An Interactive Workbook to Discover Your Calling

Table of ContentsLife - Change...................................Discovering Your Calling, Building A Life Plan

Study # 1 The Call to Discipleship 13

Study #2 Calling & Followership 17

Study # 3 Calling & Leadership 25

Life - Style........................................Life in the Kingdom

Study #4 Calling & the Family 45

Study #5 Calling & the Kingdom 57

Study #6 Calling for the Whole Life 65

Life - Message..................................Your Story Within the Kingdom

Study #7 Your Unique Contribution 81

Study #8 Development: Why Your 20s Matter 91

Study #9 Design: Abilities, Gifts & Capacity 107

Study #10 Dreams, Desires & Interests 121

Life - Work.......................................How God Wants His Work to be Done

Study #11 Calling & Vocation 141

Study #12 The Meaning of Work 161

Study #13 Being a Positive Agent in the Workplace 173

Life - Plan........................................Direction: Mapping God’s Plan

Workshop #1 Planning for Life 192

Workshop #2 Building Your “Life Plan Map” 200

Appendix 209

Notes 231

Scripture Index 235

Table of Contents

Building a Life-PlanDiscovering Your CallingPreface

This study contains multiple links to online resources, including videos, audio clips, and articles.

To access online resources, please visit our website: www.callingproject.org

To form an account, create a username and register, using the password: CallingProject938

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Putting together a plan for your life is like putting together a puzzle. The best way to put a puzzle together is to see a picture of the whole before you begin. Additionally, you also need to be able to identify the corner pieces that anchor the layout. It takes time, patience, intuition, trial and error, patience, overcoming some setbacks, a willingness to make incremental progress, and more patience to be able to finish a puzzle project.

Discovering God’s Call for your life may feel at times like putting a puzzle together with some of the pieces missing. It’s important to know that God has a process in mind that includes His guidance along the way.

The New Testament idea that best summarizes the Call of God is “Discipleship.”

This study is broken down into five sections:

Section 1 Life-Change A Call to Discipleship

Section 2 Life-Style Living on Mission or Missional Living

Section 3 Life-Message A Unique Contribution

Section 4 Life-Work Working God’s Way and in God’s Strength

Section 5 Life Plan Developing your “Calling Map”

The Goal of this study is to help you generate a Life-Plan or “Map” that will guide you as you transition to life beyond the campus.

Calling in the Bible addresses the basic search all individuals have for identity, community and mission. This search is the pursuit to discover the answers to ultimate questions like...

Discovering Your Calling

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“Who am I?” (Identity), “Where do I belong?” (Community), and “Why am I here?” (Mission)

Calling is a response to God. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden, the Lord God went looking for them and called out to them saying, “Where are you?”(Genesis 3:9b ESV). Calling is a pursuit by God to restore people to their God-given design, place, and purpose.

The meaning of the word or idea of Calling in the Bible refers to A) To make contact. B) To name. C) To claim. D) To direct (to a task or for service). God’s call to discipleship is a calling to a new/restored:

Identity. The word disciple means learner, and God brings us to Himself to teach us what our exalted yet dependent Relationship with Him is to be like. This new identity brings new strength that transforms our desires, our thinking, and our actions as we learn to live as sons and daughters of God in a new power through repentance and faith (1 John 3: 1-3).

Community. Most of us come from backgrounds where we have experienced both healthy and unhealthy relationships. We may have experienced what it means to love, give, and receive in healthy ways, or our past may be characterized by brokenness and rejection in our close relationships that has left us fearful, insecure, or even angry. Our new Gospel Family is a call to learn the discipleship of needing others and being counted on as one who is needed by others. This reciprocal living experience is life-giving and transforming. Discipleship is truly “Love Training,” as we learn how to express and experience life in a community of Love from God, given to us in the Gospel of Christ (I John 4: 7-12).

Mission. When Jesus called the disciples to follow him, He explained that this was also a call to leadership. This new purpose that He promises to prepare us for invites us to join God by being “about [our] Father’s business”(Luke 2:49). In Acts 9, Jesus called the apostle Paul and said of him that “he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show

him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name” (Acts 9:15-16 ESV). Each of us has a part to play in the advancement of His work on the earth.

These studies are designed to give you both the biblical framework for Calling and to provide guidance for you to work through how to apply this framework to your work, career, and calling.

Most Christian students have a dualistic view of work and spirituality. This leads to pursuing spiritual growth as one path and pursing a career as another path. The Bible does not view work and spirituality this way. It is my hope that you see more clearly the Calling-Path God has for you.

While this study could be helpful to you by working through the content and questions on your own, the best learning dynamic would be meeting with a small group of peers along with a mentor to guide the discussion. Take notes in the margins of the pages like you were studying a book, and use the reflection questions to wrestle with how to apply these ideas to your life.

The content, questions, and understanding found in this workbook is a result of 30 years of ministry and numerous conversations with Campus Outreach staff, college students, disciples in the workplace, pastors and Christian workers. Additionally, Asher Allen, Josh Preston, Luke Niday, Chris Drinkard, George Robertson, and Drew Epting have contributed directly in shaping this study.

Mike Hearon

Campus Outreach

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Spiritual change from the inside out.

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1 Change

Spiritual change from the inside out.

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The Call to DiscipleshipStudy 1

Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebe-dee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him. And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. Mark 1:16-22

Video: Bret t Barnes This study includes a video; visit www.callingproject.org or refer to the iBook.

Calling in the Bible addresses the basic search all individuals have for identity, com-

munity, and mission. This search is the pursuit to discover the answers to ultimate

questions like:

“Who am I?” Called to a NEW IDENTITY“Where do I belong?” Called to a NEW COMMUNITY

“Why am I here?” Called to a NEW MISSION

Discipleship should never operate outside this constant continuum or it will lead to relationships and living that is unhealthy and unhelpful. In Mark 1:16-22, Jesus began his earthly ministry by calling his disciples to learn to follow Him and learn to be used by him as a leader. Discipleship that operates outside of this continuum will lead to distorted expressions of His call. One extreme that focuses on discipleship as “followership only” leads to an unhealthy co-dependence and over-control. Conversely, an emphasis of “leadership only” in discipleship will lead to the other extreme, producing a prideful spirit of independence that makes demands of others. The diagram above reflects this idea that biblical discipleship is a call to both followership and leadership.

To be biblical, leadership models must reflect the understanding of calling and discipleship expressed through simultaneous followership and leadership. This is seen in Jesus’ initial call to discipleship (Mark 1:16-22) and also in Mark 3:14 which says, “He appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him [Followership] and he might send them out to preach [Leadership].” In John 17:15-19 (Jesus’ prayer for his disciples the night before He went to the cross), it is clear that Jesus desired for the Father to help his disciples understand that their calling to discipleship was both a call to follow and a call to lead. He prays, “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth [Followership]. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world [Leadership].” Even in the Great Commission summary passages like Matthew 28: 18-20 and Acts 1:8, there is implicit emphasis on followership while extending the influence of the gospel in leadership to the ends of the earth. Both followership and leadership are constant expressions of our call to discipleship.

Discipleship involves both Followership and Leadership

Biblical Discipleship

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Life-Change reflection and discussion.

1. In Mark 1:16-22, Jesus calls these disciples to follow Him. What insights do you see from the passage regarding our:

New Identity

New Community

New Mission

2. What observations or questions do you have about how the contemporary (present day) church in the world understands and is living out the Call of Discipleship?

3. Where have you seen an overemphasis on Followership or Leadership in expressing Discipleship? What effects have you observed from this?

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4. Does your Discipleship reflect a healthy emphasis on identity, community, and mission?

5. What adjustments do you need to make in your Discipleship experience going forward?

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Study 2

Humility

Christ-like Following

What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me - practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. -Philippians 4:9

Calling & Followership

God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble (1 Peter 5:5b). Humility is the freedom from self-absorption, self-promotion, self-reliance, self-defensiveness, and self-pity. Galatians 5:13 says, “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” Someone has said, “The smallest package in the world is a person wrapped up in themselves.” Humility is the recognition that though we have nothing in ourselves that God should look on us with favor, He has chosen by His grace to not only accept us, but also to embrace us as those who belong to Him. This frees us from having to prove ourselves, justify ourselves, commend ourselves, or defend ourselves. Christ has accepted us. Christ favors us. Christ claims us as His possession. Christ promises to provide for us and even to use us.

1. Humility2. Listening to God3. Serving4. Partnership5. Maturity

What’s your FQ?Some of us put stock in our IQ (Intelligence Quotient). Recently psychologists and

sociologists have referred to EQ (Emotional Quotient) as a measure of one’s relational

and social competence. The Bible has another measure of competence when it comes

to understanding and living out your calling: your FQ (Followership Quotient). Bibli-

cal Discipleship provides at least five markers to help you measure your followership:

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When we grasp the power of this freedom that is ours in Christ, we are energized not only to serve Him but also to love and serve others and seek their good. This freedom means we are not dependent on others’ approval, agreement, or acceptance of us. Humility allows us to move into others’ lives by being transparent and vulnerable, reassuring others that we are a safe relationship and that we can be trusted. Without humility, relationships never move below the surface toward intimate communication and connection. Without humility, you will be unable to discover God’s calling on your life.

Listening to God

The Good News for every believer in Christ is that we are not asked to figure out our Calling on our own, nor is this endeavor a do-it-yourself proposition. Calling is a response to God’s summons both to “become something different” and to “do something different.” We are not left to figure out our calling on our own. In John 14:1-6, Jesus is comforting the disciples with the assurance that the work he will accomplish on the Cross will prepare a place of fellowship and service for them. In v. 4 Jesus says, “And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas objected, speaking for the group, “Lord, we do not know where we are going, how do we know the way?” Jesus responds with words that speak of His nature as well as His work on our behalf saying, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me” (14:6). It is not ultimately the most important thing that we know where we are going. Jesus knows where we are going! His comfort is experienced through his call to follow Him. If we follow Him, He promises to guide us in the way and the destination He has prepared for us. Paul reiterates this same idea in Ephesians 2:10: “for we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” God has already prepared the good works we are called to walk in Him when He saved us by His grace.

In John 10, Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice… another’s voice they will not follow.” This assurance reflects the nature of being led by God. The book of Proverbs contrasts the wise person and the fool as being those who either listen to God’s counsel or those who reject God’s counsel. Listening to God is a distinctive

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characteristic of disciples of Jesus Christ. “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Romans 8:14).

God has provided all the guidance we need to follow Him as disciples. He leads us by:

1. His Son, who is the fullest expression of God’s Living Word to us. (John 1, Hebrews 1, 1 John 1)

2. His written Word, which is His objective guide and example for us. (2 Tim. 3:16-17, Heb. 4:12, Romans 15:4)

3. His Holy Spirit, who guides us into all the truth and to reveal all that Jesus has prepared and planned for us. (John 14-16)

4. The body of Christ (both historic and present) to guide and instruct us. (Prov.11:14, Eph.4)

5. Experiences that we learn from and God uses to teach us to follow His will for our lives. (Luke 22:31-32, John 15: 1-11, 1 Peter 4: 1-6)

This does not mean that it is always clear what the future will hold or that we will know what our ultimate contribution will be. We are not able to follow God’s voice perfectly or without human failure or error. We can expect that even in our failures and even in spite of our sins and weaknesses, the Lord, who sovereignly promises to guide us, will give us the light we need to accomplish His will for us. In Psalm 119:105 God says His word is “a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.” We will always have sufficient light to follow God in the present, and God will show us the light we need to continue to walk by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7).

Serving Each member of the body of Christ has been called to make a unique contribution in the kingdom. In Study #8 we will look in-depth at what this contribution looks like.

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This call starts with the consecration of our lives to Him. In Mark 1, the disciples left their nets and their families to follow Christ. Abraham was called to leave his home and his family and to go out, not knowing where he was going (Hebrews 11: 8-10). Moses was called to leave his royal position and join a cause to redeem and free slaves (Heb. 11: 24-26). Esther was called to risk her life by speaking up for her people who were oppressed (Esther 4:16). Jeremiah was called and appointed to preach to a nation that God said would not repent (Jeremiah 1:5). God’s calling is always first to “become something” before we are called to “do something” (Matthew 4:19). The deeper work of following Christ through discipleship is to grow our hearts to serve (Mark 10:45). When we learn to give and meet the needs of others, our lives are changed into Christ-like disciples. As we grow in serving (followership) and in evangelism (leadership), we begin to discover our unique contribution in the kingdom.

The diagram below shows the normative process God takes us through to discover our unique contribution. While occasionally someone discovers their mission at the time of their salvation (the apostle Paul), it takes years to prepare and position each disciple for their contribution (It was 13 years from Paul’s conversion until he emerged as a trusted leader in the church). Contribution is not about recognition or position. Contribution is about kingdom influence.

Your understanding of your unique contribution is progressive as you learn more about God’s Kingdom mission and about your own dreams, desires, design, and development needs. God directs us by giving us a specific calling that develops our followership and leadership and positions us for a greater contribution in the future.

So, how do you gain more insight into your gifts and strengths? By saying yes intentionally and responsively to the opportunities in your life to serve. A disciple unwilling to serve is like a valuable piece of China locked up in a cabinet in the dining room; It is of no practical use. Serving Christ and others not only meets real needs, but also helps you discern and discover clues to your own calling.

The process God uses to lead us to discover our calling aligns the scope of our work with the shape of our gifts and strengths.

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Note: Campus Outreach is committed to developing its process of assessment for the staff, so that helpful input and conversations can be fostered in the areas of vision, design, and health in each leader’s life. Presently, assessment processes are being established for the 3-year mark and 6-8 year mark so that staff have objective and insightful input in the area of personal development and unique contribution. Similar assessments are being developed for the mobilization tracks being established.

Partnering

God’s people are described in the Bible by many metaphors and comparisons. Some images used include agriculture - vineyard, construction (building), anatomy (body), animal breed (flock), citizenship (kingdom), war (army), and marriage (bride). Each of these pictures shows us some aspect of living and working together, while also stopping short of reflecting the full picture of what it means to live out our discipleship together. The overriding picture or archetype used most frequently to describe us is that of a family. Our call in discipleship requires that we see ourselves as connected to others, for our sakes and for their sakes. A healthy family pictures the need for involvement, understanding, guidance, support, and contribution. Discipleship that does not involve partnership is a distorted expression of our calling.

This partnership is best expressed in a commitment to the bride of Christ - the church of Jesus Christ. A formal partnership with local believers in Christ reflects that you have been called to Christ and called to partner with the body of Christ (Hebrews 13:17).

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Beyond a formal commitment to the local church, discipleship should be more than just one leader teaching a disciple(s) what it means to follow Christ. Our call to follow Christ is a call to join a missional community. Though the example of Christ in discipleship is our guide, an overemphasis on an exclusive leader-follower relationship apart from multiple input and influence in the body of Christ could lead to a distorted expression of discipleship. Intense discipleship takes place most effectively when someone commits to invest directly in another. As you grow and mature, discipleship becomes less direct and the input and guidance stems from multiple sources.

A parallel picture to the partnership needed in discipleship is parenting. Though most agree that parents should be the primary influence in a child’s life, it is generally understood and accepted that teachers, coaches, friends, relatives, and peers all contribute to a child’s growth and nurture. This does not mean that intentional teaching and focus in a life-on-life context is not a prime source of growth for a disciple. Basic discipleship is accelerated when individuals provide this type of input. But this (life-on-life) model of discipleship should never be viewed as exclusive or even sufficient, as disciples need “the abundance of counselors” to mature in Christ-likeness (Proverbs 11:14).

Note: See Mentoring vs. Discipleship Chart in Appendix.

Maturity

1 Peter 2:2 says, “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation.” 2 Peter 3:18 also says, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.” In John 15, Jesus uses the analogy that we are a vine and God is the vine-grower. God is committed to a work of pruning and cultivating in our lives to bring about fruitfulness in us expressed as full maturity in Christ (Ephesians 4:13-16).

While maturity (growth) does not mean that we will be prepared for any and every calling in the body of Christ, maturity is the full expression of our own calling. Gifts and placement are from the Holy Spirit and determine our unique contribution.

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Maturity allows us to serve with the fruits of the Holy Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5: 22-23) - so that our service points people to Christ and not ourselves. Maturity also increases our capacity to serve beyond our design.

At times you may be called to serve Christ in a place or assignment that does not maximize your gifts and strengths. Many times God uses difficult assignments, relationships, or circumstances to reveal our need to grow in Christ-like character and to force us to depend on Him and not on our natural abilities or our spiritual gifts. It is the mature expression of our followership that allows us to remain Christ-centered and contributing to the growth of others, even when we find ourselves overwhelmed by our assignments or circumstances in the short-run. God’s calling often stretches us beyond our own abilities, leading each of us toward making a maximum contribution.

Life-Change reflection and discussion.

1. What aspects of followership (listening to God, serving, partnering, and maturity) do you feel you are struggling the most with and why?

2. Ask a friend which area you need the greatest amount of growth/help in. What insights do you have for your greatest followership needs?

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3. How has your view of yourself helped / hurt your followership?

4. Are you cultivating a healthy inward spirituality? Communion with God fosters openness to God, to others, and to learning. How would you characterize your openness?

Audio: Tim Kel ler This study includes audio; visit www.callingproject.org or refer to the iBook.

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Study 3

“Every Christian is called to be a leader with Christ.” After I made this statement to a small group of pastors, one very learned pastor challenged this notion. He said, “This seems

reckless to go around proclaiming something that God has not required of every believer. It seems to me that the result of this kind of teaching will lead to guilt-ridden followers who are weighed down with expectations they cannot meet.” I’ll admit I was ready for this type

of challenge to the idea presented, since this was not the first time I asserted this idea or was challenged on the subject. I responded this way, “Let me ask you this: do you believe that

Deuteronomy 6 is an exhortation for every parent to teach his or her children God’s word or is this just for a select group of spiritual leaders? And do you believe that Ephesians 6 is an exhortation for every believer to put on the full armor of God and take up the sword of the Spirit or do you believe this is just for a select group of Spiritual leaders?” When he did not

immediately respond, I went on to say, “this is what I believe about discipleship and leader-ship. When Jesus said, ‘Follow me, I will make you fishers of men,’ I believe this was a call to leadership in Christ’s kingdom. I am not saying that every believer is called to every leader-ship position in the kingdom (Ephesians 4 is clear about that), but every believer is called to

lead in the kingdom as a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Calling & Leadership

Leadership Philosophy

1. Evangelism2. Living by Faith3. Personal Initiative4. Gifts5. Confidence

Every follower of Christ is called to leadership. In this Study, you will see that God

views every one of His own as important contributors. Discipleship is not a “spectator

sport!” This means that growing in understanding your calling requires that you grow

in your understanding of biblical leadership. Leadership & Discipleship is displayed in at least five ways:

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Every Christian is called to evangelism as a lifestyle. While Campus Outreach feels uniquely called and tasked with the work of evangelism, it is the responsibility of every Christian to be a part of the process of evangelism. Witnessing is sharing with our words and our life that the good news is indeed “good news.” (Acts 1:8, 1 Peter 2: 9-12, Col. 4:2-6) Evangelism is sharing the “Good News” that Christ died for our sins that he might bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18).

It is true that some believers are uniquely gifted for evangelism. Ephesians 4:11-16 indicates that spiritual leaders in the church are gifted and tasked to equip members for all the work of ministry. This includes the ministry of evangelism, discipleship, teaching, counseling, and administration. There are a variety of spiritual gifts, yet each spiritual gift mix has a unique evangelistic expression that contributes to the growth of the body. Ephesians 4 makes our Calling as the body clear:

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Ephesians 4: 11-16

The Call to Discipleship is a call to multiplication. Ephesians 4 pictures every member of the body of Christ contributing for every function to be expressed so that the whole body will grow. That’s multiplication! Multiplication in relation to evangelism means that we are not just called to do more evangelism. We are called to increase the number of people doing evangelism. This is a quantitative call to evangelism. We

Evangelism

Biblical Leadership

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are also called to increase the quality of the evangelism being done. Multiplication is concerned with the quantity and quality of evangelism.

Note: Every gift has an evangelistic expression, the same way every gift has a pastoral expression.

At times, Campus Outreach has been questioned about its perceived “over-emphasis” on evangelism. While evangelism is not all that the body of Christ is called to do, evangelism is a vital expression of our concern for others who are living apart from His love that each disciple is invited to participate in. Campus Outreach focuses a significant amount of its resources in the area of training and focus in evangelism. CO is called to be an equipping arm in evangelism and an extension of the church in the world. A healthy connection to the local church allows Campus Outreach to be a leadership development movement that is focused on evangelism and discipleship. The connection with the church ensures that the other functions of the body contribute toward health and growth as the shepherding and teaching ministries of the church also shape discipleship.

Living by Faith

Hebrews 11:6 says, “without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” God calls us to “live by faith in the son of God who loved us and gave himself for us” (Galatians 2:20). Living by Faith is to be a pro-active decision to “seek first the kingdom of God” (Matthew 6:33) and to trust Him with our provision and our purpose. Living by Faith is a response to God-given vision of what He wants done in the world.

Many think that missionary biographies are written about the daring and bold disciples who lived by faith. The truth is that God plans to teach every disciple to be a visionary. Paul says we are called to live “as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Cor. 4:18). We cannot avoid the call to live by faith.

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God will bring circumstances in our lives that remind us that this is His plan.

The period of life during college gives each disciple a unique opportunity to live by faith in Christ. The criteria you use to choose your Major, your Mission, and your Mate reflects whether you are a disciple living by faith in Christ or choosing to live by faith in a career choice, a respectable ambition, or a promising relationship. Each of these pursuits are not worldly in and of themselves, but the motivation and goals sought in these pursuits reveals whether you are living for a God-given vision or following the culture’s values or other people’s dreams for you.

Unfortunately, determining whether you are living by faith in Christ is not always easily surmised. Often, it is the loss of an opportunity, a setback, or a relationship that ends that reveals whether we are living by faith in Christ or simply living for favorable circumstances. A way to determine if you are trusting Christ is to ask, “will I praise God no matter what happens in this particular circumstance?” Fear or bitterness could be indicators that you may not be living by faith in Christ. Another helpful question to ask is this: Is there anything that you would struggle to trust Him with if Jesus asked you to let go?

Personal Initiative

The scriptures teach that God “makes us alive” when we come to Christ. Rather than being lifeless and unresponsive, our resurrected spirit is united to Christ and hungry to learn and become the person we were created to be. The man born blind that Jesus healed was immediately used by God to spread the gospel (John 9). The woman at the well (John 4) was used to lead many other Samaritans to Christ. Salvation awakes in us a passion to grow and learn that makes us intentional and proactive and personally responsible for our influence and ourselves. Passivity and apathy are not values of Christ’s kingdom and must be addressed when they display their effects. Discipline is often viewed as an enemy of grace and unmerited favor. Another way to view discipline is to analyze the motivation for it rather than just the effort it requires. In most endeavors that require sustained discipline, motivation is discovered by unleashing desire toward a task with a view of a specific end in mind. Discipline is

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simply desire directed by vision. A disciple of Christ must learn to live in light of the visionary desire the Holy Spirit has placed in his heart for the Kingdom to advance in the world.

Discipleship must not only cultivate personal initiative but must also unleash it. When leaders make decisions for their followers that they (the followers) should make for themselves, discipleship stifles personal initiative. When leaders plan things for their followers that they should be planning for themselves, they stifle the leadership development of their disciples. When responsibilities are held back that could be delegated to followers, leaders hinder development and growth in their followers. The leader must lead with a bias toward growth and development that encourages initiative and responsibility or they are only cultivating dependent followers and not kingdom leaders.

Gifts

Quality Discipleship will also teach and train core competencies in order to maximize a younger leader’s impact. While ultimate contribution will come through a focused attention on giftedness, young disciples are rarely able to determine what their gifts are. Fear, insecurity, and other character issues often cloud a disciple’s understanding of their gifts and design. In fact, it is as damaging to a young disciple to focus on giftedness too soon as it would be for an elementary school child to focus on a career or educational track.

Part of developing a healthy understanding of your own gifts is to develop basic core competencies in ministry (Evangelism, Discipleship, Teaching, Counseling, and Administration). Every quality discipleship plan should begin with the basics of relationship with God and the basics of ministry.

As you have developmental experiences, cultivate faithfulness, and glean from mentors, you will grow in your understanding of yourself and your gifts. Don’t confuse a huge burden for a particular gift. As you serve and grow, ask for feedback from trusted leaders in your life who will help you discern God’s direction for your

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development. Remember also that God always gifts for tasks at hand. There may be a call in your future that God has yet to reveal to you the gifts needed to accomplish that task. Have confidence that with each specific call of service, God will provide not only the desire but also the ability to accomplish the call (1 Peter 4: 10-11).

Cultivate patience as you seek to discern your gifts. Joseph was 30 when he became prime minister of Egypt; Moses was 40 when he became a shepherd; David was 30 when he became the king of Israel; and Jesus was 30 when he began his public ministry as a rabbi/ teacher. Regardless of what calling path you are presently on, it is helpful to think of your 20’s and 30’s as Preparation and Positioning, Your 40’s and 50’s as Productivity, and beyond that as Investing, by Passing the Torch to the next generation.

When you lack any insight in the area of your gifts, the body of Christ suffers. Your contribution to your team is limited if you are doing things that others should be doing. Additionally, the effectiveness of the team is hindered if needs are being overlooked because the wrong people have the wrong assignments. Lastly, you will not flourish but will live in a constant sense of frustration if you do not take into account your gifts and those of your team. Note: See the Spiritual Leadership / Leadership Diagnostic Test and corresponding documents (Prophet, Priest, King).

Confidence

The Gospel affirms that God accepts us unconditionally. Additionally, Christ promises not only to protect us but also to provide for us all we need in this life and the life to come. This declaration of God’s unswerving commitment to us produces a freedom and a joy that makes us unafraid of failure, others, or the future. A Christ-centered leader will not only experience assurance for help and hope but will also remind others of the assurance of help and hope in Christ.

