Many young adults today tend to prioritize income and job stability when choosing their career path and preparing for employment. This means they regard work merely as a means to sustain their lives within the social structure, without sufficiently re...
Many young adults today tend to prioritize income and job stability when choosing their career path and preparing for employment. This means they regard work merely as a means to sustain their lives within the social structure, without sufficiently reflecting on the essence and meaning of vocation. As a result, they often perceive work merely as a means of livelihood and experience difficulty integrating their occupation with faith and a sense of life purpose. In this context, there is a growing need for educational efforts that help young adults understand their vocation as a calling from God, reinterpret the meaning of life and work from a biblical perspective, and grow into mature adults who can lead the next generation.
The purpose of this study is to develop an educational program designed to cultivate a biblical sense of vocational calling among young adults. To this end, the developmental characteristics of young adulthood and contemporary social contexts were examined to establish the concept of calling based on previous studies on biblical perspectives of work, identifying the core components of a biblical vocational calling. Based on this analysis, an educational program for young adults was developed following the analysis, design, and development stages of the ADDIE instructional model.
The program consist of eight sessions promoting an understanding of a biblical view of work, self-reflection and identity exploration, the connection between individual gifts and calling, and the integrative application of faith, life, and work. During the analysis stage, the direction and content of the program are derived from a literature review and learner needs analysis. In the design stage, educational objectives, content sequencing and structuring, instructional strategies, and assessment tools were systematically developed. In the development stage, lesson plans and instructional materials were produced to complete the first version of the program.
Indeed, the program aimed at university students is used for the Korean version of the Calling and Vocation Questionnaire (CVQ-K) and evaluation checklists to be appropriate for the effect on its educational purpose. The results have shown that it contributes to positive changes in participants’ perceptions of work and their understanding of biblical vocation, as well as in attitude toward integrating faith and occupation in reflecting on their lives.
This study takes much importance in terms of presenting systematic educational program model enough to foster a biblical sense of vocational calling among young adults. In particular, the program offers a practical educational alternative for Christian education settings, enabling young adults to live out their calling in everyday life and the world of work.