On Palm Sunday, Acts 2 Enterprise celebrated its third Jobs for Life (JFL) graduation at Bethany, Detroit. The graduation took place during Bethany’s 12 p.m. worship service. It was a great celebration for the students, the champions (those who make up the leadership team), and friends and relatives who attended.
Jobs for Life is a biblical and Christ-Centered curriculum which has been established to provide soft skill training to the unemployed and the underemployed. The curriculum is an 8-week program in which students come to a 2-hour session 2 times a week in the evening. Participants who enter theJFL program must be at least 18 years old and possess either a high school diploma or a GED. The participants are pre-registered and told that this is an 8-week commitment and that they cannot miss more than 3 classes. The students are given homework assignments at the conclusion of each session, and all homework must be completed prior to graduation. In these classes the students completed a vocational assessment, learned how to: develop a résumé, conduct job searches on the internet, upload their résumé, conduct informational interviews with companies, give a 1-minute presentation on their career goals, and develop their vocational plan. All of these classes were interwoven with prayer and Scripture lessons to connect their employment goals with a faith walk through Jesus.
This class was an extraordinary class in that, although they had never met each other before, the Holy Spirit truly caused them to bond with one another. In the first two sessions they shared personal truths about their lives which were unsolicited. These disclosures remained in the room as part of our commitment to be a safe and no-judging environment. We also saw amazing commitment levels. Three people had jobs and yet they made it a point to be in attendance for those 8 weeks. Out of the nine students who began the course, six graduated. One of the students did not finish the course because she was hired by the third week of our course.
Jobs for Life is a wonderful outreach which allows the leadership team to walk and work with people as opposed to thinking that we are the givers and that the students are the receivers. We learned and received so much from this class. One of the highlights of the class is that one of our students came to faith in Jesus and will be getting baptized at Bethany and going through Bethany’s new membership class.
We are thankful for the champions who participated faithfully and joyfully and for the various community and business partners who helped to make this event a success.
A2E is excited to share that in the fall 2016 there will be two additional sites: one in Pontiac and one in Jackson.
To God be the glory!!
Photo courtesy of Rev. Chris Bodley/A2E