20-30’s 40-50’s Beyond | ------------------------------- | ------------------------------- | Preparation Productivity Passing the Torch & Positioning

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The book of Hebrews was written to grow our confidence in our High Priest, Jesus Christ, who has conquered all, promised all, and pledged Himself to give us all the Help and Hope we need (Hebrews 4:14-16):

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (ESV)

A Christ-Centered Confidence is not boastful or arrogant, since our hope is not in self-leadership or self-sufficiency but in Christ. 2 Corinthians 3:4-6 says, “Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

Confidence as a leader is a reflection of your understanding of the person and work of Christ. You cannot inspire or comfort other disciples without an unshakeable assurance that finds its source and stability outside yourself and your circumstances.

He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things. Romans 8:32

In Future Grace, Dr. John Piper comments, “I would not survive, much less thrive as a Christian, if I did not believe that the everlasting God is taking every setback, every disappointment, and every failure, and stripping it of its destructive power, and using it for good.”1

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Life-Change reflection and discussion.

1. “Growing as STRONG as we can is more important than growing as FAST as we can. Otherwise we will not go as FAR as we can.” Reflect on this quote in light of your leadership. Where do you reflect this growth strategy and where do you struggle to live this out?

2. Discipleship begins with a more directed style and moves towards guidance and support. How should your leadership style change as disciples grow in confidence and maturity?

3. What are the implications for how you should interact with other members in the body of Christ outside of your discipleship group?

4. Rate yourself from 1-5 (1- your greatest leadership strength and 5- your greatest need)Evangelism, Living by Faith, Personal Initiative, Understanding your giftedness, Confidence.

5. Ask your peers or those you lead to answer the above questions about your leadership in their lives. Share this with those that lead you and ask for their insight.

Note: The Spiritual Leadership Diagnostic provided in the Appendix helps provide direction in understanding your design/giftedness. It is encouraged to take this test and interact with others about what you learn about yourself and your leadership style.

Once you see discipleship from this paradigm, you are able to more easily see where you need to grow as a follower or a leader. All of life is a response to the grace of God. That’s what Discipleship is all about. Below is a summary of the categories of Dis-cipleship. Work through the areas you personally need to grow in, trying to keep a Christ-centered balance in the middle by responding to His grace at work in you.

You see, at the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics—in physical laws—every action is met by an equal or an opposite one. It’s clear to me that Karma is at the very heart of the universe. I’m absolutely sure of it. And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that “as you reap, so you will sow” stuff. Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I’ve done a lot of stupid stuff. - Bono

Weeks 1 - 3

Summar y

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Categories of Discipleship

How do we keep a proper emphasis on Followership & Leadership in our discipleship?

Humility without Confidence leads to insecurities and no clarity on identity in Christ.

Prayer without Faith leads us to passivity on God’s behalf in the world.

Focus on Unique Calling without Evangelism leads to no advancement of the Gospel in lives.

Partnership without Personal Initiative leads to lack of per-sonal responsibility.

Gifts with no maturity leads to comparison and selfishness.

Confidence without Humility leads to arrogance and no per-sonal care for people.

Faith without Prayer leads to a lack of communion with God.

Evangelism without clarity on personal Calling leads to no impact on Redeeming ALL PEOPLE & PLACES.

Personal Initiative without Part-nership leads to no accountabil-ity or help.

Maturity without Gifts leads to a one-dimensional personality.

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John 17:19 can help us to understand God’s plan: “And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.”

After praying for their Followership (that his disciples would be kept from the evil one) and for their Leadership (as they were being sent into the world), Jesus offered himself to the Father again as the atoning sacrifice to secure our discipleship. His consecration to God in obedience that led to the cross is our security that we will remain a follower and that He will use us as a leader in His kingdom.

The diagram below shows that when the Cross of Christ (His Person and His Work) is central to our discipleship, there is not only balance but also Life-Change. The key to properly empha-sizing Followership & Leadership is to emphasize a deeper understanding of the Cross. This will lead us to a Christ-centered expression of discipleship.

John Stott, in Between Two Worlds, says, “To encounter Christ is to touch reality and expe-rience transcendence. He gives us a sense of self-worth or personal significance, because He assures us of God’s love for us. He sets us free from guilt because He died for us and from paralyzing fear because He reigns. He gives meaning to marriage and home, work and leisure, personhood and citizenship (by His person and work).”2 A Christ-centered focus in our disci-pleship will call us outside ourselves to find hope and help as disciples who follow and lead with Him as our source and strength.

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Life-Change reflection and discussion.

1. Mediate on the Stott quote and reflect on your experience of Christ’s love in your discipleship.

Audio: Tim Kel ler To listen to the audio, visit www.callingproject.org or refer to the iBook.

Meditate on this 3 minute explanation of Christ’s obedience to God and His love for us and records your thoughts in two ways:

A. How this impacts His Call on you to Followership?

B. How this impacts His Call on you to Leadership?

Daily Living for Redeeming this world, with a perspective of the Kingdom coming!2

Life STYLEChange

Style

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1. The Scope2. The Strategy3. The Strength

The “Great Commission” is a summary phrase to describe what God has tasked His church to do in the world. It is a summary of our collective Calling. As you refer to or study the following passages, you will see that they address one of three aspects of the Great Commission – The Scope (the whole world), The Strategy (evangelism and discipleship), or The Strength (empowerment from the Holy Spirit).

The idea that we have a Scope, Strategy, and Strength involved in our Calling speaks of the way that our Calling is to become our Life-Style. Missional Living is to be both our personal and collective expression of Discipleship, as we follow our Savior who has called us to “follow in his steps” (1 Peter 2:21).

The studies in this section focus on two things involved in a Calling Life-Style. First, we are called to understand the Kingdom that Jesus came to initiate. Matthew 6:33a says “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.”

Secondly, this Life-Style means that we are to seek to live our mission holistically as stewards. There is nothing Christ has given to us or done for us that is not a resource that should be available for His purposes.

In this way, the call to follow Christ is seen more as the central emphasis and focus of our life rather than a segment or section of our life that we add to an already busy and self-absorbed life-style. His Mission is our Life-Style. This is what it means to follow Christ as a disciple in the world.

Called to Live Missionally

L i fe in the K ingdom

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Record one or more of the three words that describe the Great Commission:

Scope Strategy StrengthMatthew 28:18-20Matthew 24:14John 20:21-231 Corinthians 15:25-26Romans 15:20-212 Corinthians 5:14-211 Peter 2:9-12Matthew 22:36-40Mark 16:15-16Luke 24:46-48Acts 1:8Romans 10:13-15Revelations 5:9, 7:9, 21-24Genesis 1:281 Peter 3:15Mark 1:16-20

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Pre-Study Life Style Questionnaire

Record your honest assessment to where you currently stand in relation to your life-style and the Kingdom.

1. Mindset - I am _______________________ driven by the thought of fulfilling my part in Christ’s Kingdom.

a. occasionally b. usually c. passionately

2. Motivation - record what pressures or oppositions exist in your approach to devel-oping a Kingdom Lifestyle.

3. Methods - I am ____________________ on developing a Kingdom Lifestyle.

a. unclear b. occasionally distracted c. focused

4. I am hopeful to gain insight into ______________________ area of my life so that I can more effectively live a Kingdom Lifestyle

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Study 4Calling & the FamilyWill Witherington, Campus Outreach Lexington Director, uses this diagram and outline of Genesis 1-3 to reflect the role family is to play in fulfilling the work of the Kingdom. An integrated understanding of worship, work, and family is crucial to ex-periencing life in the kingdom. After looking at these three “life pillars” from Genesis, we will also investigate the view of family in the New Testament.

hen dealing with questions of meaning or purpose in life, it seems natural to go to the “beginning” – Genesis chapter 1. Genesis 1:27-28 tells us all we need to know about the essence and makeup of life and how God intends for us to “do life.” Though the passage plainly and simply tells us all we need to know, the outplaying of the passage is complex in the greatest degree. However, to first look at it simply will help us deal with the complex nature of life moving forward. Genesis 1:27-28 shows us the 3 Pil-lars of Life:

“ So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and fe-male he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and mul-tiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

WorshipThe creation account in Genesis tells us that God created Adam and Eve in His im-age, meaning that they were to be a reflection of His nature, character and work. God made them “after his likeness.” This is the nature of worship – reflecting back to God all that He is and all that He is worth. Creation does this perfectly. The Bible says that the heavens declare the glory of God (Psalm 19:1a), and if the people stop wor-shipping God, the rocks will cry out (Luke 19:40). Worship is not only a one way deal. God also blesses us. This too is in the fiber of worship. Not only do we reflect back to God all that He is and is worth, He also pours out blessing on worshippers in order that they might reflect him more. In this way, all that we have and all that we do are gifts from God as a means of worshipping Him. God is a giver of good gifts (James 1) and we are the recipients who bring Him great

praise when we use these gifts as He has designed them to be used.

Worship can also be done in a private setting by studying God’s Word and by praying. Certainly all of life is intended to be worship, but there is a something intrinsically good about setting aside time to focus on God and to bring Him praise. God desires a relationship with us through personal worship. In this way, worship is both an out-ward action of worshipping God with our talents and our treasures and an inward of action of renewing our minds with scripture and prayer.

WorkClearly from this passage, God gave Adam and Eve authority to rule and manage the earth – it was theirs! Ruling the fish and the animals, cultivating the ground, harness-ing the resources, etc. would take effort and work. These were things God gave man to do before sin entered the world; therefore, they were intrinsically good. This is further seen in Genesis 4, as God lays out a “blueprint” for how the earth will be ruled and subdued through necessary work: Jabal – father of those who live in tents and have livestock (Genesis 4:20), Jubal – father of those who play the lyre and pipe (Genesis 4:21), and Tubal-cain – forger of all instruments of bronze and iron (Genesis 4:22).

Work is reflective in nature as well. God “worked” for 6 days. He paid attention to all the details of life. From the hairs on your head to the planets in the galaxies, God takes great care of them all. We should reflect this in our work. Small details and large opportunities should all reflect God’s image. This means that all of our work is meaningful and worshipful, even the mundane.

FamilyThis passage also shows us that God instituted the family to be a conduit for carrying out work and worship. Adam and Eve were to be “fruitful” – have life – and they were to “multiply” – increase in number. Both of these were to be done in the context of marriage (Genesis 2:24-25). The family worships and works together to accomplish that which God created them for.

The family is meant to be reflective of our relationship with God as well. The Bible instructs husbands to love their wives “as Christ loved the church” (Ephesians 5:25a). Wives are called to submit to their husbands in the same way that believers submit themselves to Christ. Parents are called to love their children in the same way that

God loves and cares for us as a father, and children are called to obey their parents as God calls us to obey Him. In this way, every part of the family has a unique way of re-flecting God’s image

This is not to say that one cannot fulfill God’s call on their life without an immediate bio-logical family; God used the ministry of the Apostle Paul in great ways and he was never married. What it does mean is that those who are called to have a family ought to strive to live this way. Furthermore, all believers are part of the church family and are thus called to live and work with a family to some extent.

In Genesis 3, sin enters the world. Sin becomes the group “complicator” to the three main components of life in God’s creation:

Worship is broken We don’t fully reflect God; we have sin and He doesn’t. Therefore, every avenue of our lives is now tainted. This must be “reconciled,” meaning that man must be brought back into fellowship with God. This happens through the perfect worship/obedience of Jesus and His work on the cross. Our only ability to come back into “reflective worship” is through the image of the Son!

Work is difficult and cursedThe creation itself will now react to humans negatively. The ground will produce thorns and man will have to “sweat” in order to carry out God’s created mandate for the cre-ation. Now, something must happen so that the creation is renewed and restored to her original state of perfection. The “sons of God” must be revealed (Romans 8:19). Why? Because the sons of God will care for His creation as He originally asked them to.

Family is dividedHusbands don’t protect wives, wives blame husbands, husbands abuse wives, wives subvert husbands’ authority, and so on. Now, to be a cohesive family, something must come and mend the tear. The family will only be reconciled when the Father and the Son and the Spirit come and mend the hearts, restore the covenant, and make it whole again. Ultimately, the family that will be created is one where God is the Father and Jesus is our brother and the Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are sons of God.

In Genesis 4 we see very specific manifestations of this. Cain kills his brother Abel because God approved of Abel’s “worship” and Cain’s worship was unacceptable. So, worship is complex and the family is complex. The nature of Cain and Abel’s “offer-ings” were from the “work” that they were doing in the creation – Cain “worker of the ground” and Abel “keeper of the sheep.” Genesis 4 shows us unique instances in which the family is torn apart, work is unfulfilling, and worship is broken.

However, in the midst of all of this, Worship, Work and Family continue: in Gene-sis 4:26 people began to call upon the name of the Lord, in Genesis 4:20-22 work is instituted in various forms, and in Genesis 4:1-26 wives, fathers, brothers, and cousins are all involved – the family is continuing to prosper! Although sin complicates the 3 main pillars of life, they still continue to stand as the means of worshipping God.

The New Testament does not begin with harmony in work and family and worship. Je-sus Christ’s ministry begins by calling disciples to follow him and asks those disciples to leave their work and family behind.

Life-Work Reflections.1. Study Mark 1: 14-20.a. What is the “good news” Jesus is proclaiming as he begins his earthly ministry and what is required to receive it?

b. How does following Jesus (repentance and faith) change the way these new followers are to relate to their family and to their work?2. In Mark 3: 31-34 Jesus has some strong words about family, as he does not grant the request of his own mother and brothers. What does Jesus’ teaching and reaction to his family imply about the redemption of all things, including the family?

3. Jesus’ teaching on the family can at times be hard to understand. In Mark 7: 10-13 Jesus calls us to honor our father and mother and to show a care for our family that exceeds the generally accepted standard of the day. In a seemingly contradictory state-ment, Jesus says in Luke 14: 25-26, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” So which is it? Are we to honor our families or are we to hate our families? It seems conflicted.

How do you think the Message of Mark 1: 15 and the model offered in Mark 3: 31-34 (Jesus and his own family) provide insights into how we are to live in the kingdom in relation to our family? Reflect on this and write down your thoughts before going to the next page and reading my thoughts.

Worship precedes all of lifeJesus’ mission to restore all things begins with the call to have our hearts restored. Worship must come first. Worship must precede family and work in order for them to become a blessing and a benefit. Our greatest need is to be restored to our exalted place in the world as those who worship God from the heart. In Matthew 22:36-40 Jesus says that the greatest commandment is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”

In John 4:23-24 Jesus says that He is first restoring our hearts so that we can be “true worshippers” of the living God. Unless our hearts are restored as true worshippers of God, we will simply worship someone or something else. Our work and our relation-ships will become substitutionary sources for us to find fulfillment and satisfaction if we are not first worshipping God. As disciples (followers) of Christ, we must begin our discipleship as worshippers. Jesus initiates His earthly ministry by calling others to follow him. Their first “calling” is to be worshippers of Him.

God has not left us to accomplish this calling with no means of fulfilling it. In fact, He has given us very specific means of worshipping Him. Repentance and Faith are the means by which we experience the salvation that Christ has accomplished for us on the cross. Discipleship is a process whereby each follower of Jesus learns how to grow in their love for God and others. The church is “the family of God” that helps all followers of Christ to live as disciples in our worship, work, and relationships.

With this in mind, we ought to be aware of the dangers of sin in regards to how it com-plicates the process by which we worship God in our work and in our families. Idola-try is the biggest threat to rightly worshipping God in our work and family.

Making an idol of our Work. In Counterfeit Gods, Tim Keller defines an idol as “anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give.”1

If we do not worship God with the energy and affections of our heart, we will worship our work. As people longing for value and worth, we will turn work into a means of validating our identity. This will lead us to be prideful when the work we do is praised, or it will lead us to be discouraged when our work is not appreciated or if we are not

able to perform to acceptable standards. Work has a powerful impact over how we view others and ourselves. What is one of the first questions you ask someone when you meet them for the first time? Usually we ask, “What do you do?” No doubt, this is descriptive, but all too often, status or value is conveyed based on what people do. Our work has power over us when we are seeking approval or recognition from our work as a key to our identity and significance.

Jesus’ command to “leave our nets” indicates that we will never have a right relationship to our work until we are first restored to a right relationship with God. We must be disci-ples who worship Him and not our work or the status, significance, or success we gain as a result of our work.

Life-Work Reflections.1. Write down and be prepared to share some examples where your work or studies (if you are still a student) have been more important to you than your relationship with God.

2. Also, think through ways you can identify when work has become “too important” to you or how you can tell when your work is having a negative effect on you.Note: We will look more deeply at the purpose of work and what it means to have a right relationship to our work in Study #5 and #10.

Making an idol of our FamilyTim Keller explains in Counterfeit Gods that you can identify idols by looking at your heart of hearts and asking, “If I have that, then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I‘ll know I have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure.”2 But if you don’t have “that” you will feel fearful, or anxious, or even envious or angry. We are as tempted to make an idol out of relationships, as we are to make an idol out of our work.

God created family to be the place where worship and work are modeled and taught (Duet. 6:1-9). God’s spiritual leadership and religious structures were to assist the fam-ily in teaching every generation of His people to live their lives in worship to God. The family is God’s design for preparing the next generation. Families provide structure for communities and for society. A family provides a place for belonging and nurture and functions as the intergenerational structure needed to grow. It’s clear from scripture that family can become overly important and undermine a person’s trust in God or ability to

follow God without guilt or fear.

In most cultures, historically and even in most places around the world at present, a major barrier to following Christ involves displeasing or even having to separate from one’s own family. In western cultures, individualism has emerged as more important than tribalism, or collectivism. Even so, many of the decisions we make are impacted by our need for acceptance from our family and our perception of how they will react to our choices.

Among most college students in the U.S., the idolatry of family could be both feel-ing the need to please one’s parents and longing for and needing the acceptance of someone of the opposite sex to feel satisfied and complete. Most college students are given a lot of freedom from their family, though on occasion some students live under significant pressure and guilt.

Your desire for companionship is God-given, and for a lot of us, this desire will even-tually be met through marriage. Yet, the Apostle Paul spends a whole chapter in 1 Corinthians 7 emphasizing that we do not have to have a family to be complete and fulfilled. While Paul gives a number of reasons for marriage, he also includes the warnings against making marriage an idol.

Thoughts about Family and Mission.In the present Christian culture in the U.S., most Christians see their family as their mission. How could that thought ever be challenged? The family is God’s design in the first place, right? While so many people neglect their families and out-source the nurture and training of their children to schools or the church, it’s hard to think of investing in your family as your mission as a problem or a mistake.

I know this sounds strange since there is a lot of data regarding the deterioration of the family and the neglect that so many children experience from their parents. Of course it is not wrong to invest in your family or to make their spiritual growth and vitality a priority. The warning from Jesus is to not make our family an idol, even as important as it is to serve and lead them. Jesus did not deny the importance of loving and nurturing our families, He equates your responsibility to that area of life with ev-ery other area – don’t make it an idol. Like work and relationships, our family is not above our worship to God.

I have seen that there are two negative results that come from making our families “too important.” First, when we are absorbed with the needs of our family, we send the subtle message that the family is self-sufficient and does not need others. This is why other rela-tionships within the body of Christ are so vital. This models and teaches our children that they need others to grow and flourish. Secondly, if parents are not investing in ministry relationships outside their own family, there is not modeling of sacrifice and seeking the blessing and benefit of others that ministry requires. This type of parenting will eventu-ally lead to self-absorbed children. In this way, your focus on your family and others are almost equally as important.

Life-Work Reflections.1. Write down and be prepared to share some examples where your relationship with your family or friends or your desire for a relationship has been more important to you than your relationship with God.

2. Also, think through ways you can identify when desire for a relationship or secur-ing the acceptance of others has become “too important” to you or how you can tell when your work is having a negative effect on you.

Use the following Chart to reflect on these life categories and record ways to watch for the subtle power of idols and ways to enhance your discipleship through these pillars of life.

Indications where idols are impact-ing my life

Ways to enhance my discipleship

Worship

Family

Work

The Church- the pillar of truth to restore us to live as God intended.The apostle Paul refers to the Genesis account in both Ephesians and Colossians in the context of talking about the local church. Think about how amazing this reality is. Worship, Family (relationships), and Work are to be restored in the gospel of the Kingdom. In fact, in 1 Timothy 3:15b, Paul refers to the Church as “God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.” Do you see the connection? Having a right relationship to the church is the key to being restored by the gospel in your worship, work, relationships, and family.

The letters to the Ephesians and Colossians were written not only to explain the gospel but also to explain how life in the kingdom is lived out in relation to the church. The church is God’s plan for restoring our lives to their original intent and to deliver us from our idols.

Life-Work Reflections.The apostle Paul references the Genesis account in Ephesians 5:18-6:9 and in Colossians 3:16-23 to give direction for worship, family and work. Record observations about worship, work, and relationships from these passages. Only the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ can empower us to worship in spirit and in truth, to work to honor Him and to bless others, and to love our families as God intends.

The Church

Ephesians 5:18-6:9 Colossians 3:16-23

Worship

Family

Work

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88,000 hours. If we work from age 24 to 68 years of age, we will work approximately 88,000 hours! We will spend a large part of our lives working, which means we need to have a scriptural understanding of what God desires believers to be doing and not doing in the area of work. The purpose of this study is to help you discover a “Calling Path” rather than just seeking to find a “Career Path.”

Your goal in your work should be to discover greater meaning and service and to advance God’s kingdom. At a conference I attended, Pastor Sandy Wilson of 2nd Presbyterian Church in Memphis asked the question, “Is your life your best answer to the Great Commission?” That question is like an arrow that has a razor sharp edge penetrating deeply into our hearts and probing our dreams and desires to discover if our view of our life and God’s view is the same.

Statistics show that most people choose a job based on some type of power that job brings. It could be for money, which is believed to buy power, or it could be for the status associated with that job. A disciple of Jesus Christ has in mind God’s plan and God’s specific purpose for each of us.

Dave Matthews recorded a popular song entitled “Ants Marching.” The idea is that most people are content to go along with the culture’s expectations and just follow the crowd. The chorus states, “And all the little ants are marching, red and black antennas waving. They all do it the same, they all do it the same way.”

God’s call on our lives is partially about finding your individuality. All too often our pursuits are simply a desire to meet someone else’s expectations of what we should be doing with our lives. God’s call involves a unique discovery and expression of what our lives should be.

Video: The Per fect Job This study includes a video; visit www.callingproject.org or refer to the iBook.

Study 5Calling & the Kingdom

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Your calling includes but is not limited to WHAT YOU WANT TO DO. It also includes but is not limited to WHAT YOU ARE GOOD AT. Your calling is WHAT YOU ARE MADE FOR, since God has a plan and place for your contribution. This is your best answer to the Great Commission.

In working with college students for over 30 years, I have begun to categorize the questions I have been asked about calling. These 6 questions summarize what I am asked most, and probably represent the questions you might be asking about Calling:

Calling Questions 1. What does God want Believers to do? 2. What is God’s will for my life in the area of vocation? 3. Can I have a life and a significant career? 4. How do I find meaning and motivation in my work? 5. How do I make a difference for Christ in the workplace? 6. Is there a right or best fit for my contribution?

This study will address these questions not only as you explore what the Bible has to say about calling, but also as you reflect on your dreams, desires, designs, and developmental needs. We were made with a purpose in mind to accomplish God’s plan. Our rejection of God’s plan has brought both misery and confusion in our lives. Our redemption involves re-discovering why God has made us and what God has in mind for us.

When my children were small, they would bring home finger-paintings from their preschool classes. They would be excited to show me these paintings and exclaim, “Daddy, Daddy, look what I have made!” With my oldest child I usually would look at it and try to encourage him by saying, “that’s a wonderful dinosaur or tree!” Usually, it was met with disappointment when the answer I got back was “that’s a fire truck or a house, Daddy.”

The beginning of discovering God’s call is to identify both His narrative and the narrative (or worldview) that has so powerfully shaped our identity and understanding of work. Our culture promotes an individualistic/capitalistic/pleasure seeking narrative that shapes our attitudes more than we want to admit. Jesus came to usher in the full expression of the kingdom and calls us, His followers, to live in His Kingdom Narrative

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of rescue and restoration. We may have our own perceptions of life, just the same as my children did of their drawings, but discovering our calling begins by comparing those perceptions to God’s Kingdom Narrative and bringing them into alignment with the narrative He has written. The reality is that we are making something by the decisions we make and the work that we do. We are making us! In order to understand what shapes our decisions, we must understand the mental narrative that is playing in our minds and make sure our vision is in line with God’s.

God’s Pattern in revealing our Calling

The following verses reflect the pattern of God’s calling and the way we can anticipate this Calling Discovery. While these verses are not prescriptions or a specific step-by-step path to follow in discovering God’s will, they do show us that God has a pattern and He uses various means or “road signs” to guide us in discovering his Calling-Path for our lives. After reading and reflecting on these verses, we will look at the over-arching New Testament idea that expresses God’s plan for putting things back the way He designed them and our part to play in that plan.

Read and reflect on the following verses to identify insights into how God shapes, directs, and reveals His Calling for our lives.

Psalm 32: 8-11Proverbs 2: 1-7Isaiah 30: 18-22John 16: 13-15Romans 8: 28-32 James 4: 13-15 James 1:5-71 John 5: 14-15Proverbs 11: 14

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The Kingdom of God. Dr. Paul Fowler, long time seminary professor and Pastor, speaks of God’s involvement with us as a “Kingdom Covenant.” The idea is that God deals with humanity and His people both collectively and individually.

