It’s very common, from as early as the Junior Cert, to be asking yourself the question: “What do I want to do in life and what career should I have?” Yet many people when they finish school or college still haven’t been able to answer that question.
Often people are two years into their first job out of college and then think “Oh no I need to retrain… I really DON’T want to be doing this.” And then, as has been well spoken about by Simon Sinek recently, Millennials often have an unrealistic expectation of what work can give them. Often young people today think work should give them:
- Great friends
- Great personal joy in the role
- Great pay
- A great sense that ‘what I am doing is changing the world’
Now whilst those are all wonderful things, very few people ever find a job that consistently gives them those four things… though praise God for when work gives you any of them!
Young people can have this expectation that they should ‘have it all sorted’ by the time they leave school/college and that they should find the perfect job immediately. But the world doesn’t work like that, and therefore the pressure builds on the shoulders of young people to get a job and to get the ‘perfect’ job. From speaking to a number of recent college graduates who do not have a clear ‘career plan’ this pressure can be overwhelming, almost paralysing it seems. This is not what God wants!
At Christ City Church we run two programmes – the Internship and Apprenticeship – where we invest in people to help them discover more of who they are, their gifts and passions, and how to fully thrive as human beings. God wants us to thrive and he wants us to use our gifts, our connections, our experience and our time to glorify him through serving other people. The best question I know to ask Christians trying to work out what job to do is:
How can you best use your gifts/passions to meet a need in the world that serves other people?
During our two programmes we help people to answer this question. As I have written elsewhere, God always intended us to work and wants us to work with excellence for the good of the city of Dublin. Now what many people often think about taking one or two years to do these programmes is that this will hinder the development of someone’s career. Investing two years in a church programme is seen as a ‘waste of time’ or a ‘luxury’ or ‘not going to help build your career’. But this is naive thinking for two reasons:
- In CCC we believe work is a good thing and that God wants us to work for the good of the city (as briefly outlined above). We want people to get ready for work, apply for work and flourish in their work during/after the programme. Each Intern/Apprentice usually works part-time alongside their 20 hours a week with the church as we know the value of being in the workplace. We want to equip our people for the ‘real world’ and to be missionaries in their workplaces, not just living in a Christian ghetto.
- Those who have done the Internship/Apprenticeship testify to how it has helped them build their career (as I will now outline below).
Five ways the Christ City Church Internship/Apprenticeship will build your career
(1) Organisation – Many young people finish their education and have never had to organise themselves or be held accountable. In CCC we have very high standards of excellence in terms of organisation, efficiency, communication within the team and personal responsibility. After all, we’re working for the Lord (Colossians 3:23)! Each of our Interns and Apprentices have commented on this and have all grown hugely through the year(s). This is invaluable for any career and will enable you to thrive in future jobs.
(2) Delegation – If you want to succeed in life; if you want to make team-work successful and if you have any aspirations for leadership you will need to learn to delegate. That means you have to: (a) see the big picture; (b) see who is alongside you; (c) get your own ego or ‘power hunger’ under control; and (d) give clear tasks with set expectations and deadlines. This is not easy but each Intern and Apprentice will testify to growing in this skill. This is a brilliant skill to put on your CV.
(3) Self-Understanding/Emotional Intelligence – I see all the time in church and in my workplace, that people have not actually figured out who they are, both in terms of their insecurities and in terms of their gifts/passions. If you don’t fully know who you are you’ll always find work a challenge. Either you’ll be too needy, too desperate, too controlling or constantly frustrated; and over little things, not just the big things. You’ll often feel like you’re a round peg being pushed into a square hole. During the programmes we help people discover who God has made them to be and how they can flourish as individuals whilst fully serving others through their gifts. This is not always an easy process. It requires lots of self-examination, feedback, constructive criticism, saying sorry, and learning to see things from others’ perspective. But in the end you become an emotionally intelligent person, which any employer will tell you is an enormous benefit. I would argue this is the biggest gift we give our Interns and Apprentices, and I have a dream that one day employers in Dublin will be saying:
If you hire someone from Christ City Church you’ll get a great, emotionally intelligent and hard working person
Wouldn’t that be a great reputation to have?!
(4) A Biblical Worldview – While no employers are going to have this on the top of their list of things they’re looking for, as a Christian it is vital that you are equipped to think about your work from a Biblical point of view – creation, redemption, fall and consummation. Having a biblical worldview will give you the right motivation, expectations, love and perseverance to thrive in the workplace. If you want to learn more about this do read the blog I mentioned earlier, or read Tim Keller’s superb book ‘Every Good Endeavour: connecting your work to God’s plan for the world’. Or you can watch an hour long video of him summarising the book.
Understanding God’s view of work will keep us from pessimism about work (it’s a necessary evil to endure) but also unrealistic optimism about work (it’s an idol that can satisfy me), and instead make us servants in our workplaces (I get to use my gifts to serve others).
(5) Time Management – This ties in with organisation but is even more about the details of handling emails effectively, running meetings efficiently, juggling 20 hours a week with a job and 20 hours a week with CCC, ‘stamping on ants’ (if you know that time-management tool), and organising your day/week/month/year correctly so you work hard and rest well. Many young people find it harder and harder to get a good work-life-balance. We’ll help you start to build in a good balance of work and play, activity and inactivity. Learning these biblical rhythms of work-rest (Sabbath!) will set you up for a long career.
Conclusion
So if you’re considering the Christ City Church Internship/Apprenticeship and you decide not to do it because you want to go into the workplace and you feel confident about your next step… hallelujah! That is fantastic! Go and serve God in the workplace; we want to support you in that.
But if you’re considering the Christ City Church Internship/Apprenticeship and you’re feeling the pressure that taking one or two years with the church will counteract a long term career plan; perhaps you’re under pressure to go in a direction you’re not sure about, others don’t see the value in our programmes, or you feel you don’t quite know ‘who you are’ yet so are not sure what career you want to follow; I hope this blog will encourage you to consider spending 1-2 years with us. We’d love to invest in you and set you up for a long-term, happy and fruitful career.
Any questions just ask Steve (steve@christcitychurch.ie). I’d love to meet for a coffee or have a Skype chat with you.