Hello I'm New - Want to help Chrisitans Use their God-given talents

[angela heath]

Hi everybody. I am so excited to find this forum. Sometimes its hard to connect with people my age.

I have a question, I am writing on book for people over 50 that will show them how they can become a freelance consultant. I always want to honor God. Do you think it needs to be Christian or target the general public? If its Christian then we could use our God-given talents to make money and support the Kingdom of God. If it is Christian, than what topics should I cover? What questions should I answer? Thanks for the feedback. I look forward to being an active participant.

 

[rebornfree]

Welcome Angela.

I think that is a really interesting question and I hope your book is coming along well. Are you talking about business consultancy? I would guess you need to target your book specifically at either Christians or the general public, but not try to cover both. Maybe target it at Christians, and then if it does well revise it for the wider public. Just a thought.

I don't think it is wrong to be in business, but I think it's important to get the focus right. The passage in Matthew 6 v 25-34 tells us not to worry about our needs but to seek first His kingdom, and He will provide for us. It may well be that He will provide for those who follow your advice through their careers, but I think the emphasis should be on doing it for Him, and thanking Him for whatever income it yields. Other issues include tithing, being generous (which you've touched upon ) and honest dealings. As well as the actual consultancy topics, such as identifying the problems and suggesting/facilitating/implementing solutions, what about listening skills, handling difficult people, seeing things from others' perspectives but leading them to your/the management's solutions all in a pleasant and considerate manner? Also I think, for Christians, having an attitude of serving and, as it's for 50+, maybe add something about evaluating the skills they already have and seeing how their talents can be used to help others. This age group has so much to contribute.

I'm sure there are scriptures about these things (if there aren't then ignore what I've written!). Perhaps Proverbs is a good place to start as there is so much about honesty and wise and foolish behaviour in it. (As I looked through it whilst writing this, my eyes alighted on Prov 16 v 3 - very apt I thought! )


I expect you've already thought of many of those ideas, but I hope that helps a bit.