00:02 I'm Mark Sweeney and my title is Director of Congregational Development and really means I work with the congregation part of East Belfast Mission
00:12 It involves quite a lot of pastoral work and really being involved in situations where they, you know, want to work out what's going on in their life and trying to give them some support and assistance with the things that they're facing.
00:26 This is an ordained post where I don't have formal qualifications to do this and it's more of my life's experience that has qualified me.
00:36 Before working here I worked for Tesco, I was part of the management team at Tesco. I had worked there for nine or ten years, never saw myself doing this at all. I guess when I was at school I didn't ever see myself also being in retail, I simply worked in a supermarket to earn some money, some pocket money, like everybody does.
01:00 My interests at school, I really enjoyed science and I saw myself using that in some way. I had a specific interest in genetics and really hoped to be involved in some sort of, you know, scientific area where I could use genetics and, and I was fascinated by that but when I heard the reality of a job at eh end of it, it was clear with me, things changed and probably the very romantic notion that I had of science was, was brought into sharp focus at university.
01:39 I studied biology and chemistry. I didn't complete it because in my gap year when I was working in Antrim area hospital I realised that it was a, a, a pretty narrow job and specification and I felt also the rewards financially were very, very low for, for all the hard work and it was at that stage that I saw the opportunity to go into management, within retail.
02:06 I had until then just been packing shelves at a local supermarket and they offered a, a programme for people who were currently in university to, to go on and to become part of the management team. Whenever I was going into management at Tesco's, I thought that was going to be a lifetime thing. I saw myself with very, very specific career goals and a very specific life plan and when I realised that that was going to change, that left a real, a real sense of, of being lost and, and not having a definite plan for my life and that was mixed in with ill-health, crisis of confidence and just crisis of, of identity, of myself, of who I was and what I would be and where I would be. it was, it was a tough time. Often times we are trapped because we're well-paid for something but we're not fulfilled and it was only through the fact that my ill-health led me to, to have to change jobs, that gave me the freedom to say I can do anything now and I probably won't be well-paid but at least I'll be fulfilled in what I do.
03:18 My father's a minister, he also only became a minister very uh late in his sort of career life, it wasn't until he was in his forties that, that he decided that, that that's where he was called to be. Before that he was in insurance um and so he left insurance to go and study and be a minister.
03:43 I guess I was eighteen whenever my dad made the decision to go into university, so we both were kind of going into university roughly about the same time,
03:53 I'm absolutely convinced that if you're fulfilled and enjoy what you're doing, that is far better than any amount of money could ever be.
04:01 END
Mark Sweeney
Mark Sweeney
I'm Mark Sweeney and my title is Director of Congregational Development and really means I work with the congregation part of East Belfast Mission
It involves quite a lot of pastoral work and really being involved in situations where they, you know, want to work out what's going on in their life and trying to give them some support and assistance with the things that they're facing.
This is an ordained post where I don't have formal qualifications to do this and it's more of my life's experience that has qualified me.
Before working here I worked for Tesco, I was part of the management team at Tesco. I had worked there for nine or ten years, never saw myself doing this at all. I guess when I was at school I didn't ever see myself also being in retail, I simply worked in a supermarket to earn some money, some pocket money, like everybody does.
My interests at school, I really enjoyed science and I saw myself using that in some way. I had a specific interest in genetics and really hoped to be involved in some sort of, you know, scientific area where I could use genetics and, and I was fascinated by that but when I heard the reality of a job at eh end of it, it was clear with me, things changed and probably the very romantic notion that I had of science was, was brought into sharp focus at university.
I studied biology and chemistry. I didn't complete it because in my gap year when I was working in Antrim area hospital I realised that it was a, a, a pretty narrow job and specification and I felt also the rewards financially were very, very low for, for all the hard work and it was at that stage that I saw the opportunity to go into management, within retail.
I had until then just been packing shelves at a local supermarket and they offered a, a programme for people who were currently in university to, to go on and to become part of the management team. Whenever I was going into management at Tesco's, I thought that was going to be a lifetime thing. I saw myself with very, very specific career goals and a very specific life plan and when I realised that that was going to change, that left a real, a real sense of, of being lost and, and not having a definite plan for my life and that was mixed in with ill-health, crisis of confidence and just crisis of, of identity, of myself, of who I was and what I would be and where I would be. it was, it was a tough time. Often times we are trapped because we're well-paid for something but we're not fulfilled and it was only through the fact that my ill-health led me to, to have to change jobs, that gave me the freedom to say I can do anything now and I probably won't be well-paid but at least I'll be fulfilled in what I do.
My father's a minister, he also only became a minister very uh late in his sort of career life, it wasn't until he was in his forties that, that he decided that, that that's where he was called to be. Before that he was in insurance um and so he left insurance to go and study and be a minister.
I guess I was eighteen whenever my dad made the decision to go into university, so we both were kind of going into university roughly about the same time,
I'm absolutely convinced that if you're fulfilled and enjoy what you're doing, that is far better than any amount of money could ever be.
END
Mark Sweeney is Director of Congregational Development working with the congregation part of East Belfast Mission. He says, "Often times we are trapped because we're well-paid for something but we're not fulfilled and it was only through the fact that my ill-health led me to have to change jobs, that gave me the freedom to say I can do anything now and I probably won't be well-paid but at least I'll be fulfilled in what I do".