1. Salvation in your life involves God coming in to rule and reign as a lifestyle.

2. Salvation involves bringing you into a new family where you belong to God as one of His children.

3. Salvation also involves you joining God and His people in fulfilling His work in the world.

This “Kingdom Covenant” understanding involves God’s plan for turning all of life “right-side up.” Our sin, sinful thinking, and actions are driven by our desire to pull away from God and forge a lifestyle apart from Him. Repentance, turning back to God, and faith involves trusting God to restore our relationship with Him and our purpose in the world. This is the “Gospel Narrative” that God’s “Kingdom Covenant” explains and reveals.

Amy Sherman, in Kingdom Calling, uses James Choung’s work to illustrate this gospel “redemptive narrative.” We were designed for good but damaged by evil. Redemption means we are restored in our relationship with God and used to advance His kingdom. We are now sent into the world together with other disciples of Christ to bring healing and hope.3

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Our Universal vocation.

In Kingdom Calling, Amy continues to explain this narrative, using the phrase “Universal Vocation.” Jesus inaugurates His public ministry by reading Isaiah 61: “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.”

This passage, as well as the kingdom passages found in Matthew 13 and other gospel accounts, summarize the restorative work of the Kingdom initiated by the incarnation of Christ. Jesus came to save us from our rebellion and sin, but He also came to restore us to God’s designed purpose for us in the world. This restorative purpose involves three things:

a. Evangelism - proclaiming good news b. Compassion - binding up the broken-hearted c. Justice - release for the prisoners

When we have God’s view of the world and our calling, it changes how we view our jobs, communities, neighborhoods, and families. Every believer is called to a universal vocation of evangelism, mercy, and justice. In each occupation and neighborhood, there are numerous opportunities to fulfill God’s work in the world by seeking to discover ways to advance the kingdom through these means. These elements must shape our lifestyle.

God’s strategy for restoring the world is explained by Jesus in the parable of the wheat and tares (Matthew 13: 37-39). Jesus speaks of the Sower, the Field, and the Good Seed.

He answered, ‘The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.’

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What is so amazing about Jesus’ description is that the sequence seems like it should go like this:

The SOWER is the Son of Man. The FIELD is the world. The GOOD SEED is the gospel of the kingdom. But this is not what Jesus says. He does not say the GOOD SEED is the gospel of the kingdom. He says the GOOD SEED is the sons and daughters of the Kingdom. So, envision with me in your mind’s eye what narrative Jesus is unfolding for us. Picture a farmer who is walking through his field and is scattering seed into the earth so that it might grow and turn a lifeless, unproductive and uncultivated area into a fruitful and life-giving harvest. Jesus is saying that he sends us into the world to “pastor our parish” and to faithfully sow acts of evangelism, mercy, and justice in our neighborhoods, at our workplaces, and in our relationships, to be the restorative bridge of the kingdom. Imagine how this would change the way you approached work this week if you viewed your life as having been sown by the Son of man into an uncultivated field that He plans to cultivate and restore life and love. This is how the Gospel of the Kingdom shapes our Lifestyle.

What motivates you to work with God and for God in the world? The Matthew 13 parables of the “pearl of great price” and “the treasure in the field” depict that our worship fuels our work. We work as those who are satisfied and at peace with the work that has been done for us. We are not working for acceptance and significance in our universal vocation. We are now working because we have received everything we have always wanted. Christ’s finished work on the cross has bought and brought us peace that changes everything about us.

Lifestyle reflection and discussion.

1. Believers are called to a universal vocation (evangelism, mercy, and justice). What do you see in your vocation or the vocation you are preparing for that unleashes this mandate?

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2. In your vocation, what questions do you have about how a believer is to live out the mission of the kingdom in that context? What things seem to restrict or hinder this expression?

4. When a soon-to-be college graduate says, “I don’t care about a career, I just want to make disciples,” how would you respond to this person?

5. Study the Parables in Matthew 13:1-52 to understand the nature of the kingdom. Look to answer the following questions:

a. What insights do you see regarding spreading the influence of the kingdom to the whole world?

b. What insights do you see regarding the spread of the kingdom in one person or place at a time?

c. What can be learned about the pace, responsiveness, and the competition of the work?

d. What new ways do these kingdom parables guide you in your pursuit and discovery of calling?

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One, a distorted view of life and the other is a distorted view of work. We can make an idol out of comfort and pleasure as easy as we can make an idol out of our work and performance. This generation often rejects their parents’ idols of achievement, simply replacing these idols with comfort or pleasure.

In The Defining Decade, psychologist Meg Jay observes that ‘twentysomethings’ are as equally dissatisfied in their work as they are in their lives. This leads them to bounce from one job to the next and to avoid jobs that make demands on them. However, there is an ongoing lack of fulfillment that accompanies this freedom. ‘Twentysomethings’ wander through their twenties free but unfulfilled. 4

Problems exist on both sides of this statement

Calling for the Whole of Life

We romanticize about the perfect job the same way we do about the perfect relationship. Statistics say that 60% of American workers are disengaged in the work they are doing. A recent survey of college graduates stated that 43% of graduates were working in a different career field within five years of completing their studies. Think about that! Obviously our tracks for preparation need improvement.

When work interferes with my life: “The Perfect Job”

Next to the recovery of justification by faith alone through grace alone, the Reformation’s emphasis on the priesthood of every believer was the most culturally transforming. The idea that there were not two classes of Christians (clergy and laymen) or two types of work (holy and secular), but rather one priesthood with one holy calling, unleashed Christians to be the Church in the world. The result was that the gospel spread like a flame not just geographical-

ly but demographically through every vocation.

-Dr. George Robertson, Pastor First Presbyterian Church Augusta, GA

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Neil Postman wrote an insightful book a few years ago entitled Amusing Ourselves to Death. In his introduction, he contrasts two great futuristic social prophecies – 1984 by George Orwell and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley:

Huxley and Orwell did not prophesy the same thing. Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley’s vision, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think. What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and ego-ism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture. In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us. This book is about the possibility that Huxley, nor Orwell was correct.5

Postman is correct: we have become a culture that is “amusing ourselves to death.” Because we lack a sense of purpose, we are not driven to sacrifice, give, or work for something greater than our own comfort or pleasure. We really are in danger of just living for ourselves and in danger of our lives shrinking and shriveling up into insignificance. It seems essential that we rediscover the essential employment of calling.

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1st- We must Turn Upward - We have been talking about the Great Commission and about the Kingdom. This study is about work and what the Bible says about work and vocation.

2nd- We must Turn Outward - We must see the world, the work-place, and the people in the world to understand how the Great Commission and the advancement of the kingdom brings both hope and healing. Evaluating our chosen vocations is also helpful as we seek to answer and understand our calling.

3rd Turn Inward - Discovering your unique design, desires, and dreams. Call involves your unique design and giftedness. We have been called to both vocational and personal stewardship to advance Christ’s mission in the world.

Navigating Your Life- Calling (review)

1st UPWARD

FORWARD

INWARD

OUTWARD

2nd

You are here

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God’s call changes what we think about work, and it changes the way we think about life. This re-orientated (upward, outward, inward) approach positions us to move

forward in understanding a kingdom life-style. In order to have a proper understanding of our kingdom life-style, we must ask three questions: What does God want? Where is the brokeness in the world? and What is my part in bringing God’s plan to action in that area of brokeness? If we get these out of order, it will prohibit a proper understanding of our life-style in God’s kingdom.

The truth is that God calls us to himself, and everything about us changes. This call is so decisive that now in Christ, everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have is invested with a special devotion and direction to live out God’s purposes as a response to His summons. - Os Guinness

How Calling Shapes Our Lifestyle

There is no call to the ministry that is not first a call to Christ. Until you have done that, the issue you face is not really your call to the ministry. It is your call to Christ. A second way to discuss the call of every believer centers on the call to the ministry of reconciliation. 2 Cor. 5: 17-20 outlines the call. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. Your work is not to be disconnected from the work of Christ in the world. Your work is to be an extension of the work of Christ in the world. So, in your home you are a minister of reconciliation. In your neighborhood you are a minister of reconciliation. In your work you are a minister of reconciliation. In your city, you and your brothers and sisters in Christ are to be ministers of reconciliation. W hen we seek to be ministers of reconciliation we become partners with God---sons and daughters with a new identity and motivation and a new mission as we join Him in renewing the world.6 - Ed Clowney

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Thinking Biblically About Work

1. We are called into work with God by grace. (Ephesians 2: 8-10)

God is the artist, and we are the work of art. God has dreamed up something wonderful for all of us that He is working to produce. He is making you into his work of art, and he has prepared a work for you to do. As we walk in grace and work in grace, we partner with him to redeem the world. This means, at the very least, that all honest work has intrinsic value.

In The Call, Os Guinness, says we must avoid the catholic distortion and the protestant distortion in our view of work. The Catholic distortion is a spiritual dualism asserting that spiritual work is higher and more valuable than secular work. So priests and monks and nuns or people in vocational ministry have a calling, but lay people do not. Guinness says that’s a dreadful heresy.7

The Bible teaches that the call is for everyone, everywhere, in everything we do as we work unto the Lord. The Protestant distortion grew out of the remedy for the first one. Calvin and Luther said that even your work is included in your calling, which is right. However, after 100-150 years, the words work, employment and job became a synonym for calling, and calling became a synonym for work, employment, and job. In other words, it was narrowed in a secular direction rather than a spiritual direction. It has been narrowed down to a job, which is a secularized distortion of the notion of calling.

Luke 14:5 says “if your son or your ox has fallen into a well, are you not going to go get them?” Jesus is addressing the issue of lawful work on the Sabbath, but the passage does pose an interesting insight into our present dilemma. An ox in the first century represented a significant portion of a farmer’s business. It seems that Jesus might say to us today, “Your vocation has fallen into a ditch. Go Get it!”

Imagine Jesus applying this principle to your life this way: “You belong to me. Your children belong to me. Your possessions belong to me. Your work belongs to

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me.” Wow! How would that change your attitude tomorrow if you believed that? If you are still a college student, please note that you have a job. Your job is to be a student. Jesus would be saying to you, “Yes, even your studies belong to me.” God has redeemed you and wants you to redeem all of your life.

2. The Kingdom calls us to consider “what we do” to avoid trivial or destructive careers. (Luke 12)

Luke 12:48 says that we will be held accountable for the investments we work at in the world. With all the needs and all the opportunities in the world, disciples of Christ should consider investing energies and efforts in work that advances spiritual life, encourages human flourishing, and promotes order and creation care. This doesn’t mean that the entertainment industry or the beauty products industry is necessarily off limits. It does mean that we should be able to connect our work with some larger kingdom purpose other than extravagance or excessive waste.

3. Any lawful, honest, moral vocation can advance the work of the kingdom. (Luke 4)

The work of evangelism, mercy and justice may seem complex and you may feel that you are not trained or equipped to advance the work of the kingdom through your work. Note that Jesus begins by saying, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.” Our confidence that God can use us grows out of our understanding that we have received the Holy Spirit and He has promised to be present with us wherever we go. (Matt. 28:20, Hebrews 13: 5b)

Every day you go to work, remember that you are not going alone. The Holy Spirit is with you. Additionally, know that the work of prayer is the highest and most powerful assignment we have. When we pray, we join God in what He wants done, and we see firsthand His power and presence at work in and through our work.

Francis Schaffer once said, “There are no little people and no little places in the kingdom. Those who think of themselves as little people in little places, if committed

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to Christ and living under His Lordship in the whole of life, may, by God’s grace, change the flow of our generation.”

Will Witherington, Campus Outreach Regional Director in Kentucky, tells a story that numbers of students have come to faith in Christ in the recent years from Laurel County, Kentucky. Will joked once, “there must be some grandmothers praying in Laurel County!” Recently, he found out that a group of “grandmas”-Karen Salmons, Lisa Cleary, and Jamie Ballou - have been taking the Lauren County High School yearbook and praying for each graduate of the high school for over a decade!

Campus Outreach and Medical Campus Outreach began in Augusta 25 years ago; hundreds and even thousands of students have been impacted. I found out that women like Annie Cave, Alice Inman, and several other retired grandmothers prayed for over 20 years for college and medical students to be impacted by Christ. There are no little people or no little places in the Kingdom!

4. We are to work “differently.” (Colossians 3)

Colossians 3: 22-24 says it matters how we work and why we work. The Lord is our “boss” and he wants us to reflect his character in the way we work. The reward is not just a paycheck or even a good feeling, but an inheritance from the Lord! This sends a message to others that we believe in an eternal kingdom and we value every person we work with.

Season of Life is a book written about the coaching style of Joe Ehrmann, a former NFL player.8 The author was fascinated with how differently Joe and fellow coaches approached the leadership of their football team at the Gilman School in Baltimore. Instead of using the usual motivation techniques like shame, guilt, and humiliation, Joe taught empathy and the importance of love and service. Though the book is not overtly Christian, the author identifies the amazing themes of meaning and purpose that can be discovered when life is filled with a cause greater than yourself and relationships are valued over accomplishments. It seems as if Joe has asked a question similar to “What would Jesus do?” by asking “How would Jesus coach?” Of

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course the story chronicles the amazing life change that takes place on the team and in the lives of these young men when the kingdom comes down to impact how we work.

What Joe models for us is how coaching “differently” not only makes sports a place of development for young men and women, but it redeems a part of our culture that for years has been hurtful to the development of youth.

5. Lastly, the kingdom calls us to be stewards over our whole life through our work. (1 Corinthians 6)

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says, “we are not our own, we have been bought with a price,” we are called to “glorify God in our bodies,” stewarding our work, life, time, money, and influence.

Art ic le: God and Guinness To read Stephen Mansfield’s article, visit www.callingproject.org or refer to the iBook.

Where do we find energy to work at stewarding our Life-Style for God’s work?

If we are going to join the work that God is doing in the world, we must find a place of rest from our work. It sounds backwards but Matthew 11: 29-30 and Hebrews 4 point out that we can rest from the work of proving ourselves by our work. Christ has freed us from worrying about finances, influence, and being impressive or important. When we rest in Him, we are freed up to resign from self-promotion and focus on promoting Christ’s kingdom. (This turns us upward then outward and inward to point us forward.)

When Bill Pearson was a medical student at MCG, he resigned his position as a 3rd year student to start Medical Campus Outreach. Though other disciples did not resign their slot in medical school to follow Christ, Bill understood that for ministry to advance in the world, it requires a resigning of our own worldly ambitions to embrace Christ’s ambitions for us. Since that time, Medical Campus Outreach ministries have

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started in Charleston, SC; Athens, GA; Orlando, FL; Philadelphia, PA; and Boston, MA and even in South America.

When work of the kingdom must be done, it requires resignation of some sort. Jesus said in John 12:24 “unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it brings forth fruit.” Any ministry efforts are an expression of the love of Christ that motivates you to die to your own desires and interests to give, serve, and invest in others. The gospel always motivates disciples to move away from comfort and to move toward need. Calling certainly includes design and desires but still requires design and desires that are surrendered to God. We must keep an open hand with the desires we have, allowing God to lead us as we follow Him in our work in the world.

The Medical Campus Outreach model is led almost exclusively by practicing physicians who arrange their schedules to allow for significant amounts of time for ministry. These physicians volunteer their time by cutting their work schedules back so that they are able to evangelize and disciple students. They are resigning their free time and even money that they could be earning in order to invest in the kingdom. This is what a Kingdom Life-Style requires and looks like. That is where Life-Giving joy is found.

Sound Hard? Heroic? Maybe you are reading this and think, “these are special people with special gifts with a special calling. There is nothing special about me. I doubt I could ever do that. I am just ordinary.” Self doubt is not a barrier to God, but often the prerequisite needed to embrace His Life-Style.

Years ago, my wife Sandra discipled a young college student at West Georgia named Peggy. After a study about praying for others in evangelism, Peggy asked Sandra to join her in praying for her brother Bill, who was on his way to medical school. Peggy mentioned that Bill was far from the Lord and that he was living a very destructive lifestyle. She was so burdened for him. They prayed for him and began to pray regularly for his salvation. She not only prayed for him but also dragged him to a CO conference and encouraged others to engage him with the gospel. Over a 6-month

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period, the Lord used circumstances and people in his life and brought Bill Pearson to faith in Christ. There are no little places and there are no little people in God’s kingdom!

Life-Style reflection and discussion.

1. Do you believe your greatest challenge is a distorted view of work or life? What insights do your emotions toward work and life give you?

2. What insight did the Little People, Little Places quote give you about how to influence the places and people God has connected you to?

3. How should your understanding of the Gospel and the Holy Spirit in you cause you to do your work “differently?”

4. The Kingdom narrative helps us choose “what we do” and “who we do it with” as we are driven to avoid the trivial and seek careers that focus on spiritual nurture, human flourishing, public order, creation care, and justice and beauty. How does this narrative impact what you should consider doing. Amy Sherman, in Kingdom Calling, notes that “not all careers are created equal.”9 What does it mean for you to avoid the trivial and seek careers that are deeply significant for the kingdom?

5. What areas of your life do you feel you are not stewarding to advance Christ’s mission in the world?

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How your personal story contributes to the Greater Story of God’s Kingdom.

Life MESSAGE

3Change

Message

Style

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Your Story within the KingdomWhat is your Life saying?

The growth of the gospel in our hearts starts when God comes to us and calls us to himself. This is Life-Change. In the first section of this study, we have looked at the Call to Dis-cipleship, Calling and the Kingdom, and the Call to steward that Life-Change in work and life for His purposes in the world. Section 2 explains how that Life-Change within us becomes a Life-Style, as we seek to live out his call to missional living. This requires a different under-standing of life and work as we embrace a universal vocation.

Our Calling, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:9, is into a life of fellowship with Jesus Christ. Being called into a relationship with Christ is accompanied by a unique privilege and partic-ipation. Each of us is also called into service with Christ. We have looked at this call through the lense of “the ministry of reconciliation” or “general vocation.” Additionally, our call is more specific. God has a unique, unfolding plan for each of us. That unique plan is “our personal narrative” in the overall meta-narrative of redemption, restoration, and consummation of Christ’s kingdom.

The purpose of this section of our study is to help guide you to understand your dreams and desires and how they have a part to play in shaping and unfolding God’s unique plan for your life and contribution. Your life is a “gospel story” to tell and re-tell of God’s sovereign plan to bring you to Christ and to grow you in Christ. God does this by giving you a picture of what the kingdom could be and desires to bring rescue and help to those in need. This is part of how God reveals to us our part to play in His Kingdom Narrative. This is how He shows us our Life-Message.

Believers all have a Calling. Campus Outreach has a Calling (This is the Organizational Calling shared by all its staff members). You, and each Disciple in your ministry, have a Calling. Un-derstanding how to dream in God is one step in understanding your unique, personal calling. It is important that you understand this process because you also will be called on to teach and help other believers discern and discover their unique calling.

Take some time as you go through the Life-Message section to journal through your own per-sonal story of God’s grace & redemption in your life. Whether you think your story is boring or embarassing, know that God has given you a unique Life-Message.

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Study 7

Rascal Flatts have re-recorded a song written by Canadian songwriter Tom Cochrane called “Life is a Highway.” It’s a fast paced song that just describes this idea that Life is moving fast and Life is found when you move fast and experience life in a fast-moving lane. I know the song is not a deep and philosophical song; it’s meant to be energizing. Life is exhilarating when you are moving fast and when you are moving fast it can feel like that’s the purpose of life itself. Move fast! Make progress! Ride it all night long! This is life!

The reality of life is that it is more than just “moving fast.” Life is about moving toward a destination. It does matter which road you get on, not just how fast you drive or how safe you drive. The reason it matters is that once you choose the road, the road chooses your destination. If you are in Atlanta, you may desire to end up in New York state. You will have to get on a road that goes north, or no matter how sincere you are, you will never make it to New York. We choose the road, but the road chooses our destination.

So it is with embracing a life purpose. In this section, we will call this Life-Message. God has made each of us to reflect a unique message to the world of His grace and glory in our lives. Discovering your contribution involves discovering your unique Life-Message.

Video: Matt Bradner This study includes a video; visit www.callingproject.org or refer to the iBook.

Finding Meaning & Motivation in My Work

Everyone’s work is driven by inner motivation. It could be financial reward, status, compliments, or personal satisfaction. What should the central motivation for our work be? No doubt the heart must be engaged since we know from the Bible and personal experience that we cannot maintain excellence and consistency in our work without satisfactory motives.

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Jim Collins has made a lot of money telling people how some people made a lot of money. His most popular book, Good to Great, documents the hidden secrets of success for America’s most productive corporations. Collins analyzed over 1,400 Fortune 500 Companies, looking for those who had sustained success. The criteria was restricted to companies that sustained 15 years in a row of profit increases equal or greater than the Fortune 500 average. His team of researchers found only 11 that met these criteria. Now that the targets were identified, the researchers began to look for the reasons that these companies were exceptional. While very few companies were trendy, heavily into advertising, or had overtly impressive leadership teams, each could be categorized by something Collins called, “The hedgehog concept.” This tagline was given as a label to describe how each leadership team successfully stayed focused on their unique mission. “The Hedgehog concept” results from a relentless focus that is guided by answering the three questions listed in the diagram below. The intersection of these three questions, said Collins, is the key to your unique contribution as a company.1

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There is an interesting parallel in the area of Calling and Unique Contribution. Each disciple has been built for “greatness” in the sense of fulfilling a unique role in the kingdom. In order to maximize that contribution, “relentless focus” is required. The intersection of the three understandings necessary to live out your unique contribution is reflected in the diagram below. An understanding of the Kingdom Narrative, The Marketplace, and Yourself are the keys to discovering and fulfilling your Life-Work.

Kingdom – Our study has taken us deeper in understanding God’s greater purposes of redemption for the world. This narrative must operate as a canopy that provides direction and boundaries to our dreams and desires. This speaks to God’s plan.

Self - you have a unique set of dreams, desires, gifts and experiences that contribute to the role you are called to play in this kingdom narrative. Studying about yourself gives you greater insight into what it means to be one created in God’s image and as one being recreated into a servant after the image of our Savior Jesus Christ. This speaks to your personhood.

Marketplace – These are the needs and opportunities within a productive society that call people to contribute to the welfare of that society. Religion, business, health care, social services, education, the arts, transportation, building construction and design, law, and other spheres exist to meet needs that lead to human flourishing. We have not studied in detail the purpose of these spheres and systems that exist in the marketplace. This doesn’t mean that disciples should not be thinking of both the efficiency and effectiveness of systems and structures. Our study is to focus primarily on kingdom awareness and self-awareness. As you understand God’s plan and as you understand your personhood, this will lead you to understand your place of contribution.

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The Bible’s understanding of Unique Contribution.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them (Romans 12:1-6).

Romans 12:1-6 summarizes this intersection of our Calling. We are called to join together with others in the body of Christ to accomplish the advancement of the Kingdom of Christ in the world. This means every person is called to participate. Beyond this unanimous call to all to participate, the Bible sees each one of us as unique and intricately designed to contribute in a way that no one else can. This passage shows us how God’s plan is to consecrate us, it is unfolding, and it is unique:

1. God has a plan for you to be consecrated to. Romans 12:1 says that the basis of this consecration is the mercy of God. Paul has been summarizing that mercies in Romans 1-11. Romans 11:33-36 is a summary of everything that has been said of God’s plan of salvation and God’s work in delivering that salvation to us. On that basis we are called to consecrate our lives to Him, because He has a plan for us.

God told Abraham to leave his home and his family. God told Moses to leave his royal position in Egypt and join His cause to redeem a nation of slaves. God told Esther to speak up for oppression and mistreatment of a group of insignificant people. God told Jeremiah that before he was even born he was appointed to preach to a nation that would not listen. God called these people to do these things because He had a plan for them.

When my wife, Sandra, and I dated in high school, neither one of us were disciples

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of Jesus Christ. After four years of dating, we had an ugly break up and it led to a significant emotional breakdown in Sandra’s life. Now I wasn’t all that dreamy, but Sandra had attached her self-worth and meaning to me. When that was taken away, she began to spiral downward emotionally, and eventually physically.

She lost so much weight she was eventually hospitalized. While in the hospital, she received a phone call from her uncle. He asked her if she had a bible to read, but she did not. The Gideons had provided a bible in the hospital room so she was able to look up the verse he wanted her to read. The verse was Jeremiah 29:11: “I know the plans I have for you says the Lord. Plans to prosper you, not to harm you, to give you a future and to give you a hope.” Reading these verses changed her life forever as she saw that God had a plan for her life apart from being connected to a boy or achieving something important. God’s plan would bring help and hope when He was embraced. Sandra was consecrated to God for the first time that night; by repentance and faith, she turned from herself and trusted Christ to be her Lord and Savior. There is an amazing power unleashed in your life when you consecrate yourself to this reality---- GOD HAS A PLAN FOR YOU. He calls you to choose the road that honors him. He calls you to choose the road to serve him. He calls you to choose the road to trust him, because He has a plan for you.

2. God has an unfolding plan for you. The Biblical idea that unfolds God’s plan is often called “God’s Sovereignty.” Paul says that God’s plan involves grace that is given to each of us. This means that each of us has unique abilities that are God-given. Some of these abilities are part of how God created us. It also means that some “spiritual abilities” were given to us when we were converted. Natural gifts and spiritual gifts are “grace given” enablement.

What do you do with “gifts?” You must develop these gifts and employ them for the purpose for which they were given. Otherwise, it is wasteful, poor stewardship, and even selfish not to develop or deploy the gifts that God has given you.

Paul says that we each have different gifts and our tendency is either to think “too highly” of ourselves or to think “too lowly.” Either we think we don’t need to learn and

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grow and work with others or we think that we have little or nothing to offer others.

What about you? Do you think too highly of yourself? Have you stopped growing, learning, and seeking to develop as a person called by God to serve? Do you think too lowly of yourself? Have you concluded that you have nothing to offer others of value or benefit and your best contribution is just to support and help others? Regardless of your impulse related to yourself, God’s plan involves deploying you for the advancement of his work in the world.

To be deployed for His service, you must be developed. God does have a plan for your life, but it is an unfolding plan. As you develop in your character and in your relationships, you become the contributor God plans for you to be.

