Long title is long.
So short version of this is - please keep me in your prayers - specifically that the Lord will guide me to where He would have me/grant me wisdom in this area. If y'all want to hop out on that note, that's cool, and if you do pray for me - I sincerely thank you.
Longer version:
I'm not sure what I want to do with my life, career-wise, and it's been hitting me a lot recently and messing with my anxiety. Currently, I work in a part-time capacity in a local Christian social work agency. I've been in the social work/social ministry field for roughly 9 years (with a two-year break into retail and youth ministry), and lately the negative effects of it have been hitting more a lot more than they used to - I had to leave a shelter I was making decent money and getting hours at due to the anxiety it was causing, and I'm finding myself a lot more negative about it than I used to be. Part of this may be because I feel at odds with a number of my coworkers and views within the field (for example we provide service and safe space to members of the LBGTQ+, but being a 'safe space' and clients feeling they can open up with you changes drastically when they ask "as a Christian, what do you think the bible says about homosexuality"?), and as much as I like the work we do - the place itself is really run in ways inefficiently and not open to changing that. My educational background is in social work, but it's only a diploma - with any of the non-shelter jobs insisting on a higher education (bachelors minimum). I worked out of my former church in Toronto for roughly 5 years doing various community ministries and fell in love with teaching the word to the youth who accessed our Friday night drop-in, who were a mix of church and community youth. I thought, at the time, I had a clear vision from the Lord - pursue youth ministry. Now, I never had a formal education in it, but a lot of experience and informal experience. However, over the next two and a half years I applied to a bunch of churches - and if it got to the interview stage, it never got past there. I've been really discouraged there (I was going to say 'was', but let's be real - I still am), and I haven't been pursuing it - and I'm not sure if I should be. At the moment, seminary/Christian schools are too expensive, and my wife and I are working off other debts. I also run a website and a blog which I *LOVE* doing and would love to make a side income off of, but the audience is small - and financial support is difficult to get.
So I'm at a point where I'm thinking of returning to school (in a year or so when it'd be more affordable), but I'm not sure for what. On the one hand, I've always had a passion for media - and if I could learn to do more of it, I could apply to jobs involving podcasting (preferably for Christian organizations). On the other, I'm not sure entirely leaving the social work/social ministry field is right, but maybe refocussing it: the thing I enjoy the most in it is the one on ones with people, helping them through their struggles, seeing them grow, and pointing them to the Lord along the way. So I'm thinking of maybe getting a degree specifically in counselling (with a Christian focus) so I could have a private practice and make myself available to churches.
At times with all of this, I end up feeling confused and lost. Not deliberately, but in the past few years due to work, illnesses, and not making it a priority my wife and I haven't been consistently attending church nor been part of a community. We have done things so we can still learn and grow, but this needs to change big time - please pray for us in this aswell.
If you have any prayer requests, please feel free to put them in the comments - I'd love to keep you in prayer aswell. And if you have any insight, I'd love that too haha.
Thank you for reading my friends, and I hope you enjoyed the post
God bless!
So short version of this is - please keep me in your prayers - specifically that the Lord will guide me to where He would have me/grant me wisdom in this area. If y'all want to hop out on that note, that's cool, and if you do pray for me - I sincerely thank you.
Longer version:
I'm not sure what I want to do with my life, career-wise, and it's been hitting me a lot recently and messing with my anxiety. Currently, I work in a part-time capacity in a local Christian social work agency. I've been in the social work/social ministry field for roughly 9 years (with a two-year break into retail and youth ministry), and lately the negative effects of it have been hitting more a lot more than they used to - I had to leave a shelter I was making decent money and getting hours at due to the anxiety it was causing, and I'm finding myself a lot more negative about it than I used to be. Part of this may be because I feel at odds with a number of my coworkers and views within the field (for example we provide service and safe space to members of the LBGTQ+, but being a 'safe space' and clients feeling they can open up with you changes drastically when they ask "as a Christian, what do you think the bible says about homosexuality"?), and as much as I like the work we do - the place itself is really run in ways inefficiently and not open to changing that. My educational background is in social work, but it's only a diploma - with any of the non-shelter jobs insisting on a higher education (bachelors minimum). I worked out of my former church in Toronto for roughly 5 years doing various community ministries and fell in love with teaching the word to the youth who accessed our Friday night drop-in, who were a mix of church and community youth. I thought, at the time, I had a clear vision from the Lord - pursue youth ministry. Now, I never had a formal education in it, but a lot of experience and informal experience. However, over the next two and a half years I applied to a bunch of churches - and if it got to the interview stage, it never got past there. I've been really discouraged there (I was going to say 'was', but let's be real - I still am), and I haven't been pursuing it - and I'm not sure if I should be. At the moment, seminary/Christian schools are too expensive, and my wife and I are working off other debts. I also run a website and a blog which I *LOVE* doing and would love to make a side income off of, but the audience is small - and financial support is difficult to get.
So I'm at a point where I'm thinking of returning to school (in a year or so when it'd be more affordable), but I'm not sure for what. On the one hand, I've always had a passion for media - and if I could learn to do more of it, I could apply to jobs involving podcasting (preferably for Christian organizations). On the other, I'm not sure entirely leaving the social work/social ministry field is right, but maybe refocussing it: the thing I enjoy the most in it is the one on ones with people, helping them through their struggles, seeing them grow, and pointing them to the Lord along the way. So I'm thinking of maybe getting a degree specifically in counselling (with a Christian focus) so I could have a private practice and make myself available to churches.
At times with all of this, I end up feeling confused and lost. Not deliberately, but in the past few years due to work, illnesses, and not making it a priority my wife and I haven't been consistently attending church nor been part of a community. We have done things so we can still learn and grow, but this needs to change big time - please pray for us in this aswell.
If you have any prayer requests, please feel free to put them in the comments - I'd love to keep you in prayer aswell. And if you have any insight, I'd love that too haha.
Thank you for reading my friends, and I hope you enjoyed the post
God bless!
