Faith - what your religion believes - defines life's purpose for career change.

The impact of your faith, what your religion believes, upon your choice of a new career.

Career Change Impacted By What Your Religion Believes

Your faith, what your religion believes, has a great impact upon your new career in your new career, whatever that career change choice. It has been my faith, more than anything else, that has defined my life's purpose, which in turn, has guided me in my career change journey.

You see, this Wonderful World of Faith . . . . . . has provided me with both a purpose for living as well as livelihood from my new career, what I call an internet ministry career!

Your Faith Defines Your Life's Purpose

Read that statement again to see the power of it for good or evil: "More than anything else it is your faith, what your religion believes, that will define your life's purpose, which in turn, guides in your new career on your career change journey."

The daily news is certainly full of stories illustrating that statement in negative ways.

So the key is to have a religious faith that is positive in how it helps you in relationships, daily living, and of course, in the context of a purposeful vocation, specifically, your career choice.

I see Ministry Careers as touching lives with God's love constructively, building family and community, and responding to people in pain -- brokenhearted families, people, just like me, who are sinners in need of forgiveness -- all of us in need of encouragement and affirmation.

Helping Others Live Out What Their Religion Believes

One of the most interesting ministry job assignments I have had in recent years was in a new career serving as Faith Coordinator for the County of San Diego.

My assigned area was the North Central Region, which included a major portion of San Diego, with a population of nearly 750,000 of the county's total population of 3.5 million.

Within this large area were over 400 churches and faith based organizations. My task was to serve as a liaison between government and communities of faith.

I think what impacted me most was how disconnected these various ministries were. And that meant that there were a many pastors and faith leaders who really needed each other for encouragement as well as collaboration.

But for a good number, they were isolated from each other, lonely, and often defeated.

The Role of Ministry Association Organizations

Ministry support organizations could do so much more in impacting their communities and in supporting the spiritual leaders who make up their memberships.

While we may not agree on everything, I believe that these faith group organizations could be much more supportive of each other in their ministry career assignments.

After all, each one would probably make this statement: "More than anything else, my faith -- what my religion believes -- has defined my life's purpose, which in turn, guided me to this new career in my ministry career."

I Wish We Had Challenged Each Other's Personal Faith

As I look back on my 30 year career as a parish pastor and see that meeting with other local pastors was usually characterized by discussing what our religion believes.

But I wish now that we had challenged one another's personal faith -- prompting one another to trust God with our deepest problems as well as biggest dreams.

We could have done more in helping each other define our concept of life's purpose, and to have been more supportive of the pastor who decided to make a career change.

Finally, I believe my own ministry career could have been much different, had I focused more on my developing my concept of personal purpose in light of my faith.