Abraham was called by God to become a strategic contributor in God’s purposes on the earth. Abraham consecrated himself and obeyed God. God’s next step was not as much about positioning Abraham to contribute as it was about preparing Abraham to be able to contribute. In discovering God’s will, we have a tendency to want to be positioned rather than prepared. God’s plan involves preparing us to contribute. Joseph’s dreams made him declare to his brothers and his father that he would be positioned as the family savior. Years of tough trials and difficulties prepared Joseph for his role as second in command in Egypt and the human deliverer of his family from a worldwide famine. Think of God’s preparation plan for Joseph: betrayal by his brothers and sold into slavery, Falsely accused by his bosses’ wife and sent to prison, abandonment and isolation from those who promised to help him, and then a circumstantial need that opened up a new door for service. Humanly speaking, that doesn’t look like preparation or positioning, but when Joseph was called upon to contribute, he understood that his gifts and his growth had come from God. Historians tell us that even the Apostle Paul experienced between 3-14 years of preparation before God sent him on his missionary journeys. Paul knew the Old Testament scriptures and was an accomplished orator and teacher, yet God had much preparation to do in his heart before he was positioned for service.

In the book Making of a Leader, Robert Clinton points out that God’s way always

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involves preparation before positioning. All too often we become anxious for positioning when God’s call is for us to grow and develop.2

Think about Calling this way. Calling (Kingdom Dreams)= Character (Development) + Capacity (Design or God’s gifting) that leads toward Convergence (Destination or God’s unique plan). If any part is missing from this formula, it will produce an insufficient or unsustainable outcome. The next three studies focus on these components of discovering your Life-Message: (Study #7 Development) and (Study #8 Design/ Abilities) plus (Study #9-Dreams/Desires).

God’s will is for each of us to start serving now and to gain guidance and experience as we develop our gifts and our passions toward the place of service He has prepared for us.

3. God has a unique plan for you. His plan calls you to Consecration. His unfolding plan leads you to Preparation. His unique plan is about Contribution.

Meg Jay, author of The Defining Decade, interviews and counsels hundreds of young adults who are looking for their contribution. She knows it is more than just looking for a better job or a more committed relationship. Her observation as a counselor and psychologist is that most young adults are overwhelmed with the limitless possibilities to invest their time in, while at the same time being under-challenged because they do not feel needed or invited to contribute. This is quite a contrast with our nation’s history. In the early days of our country, young men and women were depended upon to help families and communities survive and grow. In an agrarian society, youthful workers were essential to accomplish all the necessary work.3

Later, after industrialization, World Wars required young men and women to serve the country and travel around the world to fight evil and protect our values and our land. As automation has brought endless choices and more things are done for us, young people become less engaged and less useful as true contributors. People are living longer and are healthier than ever, so the job market is tighter and narrower at the top. This has led many young adults to wonder if their contribution is wanted or

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needed.

As a young disciple, you may wonder if your contribution is really needed. Is God hiding His plan and direction from you? God has called you to himself. He is calling you to become something in preparation of doing something. It is very important that you see that He has a unique plan for you to make in the body of Christ. There is a contribution each of you can make that no one else can make in the body of Christ. Otherwise, God would not have saved you. You are unique and you have a unique part to play in God’s kingdom purpose.

My brother is a businessman in Nashville, Tennessee. After years of spiritual growth and effective service in the workplace, he asked me if I thought he should go into vocational Christian service. When I asked him why he questioned this, he said he wanted to be used by God in the most effective way. We talked back through his years of work and service to others and a pattern emerged. God had used him to lead many people to Christ and to grow as disciples of Christ. The pattern all along had been his contacts and connections in relationships within the work place and home life as he lived faithfully as a father, businessman, and churchman.

Your unique contribution will emerge as God affirms His work through you in the connections and relationships that come your way. If you are investing in the right sources of life and growth, don’t become anxious or don’t feel as if you are not on the right track. Your connection with the local body of Christ in your community will provide you with the opportunities for service and the guidance and mentoring you need. We will discuss this in greater detail in the section on Gifts and Abilities.

Lastly, my story 30 years ago was simply following God’s direction by going on staff with a college ministry that was beginning in Birmingham, Alabama. Saying yes to that step of faith was a step of consecration that led me down a path that developed me in my understanding of my unique design and personhood and prepared me in evangelism, discipleship, and leadership development. Over time, I discovered my place of service was the college campus through the ministry of Campus Outreach, working with leaders and teams to evangelize unbelievers, disciple new believers, and

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develop kingdom leaders through this vehicle. I will say I have had many disappointments and failures on my part, but God has always been faithful and His direction has always been sufficient for what I was being called to do. You can have this same confidence as you head down the highway of life, seeking to fulfill God’s Calling - his unique plan displayed in your Life-Message.

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Study 8

Discipleship is about development. Jesus said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). We are called to the person of Christ in discipleship. We are also called to His Purposes as fishers of men. Jesus points out here and illustrates this with his life that we are also called to the Process of discipleship. To even have a discussion about calling in the believer’s life, you must be on a discipleship pathway that reflects that the overarching purposes and pursuits of your life are driven by God’s mission. Additionally, basic discipleship (as described in the Call to Discipleship in Study #1) requires not only a commitment but an involvement in becoming a disciple-maker for a period of time. Without this basic level of development as a disciple and disciple-maker, your pursuit and understanding of calling will be hollow and will lack direction and force.

Think about it this way. The work God wants done in the world through His people in the church takes on various forms and expressions. But these forms and expressions all have the understanding of basic discipleship as their basis. Discipleship is learning to be a follower of Christ and ministering for him in the world, regardless of your unique gifts. For example, we are all called to serve and give and show mercy whether we have these particular spiritual gifts or not. Before you pursue development in the area of gifts and calling, it is essential that you should grow in basic discipleship.

Video: John Piper This study includes a video; visit www.callingproject.org or refer to the iBook.

A Developmental Mindset

Tra

inin

g

Time

I M P A C T

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1. Discipleship – understanding the gospel and finding your identity in Christ, learning to live as a worshipper, the basics of the study of the word and prayer, developing deep relationships in the body of Christ, and living under the control of the Holy Spirit, displaying Christ-like character.

2. Evangelism - learning how to share the gospel and how to walk with unbelievers to help them understand and respond to the gospel.

3. Teaching - whether it is teaching in small groups or in front of an audience, this basic skill is necessary in ministry to others.

4. Counseling - helping people look to God and his word when dealing with emotional confusion and hurt is a basic skill needed in ministry. This does not replace the role of specialists but helps young disciples live in the confidence of their new identity in Christ and in the confidence of God’s sovereign control over all things.

5. Administration - being able to organize and direct people and teams is an essential skill in leadership. Every disciple-maker needs to know how to be effective in the use of their time and how to most effectively organize and execute goals and plans.

These five areas have many expressions and require experience, development of knowledge, and the development of skills to be proficient and effective. Think of your development in these two phases. Part 1 is development as a disciple-maker and Part 2 is the development process God takes you through to discover your calling. This study does not directly deal with the components of Disciple-Making. It is assumed you have been in a discipling relationship and have learned the basic competencies you need to live out a Missional Life-Style. Missional living grows out of an experience in basic discipleship that leads you to move into any place or set of relationships with the knowledge and desire to have a kingdom impact.

The following areas represent the 5 basic ministry functions that you need development in:

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Life-Style. In the area of Basic Discipleship, what are my strengths in each of these areas and what are my continual developmental needs to continue to grow in Missional Living?

Ministry Strengths Developmental NeedsDiscipleshipEvangelismTeachingCounselingAdministration

Mentors and Discipleship. After you have experienced training in basic discipleship, your guidance going forward normally comes more from peers and mentors rather than one designated discipler. While discipleship is strategic and extremely helpful to accelerate basic learning and growth, in reality, we will probably be guided going forward by multiple people. It’s important to construct a network of mentors in your life that are:

1. Mature Spiritually

2. Know you well or are interested in getting to know you and allowing you to know them

3. Know something about the things you are interested in and can model and give insights into the process and proficiencies needed in your areas of interest.

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List out your current connections as potential mentors for you (family, friends, church relationships, etc.) and what specifics you seek from them. You may need to think and pray through expanding or building your mentoring network to help you develop in your discovery of your calling.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

For further information on Mentoring and Discipleship see Appendix.

The Place of On-going Development in Discovering your Calling

Research groups like Gallup and others have documented the attitudes of the average American worker. It’s not extremely promising. Some statistics say that only twenty-five percent of the work force is actively engaged in their work. This means that one in four workers feel passionate about what they do. Fifty percent of American workers are passively disengaged. This means that they spend mental and emotional time thinking about changing jobs or careers, while continuing to do enough work to get by and not lose their jobs. What is startling is that twenty-five percent of workers in America are actively disengaged. This means that either the work, the context, or the compensation is unsatisfying to three out of four American workers. It’s not surprising that job productivity is at an all-time low.

It does seem sad that people in western countries, and in particular in the United States, are both unproductive and unsatisfied in their jobs. The opportunities may be out of reach or the preparation and self-knowledge may be too limited. If you don’t know what you want to do, you don’t know what you are good at doing, or you are hesitant to commit to a career path, you are in good company. Meg Jay says, “millennials” are more confused about career and find themselves “under-employed” more than any previous generation. Let’s think about why this might be the case, since there are only so many jobs at Starbucks for a “barista!”4

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Historically, apprenticeship was the normal means for training workers. Often your occupation was an extension of the family business. When an individual in a family showed exceptional skill in a particular area, the family or the community would send that person off to receive more focused learning or skills in that area. Today the average college graduate has pursued a major that they are moderately interested in and usually the lack of any real experience in that field leads to tremendous doubting and indecisiveness in choosing and sticking with a vocational track. Studies reveal that while more young adults are attending college than ever before, the level of confusion in the area of job productivity and satisfaction continues to grow.

For example, over fourty-five percent of college graduates change jobs at least three times within the first two years out of college. Additionally, within five years out of college, over one third of all graduates are working in a field totally different than their chosen field of study. For example, Biology majors are working in sales. Marketing majors are teaching school. The statistics seem to show that the apprenticeship piece that is missing would be a great help for today’s young adults.

Interestingly, most American students ask a question that almost no generation was able to unreservedly ask and few young adults around the world are able to ask: WHAT DO I WANT TO DO WITH MY LIFE? The question not only of desire, but also enjoyment has been a rare concept for most human beings until now. For centuries, work was more about survival for your family or conscription from your country rather than self-actualization. This hasn’t served most twenty-somethings very well, especially those who are looking to discern what God would have them do with their life. A Disciple of Christ should not be first asking “what do I WANT to do?” or even “what I am GOOD AT,” but “What was I MADE for?”

During World War II, every 18 year old was drafted to contribute to the war effort. During the 4-6 years of service, you were trained in basic military functions and also given tasks that allowed you to develop skills and knowledge in communication, logistics, leadership, and team building. After the war, the government passed the G.I. Bill, which allowed those who served in the military to have their tuition paid for while pursuing a college degree. The self-knowledge that each person had in the

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area of their abilities as well as their interests and desires made the choice of a major or a career track much easier and significantly more precise. It’s not surprising that this generation is called “The Greatest Generation” as they led this country through a depression and wars while also growing innovation and discovery and growing the U.S. economy to world dominance. The default process of development used here is instructive for you as a twenty-something in search of discovering your calling.

Additionally, the options and opportunities have shifted and jobs are not as easily accessible as they once were. Generally, a college degree meant an opportunity in that field awaited you. Today, workers are retiring later, and as health care enables us to work longer and retirement funds seem limited to require us to work longer, jobs are not available at a rate similar to the numbers of graduates emerging from college looking for them.

Meg Jay, a psychologist who counsels almost exclusively the “millennial generation” and a college professor at the University of Virginia, has observed at least four characteristics that describe you. First, you are more cause-oriented than your parents were. You have seen your parents drive for success and financial security, and while you have benefited from this, you also want to make a more meaningful contribution to the world. Secondly, you are more relational and community driven than your parents. The changing employment landscape and greater access and ease to transportation has created fragmentation in families and communities. You have seen neighborhoods of people living in close proximity to one another, yet interacting very little, and you want more in the area of relationships. Thirdly, you desire experience-based learning rather than just theoretical content exchange. While the explosion of technology has brought you more information than you could ever use, you long to have someone help you turn your interests and desires into practical and experiential understanding and usefulness. Lastly, while opportunities seem to be limitless for you as an individual, being able to make a commitment to one track seems daunting. This also applies in relationships, as you have seen divorce and family breakups bring hurt and confusion.5

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Reflect on this. Of these four descriptions, write down what you know to be true about you in each of these areas and what questions you have about each.

What I know about myself Questions I haveCause Relational ExperienceCommitment

If the model you inherited was less than ideal (knowledge before experience and often irrelevant knowledge), and if your generation is for the most part experiencing a malaise when it comes to choosing and sticking with a track, what should you do? It might be helpful to answer a different question. Rather than trying to figure out what you want your life contribution to be, let’s start by thinking about the next decade. Several Staff, including Chris Drinkard, have worked on some materials that can help you think through your development.

Use the diagram and the lines below to describe what you want your life to be like a decade from now:

a. From the left side of the box below, write your age.

b. At the end of that line, the #33 represents your age in approximately a decade from now.

c. Below the question mark, write the number of years you have until you are 30.

d. On the lines below, describe what “positioned would mean for you” ten years from now. Be descriptive in the areas of cause, relational, experience, and commitment.

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The list above includes things you “think” you should be focusing on in the next decade of your life. What should be the focus of your life between now and age 33? Well, obviously you need to be doing things in the next 10 years of your life. You have heard it said that many employers require “experience” in order to be offered a job. Experience often feels like an impenetrable door that is locked from the inside! How can you gain experience if you are not given an opportunity?

It might be comforting to know that God’s word gives you far greater insight into how God reveals His Calling-Path for you than our culture in today’s complex turmoil gives you in developing a clear “Career-Path.” As a follower of Christ, your primary focus for the next phase of your life should be on development.

Biblical examples of how God develops leaders

It is interesting to note that many Biblical leaders began to have a real impact for the kingdom around the age of thirty:

Joseph – “Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt” (Genesis 41:46).

Levites – The Levites served in the work of the Tabernacle/Temple from the age of thirty to fifty (Numbers 4:3, 23, 30).

Saul – “Saul was [thirty] years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel [forty-] two years” (1 Samuel 13:1).

David – “David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years” (2 Sam 5:4)

Jesus – “Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry” (Luke 3:23).

So what were they doing before then? Being Developed. God was developing them and preparing them for future impact.

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Leader Childhood Preparation Impact

Moses 1. Age:Birth‐40

2. Grewupin

Pharaoh’s

household

1. Age:40‐80

2. KilledanEgyptianfor

beatingaHebrewandthen

fledtoMidian

3. Rescuedsomewomenwho

werebeingoppressedby

shepherds

4. HecametolivewithRuel/

JethrowhogaveMoseshis

daughterZipporahin

marriage

5. MoseswaswithJethro40

yearsandtendedhisflocks

1. Age:80‐120

2. CalledbyGodtotell

PharaohtolettheIsraelites

goworshipGod

3. Performed

plagues/broughtIsraelites

outofEgypt

4. MetwithGodonSinaiand

deliveredthelawtothe

people

5. LedIsraeltoPromised

Land/didnotenter

6. LedIsraelthroughthe

wilderness40years

7. MentoredJoshuatobethe

nextleaderofGod’speople

David 1. Age:Birth‐18ish

2. Youngestson

andashepherd

3. Trustedinthe

Lordashis

protector

4. Hewasabrave

mananda

warrior

1. Age:18ish‐30

2. AnointedbySamuel‐the

SpiritoftheLordcame

uponhimEnteredSaul’s

serviceasaharpistand

becameanarmor‐bearer

3. DefeatedGoliath/trusting

theLord

4. Becameahighranking

militaryofficer/success

5. FledfromSaul/ledgroup

ofrenegades

1. Age:30‐70

2. Kingat30andreigned40

years

3. ConqueredJerusalem/City

ofDavid

4. BroughttheArkto

JerusalemDefeatedallof

Israel’senemiesMade

provisionsforthetemple

5. MentoredSolomonand

madehimking

Significant

Events

Joseph Moses David Jesus

FirstJob 17(Potiphar’s

Household

Manager)

40(Shepherd) 18ish(Harpist/

Armor‐bearer)

Teens(Carpenter)

CallingfromGod

(Beginnings)

17(Prophetic

Dreams)

80(Burning

Bush)

18ish(Anointed

bySamuel)

12(IntheTemple)

Marriage 30(Potiphera) 40(Zipporah) Mid‐20’s

(Michal)

Never

FinalVocation

(KingdomImpact)

30(Prime

Ministerof

Egypt)

80(Leaderof

Israel)

30(Kingof

Israel)

30

(Rabbi/Teacher)

Death 110 120 70 33

Developmental Stages of Biblical Leaders

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Workshop: Study of Joseph’s Developmental Stage

Make observations about Genesis 39-40 of how God develops Joseph for his future impact as leader of Egypt. Pay particular attention to things that we mentioned above. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Life Stages Diagram

Paul Stanley, one of the directors of the Navigators, has observed the pattern of life stages and developed a contemporary diagram of what these stages look like in our day and culture. His diagram is a little more detailed and specific – but the broad categories are the same – Childhood, Preparation, Impact.

Learning Building Focusing Investigating18-30 years old 30-40 years old 40-55 years old 55 + years old“Who am I?” “Where is my

place?”“Why am I here?” “How do I finish well &

leave a legacy?”Characteristics Characteristics Characteristics CharacteristicsHigh-Activity Intense-Schedule Changing-Schedule Focused/Loose-

ScheduleBroad-Learning Narrow-Learning Targeted-Learning Selected-Learning

Searching/Verifying Driven by Expectations

Second Thoughts Accepting My Role

Accomplishing/Sur-vival

Achieving/Success Contributing Influencing

Self-Oriented Work-Oriented Purpose-Oriented Others-OrientedDeveloping Potential Developing Purpose

Desires: Awakened---------------------Deepened-------------------------Fulfilled---------------Gain Outnumber Losses------(job, spouse, kids, heath, possessions)------Losses Outnumber

Gains *Adopted from Paul Stanley, Leader Development Network, 1999.6

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Goals for the Next StageWhether you are preparing to graduate or are already out of college, what things should you be focused on? What things should you be pursuing during this time?

1. Developmental ExperiencesOpportunities for Training: As you consider what you will be doing after you graduate (whether that is getting a job or graduate school) seek out opportunities to get further training in basic life skills – leadership skills, people skills, financial skills.

Your campus experience has given you some training in ministry and leadership – look for opportunities to further that training and develop skills that will enhance whatever God calls you to.

Opportunities for Serving:One of the best ways to figure out what you enjoy and what you’re good at is to get involved in serving other people. This could be within the church or outside of it, but take advantage of opportunities to serve people. As you do, you’ll be amazed at what you’ll learn about yourself and others.

2. Cultivating FaithfulnessGod-centered Work Ethic:One of the things that stands out about David and Joseph during this stage of their lives is that they prospered in whatever they did. Whether Joseph was managing Potiphar’s house or tending to other inmates in the prison, he did everything well as if he was doing it unto the Lord. So one of the ways that you cultivate a habit of faithfulness is to have a God-centered perspective on your work – to do everything well to the glory of God – no matter what you’re doing.

Stewardship Mentality:You should try to begin to see all that you have – your possessions, talents, and training - as commodities that have been entrusted to you by God to bring about a return. What you have doesn’t belong to you, it belongs to God, and He has given these things to you for you to multiply them and make them fruitful.

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3. Understanding Yourself

What you Enjoy:What things do you get excited and energized by doing? Try to have as many different experiences as you can so that you learn more clearly what things you truly enjoy and what things you don’t.

What you’re Good At:What things can you do better than the average person? What things, when you do them, always seem to be successful?

God has given us all unique gifts and talents that make us more effective than others in a particular activity when we exercise them. One of your goals during the next decade is to try to discern what these gifts are so that you begin to live your life in these areas of gifting and not in your weaknesses. 4. Gleaning from Mentors

Perspective:One of the most valuable things a mentor can help you with is having right perspective in certain situations. It is easy for us to think very subjectively in situations that we’re in; our emotions get wrapped up in decisions so that we don’t think clearly. Godly mentors help you by giving you an objective, big-picture look at certain events in your life. They are there to give helpful feedback on how you can make adjustments in life to be more fruitful and effective. Mentors can also help you evaluate how you are progressing in areas of life (spiritually, vocationally).

Marriage, Career, Finances, Buying a Home, etc. are all areas that godly mentors can help you think through.

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Dangers for the Next Stage

1. Bad Life DecisionsMarriage / Relationships:The person you marry can either make you twice as effective in fulfilling God’s call – or half as effective: “A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown, but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones” (Proverbs 12:4).

Financial Mistakes:Making some bad financial decisions early in your life can be damaging in two ways:

For one, it puts you in a position of debt that takes you years to get out of. The Bible doesn’t say that debt is necessarily sin, but it does say that the lender is the “head” and the borrower is the “tail.”

Also, it develops unhealthy patterns of spending that are hard to break - you begin a habit of living above your means.

2. Losing a Kingdom PerspectiveConsumer Mentality: The issue here is that you began to view life primarily in terms of “what can I get?” instead of “what can I give?” This applies to your finances, your time, and your energy.This can happen very subtly, but you begin to compare yourself to co-workers and people around you. You might look at what they have and think “I need that too.” Before you realize it, life can become all getting, taking, and receiving and not about being a giver and a blessing to others.

Prov 11:24-25 - One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.

Example: Parable of the Rich Fool

Spiritual Complacency:This usually begins with complacency in your personal practice of the means of grace – personal prayer, Bible study, and church attendance.

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As these begin to wane, so does your compassion and desire to minister to others. People then become objects instead of souls.

No matter where God takes you or what you are doing, make sure that you are always giving attention to these two things: practicing the means of grace and pursuing the lost.

3. Premature CommitmentsNot Learning Yourself:This issue here is that you commit yourself to something long-term without ever really discerning what your true desires and design are. What will happen is that you will end up burnt out and frustrated because you’re not operating within your strengths, but within your weaknesses

Not Being Patient:You don’t have to have everything figured out right away. Many times God will only reveal portions of his will periodically. You need to have a long-term approach to your life. Step back and look at things from a life-long perspective, not just the immediate future.

Reflections Take the outline from the section above on goals and warnings and record what you need to remind yourself of in this area or questions you have.

Developmental Experiences:

1. Opportunities for Training

2. Opportunities for Serving

3. Cultivating Faithfulness

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4. Understanding Yourself (the next two studies, Dreams & Design)

5. Gleaning from Mentors

Dangers for the Next Stage (concerns or questions for each area)1. Bad Life Decisions

a. Marriage / Relationship

b. Financial Debt

2. Losing a Kingdom Perspective

a. Consumer Mentality

b. Spiritual Complacency

3. Premature Commitments

Writing Assignment:Go to the Timeline section of the Appendix and work through the charts of how you have seen God shape your desires & passions for Him and for ministry. In addition, think through what He has saved you from, as well as what He has saved you for.

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Self Evaluation: Use the chapter to Summarize your developmental needs.

Development What I am Learning: What I need to learn or develop in:Experiences

Cultivate Faithfulness

Understanding Myself

Glean from Mentors

“Vocation: Discerning Your Calling”, Article by Tim Keller

(for full article visit: http://theresurgence.com/2011/06/07/vocation-discerning-your-calling)

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Study 9

What are spiritual gifts? Every follower of Christ is equipped with special spiritual capacities to accomplish what God wants him or her to do. Romans 12, Ephesians 4, 1 Corinthians 12, and 1 Peter 4 record various spiritual gifts lists. While there is some debate over the comprehensive list, Ephesians 4 seems to align the purpose of the gifts with the functions of the church. Ephesians 4 says that spiritual leaders and spiritual gifts were given to the church to equip the saints for ministry for the work of service until we attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto maturity. Paul describes maturity as three-fold: Knowledge of the Son of God, unity of the faith, and work of service in ministry. It is interesting that teaching and doctrine is viewed as key not in a purpose unto itself, but for the purpose of growing our relationship with our Savior, in building up the body of Christ, and advancing the kingdom of Christ in the world. Spiritual leaders and spiritual gifts are given for the purpose of developing and deploying ministry.

Spiritual Gifts

You are unique. Not one person on the planet is just like you. While we all have the same creator and our origins are all traced back to a common beginning, God has uniquely designed each person in the world. No one has had the same experiences you have had. While some people have lived in the same places and even experienced many of the same challenges you have, not even a twin or a sibling has had the exact experiences as you. Also, while we may have similar styles and preferences when it comes to work habits and relationship building, each of us has a unique capacity.

Our design, experiences, and capacity are God-given. Our Father, our designer, has “fearfully and wonderfully made each of us” (Psalm 139:14). Our Savior, the Lord Jesus, has sent us into the world to be both shaped as a follower and to serve as a leader in His kingdom advancement (John 20:21). Our helper, the Holy Spirit, enables us with the capacity to complete the work that God has started in and through us (Philippians 1:6). Our designer has something specific in mind for His creation and His new re-creation. He has made us and has redeemed us to contribute to the work of the church in the world.

Design: Abilities, Gifts & Capacity

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An alternate but cohesive lense to use to think about spiritual gifts is the Spiritual Leadership / Leadership Develop Diagnostic (Attached in the Appendix). This interpretative lense helps you think about leadership expressed in the Kingdom through the offices of Christ’s ministry as referenced in resources like the Westminster Confession of Faith. While categories help us to see what Christ has done for us, they also create a context to understand how Christ works through us to use us in ministry. Kingly leadership focuses on directing people and plans toward the mission. Prophetic leadership focuses on equipping with the truth. Priestly leadership focuses on caring for the person.

