I am about to indulge in a little selfish theorising, and for that, I ask forgiveness.
But I am torn. It has been my aspiration, since the age of 11 or 12, to study theology and work in a pastoral setting immediately afterwards. However, increasingly it seems, I have had a few people mention the possibility of going into secular work of some kind, office work, perhaps temping for a year or two previous to finding church employment. I can see the logic of this: working in a non-Christian environment, earning some cash before going into one of the worst paid jobs in society, and escaping the Christian bubble, albeit briefly. However, God's call in my life is to go and work in the church. This said, I have no definitive time frame, and temping would not close the door to finding church work swiftly afterwards. This, my friends, is why I am torn, and ever so slightly confused. I want to do the right thing, and I have no clue what that might be.
1 comment:
You don't necessarily have to make a decision - there must be a way to balance the two. Earning by working in a non-Christian environment and volunteering part-time - or even less - at a church? Not all that dissimilar to what you've been doing - sermons and working with the youth group along with working on your degree.
I know that you value my opinion, but on matters such as this (religion-related), I'm not sure how much my input is welcome. See, personally, I completely believe that you should take some time away from the 'Christian bubble' and find a job that does not relate to the church. You wouldn't for a moment turn your back on your faith, it's always going to be the main force in your life, but some time away, working with people outwith the Christian community would only help you widen your perspective, intelligent, outlook etc.
This part will probably sound horribly selfish of me, but I feel the need to say it. The idea of you living your entire life within the Christian community - from a Christian College straight into Church work - really, really intimidates me completely. I love and adore you and find you to be the most incredible, grounded, sensible, thoughtful, compassionate person, and I'm not sure there are to improvements that could ever be made on your character - but if anything can help to ..I don't know, strengthen our relationship, then it is time spent in each others worlds. This is not where this was meant to be going, my train of thought is very much confusing me. I feel I would be much better discussing this in conversation, where you are perhaps able to finish my sentences with the words I mean yet cannot quite fine.
I never know how welcome my comments are here, I always wonder if I've got the wrong impression from your posts or if you think I'm talking out of my arse with my inexperience in the field and upbringing in what feels like a completely different world.
Blah. I don't know.
Post a Comment