Faith and Vocation

One of the questions I often ask children and young people has to do with one's vocation in life.   I would frame the question this way, "What do feel God is calling to do when you finish high school?"  Perhaps this kind of question might seem a bit odd or misplaced.  What has our work to do with one's calling in life?  Is there a relationship between faith and vocation, faith and work?  If so, what?  These are the questions I like to consider in this article.

We've been looking what we can do as churches to ensure that the next generation in our churches will become resilient disciples of Jesus.   What can we do to see our children and youth actively engaged with God's mission?  We have noted already that the next gen needs to experience Jesus, not just learn about God.  In addition they need to have discernment about the culture in which we live.  They also need meaningful relationships with each other, as well as others in the church.  Research done by the Barna group¹ has discovered that the next gen also need to know how faith intersects with school, careers, sports, and one's vocation in life.

We often don't talk about one's vocation in life.  We simply speak about work or a job.  But perhaps we should change the narrative.  Robert Bellah in his book, Habits of the Heart, argues that in American culture, and I dare say, in all Western culture including Australia, we have elevated the individual over the common good.  He writes:

To make a real difference ... [there would have to be] a reappropriation of the idea of vocation or calling, a return in a new way to the idea of work as a contribution to the good of all and not merely as a means to one's own advancement.

The word "vocation" comes from the Latin word vocare, which means "to call".   Your job or your work becomes a vocation if someone else calls you to do it and you do it for them and others rather than just yourself.  The 16th century Reformers Martin Luther and John Calvin argued that all work was as much a calling from God as the ministry of the clergy and priests.   Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920) expanded this idea of work to include the ideas of not only caring for creation, but also directing it and giving it structure.  Reflecting on these ideas, Timothy Keller writes, "In this Reformed view, the purpose of work is to create a culture that honors God and enables people to thrive.... Faithful work, then, is to operate out of a Christian 'worldview'."  (Every Good Endeavour) 

The idea of our vocation in life is wonderfully stated in The Contemporary Testimony:

Our work is a calling from God.
We work for more than wages
and manage for more than profit
so that mutual respect
and the just use of goods and skills
may shape the workplace.
While we earn or profit,
we love our neighbors by providing
useful products and services. (par. 48)

So what can we do as churches to help the next gen know and live out this sense of God's calling into all areas of employment, how to develop the next generation vocationally?   We need to help them see how faith and work are inseparable, that whatever we do, we do it all for the glory of God. (see 1 Corinthians 10:31; Colossians 3:17).  We need to help our children and youth discover who God made them to be and to view their gifts and passions as part of God's calling, their God-given purpose in life.  We need to teach them how the Bible applies to their field or interest area, and how they can live out their faith in the workplace.  Kinnamon and Matlock ask the question, "What if [churches] put on a Vocation Bible School?"  Churches all around the world put on Vacation Bible Schools, where they set aside a week in the summer or other school breaks and engage children with Bible stories and life lessons.   If we are serious of discipling our children, youth, and young adults, what if could plan talks and activities that challenge them to think about making a living, that introduce Biblical ideas about vocation, that set them on a path toward meaningful work?

For the next gen in our churches to become resilient disciples of Jesus to the point that they express desire to transform the broader society as an outcome of their faith, our children and youth need to (re)discover this idea of one's vocation in life.  So rather than asking the next gen what they hope to be or to do after high school, ask them what God is calling them to do with their life.  This might just open the door to have a deeper discussion about faith and vocation. 

Perhaps you need to look in the mirror and consider these questions yourself.   What is your vocation in life?  Your calling?   What you do for work is not about you.  It is also not about some wages or profit.  It is about loving God and loving your neighbour.   This is your vocation.

¹  This research is summarized by David Kinnaman and Mark Matlock in their book Faith for Exiles - 5 Ways for a New Generation to Follow Jesus in Digital Babylon (Baker Books: 2019)