Assignment. Fill out the SLLD diagnostic. Grade the results using the key. Read through the summaries of the blended descriptions and underline or highlight those things that best describe you. Ask those in your group or a mentor to give you their feedback and input as well. Other Spiritual Gifts tests also can be helpful to you as you are building your assessment profile.

SL/LD Diagnostic Test

Evaluating my Spiritual Leadership style and Leadership Developmental Needs

This diagnostic tool is designed to help you understand your style of leadership as well as your developmental needs. For best results, you should take this test personally and have a spouse, supervisor and/or co-worker take this test based on their knowledge and observations of you.

Please do not answer the question the way you would like to be described or by what you think is expected of you. Choose the answer(s) that best describes you.

Part I - Instructions: Place an “L” next to the answer that LEAST describes you and an “M” by the answer that MOST describes you. You may value all of the answers, but you must make value judgments between the answers given.

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1. I enjoy this most when I minister:

a. equipping people b. directing people c. caring for people

2. When I study and teach the bible, I tend to see and emphasize:

a. fulfilling the Mission. b. relationship with God c. truth understood

3. I am quick to:

a. serve. b. teach. c. make decisions/give direction

4. I struggle with:

a. being in charge. b. explaining myself. c. being patient with people

5. When I teach I tend to:

a. give answers/ solutions b. give motivation c. give comfort/affirmation

6. When counseling others, I find it difficult to:

a. feel sympathy b. to see the problem c. avoid being overwhelmed by their struggle

7. I enjoy:

a. long conversations b. reading, research c. Accomplishing tasks and giving talks

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8. When I am confronted over something I have said, I tend to:

a. assume I was wrong & apologize b. become defensive c. rationalize and explain myself

9. I spend most of my thoughtful moments reflecting on:

a. the past b. the present c. the future

10. I like:

a. being in charge of tasks. b. helping others with tasks c. planning details

11. I have a hard time:

a. slowing down and relaxing b. finishing tasks on deadlines c. giving directions

12. My greatest leadership weakness is:

a. being overly competitive b. being too subjective c. being unsympathetic

13. I try to persuade people by:

a. feelings (showing them I care) b. by giving them facts c. motivating them

14. I fear:

a. responsibility b. losing control c. haphazard decisions

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15. I would rather:

a. be liked than be right b. be right than be liked c. do what I want than what others expect

16. On our team, I want:

a. to be the leader b. our team to work together c. a clear, strategic plan

17. When members of our team disagree:

a. I seek to build b. I analyze the problem c. I propose a solution / find consensus

18. My greatest weakness in dealing with sin is:

a. I blame others b. I fall apart when I see my sin c. I excuse it away / circumstances

19. I am more:

a. arrogant than humble b. rigid than flexible c. easily discour- aged than resilient

20. In conversations:

a. I want to listen to others b. want to be heard c. I only want the bottom line

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21. With money, I tend to:

a. be quick to spend on real needs b. be quick to give to others c. scrutinize purchases

22. In responding to authority:

a. they must be credible to me b. they must be in c. they must be agreement with me involved with me

23. My teaching tends to emphasize:

a. doing-action b. thinking-learning c. being-character

24. If I am honest, I measure others based on their:

a. kindness and personality b. abilities and c. competence/ openness accomplishments

25. I think tests like these:

a. are difficult because b. are great learning tools c. are unhelpful - there are so many options a waste of time

Developed by Campus Outreach Augusta. All rights reserved, May, 2002.

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Key - Evaluating my Spiritual Leadership style and Leadership Developmental Needs:

To grade your Spiritual Leadership Test each answer has a cooresponding group of letters that are recorded in the talley sheet:

M = Most, L= Least P= Prophet, K= King, T= Priest

Note: The Key will reflect your answer (M / L) and the coresponding pattern associated with that answer. For example, an “M” answer on 1.a would tally a “Most Prophet” and “L” lead you to tally a “Least Prophet.” Read your answer carefully to identify if it’s an “M” or an “L” because some answers are the opposite of what you marked (example: 4.a if you marked “M” the key is “Least-King”, if you marked “L” you are “Most-King” and you tally on the chart).

Lastly, your most and least numbers may not add up equally, but this is not a problem. At the end of tallying your answers, subtract across Most from Least to get your results. The highest number is your Primary Style and the Next Highest is your Secondary Style, the Least number is the area you need the most development in.

1. I enjoy this most when I minister:

a. M-MP / L-LP b. M-MK / L-LK c. M-MT / L-LT

2. When I study and teach the bible, I tend to see and emphasize:

a. M-MK / L-LK b. M-MT / L-LT c. -M-MP / L-LP

3. I am quick to:

a. M-MT / L-LT b. M-MP / L-LP c. M-MK / L-LK

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4. I struggle with:

a. M-LK / L-MK b. M-LP / L-MP c. M-LT / L-MT

5. When I teach I tend to:

a. M-MP / L-LP b. M-MK / L-LK c. M-MT / L-LT

6. When counseling others, I find it difficult to:

a. M-LT / L-MT b. M-LP / L-MP c. M-MT / L-LT

7. I enjoy:

a. M-MT / L-LT b. M-MP / L-LP c. M-MK / L-LK

8. When I am confronted over something I have said, I tend to:

a. M-MT / L-LT b. M-MP / L-LP c. M-MK / L-LK

9. I spend most of my thoughtful moments reflecting on:

a. M-MP / L-LP b. M-MT / L-LT c. M-MK / L-LK

10. I like:

a. M-MK / L-LK b. M-MT / L-LT c. M-MP / L-LP

11. I have a hard time:

a. M-MK / L-LK b. M-MP / L-LP c. M-MT / L-LT

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12. My greatest leadership weakness is:

a. M-MK / L-LK b. M-MT / L-LT c. M-MP / L-LP

13. I try to persuade people by:

a. M-MT / L-LT b. M-MP / L-LP c. M-MK / L-LK

14. I fear:

a. M-LK / L-MK b. M-MK / L-LK c. M-MP / L-LP

15. I would rather:

a. M-MT / L-LT b. M-MP / L-LP c. M-MK / L-LK

16. On our team, I want:

a. M-MK / L-LK b. M-MT / L-LT c. M-MP / L-LP

17. When members of our team disagree:

a. M-MT / L-LT b. M-MP / L-LP c. M-MK / L-LK

18. My greatest weakness in dealing with sin is:

a. M-MP / L-LP b. M-MT / L-LT c. M-MK / L-LK

19. I am more:

a. M-MK / L-LK b. M-MP / L-LP c. M-MT / L-LT

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20. In conversations:

a. M-MT / L-LT b. M-MP / L-LP c. M-MK / L-LK

21. With money, I tend to:

a. M-MK / L-LK b. M-MT / L-LT c. M-MP / L-LP

22. In responding to authority:

a. M-MP / L-LP b. M-MK / L-LK c. M-MT / L-LT

23. My teaching tends to emphasize:

a. M-MK / L-LK b. M-MP / L-LP c. M-MT / L-LT

24. If I am honest, I measure others based on their:

a. M-MT / L-LT b. M-MK / L-LK c. M-MP / L-LP

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Use the Key provided to record Most and Least. MP or LP is Most / Least Prophet. MK or LK is Most / Least King. MT or LT is Most / Least Priest. The totals will not necessarily equal each other at the bottom of the Most and Least Columns.

Evaluation Summary

MOST LEAST Difference

Prophet

Priest

King

Blended Pattern

PRIMARY SECONDARY DEVELOPMENT

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Category

Values Most

Biblical Paradigm

Orientation

Question to Answer

Ministry Style

Approach to Counseling

Evangelism Focus

Greatest Fear

Greatest Desire

Pathway to Significance

Planning Focus

Discipleship Orientation

Dealing with Sin

Response to Change

Communication Style

Keys to Persuasion

Leadership Weakness

Conversation

Stewardship

Authority

Prophet

Develop / Equip People

Truth to Understand

Principle & Process

What & How

Explains / Gives Answers

Addresses the Problem

Presentation

To Be Wrong

To Be Right

Competence

Evaluates Past

Thinking (Knowledge)

Passes Blame

What Is Being Changed

Sells

Facts

Unsympathetic

Wants to Be Heard

Calculated

Must Be Credible

Priest

Care for People

Relationship Experienced

Person

Who

Affirms / Gives Comfort

Comforts the Person

Relationship

To Be Disliked

To Love / Be Loved

Approval / Acceptance

Interprets Present

Being (Heart)

Over Internalizes

Who Will Be Affected

Builds / Finds Consensus

Feeling

Subjective

Wants to Listen

Giving

Must Be Involved

King

Lead in Mission

Mission to Fulfill

Purpose

Why

Exhorts/Motivates

Makes Adjustments

Decision

To Lose

To Win

Control

Forecasts Future

Doing (Vision/Skills)

Rationalizes

Will It Be Effective

Tells

Force

Competitive

Wants Bottom Line

Quick to Spend

Must Be Me

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Discovering Design through your Experiences, Part II

God has designed you and made you who you are. This means that even natural abilities are God-given. Tests like the RightPath, the DISC Test, and Myers-Briggs Personality Profile give you insight into both your preferred style and also your capacity. While these traits are impacted by your maturity and your circumstances, generally you have a style or bent that helps you to be most effective. For example, the following categories make up your Personal Profile. In the Assessment section of the Life-Plan, you will build out your Personal Profile. Note: You will tend to be clearly one expression or the other in some of the categories listed below. In other categories, you may be in the middle, as it may be more situational to your preferred style. In Study #9 you will be building a personal profile, it will guide you as you look at building a “calling – path” as a part of your Life-Plan. More guidance will be given in the Life-Plan section.

God has given you experiences, some of which were easy to see and others that have been hard to see. Some experiences feel like grace and mercy and others feel hard to receive as grace and mercy. While perspective is needed in the highs and the lows of your life, it is unmistakable from the scriptures that God is in control and shaping your experiences to position you for His purposes (See Development Study). Below is listed a number of questions for you to reflect on God’s development and direction as seen through your personal life experiences. Your experiences are a significant contributor in shaping your Life-Message.

Using some of the questions below, identify greater insight in the area of your unique design:

•WhatstorieshaveIbeengiventotell?

•WhatstoriesdoIwishIcouldtellbutcan’t?

•InwhatplaceshaveIbeenput?

•WherehaveIbeenthatIrelish?

•Whatkindofseasoninmylifeisthis?Howdoesitcomparetomypreviousseason

and contrast with the season that I wish I could have?

•Whichpeoplehaveshapedmylifepositively?Negatively?Whataretheirnames?

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Discovering Your Design through Responding to Challenges

•Withwhatlimits,weaknessesandsinsdoIparticularlystruggle?

•WhatsavioramImosttemptedtotrustinsteadofJesus?

•ArethereprovisionsofgracethatIresistleaningupon?

•Whatinterruptionsfrustratemerightnow?IstheresomethingherethatGodwants

to show me?

•AretherepeoplewhomGodhasputintomylifetoshowhisgracetome?AmIable

to receive His grace through them?

Discovering Your Design through How You Respond to the Future

•WhataboutmyfutureamIimpatientlytryingtorush?

•WhataboutmyfuturedoIwanttoputoff?

•Whataboutmyfuturescaresme?Givesmehope?Whatthoughts,imaginationsor

memories kill my hope?

Video: Matt Chandler This study includes a video; visit www.callingproject.org or refer to the iBook.

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Study 10

John 14:12-14 offers some insights into how we are called to “Dream in God.” The context here is quite startling. This is the upper room with the disciples, the night before Jesus goes to the cross. Jesus talks about heaven and He talks about the Holy Spirit. He talks about abiding in Him. He talks about preparing for rejection and suffering. Planted in the middle of this discourse, he talks about “Dreaming in God.”

Each man and woman of God has a dream of God’s kingdom stamped on their heart. This dream touches their life, their spouse, their circumstances, and their work. This dream will shape not only your work but also your legacy. Gospel ministry is essentially a dream.

I often tell people often that Campus Outreach is essentially a dream. What I mean by this is two things: an idea and a story. First, this ministry is an idea of the hope of a new reality that can come into a person’s life and change everything about them. This new hope would change their desires from the inside out and change their values, motivation, commitments, and decisions. It would start inside them and then it would move to their context. This idea would change their relationships, their interaction with others, their work, their view of others, and what they thought was big and important, and what they saw as optional and less important. This is how the story begins.

Video: Matt Bradner, Discern ing God ’s Cal l This study includes a video; visit www.callingproject.org or refer to the iBook.

Dreams, Desires & InterestsI tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do

even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything

in my name, and I will do it.

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The truth is the gospel is essentially an idea that becomes a redemptive story that changes everything about you and your world. First, the gospel comes to you. The gospel is not just any idea. It is the idea that you were made for God but you chose yourself and things other than God and rebelled against Him and His love. He came after you anyway and found you and revealed His love for you through Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross. He sent His Holy Spirit into your heart to make your heart receptive to His story so that it could now be your story. Each of us has been radically changed by this love story of redemption. The gospel came to you, it works in you, and then spreads through you.

Have you ever wondered, “Why did God place you on this earth at this precise time in history, within the family he gave you, in the geographic area you were born in, with the distinct interests and abilities He has given you? It is about the Life-Message He is giving you.

John Eldridge has written many books about understanding the soul-ish nature of our make up. Wild at Heart is a book that speaks about the need to listen to the desires that run deep in our heart that have a more profound impact on our lives than we are aware of. One quote that profoundly impacted me was this:

We’ve taken away the dreams of a man’s heart and told him to play the man. Most of our society calls us to contribute, to follow the rules, and to color within the lines in order to be rewarded. Where are the dreamers? Where are the revolutionaries? Where are the world-changers? Where are the new emerging leaders for the church and for the world? The emerging problems we will be facing in the future will need to be met with new ideas, new creativity, and new vision. We need a generation of dreamers who know how to “Dream in God.”7

Before I was a Christian, I was constantly dreaming. I was Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics, making the shot at the buzzer to win the NBA championship. I also dreamed of beating my older brother in a one-on-one game of anything, as he reigned as the dominant family champion in every sport! So many of my nights and days of practice

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were motivated by my dreams and hopes. It is amazing how powerful a dream is.

Dreamers are motivated people. Dreamers change the world. Dreamers have great energy, creativity, boldness, and optimism. “America is essentially a dream” said one great American Dreamer, Martin Luther King, Jr. Dreamers shape the world and lead the masses.

God’s men have always been dreamers. Abraham was a dreamer. Jacob was a dreamer. Joseph’s dreams got him into trouble (at least how he shared them and who he shared them with). But His dreams eventually saved his family and a nation. The apostles, Martin Luther, John Wesley, William Carey, Hudson Taylor, D.L. Moody, John Knox, and Jim Elliot penetrated dark places with the gospel because God raised up a dreamer.

Jesus was a dreamer. Jesus inspired others to dream. Jesus never squelched dreaming. In fact, he often asks questions like, “What would you like for me to do for you?” He asked that question to a blind man who was screaming and begging to be near Him. Wonder what Bartimaeus’ dream was? He asked Jesus for sight, and Jesus granted his request.

A.B. Bruce, author of The Training of the Twelve, said this about the disciples:

With all their imperfections, which were both numerous and great, these humble fishermen of Galilee had, at the very onset of their career, one grand distinguishing virtue, which is the certain forerunner of ultimate high attainment. They were animated by a devotion to Jesus and to the divine kingdom which made them capable of any sacrifice. One charge only can be brought against those men, and it can be brought with truth and without doing their memory harm. They were enthusiasts. Their hearts were fired, and as an unbelieving world might say, their heads were turned by a dream of a divine kingdom to be set up in Israel, with Jesus of Nazareth for the king. That dream possessed them, and imperiously ruled over their minds and shaped their destinies, compelling them, like Abraham, to leave their country, and

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to go forth on what might well appear beforehand to be a fool’s errand. For it was no fool’s errand on which they went forth, leaving their nets behind. The fishermen of Galilee did become fishers of men on a most extensive scale, and by the help of God, gathered many souls into the church to be saved. In a sense, they are casting their nets into the sea of the world still, and by their testimony to Jesus in the Gospels and Epistles, are still bringing multitudes to become disciples of Him.8

Walt Disney once said, “There are three kinds of people in the world today. There are ‘well poisoners,’ who discourage you and stomp on your creativity and tell you what you can’t do. There are ‘lawn mowers’ - people who are well- intentioned but self-absorbed; they tend to their own needs, mow their own lawns and never leave their yards to help another person. Finally, there are ‘DREAMERS’ - or ‘life enrichers’ - people who reach out to enrich the lives of others, to lift them up and inspire them. We need to be life enrichers, and we need to surround ourselves with life enrichers.”

DREAMING IN GOD does at least four things.

1. Connects Us with God’s Heart. Jesus did not say, “before you pray about something, be sure to know if God wants you to answer this. Jesus used words like anything and everything, throwing our minds wide open to offer any idea that is on our heart. As we pray, we are connected more deeply to God’s heart.

2. Causes Us to Live by Faith. Randy Pope, pastor of Perimeter Church in Atlanta, has frequently claimed this saying as a motto for his church, “Dare to attempt something so great for the Kingdom of God, it is doomed to fail if God is not in it.” A God-centered dream causes us to tilt our hopes as well as our energies heavenward with gospel yearnings guiding us.

3. Causes us to Work in God’s Strength. We all start our Life-story with God by grace through faith. It is easy to slip into a works mentality and to think of ministry as efforts we offer to accomplish God’s work. A Kingdom Dream gives us a Life-Message that requires that our first and best effort and energy be given to prayer and asking

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God to work in and through our lives. I honestly think we don’t pray more because we frankly are not asking God for anything of consequence other than just health, safety, and general provision. Jesus has already promised each of these things along with His Spirit, but he also invites us to ask Him to change the world.

4. Provides the motivation we need from the inside out that will lead us to live out His calling in the strength He provides. Galatians 6 says our tendency is to “grow weary and lose heart.” Weariness comes from not seeing visible fruit where we hope to see or as fast as we desire. What keeps us praying, trusting, giving and serving is the Dream of God.

Carl Rogers is now a Creative Developer for Alcon Entertainment. In 2000, I challenged Carl to join our CO staff after graduation. He said yes at first, only to later tell me that after listening to a talk I had given on Dreaming in God, he wanted to pursue a career in the film industry in Hollywood. The short video summarizes his story and how God directed him to pursue a dream he had for making films, even though he was a Physics major in college with no film experience! Plenty of people, including me, called Carl crazy, but God had a unique story (Life-Message) to be told through Carl’s life.

Video: Car l Rogers This study includes a video; visit www.callingproject.org or refer to the iBook.

After watching the video, reflect over the following questions:

1. “Follow the Passions of your heart.” What did Carl mean by this? What does this mean in your situation?

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2. What did you hear about Carl’s basic plans or approach as he talked about “taking the risk” and being willing, if God shuts the door, “to deal with the embarrassment.” He didn’t want to have regrets. What does this mean in your life and in your situation?

3. “The big decisions are not hard if you are daily making the small decisions of following Christ. “Follow the passions of your heart within the will of God.” What does this mean in your life situation as you are seeking to discover your own Life-Story?

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The Need and the Call

While “The Need” does not directly correlate with a particular call, it is God’s pattern to motivate us and connect us to His call by exposing us to needs. Someone has said, “What the eye does not see, does not turn the heart.”

When we speak of need, the classic New Testament teaching is found in Matthew 9: 36-38. Jesus exposes His disciples to multitudes of human needs that He was busy meeting. He also was not able to address and personally become involved in every exposed need. Even while He was busy pouring himself out to meet obvious needs, Jesus was “moved” with compassion from being exposed to brokenness.

“Feeling” is part of your discipleship experience and “Feeling Moved” by that which moves Jesus means you are beginning to discover His heart. 2 Peter 3:9 speaks of God’s heart when it says, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” God’s heart is full of compassion, and though He will judge sin and disobedience, His reluctance and compassion makes Him patient as he pursues those who are lost and separated because of their sin.

Being passionate about seeing lost people brought to faith in Christ is Christ-like. Luke 15 records in all three parables that the angels and all of heaven (and this is implicit that God, the King of heaven, is leading the rejoicing) is rejoicing over lost coins that are found, lost sheep that are rescued, and lost sons that are restored. Leaving the “found” to bring in others not of this fold (John 10) is what the ministry of Jesus is all about. Luke 15:10 says the “Son of Man came to seek and to save that which is lost.”

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Life-Message Reflections.

Refer to the article in the appendix entitled “The U.S. College Campus & The World Missions Movement” to guide you in answering these questions:

1. What do these statistics tell you about how the church is growing and what the strategic needs are?

2. The “Need” does not equal a “Call,” yet, as the church is growing faster than the population in places like Africa and South America, how should we consider the unevangelized into our “Calling Plans?”

3. Jesus continues his instructions to the disciples in Matthew 9 by saying, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” What does this mean for your prayer life and what does this mean for what your dreams and desires should reflect?

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4. Statistics on the urban poor in the United States say that the literacy rate and poverty rate projects that young boys growing up in urban poverty have a higher likelihood of ending up in prison that in college. This need is not in foreign lands but in our “backyard.” How should this obvious need be addressed when we wrestle with what it means to “love our neighbor as ourselves?”

5. International refugees and graduate students are flooding our American cities to seek a better life for themselves and their families. With the growing “minority majority” inevitability, what should our attitudes and actions be toward these “outsiders” who find themselves in our midst?

6. What would you tell a college student who is considering serving Christ overseas for a 1-2 year period? Would you advise them to consider going overseas? Why or why not?

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The Broken Epidemic Struggles in the World

Rev. Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in California described the following needs as serious crisis problems facing your generation. The church is called to care for God’s world and the people of the world.9

Spiritual Poverty – there is a lack of Spiritual Leadership all over the world.

Corrupt Leadership – Governments and a small minority prosper from the exploitation of the masses. There are few voices to speak for the weak and disenfranchised.

World poverty – hunger and basic survival are on the rise, especially among children.

Pandemic Disease- the world has the highest level of health-care development and yet the neediest places in the world have the most limited access.

Illiteracy - Along with disease and hunger, illiteracy continues to spread. Some attention has been given to this need, yet the statistics show that the growing orphan population in the world is contributing to the growing illiteracy problem.

1. How should these five crisis needs impact your thinking, desires, and planning in relation to your call?

2. Of these five world problems, which particular problem do you feel especially moved by and interested in increasing awareness and involvement with?

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3. John Piper once said, “Christians should be committed to alleviate all suffering in the world, and the church should give its greatest attention to relieving eternal suffering.” What are the implications of this truth and how does it impact the way a Christian should go about addressing even basic human problems like clean water and teaching people to read and write?

Developing My Personal Profile

1. Reflect from pages 121-130 on your spiritual gifts/ training:

Evangelism-

Discipleship-

Counseling-

Administration-

Teaching-

2. If someone asked you to describe what you are passionate about (that which you do or read about or seek to learn of when you are not required) what would that be?

3. Choose 1 word from each list of 6 adjectives (one from each set of words on each line) that best describes you and explain why you chose that word in comparison to the list. (AFTER IDENTIFYING #1 FROM EACH LIST, LIST WHY THAT BEST DESCRIBES YOU)

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attractive clean respectful fancy educated honest

magnificent plain Interesting entertaining sparkling wide-eyed

angry bewildered fierce helpless mysterious panicky

agreeable zealous calm delightful silly thankful

deep narrow steep straight wide open

4.What did you study in college? If you could start college again, what would you be interested in studying?

5. What is the most frequent compliment or encouragement you receive from those closest to you?

6. What are you “most interested” in learning about and studying?

A. Employment categories (business, medicine, education, missions, counseling, technology, retail, social work, etc.)

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B. Things you are interested in that might seem like hobbies or personal interests that seem more like enjoyment than work.

7. Think of the Great Commission (making disciples of all nations) and WHAT you would want to do. Think of places or a context WHERE you would love to see yourself influencing and “incarnating” the gospel. Now, describe what you envision doing in that context and how the gospel’s influence could bring healing and hope in that place.

WHAT-

WHERE-

8. When you think of legacy or impact at the end of your life, what are some things that describe and summarize what you are the most passionate about and what you desire for your impact to be.

(Use the 4 categories listed below to think this out and then write a summary paragraph of your legacy as you would state it now)

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What you want to be-

What you want to do-

What you want to have-

Who you want to help-

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Summarize what you have learned about yourself by journaling using the following six categories. Use this chart to recognize where you stand. You can fall in the middle of either side:

Processing: For more intense and focused insight and feedback, ask a peer, a mentor, an expert in a field you are interested in, and someone who knows you well to read over your answers and set up a meeting to go over your answers and help you gain insights into who God has made you and what He might want you to be doing.

1. Leadership Independent Collaborative2. Relationships Problem-Solver People-Helper3. Communication Action-Oriented Verbally-Oriented4. Thinking Big-Picture Detailed5. Pace Change Stability6. Decisions Intuitive Concrete / Factual

For further resources in understanding your passions & interests, see the Appendix for questions on “Dicovering Your Passions.” Use these questions if they can be helpful for you to identify the Life-Message God is building in your heart and life.

4

4 What God wants done and how He wants us to do it.

Life WORKChange

Work

Message

Style

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I hope you see the connection in these three quotes. Paul’s explanation of our work in Ephesians 2 is that it is “Divine.” Dr. Robertson emphasizes that every believer has a divine calling and that each disciple’s work is an extension of God’s kingdom work on the Earth.

This idea is what Bono is referring to – that grace changes everything about us. Indeed, grace is more powerful that hate, than skepticism, than governmental structures, or self-exaltation.

God wants His work done in the world through unassuming people in unsuspecting places. The parables in Matthew 13 point out that that the kingdom always starts in small expressions, like seeds and leaven. However, this influence does not stay small or hidden. God’s work, like the incarnation of Jesus, comes into a world of brokenness, death and hate and brings light, light, and love.

