CHRISTIAN YOUTHS AND THEIR CHOICE OF CAREER

ONE-DAY YOUTH SEMINAR ORGANIZED BY AMENYI CHURCH OF CHRIST, AWKA, ANAMBRA STATE HELD SATURDAY, MAY 29, 2010 UNDER THE GENERAL THEME, “CHRISTIAN YOUTHS AND THE CHANGING WORLD.”

SPEAKER: EVANGELIST HILARY JOHNSON CHUKWUMA
CHUKWURAH.

EXORDIUM:
Christians are part of a larger community of people. What affect others affect them. They live under the same economy and are influenced to some degree by the political manipulations of political gladiators at whatever levels of analysis there are. They buy from the same markets and attend almost the same educational institutions that others attend. In spite of the fact that “…they are in the world but not of the world” (John 17:14-16) mantra, Christians, as long as they live on planet earth are affected by global events. They must ‘survive’ as long as they exist while awaiting the redemption from heaven. The world was created by their Heavenly Father who owns the world and everything that are in it (Psalms 24:1). God has given them earth to take care of as He Himself is busy taking care of the celestial realm (Psalms 115:16). They firmly believe that God’s Will is to be done here on earth as it is done in Heaven (Matt. 6:10).
Biblical evidence points to the fact that Christians should make the world a better place and to strive to become useful to themselves. They must “occupy till” Jesus returns (Luke 19:13). In view of this, Christians must endeavour to become earthly useful as they strive also to become heavenly useful; not heavenly useful and earthly useless or earthly useful and heavenly useless. They strive to ensure a balance of terrestrial and celestial equations. To achieve this, education and choosing a career path, also known as ‘choice of career’ are pivotal.

EDUCATION
One of the greatest inventions of man is education. Education or lack of it is what makes the difference between an enlightened mind and an illiterate person; between a stone aged man and a modern man. Education is pivotal to mankind’s general development. It lays the foundation upon which man’s continuous search for meaning and relevance in a dynamic world is achieved.
Education is man’s response to God’s injunction to, “subdue the earth…rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:28). Education has led to exploits, revolutions and tremendous advancements in every aspect of human endeavours – agriculture, health, space science, technology, etcetera.
It should be acknowledged that while some people are using their education to better the world and provide solutions to mankind’s innumerable problems, others are using their education to destroy the world by creating problems.
By definition, education is schooling, studying, instruction, apprenticeship or tutelage (Acts 22: 3; cf. Acts 19:9). Until the world is no more, education will remain a focal point and a deciding factor because many people will keep devoting themselves to books and learning(Ecclesiastes 12: 12).
Education is not only acquired by attending conventional educational institutions, it could be acquired through non-formal means. There are people who went to school but are ‘illiterates.’ Even though they passed through the four walls of educational institutions they have nothing to show other than mere paper qualifications. However, there are people who have limited access to conventional education but have continued to enlighten their minds; continuous reading and learning, therefore, are the keys.

GOD’S PEOPLE AND EDUCATION
In Biblical times, God’s people recognized the power of education and so took advantage of it. In fact, some of God’s greatest servants were men and women of sound academic orientations. Two examples here would suffice:
i. Moses – (Acts 7: 22). His learning empowered him for God’s service. He led God’s people for 40 years and wrote the Pentateuch – Genesis to Deuteronomy and parts of Psalms.
ii. Apostle Paul – He was a thoroughbred, he had attended the Gamaliel University (Acts 22:3). In fact, great men recognized in Paul a great academic (Acts 26:24).
* Paul was a great lover of books (II Timothy 4: 13). The evidence of his wide exposure to education is there for all of us to see – he was the most evangelistic (cf. I Corinthians 15:10) as well as the most prolific (having written about 13 out of 27 New Testament books).
* Physically speaking, Paul was “small in stature” but his writings were thunderbolt (II Corinthians 10:10).

III. GOAL OF EDUCATION
Education is not intended to make us proud but to humble us. The goal of education is to make us self-propelling, self-sustaining, independent, resourceful and visionary. Any education which makes us proud, carrying ourselves with the air of nothingness (vain glory, Philippians 2: 3a), looking down on others as ‘Nothing bazobas’ is no education at all. True education trains the mind, heart, and hands; it teaches us to see worth in little things.
IV. THE GREATEST EDUCATION
The greatest form of education that can be acquired by man is received at “Jesus’ College” an arm of Divinity University. It does not matter whether you are lettered or not, your association and adherence to the “Curriculum of Studies” offered there makes you stand out (John 7: 15; cf. Acts 4: 13).
Why were these so? The Word of God is the chief means of instruction and learning; it assures insight (Psalms 119: 97-100). Any education that does not recognize God as the epicenter is a useless education. Unfortunately, many people through their education do not recognize God (I Corinthians 1: 21a). It is a sad fact that some ‘Christians’ after exposure to higher secular education suddenly find the world alluring enough to leave God’s Boat of Salvation while some of use our education to change the Church so as to suit the world. All these are wrong.

