masters at City University. Rick is married, has two daughters and lives in Bath, UK.

10631200_10153493578157137_3563957739862773684_oElaine Vitikainen is a Visual Facilitator based in Helsinki, Finland. Originally from the Philippines, Elaine has always 
been inspired to serve others. She started as a dentist volunteering among the mountain tribes before specialising in multilingual education and in leadership position in Cambodia. She moved to Laos and started working across Asia facilitating change with local organisations. After 15 years in Asia, Elaine moved back to Finland in 2015 with her husband and two sons. She now works at EV Visuals facilitating communication processes through visual creation. She has a Masters in Communication for Development. Elaine believes passionately in the importance of integrating faith in professional life.