John 20:21 is my favorite Great Commission summary. Jesus told the disciples after the resurrection, “As the Father has sent me into the world, so I am sending you.” God’s work is done in the world as He sends us into broken, lifeless, and even hate-filled situations to bring the Good News of the Gospel through our lives and our words.

Created for Good Works

How God wants...His work to be done

We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for God works. That God has prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. - Ephesians 2: 10

The idea that there were not two classes of Christians (clergy and laymen) or two types of work (holy and secular), but rather one priesthood with one holy calling, unleashed Christians to be the Church in the world. - Dr. George Robertson

Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions. - Bono, U2

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Study 11

Video: George Robertson This study includes a video; visit www.callingproject.org or refer to the iBook.The manuscript is the content of this study.

**In this section, Dr. George Robertson reviews the exalted view of calling and vocation. This will provide some perspective for how Christ brings about His care of the world through our work. Additionally, we will study how to make work meaningful and how to be an agent of positive change in the workplace:

One of the most influential books in my life was Booker T. Washington’s autobiography. As a high schooler interested in the ministry, I was struck by a comment he made about calling. I’ll share it with you in its broader context later. In my separatist sub-culture Washington’s comment about calling and vocation alarmed me. His words and personal example created a chink in my thinking about calling. Washington made me suspicious that it might be true that a scientist or farmer or educator could also be called by God to do his work worshipfully within God’s Kingdom, and that God’s Kingdom might actually comprehend the universe, not just the walls of the Church. This is what I read in Up from Slavery:

Naturally, most of our people who received some little education became teachers or preachers. While among these two classes there were many capable, earnest, godly men and women, still a large proportion took up teaching or preaching as an easy way to make a living.

The ministry was the profession that suffered most - and still suffers, though there has been great improvement - on account of not only ignorant but in many cases immoral men who claimed that they were “called to preach.” In the earlier days of freedom almost every [black] man who learned to read would receive “a call to preach” within a few days after he began reading. At

Vocation & Calling by George Robertson

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my home in West Virginia the process of being called to the ministry was a very interesting one. Usually the “call” came when the individual was sitting in church. Without warning the one called would fall upon the floor as if struck by a bullet, and would lie there for hours, speechless and motionless. Then the news would spread all through the neighbourhood that this individual had received a “call.” If he were inclined to resist the summons, he would fall or be made to fall a second or third time. In the end he always yielded to the call. While I wanted an education badly, I confess that in my youth I had a fear that when I had learned to read and write well I would receive one of these “calls”; but, for some reason, my call never came.1

Returning to Washington’s autobiography, I saw something that I would not have recognized thirty years ago when I first read it. It is that leaders whom God has gifted with wisdom about life and calling, have a responsibility to pass that insight on to those with whom they have influence. It is actually a biblical principle that knowledge obligates one to serve others with it. Paul expressly commands Timothy and Titus to teach the men and women in their congregations to pass their knowledge of Christ and faith and life in general to younger (either in faith or years) men and women. Today I want to provoke a discussion of how to shepherd our people (whether we are their ministers or employers or parents) in their callings which are as unique as they are as God’s skilled servants in a Kingdom that is as big as the cosmos.

I. Worldview

With this group, I am probably carrying coals to Newcastle by starting with some brief comments on worldview or life view, what the Germans called weltenshaung. But if we are not able to articulate biblical answers to the questions any worldview is seeking to explain, we ultimately will not be good vocational shepherds. Few people have written more clearly on developing an articulate Christian worldview in a day of mass philosophical and theological conclusion that James Sire. His book The Universe Next Door, especially with its subsequent revisions remains a standard and must for every Christian.

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When I first read it almost thirty years ago, he said that every worldview seeks to answer five questions.2 In more recent years he has expanded it to seven! As this is an audience with an above-average theological I.Q., you know the answers to these basic questions but allow me to suggest how they particularly apply to our thinking about shepherding vocationally.

1. What is reality?

Of course the biblical answer to this question is that reality is heaven and earth as God describes them, and it is perceived in a basically reliable way through the senses and the soul. But how does this question apply to vocation? Vocationally it means that our work must be performed in view of that reality regardless of whatever other “reality” might be claimed.

2. What is the nature of the external world around us?

As indicated above the world around us has a material dimension that we can observe and a spiritual dimension that we cannot objectify but is nonetheless real. God has given external and internal senses that can observe this external world with a better than average degree of reliability. Obviously our senses are better at interacting with the predictability of the material world than our souls are with the spiritual because of our sinful suppression of the truth.

In reference to calling this means that the real world is one that God designed to function as it does including its ability to sustain and prosper life. So those who have callings which promote human flourishing may be sure that those are callings that please God

3. What is a human being?

We know that he is created in the image of God and therefore bears inherent dignity. He is also a totally depraved sinner. Together those truths make him what Lewis called a “glorious ruin.” As Aslan said in Prince Caspian, “You come of the Lord Adam

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and the Lady Eve. And that is both honour enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth. Be content.”3

But with reference to calling and vocation, we know also from Scripture that even after the Fall, he has a universal call to “subdue the earth” and through his vocation he is a vice-regent of God. When the Bible says that there was no vegetation on the earth in Genesis 2:5, the explanation is that there was no man to cultivate it. God hardwired much of the creation only to produce by means of our work and creativity.

4. What happens to a person at death?

We know that it is appointed unto man once to die and then comes judgment. But remember the Bible always emphasizes that it is our works that will be judged. That means that the work that we do in our vocations will also be judged and it has the potential of being consumed as stubble or enduring like gold. This is what Moses prayed for in Psalm 90, “Establish the work of our hands.” The Bible hints that any work done for the glory of God will live on in the kingdom of heaven. This idea of the eternal significance of every creation made for the glory of God is like “Back to the future!”

5. Why is it possible to know anything at all?

You theologians know that our answer is the noetic endowment God has woven into our consciences. When Van Tillian apologetes debate atheists or agnostics who deny the absolute knowability of the existence of God, they insist that the agnostic is coopting the Christian worldview even while they deny the Creator. They do by putting words together and assuming they can be understood and using the rules of logic in debate. There would be no universal rules of logic or predictability within the universe without God’s creating the world that way. It is possible to know because God has made it possible to know.

So what difference does that make in our discussion? Anywhere we turn in any

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vocation we may see that God has preceded us by making it possible to think through a problem and find a solution, by exerting our muscles which in turn lifts a load, by interacting with another human being and developing a new idea, and by operating within the periodic table and seeing the same results over and over whether one is administering medicine or fertilizing fruit trees.

6. How do we know what is right and wrong?

The Bible informs us that God has written his law on every human being’s conscience (Ro. 1:18-20; 2:15). Every person is aware that there is a God and that he is accountable to him. By his sense of fairness he illustrates that he also knows at some deep level the second table of the law. Pascal said that the “heart has its reasons, the reason knows not of” therefore we must expect that our sense of calling will not be to a large degree subjective. I’ll talk more about how to confirm that sense later.

It also means that “whatsoever is not by faith is sin” (Ro. 14:23) is just as applicable within the practice of our vocations as it is in any other part of life. Our approach to every aspect of our work must be according to conscience’s application of biblical principle first regardless of what the industry standard might be or even what other Christians are doing.

7. What is the meaning of human history?

There is only one history of the world and it is that which God has written by his decrees and executed by his providence. There is not a biblical history and then our history. There is not a heavenly history and a secular history. History is the story God is crafting toward the praise of his glorious grace. That means our vocations, callings, and actions are all secondary means by which God is carrying out his redemptive plan. Even the unbeliever’s actions advance God’s plan. The difference is that when our works are done for his glory they will be established eternally and transformed into crowns to cast at Jesus’ feet.

History is also the third stage of creation. If the first stage was making the stuff of

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creation out of nothing and the second stage was God’s unpacking the stuff and diversifying it, the third stage is a continuation of the second, only through man. We continue the work of unpacking the potential of the creation and unrolling the progress of history toward the consummation of Christ’s glory.

II. History of Thinking on Vocation:

Bible:

The Old Testament term we would translate as “vocation” or “calling” is “qr” or “qara.”4 It can refer to a spontaneous outcry (as in “call upon the Lord”) or to command to someone to perform a task or deliver a message (as in “The Lord called to Jonah”). From its occurrence in Genesis, as in “calling” things by name (light, darkness, male, female) we might conclude that qr not only demonstrates God’s sovereignty over every creature he calls, but also explains how the creature fulfills his task--God enables them to do what he has called them to do. Perhaps this is an expanded view of Augustine’s prayer, “Lord, command what you will but give what you command.” This divine enablement is only further emphasized by the Hebrew word hokhma. [ants, bees, temple artisans]

Max Stackhouse, a Princeton ethicist, observes that God’s call to Adam was “a vocation to create culture,”5 a calling which God immediately enabled with the provision of a helpmate.

Reflecting on other biblical passages such as ones using the New Testament word “kaleo” (1 Co. 7:20; Philemon), Stackhouse says, “many passages also recognize that people have earthly obligations, and the calling is closely identified with one’s responsibilities in life, which one is to fulfill dutifully.”6 Perhaps the clearest illustration of what Stackhouse observes occurs in John the Baptist’s instructions to those coming for baptism. When they asked him what they should do after baptism, he told them to return to their present jobs and begin living in them as a calling from God. He did not tell the tax collectors to go to seminary, but rather, “don’t collect more than you are required to.” The soldiers were not told to beat their swords into

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plowshares but rather, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely--be content with your pay.”And to everyone else he said, “share your tunics and your food.” In other words, every person’s “vocation” or “calling” was to salvation and service. So, the Bible says in effect, “Wherever you are right now, carry out your work and life as a calling from God. If he calls you somewhere else so be it, but you do not have to leave your present (legitimate) vocation to pursue God’s calling to build his Kingdom.”

Early-Medieval Church History:

A few hundred years after Pentecost, the concept that every believer is called to salvation and service regardless of his station in life or vocation began to erode. By the time Christianity was no longer the state religion of the Roman Empire as it was under Constantine, “vocation” was only applied to clergy. Similar to the priesthood in Old Testament Israel, clergy were set apart as a distinctly holy role.

By the fifth century, Augustine defined two divergent roads a Christian could travel vocationally: the “active life” and the “contemplative life.” The active life included all common vocations which serve human flourishing. The baker, the merchant, the farmer, and the mother served God by serving their fellow man. The contemplative life belonged to the clergy and was regarded to be of greater significance and was more highly valued since it was direct service to God, while the active life was merely indirect.7

The distinction was more emphatically made in the 11th century when priests were required to be celibate, thus separating them from ordinary life. Os Guinness calls this the “Catholic error.” He is an equal opportunity offender, so he outlines a “Protestant error” as well, which we will discuss later.

By the Middle-Ages, Benedict began a movement which merged the two divergent roads. It was not unique. Pope Gregory the Great in the 6th century tried to break the tradition when he was called against his will to leave the contemplative life and take the administrative duties of the papacy, which felt very much like the despised

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active life. However, he eventually moved through his disappointment to realize that a Christian can only fulfill his duty before God by moving from contemplation of God to service of man and from service of man back to contemplation of God.

So Benedict’s first rule was “listen.” In that contemplative posture, his monks were each required to do manual labor as an act of personal service to Jesus himself. By the 12th century, through Bernard of Clairvaux’s influence, monastic orders were starting schools, libraries, orphanages, hostels, farms, wineries, and breweries. Stackhouse says that monasteries “began to shape the whole civilization of the West.” Others have gone so far as to say that monasteries saved civilization.

Reformation/Modern:

German Dominicans Meister Eckhart (c. 1260 - c. 1327) and Johann Tauler (c. 1300 - 1361) radically suggested that Christians in ordinary occupations could achieve the status “friend of God” previously reserved for those reaching the peak of monastic disciplines. Eckhart spoke even more forcefully than Gregory about the essential importance of serving one’s neighbor: “If one were in an ecstasy, even if it were as high as that of Paul, and knew that beside him there as an infirm man who needed a bowl of soup from him, it would be better for him to abandon his ecstasy and serve the needy man. . . .We are brought forth into time in order that our sensible worldly occupations may lead us nearer and make us like unto God. . . .One can gather nettles and still stand in union with God.” Tauler likewise stood up for the Christian’s dignity in common vocations. For example, he said of the businessman, “one who knows all the secrets of commerce,” there was no obstacle preventing him from serving God with “singleness of purpose.”8

As with everything else the Reformers confronted, their new thinking on calling and vocation was radical. To them, the idea that “vows of poverty, chastity and obedience were signs of spiritual superiority” was pretentious (Stackhouse).9 So they confiscated monastic properties and converted them to facilities for public service like hospitals and schools. They found spouses for the monks and nuns and dismissed the idea that a clergyman was a priest.

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While they maintained an ordained ministerial role, Luther especially taught that every Christian was a priest in his or her calling. Luther believed that clergy remained necessary for social order because if everyone were performing pastoral duties it would be chaotic, but if necessary any layman could serve communion or hear confession.

While Luther was still a product of his medieval age in his conviction that one should stay in his station in life, he preached that all callings were equal spiritually:

A cobbler, a smith, a farmer, each has the work and the office of his trade, and they are all alike consecrated priests and bishops, and every one by means of his own work or office must benefit and serve every other, that in this way many kinds of work may be done for the bodily and spiritual welfare of the community, even as all the members of the body serve one another.

God serves others through our common tasks and vocations:

One should regard all [human labor] as being the work of our Lord God under a mask, as it were, beneath which he himself alone effects and accomplishes what we desire. He commands us to equip ourselves for this reason also, that he migh conceal his own work under this disguise. . .Indeed one could very well say that the course of the world and especially the doing of the saints are God’s mask under which he conceals himself and so marvelously exercises dominion.

The farmer, for instance, is an essential agent in God’s providence when he grows crops which feed the hungry. His work is just as sacramental as the nun, priest, or bishop. John Calvin agreed with this sentiment: “Therefore each individual has his own kind of living assigned to him by the Lord as a sort of sentry post so that he may not heedlessly wander about throughout life” (3.10.6).10

Gene Edward Veith sums up the importance of all vocations well: “When I go into a restaurant, the waitress who brings me my meal, the cook in the back who prepared it, the delivery men, the wholesalers, the workers in the food-processing factories, the

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butchers, the farmers, the ranchers, and everyone else in the economic food chain are all being used by God to ‘give me this day my daily bread.’11

III. Stewarding Vocations within our Churches: “skilled service”

With this biblical and historical perspective, I want to suggest some ways we can encourage our people to engage in their callings as priests before God and of dignified agents expanding the Kingdom of God.

Do personal soul-work

We must first repent of any sacred-secular dichotomy that we may be holding on to. If we still think that what is done inside the walls of the church is more spiritual and important than what any of our people do in their “secular” jobs, we will make numerous mistakes in leading them. Obviously, we will discourage them from thinking that their work matters to God and convince them that we are superior. We will also view them as merely utilitarian—earning money to give to the Church’s more important work. We will be insensitive to their time and energies, adding on responsibilities at the church to the point that we burn them out.

Sometimes such a perspective can work the other way convincing us that our work is not as important as those we pastor. We must embrace the body metaphor the Scripture uses to describe the Church. No one member and his gifts can say to another, “I have no need of you” (1 Corinthians 12:21) anymore than the foot can say such to the head. You must realize that whatever role you have been given as a leader, it does not imply that you must be better at every person’s job than they are. You are a team God has knitted together. Enjoy your primary task. If you are a senior or solo pastor, you must do what only you can do and most likely only you can do. If others are more gifted evangelists or entrepreneurs or even teachers, you must not despise your gift of word-sacrament ministry.

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Teach a biblical worldview of vocation

Abraham Kuyper emphasizes the concept of “sphere sovereignty,”12 that every vocation occupies a sphere that is essential sovereign in relationship to other spheres (e.g. the Church, the arts, science, and politics do not occupy the same sphere). While there may be overlap between the Church and politics or science and art, the Christian within each of those spheres is directly accountable to God for his service as a “priest” in his calling.

Coalition for Christian Outreach’s All of Life Redeemed and At Work and Play are resources that are as accessible, readable, and practical as any for introducing previously unaware Christians to a reformed world and life view applied to vocation and calling.

1. Comprehensive view of life:

The authors of All of Life Redeemed prepare a primer for understanding how daily reflection on creation, fall, redemption and consummation should make a difference in daily activities. In Rainbows for a Fallen World, Calvin Seeveld says this:

How can a believer in the Lord respond in any other way than fully, unconditionally, totally, bodily, world-widely accepting the cultivation of the earth and all human activities as a ministry that is our logical service? Remembering the mercies of God. . . .How can any believer not offer all he or she has, sexual drives, artistic talents, professional interests, even sorrows, offer all he or she is, along with all of creation, as a living, passionately smoking sacrifice up to the Lord.13

2. Views of spheres:

The authors of At Work and Play explore how a holistic Christian worldview should make a difference in student life, education, sports, sociology, politics, arts, science, technology, journalism, and psychology.

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3. On Athletics:

“The quality of our play should be an attractive sign-post that directs and entic es others to the richness of God’s Kingdom. Our play should be imaginative, hilarious, creative expressions of thanksgiving to our good Father” (AWP 56).14

Call to a Kingdom vision for every vocation:

Amy Sherman has most recently written an insightful and practical book on stewarding every vocation with a Kingdom mentality and as service to the Lord. She calls professions, “skilled service.” Here is how Romanowski spoke about our service in the Kingdom in All of Life Redeemed:

We are servants of the King of all creation; this must be reflected in everything we do. What is more, Christians are those to whom the task of restoration has been given. . . .His people merely live obediently by his grace, relying on the direction of the Holy Spirit to restore what has deteriorated. Before the completion of His Kingdom, He will return to add the finishing touches. (108)15

James Davison Hunter captures this whole concept of Kingdom living with this phrase, “faithful presence.” But he adds importantly, that it is impossible to be faithfully present in such a way as to change the world without intimate communion with a local gospel-centered church.

Believe in the Holy Spirit:

As Spurgeon ascended the stairs to the pulpit at the Metropolitan Tabernacle he said, “I believe in the Holy Spirit; every Christian should do every task in his job, family and social service with the same conscious reliance. When we show up to be faithfully present, we must expect that the Holy Spirit indwelling us will do something.”

Emphasize strengths rather than focus on weaknesses

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Carter Lindberg, Reformation scholar: “the perennial human tendency is to devalue what is close at hand and seek to do something extraordinary.”16 Luther’s reprimand of Frederick the Wise for neglecting administrative duties to do devotional exercises. “People did not want to fulfill mundane God-given tasks such as being a parent, but rather devised their own tasks, such as celibacy, which they thought would please God and make them holy.” Luther validated and dignified the most mundane duties as acts of priestly service to God: “the father washing smelly diapers, the maid sweeping the floor, the brewer making good beer.”17

Guide others toward merciful applications of their calling

While most who have revived a Reformed view of vocation develop very clearly what it means to “walk humbly with God,” few expressly address the rest of Micah’s exhortation to “do justly and to love mercy.” Tom Nelson is the only one I’ve seen who devotes a chapter to touching these themes called “Work and the Common Good,” in his 2011 book Work Matters.18 That does not mean it is absent; it is just unstated. For instance, most of Sherman’s portraits of what it means to be a kingdom steward of one’s vocation includes an example of practical merciful or just service to another human being. Hunter is similar and so are many of the examples in All of Life Redeemed or At Work and Play. For instance, the main example of doing sports with a Kingdom mindset was a coach of a championship team loaning one of his players to another team so that the understaffed team would not have to forfeit.

Work toward justice for disenfranchised to answer their call

The earliest Reformers were also humanists in the best sense of the word. They wanted everyone to learn to read, get an education, and learn a trade, not just to evangelize them, but also so that they would flourish as human beings. William Tyndale was a prime example. This is the way one of his biographers described his revolutionary vision and career:

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After his studies were completed, Tyndale left Oxford to become a chaplain in the home of Sir John Walsh, a wealthy English knight. His primary duty in the Walsh home was to tutor Sir John’s children. As part of their instruction, he used Erasmus’ Enchiridion Militi Christiani (The Christian Soldier’s Handbook) which he translated into English. This short treatise was a handbook of Christian life and faith and one of the duties prescribed for Christians in that book was the reading and study of the Word of God. Some of the other priests in Tyndale’s area were very disturbed that these sorts of things were being taught to children. . .He was even brought before the local bishop on charges of heresy, but he was released with a warning.

But William Tyndale would not be silent about the Word of God. He began to preach from the Scriptures in the villages around the Walsh home. He was insisting that the Bible should be given to the people in English, that it should be explained to them, and that they should learn how to read it. One bishop named John Bell told Tyndale that it would be better for the people to be without God’s law, as long as they had the pope’s law. This was Tyndale’s famous response: “I defy the pope and his laws! If God spares my life, in a few years a plow boy shall know more of the Scriptures than you do.”

Booker T. Washington’s autobiography: “In Washington I saw girls whose mothers were earning their living by laundrying. These girls were taught by their mothers, in rather a crude way it is true, the industry of laundrying. Later, these girls entered the public schools and remained there perhaps six or eight years. When the public school course was finally finished, they wanted more costly dresses, more costly hats and shoes. In a word, while their wants had been increased, their ability to supply their wants had not been increased in the same degree. On the other hand, their six or eight years of book education had weaned them away from the occupation of their mothers. The result of this was in too many cases that the girls went to the bad. I often thought how much wiser it would have been to give these girls the same amount of mental training - and I favour any kind of training, whether in the languages or mathematics, that gives strength and culture to the mind - but at the same time to give them the most thorough training in the latest and best methods of laundrying and other kindred occupations.”19

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Teach them that the cultural mandate is not a substitute for the Great Commission or a holy life.

Without a conscious focus on doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with our God as means of restoring human beings made in the image of God to a relationship with the Father through personal commitment to Jesus Christ, this approach to vocation and calling will devolve into an excuse for indulgence and compromise (e.g. God delights in anything I do). Within a generation, Abraham Kuyper’s son was compromising with the Nazis, justifying his cowardly road as being “wise as a serpent.” By divorcing his worldview from his father’s primary commitment to Scripture and obedience through the Holy Spirit, he lost sight of gospel-centered service to Christ and others. When living is separated from a humble and grateful submission to Christ, justice and mercy fall to the wayside. One also loses a distinction between good and evil, believing that the God who gives all things for our enjoyment also calls all things good indiscriminately and therefore only affirms whatever we choose to indulge in.

Discerning a call to the gospel ministry

• Treasuring our own calling

• Helping others discern theirs

Harry Krieg, the former president and CEO of Cass Bank, used to be a member of Covenant Church where I pastored. I suspect he has gone to be with the Lord. When he became president of Cass, no one on his board was a Christian but he made it clear that he would be operating by Christian principles and developing a Christian culture. All the while, this brilliant businessman also made sure their work was done excellently and that they made a reasonable profit. Eventually not only was the company transformed, so was the board. While he was president, Cass’s Christian witness was born overtly in their official documents as well as their annual reports. They made a lot of money in their particular niche of commercial banking but they also gave a lot away with a view toward helping the poor, the elderly and the

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disenfranchised.

In the 1990s, Harry began an aggressive campaign to loan money to evangelical churches for building programs. Churches are only second to restaurants in being the poorest risks. But Harry set up a division which did nothing but serve churches. Before a church could receive a loan it had to demonstrate integrity to its vision and a sound financial solvency plan. If the church did not have such, they would not help them. They were especially aggressive in helping poor and minority churches. When someone asked Harry publicly why he was doing such a crazy thing he answered with an explanation that was even crazier to utilitarian businessmen, “I want there to be enough churches for doing gospel ministry should God send a revival.”

Once he related to me the speech he gave to a new bank that he acquired. He informed them that the same Christian culture established in St. Louis would be implemented at the new bank. A Bible study would be offered but not required every morning. And while no one would be coerced into becoming a Christian, those enjoying the privileges and benefits of working in the coming would respect Christian mores relative to marriage and substances. He explicitly stated that he would not tolerate active homosexual lifestyles or cohabitation. When I asked incredulously, “Are you not afraid you will get sued?” He said, “Jesus saved me when I was seventeen years old. I was so thrilled that I told him that whatever opportunities he gave me I would speak for him. I did not condition it by, ‘If I am not sued.’ I would rather be sued here than experience his disappointment at the Judgment Day.”

I have never met a more contagious, courageous, or consistent Christian businessman who did business excellently while advancing the Kingdom of God. Did I mention that he also earned a seminary degree while president of the company! Harry was an ordinary man who gave his life (not just his heart) to Jesus and wanted the flag of Christ to be planted on everything and every person he had access to. That was his prayer and the Conquering Lamb of Revelation 5 answered it!

I don’t think he knew this one, but Harry would have agreed with David Brainerd’s prayer: “God, let me make a difference for you that is utterly disproportionate to who I

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am.”

Life-Work Reflections:

Summarize what you have learned about Vocation & Calling and record questions you have for your particular situation.

1. In your view of work, which error do you tend to fall into (Catholic or Protestant)?

2. In what ways do you find yourself undermining your gifts or others’ gifts within your local church?

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3. Do you find yourself possessing a “sacred - secular dichotomy” perspective?

4. What are some of your strengths that you have identified?

5. How might your current / potential vocation be used to advance the Kingdom of God in the world?

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Study 12

My grandparents survived two world wars and the Great Depression of the 1930’s. My grandfather was grateful for any work as it helped him and his family to survive. Today’s modern and western person envisions self-actualization as a result of their work. This is how they measured happiness.

I am going to suggest from this study that the center of work must be JOY. This is an outlandish assertion, but I believe a Biblical understanding of life and work leads us to conclude this. I am sure you would be shocked to see someone standing on the street corner with a sign scribbled on a piece of cardboard saying “Will work for joy.” This actually should be our aim and working in a God-centered way can lead to joy. The problem is that most people don’t aspire to this or believe this to be true or right.