CHRISTIAN YOUTHS AND THEIR CHOICE OF CAREER
The term, Choice of Career is what is referred to as “Choosing a Career Path.” There are two factors that should be considered in the choice of a career, namely:
1. Would I be seeking paid employment?
2. Would I be seeking to be my own boss by building my own business?
If your career path is in the area of paid employment, you must factor in the fact that we are operating a knowledge-based economy where the much you know and what you can do with your hands and knowledge as well as the expertise you are bringing with yourself count. Nigeria is gradually moving away from government owned and operated enterprises to a private sector owned, operated and led economy. In other words, no one will employ you principally because of who you know but because of what you know and what you can do with what you know. No private sector will employ a liability; they employ those who they consider to be assets. In view of these, the more knowledge you posses in a given discipline or across disciplines, the more marketable and indispensable you will be to an organization or organizations requiring your services. You must strive to acquire skills and have hands-on-experiences in your choice of career. I suggest that in addition to whatever skills you must possess you should endeavour to acquire skills in ICT (Information and Communication Technologies).
On the other hand, if you want to be your own boss (becoming an entrepreneur) by establishing your own business, you must take into consideration the need to be mentored by others as you understudy those who are in similar line of business. Attend Workshops, Seminars and trainings to widen your scope of understanding of the business, corporate politics, management and other operational issues. At the center of this should be ideas.
Entrepreneurship is venturing. You may decide to venture into buying and selling; agro and agro-allied services such as poultry and animal husbandry; provision of services such as maintenance; sales representatives, manufacturing and distribution, etcetera.
Entrepreneurship is ideas-driven. You must be a person of great and varied ideas. Your ideas and abilities to translate your ideas into concrete products or services are your Unique Selling Points (USP). Ideas, you must have heard, rule the world and people of ideas are the movers and shakers of economies all cross recorded history. The evidence is everywhere even in contemporary dispensation.
Related to idea generation and implementation is brainstorming. Brainstorming is the process of generating large pool of ideas for business. To determine the acceptability or workability of your ideas you must engage in SWOT (Strength Weaknesses, Opportunity and Threat) analysis of each business ideas you generated. You must also subject them to thorough macro and micro-screenings. To ascertain the marketability of your business ideas, you need to ask yourself the following questions:
1. Is there availability of market?
Is there a market for the product or service? By this we mean those who can patronize your idea.
2. Is there availability of skills?
Can you locate labour easily? By this, we mean being able to find workers, those who would help you translate your ideas into concrete products.
3. Is there availability of product and process technology?
Are there machineries for production of goods and services?
4. Is there availability of raw materials?
The raw materials needed to produce your goods or services are they easily accessed?
5. Is it in line with Government’s priority?
Is your line of business in government’s policy directive, government’s priority list? In other words, do government policies favour it? This is important because policy somersault can be very devastating.
6. Do I have the Strategic Fit?
Do you have the core competence of management and staff to produce
goods or service and bring same to market?
7. Is there in-built ease of implementation?
Will you have little or no difficulty in getting your job done?
8. What are the Risk exposures?
What is the risk exposure of this your business idea? That is your ability to know the problems you are likely going to encounter in the course of doing this business. You need to understand that business is considered good when the risks associated with it are less.
9. Is it Profitable?
This we mean gain or loss definition by market share.
10. What is the Cost/Benefit?
This is the summation of practically all other factors mentioned and
provides an overall impression regarding the desirability of any given
business idea.
11 How can I Strategically position my business, product or service?
This is your ability to position your business where it can be easily located and accessed.

SUGGESTED IDEA AREAS FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL VENTURES
In their book, Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Ikeme, et al (2009: 100-101) suggested areas that prospective entrepreneurs should focus attention on. These, they stated are only suggestions, which should be improved upon.
1. Services – provision of services of all types, car wash, auto repairs, and training; educational provisions for drop-outs, adults, preparatory classes such as conducting lessons for people, which may likely grow to become full blown educational institutions, etcetera.
2. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) - software design, engineering and development.
3. Agribusiness – poultry and poultry feed production; animal husbandry and cash crops production.
4. NGOs - Floating NGOs that are targeted at solving different societal problems.
5. Communication – printing and publishing, consultancy, etcetera.
6. Crafts – designs, weaving, carving, etcetera.
7. Sales and marketing – providing services for manufacturers, manufacturers’ representatives, etcetera.
8. From waste to wealth – refuse disposal, human waste disposal, scraps (metal and aluminum), etcetera.
Writing on, The Lure of Entrepreneuring, Sunny Obazu-Ojeagbase, one of the foremost promoters of entrepreneurship in Nigeria in his well published monthly magazine, Success Digest of February, 1998 edition, page 47 wrote this timely piece as he asks and challenges us: “Have you ever been in the vicinity where human waste is being emptied from a septic tank? Right, you’ve got it: it’s not a nice place to be around! What with flies and the foul smelling odour that fill the air. The people providing the important service of emptying septic tanks have a nice slogan that puts the reward of their job in a sweet-smelling perspective. They say, ‘Owo igbe kii run,’ which means that ‘human waste money does not smell.’ And I agree with them absolutely, it doesn’t! But I have been thinking. Suppose there is a product in the market which can be poured into a septic tank and, a few hours later, dries up the excreta, wouldn’t it be nice? Imagine the septic tank being emptied without everyone in the neighbourhood feeling the discomfort of foul smell for as many hours as the exercise lasts. ‘That will be wonderful,’ did you say? Well, you have the opportunity of bringing that product to the marketplace. And all home owners in Nigeria, if not in ECOWAS, will be grateful to you for bringing a badly needed product within their reach. How can you go about it? Your first step is to find a chemist who can come up with the right formulation (or you could come up with the formulation if you know how to) that will accomplish the task described and, pronto, you are on your way to becoming a millionaire!
“Of course, it is not as simple as I’ve put it. There is a lot of hard work and persistence before you can reach that promise land. But it is worth the effort. Just remember, nothing good comes easy! So, get cracking, and I’ll see you at the top some day soon!”

ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SPIRITUALITY
The path of entrepreneurship is the path to personal financial independence. Every major company aside governments’ owned enterprises are efforts in entrepreneurship. It allows you time to worship God, attend Church programs and activities. You are your own boss; you are in control; you call the shots!

PEOPLE AND THEIR CAREER CHOICES
There are various career choices as there are different kinds of human beings on planet earth today. People are admitted into various universities to study any of the following:
· Accounting.
· Banking and Finance.
· Computer Science.
· Engineering.
· Medicine/Surgery.
· Mass Communication.
· Law.
· Political Science.
· Economics.
· Food, Nutrition and Dietetics.
· Sociology, Psychology and Anthropology which qualifies them for career in the Armed

forces.
· Theatre Arts.
· Education.
· Nursing, Midwifery, Health Sciences, Laboratory Technology.
· Pharmacy.
· Optometry and Dentistry.
· Library Sciences and Secretarial Administration.
· Aeronautics.
· Metallurgical and Materials’ Engineering.
· Information and Communication Technologies.
· Social Work.
· Agriculture and Agricultural Economics.
· Wood Works and Allied products.
· Cosmetology.
· The list goes on!

CAREER IN MINISTRY
While people kill themselves over these disciplines, only a negligible few consider a career in Ministry – becoming preachers of the Word of God; preparing men and women for the Kingdom above. The question therefore is, “If all of us are going into secular professions, who will preach?” Amos 8:11-12 foresaw a time when there will be a famine of the Word. When all of us abandon Ministry, a time will come when we will not have people to preach to us the undiluted Word of God.

DANGERS, PITFALLS AND RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH CAREERS
Time would not allow me to state categorically all the risks and pitfalls associated with each career but we should be aware that each career choice comes with its peculiar threats to our Christian Faith. The pitfalls of some are defined by their immoral undertones, the glitz and glamour associated with them, the caliber of people we meet in the course of our careers; to others, the pitfalls lie in their material attachments and overt economic empowerments. These, ordinarily should not pose as threats as we can turn their threats into opportunities to make the Gospel and Doctrines of Jesus Christ known. However, the problem may lie in our individual predispositions to them.
We, therefore, must hedge ourselves against those things that will rob us of our faith, integrity, moral purity and commitment to the cause of Christ. We must be like:
1. David who said, “In my prosperity, I shall never be moved.” (Psalms 30:6).
2. Daniel and his friends who took personal decisions not to “Defile themselves with the portions of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine with which he drank….” (Daniel 1:8).
3. Moses, who though was in Government House (Palace) and was next to the throne of Egypt chose not to “enjoy the passing pleasures of sin” and to suffer with the people of Christ knowing that the future was greater and more glorious than today (Heb. 11: 24 -26).
Our Lord Jesus Christ had warned that our lives do not consist in the abundance of the material possessions we have (Luke 12:15). I Corinthians 15:19 warns that we are miserable only when we think that earth life is all that there is. I Corinthians 7:29-31 states that this present life should not be relied on as everything is being topsy-turved.

CONCLUSION
All of us who are heaven-bound must endeavour not to become “Heavenly useful and earthly useless” by not getting education. On the other hand, those of us who are educated should avoid being “Earthly useful and heavenly useless.” We must balance the equation. Therefore, I urge all of us going by Scriptural admonition to, “whatever you do, do that to the glory of God.” (I Corinthians 10:31-32).
Choose you career but do not let your career choose you. Do not marry your career at the expense of your Christian faith and commitment.
Get educated! Define your career path!! Do not loose your faith and commitment to Jesus and His Church!!!
God bless you!


REFERENCES

Professor Alex I. Ikeme, Dr. (Mrs.) V. C. Onu, Robert Ezeanwu and Hilary
Johnson Chukwuma Chukwurah. (2009: 100-101). Creativity,
Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Nsukka: Center for
Entrepreneurship and Development Research.

Obazu-Ojeagbase, S.(1998).“The Lure for Entrepreneuring.” SuccessDigest.
Lagos: Success Attitude Development Centre, SADC.