What's Your Calling?
As you are involved in discipling others, as we lean into the development of 3,000 new leaders…is understanding our calling included?
Os Guinness, an English author and social critic, has written, “Discover the meaning of calling and you discover the heart of the gospel itself.” But there is often unclarity around our calling as Christians, even more around the idea of a call to missions. Missions educator J. Herbert Kane has concluded that “Thousands of youth desiring to serve the Lord have waited and waited for some mysterious ‘missionary call’ that never came. After a time they became weary of waiting and gave up the idea of going to the mission field.” He was tired of the misunderstandings surrounding the term.
“What is it that you do, that when you do it you feel beyond yourself and it makes you soar?”
Your Calling is Calling by Inéz Velásquez- McBryde
What is a missionary call?
First, it may be helpful to clarify what a missionary call isn’t. Scott Moreau elaborates on 8 misunderstandings about the missionary call in his book Introducting World Missions:
The call is a definite event
Paul’s Macedonian call (Acts 16.9-10) is a model of the missionary call
Calls to missionary service always come through mystical experiences
You cannot become a successful missionary without a “Call”
A call is the best test of fitness for missionary service
A call to full-time Christian service is given only to especially gifted people
A call is completely irrelevant to becoming a missionary
A call involves only God and the one who is called.
During Christmastide, my mind was opened up to new thinking! I read an excellent devotional about Mary & Elizabeth by Inéz Velásquez-McBryde. She explains that “calling and identity are dialectical. We are called by God and we are called by others…First comes the calling; then comes the naming. Calling is not without community. And calling comes with vulnerability. You must read this for yourself!”
Is calling for all of us?
A recent podcast with Os Guinness & Pete Peterson deftly discusses & defines our calling as Christ followers. Os Guinness’ book entitled The Call is excellent. The way he defines our calling is “…that when God says to us through Jesus, ‘Follow me,’ everything we are, everything we have, and everything we do is now given a direction, a dynamic, because it is all done in response: it is done as unto him. For me, that is calling.” After listening to the podcast, (the link has both the online conversation & transcript) would you invite a like-minded person close to you to do the same? Then, enter a conversation about what you heard/learned, and what God is saying to you?
Is a career different than a calling?
We know that all Christians are called to serve God, in whatever place or vocation, always. There was work given to mankind before the entrance of sin in human existence. It is interesting to explore the Theology of Work for the Christian! The Theology of Work Project and the Lausanne Movement’s Global Classroom have great resources. You can use these studies in small groups. Or, walk with those new leaders you are discipling through these discussions! We are all called to serve God in our homes, and our communities, in our workplaces and classrooms!
How do I find my calling?
Talk to someone: In your local fellowship, there are people living out their calling and their spiritual gifting. If you don’t know who they are, ask God to reveal them to you. In a recent conversation, my friend Mike, told me how he is being used by God in his solar business. It was inspirational to hear him tell his story! Prayer warriors, pastors, IWs, doctors and school teachers…have all told me how God has led them, kept them, or guided them to other areas. All have identified a sense of “call” & purpose on their lives to live for Christ with intentionality while serving others. “Are you willing to learn from these people, and explore God’s calling on your life? Will you engage others to pray with, and for, you as you identify, embrace, and follow God’s voice?” Invite an NCD IW to join you in discovery prayer.
Read more: Acts 13:36 is inspiring! “Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation…” Scripture is rich with insight! Godly authors are also insightful…“No one can long worship God in Spirit & in truth before the obligation to holy service becomes too strong to resist.” - Donald Whitney
Pray this prayer: “God of love and relationships, we thank you that you exist in the Trinitarian community and have created us for community. Thank you for the calling of Elizabeth to see and say what the Spirit had revealed unto her about Mary. May we find an Elizabeth in our life who mothers grace in us. May we be the Elizabeth in someone else’s life to dispense the grace that we have received from you. Spirit, knit us together for our good and for your glory. Amen.” (Inéz Velásquez- McBryde)
Dave Manske
Missions Mobilizer