Andy Crouch, author of Culture Making, says, “Modern People insist that Work be fruitful and fulfilling, that it fits our talents and dreams, and that our lives do something amazing for the world. In reality, we spend a great deal of time wrestling with the futility of our work and its lack of productivity and/or engagement. It could be that a great deal of our disappointment about work is tied to holding to a distorted view of work and God’s purposes for it.”20

Video: Tammy Moreau This study includes a video; visit www.callingproject.org or refer to the iBook.

Why do you work?

The Meaning of Work & What Makes it MeaningfulEveryone’s work is driven by inner motivation. It could be financial reward, status, compliments, or personal satisfaction. What should the central motivation for our work be? No doubt the heart must be engaged since we know from the Bible and personal experience that we cannot maintain excellence and consistency in our work without satisfactory motives.

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Contemporary American author of Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand, explains her modern philosophy about men and work: “My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity and reason as his only absolute.”21 Rand points out that work is a means to exalt man by discovering some happiness from his work that will give him purpose for his life. This doesn’t align with what God says about work.

Essentially, people work for two basic reasons, which are really the two main reasons people attend college. People work (or prepare for work):

1. To get somewhere (for Significance)

2. To experience something (for Validation)

So what is the purpose of your work? There exists a work behind all work that not only motivates but also aims our ideas, efforts, and energies in a direction. Our work is shaped by both the ideas and aims in our minds and the hidden drives in our hearts. Often times, we attain a distorted view of work. The following are some of the ways we distort the meaning of work:

Distorted Views of Work

1. Romanticizing about Work.

This happens more when we are thinking about the perfect job or the perfect context for work. The phrase “the grass is greener on the other side” applies to marriage and to jobs. This “dreaming” is about a job that will not only bring us personal fulfillment and extraordinary benefits and compensation, but also will not include the “thorns and thistles” of setbacks and disappointments that are so regularly a part of our own work experience. Needless to say that those who have actual work experience are well aware that the perfect job does not exist.

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Ecclesiastes 2:18-26 points out the reality of disappointment and frustration related to work:

I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity. There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

Additionally, the writer of Ecclesiastes points out that it is difficult to be assured of a lasting impact on the world from your work. Seeking to find purpose from the work itself is living “under the sun” rather than recognizing that our purposes and our fulfillment is found in connecting our lives beyond what is earthly to that which is divine and eternal (Ecclesiastes 12: 13). The wisdom literature points us to both the futility of life apart from God and the hope that all of life, our pleasures, relationships, knowledge, pursuits, and even work can be redeemed.

2. A dualistic view of work.

This idea is readily attributed to Plato, who thought that the body was evil and base and that the soul would live apart from the body after death. The implications of this thinking on work lead us to conclude that contemplation and a cessation of activity is of greater value than effort and activity. After the industrial revolution, working class

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people began to take “holiday” and “vacation” from work as they sought to replicate the lifestyle of the aristocrats and wealthy class who had money and time for such activities. This view of leisure shifted from “recreation,” which was generally accepted as part of the judeo-christian concept of rest and renewal (re-creating as it were). Entertainment and amusement began to shape leisure activities, which were driven more as escapes from the burdens and difficulties of work. This elevation of leisure also grew out of this dualistic understanding of work.

These ideas of the nature of body and soul, as well as the interplay between work and leisure, have shaped our Western and modern ideas about work more than we will admit. The reformation gospel movement in the West brought a God-centered view of life back to the center of our experience. God has a purpose for our work. God has a purpose for our rest. God has a purpose for our interests and hobbies. God has a purpose for our bodies. God has a purpose for all of life. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “and whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Our lives, and especially our work, are to be about bringing God’s glory to the world.

3. A Utilitarian View of Work.

Os Guinness points out in The Call that the protestant reformation brought great understanding of God’s purpose for work. He also points out that it wasn’t long before words like vocation and calling were replaced with job and career and the idea that work was a vehicle to accomplish what God wants done in the world was reduced to a means to an end. That end usually led to “position and prestige or money and possessions” as the goal, rather than stewardship to God.22

I travel a lot, and plane flights create a forced, awkward intimacy. Within a few minutes, you find your personal space being invaded by strangers. Most introductions go this way, “What is your name?” followed by the next obligatory nicety “Where are you from?” By the third question, most Americans are determining what they think about the person seated next to them. Usually that question is “What do you do?” This question is loaded with opportunity to size up the value and importance of the person you are seated next to and often determines if your new best friend will ask further

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questions or will turn back and stare at the back of the seat in front or bury themselves in a book or the newspaper.

Our culture puts a great deal of value on titles, and productivity, and the prestige that is associated with a job. The basis of this emphasis is rooted in the need for many to find personal significance and meaning from the value of the work they do. Is it wrong to want your work to be meaningful? Of course it is not. But the problem becomes a problem when work is reduced to a mirror of our worth and value based on its prestige or productivity. Rick Warren has said, “Americans have a way of reducing others to Human-doings, while we were designed to be Human-beings.” A utilitarian view of work eventually leads to a distortion of both the purpose and productivity of work.

4. Work is cursed.

Doesn’t the Bible teach that work is cursed? If so, then it is easy to see that we loathe it, and if we are honest, seek to avoid it as much as we can, the same way we seek to avoid poison ivy! The Bible does say that man’s rebellion has led to God cursing our work. It is true that following the fall, God cursed our work and our relationships. In this, our marriage, child raising, and our work were cursed in that we would not be able to find ultimate fulfillment in them apart from God redeeming and renewing our work and our relationships.

In Genesis 3:23, after Man’s rejection of God and His plan, work is reinstated as man’s basic calling: “Therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.” While it is clear that work was going to not only be frustrating and disappointing (Genesis 3: 15-24), it is equally clear that a greater purpose remains for our work.

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Reviewing the Story of Creation:

The Story of Redemption

Before preceding forward, it may be helpful to review the creation /redemption narrative to remind us where work and calling fits into the greater story. Genesis 1: 27-28 / Genesis 3:16

Design - Man was created to work as a partner with God to advance His purposes on the earth. This work was to be purposeful and enjoyable.

Fall – Man disobeyed God by turning from God to seek purpose and enjoyment apart from Him. God’s curse to mankind was frustration and disappointment in relationships and work.

Redemption – God promises a redeemer who will restore our relationship that we lost in the fall and our place of service with God. The center of our work is to be joy.

Through many throbbing trials, I have discovered that work or painful circumstances themselves cannot rob us of joy. Only idols can. Joylessness in the crucible of ache happens when we lose (or are losing) something we think we need to be truly happy---something that “makes us.” When we are complete in Christ we understand that He is all we need. – Tullian Tchividjian, Glorious Ruins23

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Identifying the Problems in our Work.

Work can never rob us of our joy. Only idols can. So many of our frustrations, disappointments, and struggles with work grow from the brokenness in us, around us, and for us. The source of most of our issues are:

1. Problems within us. We are sinful, insecure, fearful, suspicious, angry and bitter. We bring this into our work and it impacts both our productivity as well as our relationships.

2. Problems around us. Every person we share space with in the workplace is also dealing with these same broken and empty desires. This drives us toward blaming others or isolating ourselves.

3. Problems for us. This world and the evil that comes from spiritual realms and their cross purposes against the purposes of God lay traps for us that lead to great complexities and hurts.

My daughter has grown up a normal teenage girl, longing for the attention of a special boy to make her feel complete. This is normal and part of the process we all go through to learn about how to value and commit in relationships. She was sad over the fact that things had not turned out in her favor with a particular boy. I reminded her that months’ earlier she told him she was not interested in a relationship, but right now, she was “aching” and that aching was impacting her ability to focus on her studies and work. I wrote her a note about “the ache.”

I want to remind you again, as I did with another ‘puppy love’ break-up several years ago, that the feelings that you are now having are more about “how God has made you” than about this particular boy/setback. I am reminding you of this because in a short time you will have moved on from caring about this boy, but the ache will follow you going forward. I know right now you assume that these feelings you are having are about this boy and so you feel sad that you may not associate with him in the future. Trust me, your deep feelings are more about the deeper longing you have to be

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loved and accepted without fear of losing that love. This means your heart is aching more about a longing that only God can supply than the longing that this boy this month seems to offer. Your feelings are really about your desire to be someone who is “loved as a special someone” than just you are feeling strongly about “this boy.” I think it is important to separate this because otherwise you will believe the notion that there will be someone coming along in the future who will replace that “ache” with a permanent love that will satisfy your heart. The truth is, God has designed us to only be satisfied /at peace / joyful when His love satisfies that deep ache and longing we have. Other earthly relationships, while also a gift from God, exist as reminders and extensions of God’s love to us, never as replacements of his love. Rather than wishing these feelings to go away, turn to God and say “thank you for making me with a longing to be loved unconditionally. Give me the grace and peace to accept your love as all I need to be healthy and happy.” This is how real healing starts and this is how deep joy is found. By the way, let me also remind you that this boy is a boy and not a man. He doesn’t deserve much of your emotional attention until he grows up anyway! Love, Dad

This is precisely what Hebrews 12 tells us to do whether we are dealing with idols in our relationships or idols in our work. The difficulty in experiencing joy comes from our lack of willingness to embrace our Savior who makes all of our life joyful when we turn to Him and receive the grace He offers us in that particular circumstance. Hebrews 12:2-says we are to “Fix our eyes on Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who, for the joy set before Him, endured the cross.” This will bring us the Joy we long for in our work and through our work.

Finding Hope and Joy for our Work through the Gospel- From Every Good Endeavor

In his book Every Good Endeavor, Tim Keller points out that our call to be a Christian in the workplace is deeper than just moral or even missional purposes. He says, “To be a Christian in business, then, means much more than just being honest or not sleeping

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with your coworkers. It even means more than personal evangelism or holding a Bible study at the office. Rather, it means thinking out the implications of the gospel worldview and God’s purpose for your whole work life – and for the whole of the organization under your influence.”24

Tim Keller is saying that we can find hope and joy for our work through the gospel. He points out these four pathways to joy in our work, explaining how the gospel changes our approach to work and leads us to experience God’s purposes for our work. We experience true joy as we learn to worship God through approaching our work from a gospel-centered way. This happens in four ways:

1. The gospel provides an alternative storyline for our work. (We have a different Vision)

2. Christianity gives us a rich conception of work as partnering with God in his care for the world. (We have a different Motivation)

3. The gospel gives us a moral compass through sound ethical guidelines to help us make good decisions that benefit and protect ourselves, others, and our futures. (Our work is guided by a direction and assurance)

4. The gospel changes our motivation for work, fills us with a new and durable inner power to serve God and others, and enables us to remain faithful. (Our work should deliver us from our idols)25

Conclusion

Everyone’s work is driven by inner motivation. It could be financial reward, status, compliments, or personal satisfaction. God’s design for work is that the center of our work must be JOY! When we partner with God, we learn how to let go of our idolatry associated with our work and to work in His strength and for His smile. This gives us the perspective we need to find joy in the achievement as well as the frustration and disappointment of our work. Colossians 3:23-24 says, “Whatever you do, work with all your heart, as working for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of your inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom we serve.”

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Life-Work reflection and discussion.

1. Which one of the distorted views of work has affected your motivation and enjoyment of your work? (romanticizing work, dualistic view, utilitarian view, or the view that says work is cursed)

2. How is your view of work affecting your approach to work or your ability to find joy in your work?

3. What fears or “aches” are you experiencing in your life that are impacting both your relationships and your work in the workplace?

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4. In what ways are those “aches” tied to the work you are doing and what is tied to your relationships or the working environment?

5. For further study, read the book of Ecclesiastes and record verses that reference our work in relation to God’s purposes for our lives. What insights does this give you on both your frustrations and disappointments as well as how you should deal with your workplace problems?

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Obviously, making a difference involves more than just finding the right “fit” for a place

to serve. It also means more than just finding a job you enjoy or find “fulfilling.” God’s

call involves understanding our fit, and it involves understanding where to find joy and

fulfillment in our work and from our work. Ultimately, calling is more than just fit and

fulfillment. Calling is about understanding in a deeper way that God has designed us into the

people He wants us to be to do the work He wants to do through us. We are being prepared

for these good works and the places of service God has in store for us. Also, God has sent us

into the world as agents of positive change. Our design, preparation, and commission are all

contributors to fulfilling God’s call.

We have looked at Design in Study #5. Our abilities (natural design) and gifts (spiritual

enablement) are clues to how we go about making a difference for Christ. In Study #6 we

looked at God’s process for developing us and growing us into people who can make a

difference for Christ. This maturation process involves: 1) God’s word, 2) God’s Spirit, 3)

Disciplers and mentors who provide examples and insight, and 4) our experiences. Part of

how we make a difference in the world is through our mature Christ-like Character. As God

is growing us and transforming us more and more into the image of Christ, He is also using

us in the lives of others and in the work we are doing. So, how do you do bring change?

In Kingdom Calling, Amy Sherman says, “King Jesus is on a mission to bring restoration in

every sphere of society and has invited His followers to join Him in this Kingdom-advancing

work.” Disciples of Christ do not go to work to ‘Win’ the culture wars, but to bring cultural

shalom to the brokenness in the world.”26

Video: Bi l l Pearson This study includes a video; visit www.callingproject.org or refer to the iBook.

James Davidson Hunter, in To Change the World, reflects on the changing contemporary

Being an Agent of Positive Change in the Workplace

Study 13

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challenges that Western Christians are facing:

While the gospel is spreading rapidly in the Global South (Asia, Africa, and

South America), the West is growing in secularism, pluralism, and diversity.

Growing urbanization has weakened the influence of Christianity in the centers

of life and influence. Where Christianity was mostly marginalized in the public

square in the last fifty years, in recent days Christian ideals and people are

looked at it with suspicion. The Christian voice is being muted in the public

square as the Church in the west continues to wrestle with how to engage our

neighbors and our cities with the gospel. Is this gospel still “GOOD NEWS”?

Is the love of Christ more powerful than the new tolerance and new political

correctness that asserts that the exclusivity of Christianity is what makes

it dangerous? How do we make a difference in today’s changing world and

workplace?27

Hunter presents an incarnational approach to ministry he calls “Faithful Presence.”

His insight is calling the church “into the fullness of the culture to bear the fullness

of the gospel.” This emphasis has also been called “integrating faith and work.”

It is not just about ethics or evangelism but about an emphasis on “institutional

transformation” as we work as interior designers, engineers, electricians, accountants,

and teachers. We are to work differently in each sphere with a different vision in mind

for the work we do.

This is the vision Paul paints in Colossians 1: 15-18 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all

things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones

or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for

him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the

head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in

everything he might be preeminent. - Colossians 1:15-18 (ESV)

There are at least three principles that Paul brings out in explaining the Incarnation

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we received from Jesus and the incarnational lifestyle we are to live.

1. We are to Worship God in the World.

2. We are to Disciple the World.

3. We are to Win the World.

1. Worship God in the World. This might seem like a strange way to influence the world. We have come to believe

that Worship is a “Sacred” or “Spiritual” activity. We have also heard that the

separation of Church and State is the best thing for the Church and the State. Some

men like Mark Twain and Ben Franklin have warned us to avoid being too “Heavenly

minded or we will be no earthly good.” This subtly teaches us that you worship on

Sunday, work during the week, and play on the weekends. This is not the biblical

concept of worship or work. It is vital to be reminded that work matters to God and God matters to work.

Work matters to God. The word “glory” conveys the idea of beauty. As we do good

and faithful work, we reflect God’s character and unleash his beauty. When we unleash

beauty, people see God or at least see that we see God as we work with excellence and

toward beauty. Our work is a way to worship God. Our work has intrinsic value and

can demonstrate God’s character when we do our work well. Faith and work are to be

seamless. Work is an expression of our life in Christ.

Martin Luther mused over the idea that God cares for the world through our work.

In Psalm 145, God says that He takes care of the earth and the people on the earth.

Luther, in his writings on Vocation, says that God is taking care of cities and people

as work is being done in the world. Public safety, adequate health care, parenting, and

being a good neighbor are all an expression of how God is taking care of the world.

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These acts of kindness are what Luther calls “God in disguise,” loving, serving, and

providing for His world. Luther goes on to say that God makes a city secure by good

neighbors and good institutions that ensure the welfare of its citizens. This means that

there is no menial work to God. Jesus did not come as just a philosopher and teacher.

He was a carpenter, a builder who worked with his hands. Work matters to God and is

an opportunity for worship.

God matters to work. We are called to worship God at all times and in every

circumstance and situation. Between the tensions that exist in our work, we are still to

worship God. Work is often frustrating and disappointing. Sometimes it is purposeful

and enjoyable. But in the midst of all the experiences of work, we are to worship God.

Worshipping God in our work frees us from our idols that rob us of the God-honoring

purposes he has given us for our work. Idolatry is a reflection that we are moving

toward comfort and selfishness rather than worship. Worship always leads us toward

need and service.

Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, was originally a physician who eventually became one of the

most prolific preachers and writers in England. He once said about physicians,

There are many whom I have had the privilege of meeting whose tombstones

might well bear the grim epitaph…born a man, died a doctor. It is one thing to

profess we believe in salvation by grace. It is another thing to apply this belief

in the workplace. All too often our identity is tethered to our performance.

Instead of worship, we are often working for validation and this leads to

disappointment and frustration rather than joy and thankfulness.28

A good indicator of your worshipful attitude at work is this: are you able to count all

things joy and to be thankful to God no matter what you face in your work? James

1: 2-4 says, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for

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you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness

have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” 1

Thessalonians 5:18 says, “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in

Christ Jesus for you.” When you lack thankfulness, it is an indicator that you are not

worshipping in your work.

To use Hunter’s phrase, “faithful presence” is really about experiencing His presence

with us in our work. To illustrate this, think about this extension chord as both a

source of power and of our need for power. Our hearts need power all day long to live

for Christ and speak with humility and to display the fruits of the Holy Spirit. When

fear, anger, confusion, or frustration bubble up in our hearts, we must view these

emotions as God’s invitations to us to worship. These emotions are indications that

some part of our heart is not plugged into God’s love, sovereign power, or faithful

promises. We should at the least admit that we need reassurance, if not admit that

we must repent and turn from trusting in something or someone other than God

for our happiness. Worship takes place when we intentionally declare to God that

we will hope in Him, look to Him, and honor Him, regardless of the source of our

disappointment and frustration. This is how God often comes to us and shows us his

covenant love and care. Don’t let anyone tell you to separate your worship from your

work. WORSHIP GOD IN THE WORLD. It is the first key to making a difference for

Christ. Remember that Calling is not just about the coming of the Kingdom progress.

It is also about Covenant nearness.

2. Disciple the World.Colossians 1 implies that we must Disciple the World. This is a phrase we usually

reserve for Christians. After evangelism, when unbelievers are led to Christ, we speak

of “Discipling” them. I am using this phrase to understand how we are to make a

difference for Christ in the world. Colossians 1 says, “All things were created by Him

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and for Him. He is before all things and all things hold together in Him.” We are

called to “teach” or “disciple” the world in the understanding that God is the author of

all things and He has created the world for His purposes. We are also called to teach

the world that when God’s creation is used properly, people flourish and live in joy

and fulfillment.

No doubt Matthew 28:18-20 comes to mind when talking about discipling the world,

since the phrase is actually used in the passage, “Go make disciples of all nations,

baptizing and teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you. And I will

be with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Matthew 13:24-30 is a parable about discipling the world:

He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.

We are sent into the world, and while we are on mission, we are not told by Jesus that

evil will be nonexistent. Instead, we are told that we are not to separate ourselves,

and that Christ will overcome evil in His power. We are told to GROW TOGETHER.

This is an insight into what it means to disciple the world. We are to grow together

with rebellious people. We are to grow together in broken places in our cities. We

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are to grow together with those who do not respect God and do not seem interested

in following God. We are not to separate from the world but to grow together. As we

do, God will use us to disciple the world and teach the world not only what God has

planned for our lives, but also the way we should speak to one another, treat one

another, and care for one another.

This concept calls us to make cities, neighborhoods, businesses, spheres, and systems

to flourish. In Matthew 13:33, Jesus uses the picture of kneading bread with leaven

so that in time, the small influence will become more pervasive. This means our

discipleship of the world will require more thinking, more wrestling, more dreaming,

and more time, as we seek to be a gospel influence in a broken world.

Abraham Kuyper called this “Sphere Sovereignty.”29 The familiar hymn, “This is my

Father’s World,” reflects this idea:

“This is my Father’s world and to my listening ears, All nature sings and

round me rings the music of the spheres.

This is my Father’s world; He shines in all that’s fair. In the rustling grass

I hear Him pass, He speaks to me everywhere.

This is my Father’s world, Oh let me neer forget That though the

wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.”30

Martin Luther and John Calvin differ slightly in applying this idea, though they

generally agree with Kuyper. Luther called disciples in the workplace to be faithful

and in so doing they made a difference on those they worked with and on the world.

Calvin called disciples to be strategic and to think about how to maximize systems and

processes to meet more needs. Both Calvin and Luther grasped the implications of

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what it meant to live out our call to bless the world through our work.

In Martin Luther King Jr.’s writings, nothing discouraged him more than Christian

pastors opposing the movement of civil rights. He understood that hatred, racism

and fear among the populace had led pastors to be silent on this issue. When he was

arrested in Birmingham, some pastors wrote that “he had no business being there.

This was not his hometown.” King, in “Letters from a Birmingham Jail,” wrote, “I am

here because I was asked by the leadership of the SCLC in Birmingham to join them.

But beyond that, I am here in Birmingham because injustice is here. I am here because

no pastor in this city would speak up for basic rights that even our constitution

promises.” We disciple the world when are faithful.

The movie Chariots of Fire is the true story of Eric Liddell, an Olympian who ran for

England in the 1924 Olympics. Liddell’s sister urged him to give up running and to

go to China as a missionary. His famous quote, “When God made me, he made me

fast. And when I run I feel his pleasure”31 became a recognizable quote from the

movie as it won an Academy Award. The movie depicts his refusal to run a race on the

Sabbath that kept him from winning both the 100 and 200 meter dash. What people

do not know about Liddell is that he eventually did go to China after winning a gold

medal at the Olympics. While in China, he struggled to identify how to engage the

people in mission. Eventually, he decided to teach the youth sports, which proved to

be a tremendous connection point among the people of the village. His missionary

experience reminds us that we disciple the world not only by our faithfulness, but also

by being strategic and using the knowledge and skills we have attained. God never

wastes any abilities or talents; he uses them to use to advance his work through us.

3. Win the World. Paul says our lives are to “declare His preeminence.” We are to declare that He is most

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beautiful. We are to declare that He is worthy of all praise. We are to declare that His

love conquers all. Jesus told the woman at the well, “if you knew the gift of God and

who it is who asks you for a drink , you would ask Him and he would give you living

water” (John 4). If they only knew. Romans 10 says they can only know if we tell them:

“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they

to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without

someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?” (Romans 10:

14-15).

I don’t think anyone doubts that the 2nd Greatest Commandment is to “Love your

neighbor.” But what does it mean to love your neighbor? Is this just with deeds of

service? What about words? Our words and our deeds are inseparable. To love them

by our life means we must love them with our deeds and our words.

Jesus had a simple strategy to change the world. He calls his disciples to love their

families, to love their neighbors, and to love their enemies. Love is the most powerful

force in the universe. Love those who are arrogant. Love those who think they are

better than you. Love those who ask for help. Love those who ignore you. Love is

Jesus’ strategy for winning the world.

So how do we love? In Matthew 5, Jesus illustrates this love by saying, “if you are

required to carry a soldier’s pack for one mile, carry it a second-mile.” We could call

this “second-mile love.” In first century Rome, a Jew was required to carry a soldier’s

pack up to one mile. A soldier was not allowed to ask a Jew to carry his pack more

than a mile. Jesus is saying that we should go beyond the cultural expectations when

we serve. When a soldier asks you to carry his pack, insist on carrying the 2nd mile.

During that second mile, you can explain to Him why you are so motivated to carry his

pack. During that 2nd mile, he will see you are motivated in a different way and in all

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likelihood will ask why you would carry his pack farther than you are required. That’s

when you tell him, as Peter says, of “the hope that is within you” (1 Peter 3:15). The

saying, “Preach the gospel; use words when necessary” has been attributed to Francis

of Assisi. There is no direct record he said this, though it sounds pretty persuasive and

probably in many ways sounds like an easier approach than being overly extroverted

or aggressive. Though this sounds disarming, less offensive, and politically correct, it

does not reflect the truth about the gospel. Tim Keller writes this,

I can’t ultimately be an example of the gospel. I can love others but the gospel

is not about what I have done. I can’t model the gospel, or this would imply

the gospel is a work we can do. The gospel is about the work Christ has done

for us. It is not about something I do. So I must speak the gospel to explain to

others what Christ has done for them.32

“The Gospel and the Poor” by Tim Keller

(for full article visit: http://thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/article/the_gospel_and_the_poor)

So where do you start? Here are a few suggestions. At lunch, sit with other people.

Visit them. Offer to help them with yard work or find out what they are interested in

and join them in their interests. Invite them to join you in your interests.

Once, Sandra was discipling a young woman who was pouting because other girls

were being asked out on dates and she wasn’t. She walked around with a frown, trying

to figure out why she didn’t get asked out, while others did. Over time, finally Sandra

said to her, “you have no interests. You are not an interesting person. Interesting

people are people with interests. When you discover your interests you will discover

that more people share your interests and want to know about them.”

This is a hard word to hear, but it is true. In fact, that young woman discovered her

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interests and eventually was married. Evangelism is the same way. Evangelistic

people have interests and they become interested in others. Eventually, they find

opportunities to speak of the hope that is within them. They seek out others and tell

them that the only hope in this life or the life to come is God.

Conclusion.

1 Peter 2:9 is a verse that is used to explain that every believer has a role in advancing

God’s work in the world: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,

a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who

called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

We are called to: 1. WORSHIP GOD IN THE WORLD, so serve like a priest in the places of service you

are called to.

2. DISCIPLE THE WORLD, so think and plan like a king to advance His work in the

world.

3. WIN THE WORLD, so proclaim the gospel like a prophet as you speak of the Hope

for this life and the life to come.

Our calling is toward God’s open arms - his love, sovereign power, and faithful promises. We should at the least admit that we need reassurance, if not admit that we must repent and turn from trusting in something or someone other than God for our happiness. Worship takes place when we intentionally declare to God that we will hope in Him and look to Him and honor Him regardless of whatever is the source of our disappointment and frustration. This is often how God comes to us and shows us his covenant love and care. Don’t let anyone tell you to separate your worship from your work. WORSHIP GOD IN THE WORLD. It is the first key to making a difference for Christ. Remember that Calling is not just about the coming of the Kingdom. It is

also about Covenant nearness.

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Life-Work reflection and discussion.

Vocational Discussions by Amy L. Sherman, Ph.D. Author,33 1. What is the purpose of our particular calling?

How does our work in this vocational sphere participate in God’s ongoing sustaining

of His creation?

How does our work in this vocational sphere participate in God’s gracious work of

restraining evil and corruption in the world?

How does our work in this vocational sphere participate in God’s work to renew and

redeem all things?

Consider writing together a 2-4 sentence “purpose statement” for your vocational

calling.

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2. What cultural goods do we create in this profession? Through our profession, are we

creating and cultivating cultural goods that have a chance of furnishing the Kingdom?

3. What are the opportunities inherent in our vocational calling?

How can we act as “cultivators” in/through this vocational sphere? That is, how can

we, in our sphere, “create the conditions for good things to survive and thrive?” And

what weeding do we need to do—“sorting out what does and does not belong?”

What are the Kingdom foretastes (e.g. beauty, wholeness, justice, reconciliation) that

we in this vocation particularly have opportunities to advance?

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4. What are the challenges inherent in our vocational calling?

In what specific ways has the corruption introduced into the world by the Fall affected

our vocation?

Are there dangerous ideologies (i.e., potentially harmful in the sense of not promoting

flourishing) percolating within our vocational sphere?

5. What disciplines must we practice faithfully in our vocational sphere in order to

serve with excellence? (for example, doctors keep up with medical research by reading

journals) How might we encourage one another practically in the faithful exercise of

these disciplines?

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6. What does a daily, functional dependence on God and His equipping Spirit look like

in the living-out of our vocational calling? In what ways can we intentionally embody

dependence on God in our daily work in our vocational sphere?

7. Where are there opportunities for us, in our particular vocation, to share power with

our coworkers? How and where can we “make room” for the creativity of others with

whom we work (just as God graciously makes room for us by allowing us to participate

in His work)?

8. What are the most important needs (in our local community, and globally) that

people with our vocational calling and power might uniquely address? Where might

we partner together more fully to see God’s mission brought to bear through the

deployment of our vocational power?

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9. Whom are we currently serving through our vocations? (Put differently, who

benefits from the ways in which we are currently deploying our vocational power?) Are

there people we are neglecting to serve...or communities that tend to be underserved

by professionals in our vocational sphere?

How might we advocate for reordered priorities at our places of employment in order

to extend our services to the underserved?

Look for further resources at www.callingproject.org You will find outlines, other

articles to read, and audio messages. 5

5 Mapping God’s plan for your life.

Life PLANChange

Work

Message

Style

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Living Out Your CallingYour Life-Plan is how you express your understanding of your Calling. Your Life-Plan is what you understand to be what God is currently revealing to you and how God is directing and shaping you presently. This means you must take a current assessment of what you know about the Life-Change, Life-Style, Life-Message, and Life-Work God has been leading you in. In this sense, your Life-Plan is a screen-shot of your present understanding of how God is calling you to live out your calling in the world.

Additionally, your Life-Plan includes a direction that is more than just a screen-shot but is a road map going forward. It is helpful to develop a short-run plan (1-2 years) and a longer plan (5 years). Developing a Life-Plan is not always a precise exercise, and in some ways, it is not that important that you end up exactly as you planned. What is important is that you have a direction to make decisions with as you navigate and maneuver through the Life-Challenges that come your way. Note that there is not a section on Life-Challenges but know that they exist in each of these developmental stages of your Life-Calling.

You should also view your Life-Plan template as your personal constitution to guide you when you need specific direction. At the same time, there will be times when the Lord gives you greater insight and you will need to make adjustments to what you had envisioned. This is part of God’s plan to direct and guide our lives. In this way, your Life-Plan becomes more of a living document that you are constantly updating and adjusting as you understand more of who you are and how God has wired you. I would suggest taking a day every six months and spending extended time in prayer and evaluation asking God to speak to you in what adjustments or affirmation you should make. 1 Thessalonians 5:24 is comforting as you finish this study: “Faithful is He who calls you, and he will bring it to pass.”

Direction Mapping God’s Plan

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100 years ago, our great grandparents had no real choice in what their vocational calling would be. If their father was a farmer, they were “destined” to be a farmer. If their father was cobbler, then they were “destined” to make shoes for a living. If they were a woman, they were “destined” to managing the house and having babies. Our grandparents had it only slightly better. Due to the World Wars, they had the option to stay on the farm, or go to war. But it was World War II and the Korean War that really paved the way for our parents to be some of the first to have options in what they would do with their lives. Our parents went to college in droves. They moved to the cities in droves, and with improvements to farming equipment, they were free to leave the fields.

Our parents who went to college did so with the hard-earned money of their parents and many of them worked their way through college. Most of them found jobs in nursing, teaching, technology, engineering, business, making use of their degrees. But now, we are in a generation that has mostly expected the right to attend college and believes that someone else should pay for it. We are in a generation that though they have more freedom than ever before to choose what to major in, waits longer to choose a major than any other generation. This generation needs help identifying or discovering what God’s plan is for their lives.

This process is best summed up in the following four stages: Reality, Recognize, Realize, and Repeat.

Reality Vs. Fantasy

A couple of months ago, I was talking with my parents about how they parented my brother and me. As we talked about how they perceived their parenting and how I perceived their parenting, one thing stuck out to me that seemed to give me an advantage over most of my classmates. It wasn’t something that my parents did on

Workshop #1 Planning for Life by Luke Niday

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purpose, but due to the circumstances and our persistent questioning, my parents told us more than they should have as kids. In one sense, you may say they treated us like adults. I can remember as a 10 year old being assigned the task of mowing our 1 acre of grass with a push mower. Sometimes, I would mow the grass and my dad would say “Good job son,” or would offer to take us to get an ice cream as a response to his gratefulness. Sometimes, I would mow the grass and would come back inside and my dad would say nothing or would mention how I had missed a certain spot. Other times, he would just talk about how good my brother and I had it, considering that all we had to do was mow the grass. At age 30, I asked him why he wasn’t a bit more consistent? In response, he said this: “I wasn’t consistent because in my work experience, I never found them to be very consistent. Sometimes people give you a pat on the back for doing a good job, sometimes you do everything right and no one even seems to notice, other times you do everything that you were supposed to just right and the boss just lets you have it.” The advantage that my dad gave us was that in school and in the workplace, we understood reality better than most of our peers.

What caused reality to become so cloudy for our generation? Maybe some would say we lowered the expectations in school. You only have to have a “B” average to get a full scholarship to college. Others may say the invention of the video game where you get chance after chance to find success without any consequences. Others might point to the fact that no matter whether you finished first or thirty-first, everyone got a trophy. Either way, many graduates are wandering into the American workforce like unexpected children walking into a hornets’ nest.

Graduates are walking off of the college campus expecting to get their dream job, expecting to make good money at a job that they will love. The problem is that this is not the reality that most graduates are running into. Most graduates are finding the job market difficult. They are finding their basic bachelor’s degrees barely setting them apart from a high school diploma. They are finding their paychecks registering much lower than they had dreamed of, and they are finding the work of a 40-50 hour work week to be more demanding than their college schedules. No matter the job, most college graduates are finding the first six months of transition to be difficult on multiple levels.

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As we start the process of determining God’s specific call on our lives, we first have to deal with the reality of the current job market. Here are several realities of the current market:

1) The degrees that were easy to obtain ( general studies, sociology, psychology, rhetoric, communications) generally don’t set you apart from High-school graduates.

2) Some kind of experience is key. Many employers are glad that you have your shiny new diploma, but they want to know if you can do the work that they are paying you to do. Those who have degrees in nursing, teaching, and medical degrees have an advantage as they have programs that require time in the job place. Others may gain an advantage by taking internships in their desired field.

3) On average, it is taking recent grads 3-6 months to find their first job out of college. On average, they are staying at that job just shy of 2 years.

4) The average worker holds 10 jobs before the age of 40. . Thinking that you are going to walk into that dream job right out of college seems to be a far-fetched thought in the current job market.

What does the Bible say about the ideas of reality and fantasy? I think somewhere in our American Christianity we believe that American Christians aren’t called to suffer. If we are having a hard time finding a job or the finances get tight, then we must be in some major sin; however, I don’t think that is the case. When God calls men and women of the Bible to live on mission, it is usually at a significant cost.

Jonah: Think about God’s call on Jonah’s life. It wasn’t a popular call; it wasn’t a safe call; it wasn’t to a safe neighborhood with a house with a white picket fence. Jonah was called to “go into the city of Ninevah and proclaim… ‘yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!’” (Jonah 2). Ninevah was not a popular place to go at that time. It would be the equivalent of being called to go to modern day Iran or Iraq. Who has ever dreamt about a call like that? If so, we probably would have done like Jonah and headed in the opposite direction.

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Abraham: Consider Abraham’s call from God: “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you” (Gen. 12:1). The reality of Abraham’s call was that God called him to leave the comfort of his home, leave the comfort of his relationships, and go to a place that God was going to show him later. Consider the uncertainty of this call and the faith in God that Abraham had to show to step out and follow God’s call on his life.

The Disciples: “And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed him” (Matt. 4:19). Later on, Jesus tells the disciples, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Matt. 8:20-22). The call that Jesus gave to the disciples was not an easy call, it wasn’t a comfortable call, it was a call to mission.

Nowhere in the Bible does God promise us that our Christian calling will be safe or that our call will lead us into comfort or an an easy life, but he does promise that he will gain much glory from us following the calling that he gives us. God doesn’t promise that our call will be pleasurable. He tells Isaiah in Isaiah 6 to “go and say to this people: keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive. Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts and turn and be healed.” Who wants to receive a calling like that? Go and preach a message that will be without fruit. The reality is that God’s call on our lives doesn’t promise safety, comfort, or even fruit, but he does promise that He will be with us. Genesis 15:1, “Fear not, Abraham, I am your shield; your very great reward.” Matthew 28:19-20, “go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Recognize who God has designed you to be

Once we have a grasp on the reality of God’s call on our lives and put away our fantasies, then we are ready to recognize clues to what God has already given us. You may have heard the old saying, “Hind-sight is 20/20.” It’s a true statement; you

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can usually see the past a bit more clearly than you can see the future. So, when you are trying to figure out keys to the future, it is often helpful to look into the past. As you look at your past, it may be helpful to take out a blank piece of paper, turn it horizontally, and on the left hand side of the page write birth and on the right hand side write today. As we go along and a piece of your past comes to mind, jot it down on your timeline. (You may look back at your answers to the questions on page 112,113,143-147 and other things you have already added to your timeline).

Six Categories to Evaluating your Calling:1

Experience vs. Experiences

We have already said that often times in the job market employers are looking for someone with experience. If you don’t have experience in the field that you are looking to enter into, it may be worth your while to do some volunteer work in that area, or get an entry level job in that field, even if you don’t need the extra money. As you think about your timeline, write down every job experience you have; this may range from volunteering as a 14-year old to the current job you have now. Experience may be key to employers, but as you look into God’s calling on your life, it may be the experiences that God has given you that give you clearer clues to your calling in life. In his book The Making of a Leader, Robert Clinton gives these categories of experiences: integrity check, temptation, conflict against vision, persecution, and loyalty restitution. Personally, as I began to pray and ask God for clarity on my personal calling a few years ago, it was through seeing how some of these experiences began to line up that I began to see a projection of what my future calling would be. A few years ago, I talked to a lady who had been teaching for 20 years. She had made her lesson plans 20 years ago and was still implementing them. She didn’t have 20 years of experience; she had 1 year of experience repeated 20 times. Many of our lives are similar.

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Education vs. Training

As we think about our future calling, we often look to our major in college as the foundation that defines our career path. According to a recent Washington Post article, only 27% of College grads are employed in a job related to their major.2 Education is important, but if you are looking at discovering your career path, you may find more help charting the other training that you have received. This training may be skills that you have learned from your parents, it may be a skill you picked up volunteering, or from being involved in a ministry on campus. God often times uses small things like character checks, friends, or parents to make deep impacts on our lives that shape who we are. Take time to jot down on your timeline, not just your education, but 5-10 training moments where you clearly learned a certain skill. This could range from managing finances at a club to winning a debate team debate to speaking at your high school graduation to refereeing a fight between your parents. These training moments come in a variety of shapes and sizes. It may be a conversation with a grandparent or pastor or it may come through self-discovery.

Desires vs. Passions

All of us have desires. After being on a diet for the last 2 months I have a desire to eat a whole large pizza. We have desires that come and go based on what mood we are in or what cool experiences we are immersed in at the moment. We also have general desires for good things like foreign missions, helping orphans, or teaching. Those desires are helpful in determining a career path, but what is more helpful is looking back at your desires and seeing which of those desires are really passions. Which of those desires are constant in your life no mater what situation you are currently in? Which of those desires even at times seem counter-intuitive to the good things you are experiencing? Passions are things that you long for. For instance I desire to see global missions reach every people group on the planet, but I’m passionate about training and launching college students into kingdom work, especially ones with gifting in administration. Take a few moments and add 2-3 passions to your timeline. When did you first experience them as a passion? Write that as a reveal date on your timeline.

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Gifting vs. Design

As an elementary school student, I was considered gifted in school. Throughout school, I consistently made the highest grades in Math, Science, and English. My teachers considered me gifted in all of those subjects, but as I continued to progress in my education, my proficiencies in Math and Science grew at a faster rate. Often times when we are right out of college, we may seem gifted in many areas, but watch for those areas of gifting that you continue to grow in at an accelerated rate. Those are the areas where you’re gifted by design. Those are the areas that will give you the best clues to discovering God’s call on your life. What do others say you are good at even if you don’t feel like you are good at it? What do you find comes easy to you that others have a hard time with? Add a few of these design giftings to your timeline.

Doors vs. Fences

Many driven people have no problem creating a pathway where no pathway currently exists. When they are faced with a barrier, they have no problem blasting through it and finding a way. As you think about God’s call on your life, it’s often times better to think about the doors that were wide open and easy to walk through than those that you had to work really hard to find and had to take multiple steps to climb over. As I was about to graduate, I was making plans to go to China and teach English with ELIC. I was working hard to make connections and get everything together for the transition when I received a call to meet with Mike Hearon to come on staff with Campus Outreach. I originally told Mike of my plans to go to China, but on my drive back to my campus, God made the door wide open to come on staff with Campus Outreach, and I have been here for nearly 10 years now. Fences that God allows you to climb over are helpful in discovering God’s call on your life, but doors that stand wide open are clear clues to help us see what God is revealing with our calling. Add a few instances to your timeline where God provided a door for you to walk through easily.

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Driving forces- Fears or rewards

Driving forces are things in our lives that tend to urge us to move in one direction or another. As a child, my main driving force was rewards; my mom could get me to do just about anything if she promised a reward at the end. My daughter on the other hand, likes rewards, but her driving force is more fear. She does things so that she will not get in trouble or so that she will stay clear of the wrath of mom or dad. What drives you to make decisions? Do you make life decisions to guard yourself from the dangers of life or do you tend to be a more reward seeker and willing to take the risks? Understanding your risk level will help you in discovering God’s call on your life. Those who are more driven by fear than reward tend to prefer less risky calls on their lives. Those driven by reward tend to be more risky. Once you determine your driving force, add a few instances where that force moved you to action.

Realize who God made you to be

In realizing God’s call on our lives, it seems most helpful for us to look behind us so that we are able to see what’s ahead. From studying scripture, we can determine that God is a God of order. He made the sea, land, food, and animals. And then, He made man. He is a God of order. We believe that He was orderly when He created our lives as well. So, if we are trying to understand what God has in store for us in the future, it is often helpful to look at the past.

By this time, you should have 25-45 distinct moments on your personal timeline. As you sit down to analyze the direction that these moments are taking you, hopefully the puzzle pieces will begin to take shape. We know from Ephesians 2:10 that our God is a God of consistency and that He has been preparing us for the work that He has for us: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

The following section is a practical exercise to help you Realize God’s plan for your life:

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= Life Plan

Workshop #2 Building Your Life Plan Map by Mike Hearon

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Personal Vision:

Use the space below to summarize your personal vision statement. Use the Life-Message sections to guide you. Your Personal Vision should state a summary of a desired result given by God to you to impact a particular group of people through God’s strength and provision.

Personal Profile Summary:

Use the Personal Profile Summary found in Study #9 that describes your preferred work style and the best environment for you to flourish in.

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Development Process in the Life of a Leader

Robert Clinton, in his book, Making of a Leader, summarizes the phases God takes leaders through to understand and live out their calling. It is important for you to see your life experience of calling in phases or segments. The diagram below shows that God calls you to be faithful and live out His mission in the world in college, in your 20’s, in your 30’s and so on. In that sense, each circle represents a phase of your life where you can expect God to work in your life following the pattern Clinton explains (Sovereign Foundations, Inner Life, Ministry, Life, and Convergence). Over time, you will look back and see that God is constantly growing you in each of these phases.3

Phase I Phase II Phase III Phase IV Phase V Phase VISovereign Inner Life Ministry Life Convergence AfterglowFoundations Growth Maturing Maturing

Phase I – God is developing the leader by laying foundations in his life. Lesson to Learn – respond positively and take advantage of what God has done.

Phase II – God is drawing the leader into a personal, intimate relationship. The leader learns the importance of prayer, the word, and hearing God. Leadership potential is identified and God uses testing experiences to develop character.

Phase III – Now, the leader begins reaching out to others. He is using his spiritual gifts and being trained in order to be more effective. Many of these lessons zero in on relationships with other people or inadequacies in his own life.Ministry activity or fruitfulness is not the primary focus of phases 1-3. God is working primarily in the leader, not through them. This can be a source of frustration if this is not recognized.

Phase IV- The leader has identified and is using his spiritual gifts in a ministry that is confirming and satisfying. He is gaining a sense of priority with his investments, and learning what to do and not do to advance his calling. A mature fruitfulness is the result. Isolation, crisis, and conflict take on new meaning as the leader is learning that “ministry flows out of being.” Deeper communion with God develops and learning to trust God becomes personal and continuous, not just intermittent or external.

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Phase V – God moves the leader into a role that matches his gift-mix and experience so that ministry is maximized. Many leaders do not experience convergence due to their lack of personal development. At times, an organization may hinder a leader by keeping him limited in a position. Some reasons are providential, which may be hard to understand. The major task in this phase is the guidance of the leader into a role and place where he can have maximum effectiveness. Use the timeline to chart out the experiences God has been using to shape you. Experiences both change us and teach us.

Building Your Life Plan

Whether your Calling Life-Plan is a 1 Year “get you moving plan” or it is a 5 year “directional plan,” the components of the plan are the same. Take your timeline that you have been adding to along the way and see if you can mark out your life phases. Add in any new “moments” that have come to mind. Take some time to pray through your timeline. If you can, meet with a mentor to discuss what they see as next steps. The Design Assessment Questions (Luke) are helpful for the section below on Design. Also refer to your timeline to inform your understanding of Dreams, Design, and Development issues. As God reveals clarity on how he has developed you, turn your gaze toward what God’s next step is in the process of developing you further. Write out a 1 year plan for your life, including clear passions, clearly open doors, development of strengths in your life, and living situation suitable for growth. Write down 3 topics you should read books on, 2-3 experiences you should gain, and 2-3 steps you are committing to take forward.

Calling-Path Tracks. Next, identify the track you are on or believe you are called to pursue. Your Personal Life Profile along with a chosen Calling-Path Track gives you the direction you need to develop your Life-Plan.

See Appendix fill out your Personal Life Vision Profile Summary.

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Note: The Missions track could involve other tracks as the growing Global challenges and opportunities in Missions require greater innovation. Examples of this could be Medical Missions, Teaching English as a Second Language, and Business as Missions.

In reality, we would love our path to look like the picture above. A nice clean ladder that is always moving up and rarely providing challenges is what we long for. In reality, the path looks more like the oak tree pictured below. We start up the trunk, weaving and overcoming challenges, and often find ourselves heading up paths that are not clear where they lead. Additionally, we can often find ourselves in places we did not expect. To change tracks (leave health care or science and go to education) rarely means we just step over and keep climbing. Usually, we must back track down the tree and re-enter at a lower level in order to make progress on a different track. Each track requires a certain amount of knowledge and experience as well as the relational connections required to make progress up the track.

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Mentors- As we discussed in the Development study, mentors are essential to guide you along the way and to guide you going forward. The temptation is to be “tethered” to others in your same life stage rather than “anchored” to older and wiser mentors. The best mentor team for you should be made up of one or more of the following:

1. Those who are spiritually mature & wise2. Those who know you well3. Those who have experience in your career field

When assembling a mentor team, you may not be able to identify people who immediately fit in each of these categories, but building your network of people over a period of time will be a process you go through to discover your life-plan.

Personal Vision + Personal Profile + Calling-Path + Mentors + 1-5 Year Aims = Life-Plan

List the mentors you plan to stay connected to:

Summarize the steps you need to take and the objectives that need to be accomplished in the sections below.

1 year Aims:

Objectives:

Steps:

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5 year Aims:

Objectives:

Steps:

Repeat what God has called you to do

We live in a period of time where we get everything we want the minute that we want it. If you want to know the score to a game, you look at the ticker on the TV or your iphone. Information is constantly at our fingertips. This phenomenon of always having what we want when we want it has led us to have impatience in our calling. As we have already looked at in study #7, God is usually using our 20’s to prepare us for the work that he wants us to produce in our 30’s and 40’s. During our 20’s, and maybe the early part of our 30’s, we need to consistently stand firm in the calling that we know God has given us. Psalm 119:105 says, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” God doesn’t promise that he will give us a street light to light the whole path, but that he will give us a lamp that we might see the next step that he is calling us to. We must continue to take step after step by faith. Let me urge you that if you are sure of your calling, if you are sure that God has used His word, His Spirit, and His saints to confirm His calling in your life, then you should unashamedly continue to repeat the prodding along of steps in the same direction. Fredrich Nietzsche once said, “the essential thing ‘in heaven and earth’ is that there should be a long obedience in the same direction.” Like Abraham, the end of the path may not be clear. Like Jonah, the path may be hard. Like the disciples, there will be a call to follow, but those who follow the call of God on their lives will no doubt find more satisfaction, more sense of protection, and more sense of accomplishment. For when we are doing what we were created to do, we bring our father much joy!

This is a helpful prayer to pray as you seek to implement the principles learned in this study:

Heavenly father, creator of the universe, Alpha and Omega, who has set everything into motion in each of our lives and cares about each of us individually, we pray that your who are mighty would make your ways known to us, that we may walk in them. Make your paths clear to us, that we may not stumble. Make your desires known and give us a desire to follow you, so that we may know you more and so that the world may worship you as king. We ask all of this for your glory, Amen.

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For more intense and focused insight and feedback: ask a peer, a mentor, an expert in a field you are interested in, and someone who knows you well to read over your answers and set up a meeting to go over your answers and help you gain insights into Who God has made you and what He might want you to be doing.

1. Imagine that you and I are meeting for the first time. In the course of our conversation, we talk about a variety of topics. Then we turn to a new subject. As you are talking to me about it, you start speaking a little faster. You lean forward. You become increasingly animated. Your voice goes up a little. You are talking about a subject that could keep you up late at night. It’s the topic that would cause you to jump out of bed in the morning. What are we talking about?

2. Sometimes our dreaming or reflection allows us to imaginatively explore the desire of our heart. In these times, we may visualize or find ourselves being drawn as if by a current toward something that heightens our feelings and enlarges our capacity for action. The image that we see will hit an emotional chord. When you are alone, do you ever wonder, “What if….?” Does your response to that question create emotional energy? What is it?

Discovering Your Passions

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3. Make a list of your greatest achievements, but be sure they are things you enjoyed doing. These achievements may be accomplishments that others do not find particularly impressive, but were important to you. Are there similarities in your list of enjoyable achievements? What themes can you see?

4. What kinds of things are you doing? What topics are you involved in, in which you lose track of time? When you are moving in the direction of your passion, time can easily slip away. Our passion can make us less aware of what is going on around us because we become so focused on what we care about most. What might that be?

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5. People who are fulfilling their passion are making a purposeful difference. Those who are expressing their heart’s desire will find greater energy and focus as they positively impact those around them. In the midst of moving toward your passion (may not always be easy or fun), there is an inner confidence that you are doing what God wants you to do in the way he wants you to do it. There is an assurance that you are where he wants you, and that he is using you according to his divine purposes.Whether subtly or overtly, you are making a difference. Where is that happening? In what area would you like to see it happen?

6. Your passion will energize you. Not only will you become more alive emotionally, but the activity or thoughts about your passion will actually give energy. This is God’s way of moving you toward those people, roles, or causes that are his created agenda for your life. His will for you is partly revealed in your God-given passion. What energizes you?

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Mentoring vs. Discipling

Mentoring does not have to be a spiritual form of assistance

A mentor leads someone in a life situation

The mentoree sets the agenda for the meeting

The mentor is usually years ahead experien-tially in the area the person is looking for help

A mentor helps a person who has already been discipled, encouraging them to grow in specif-ic areas of their life

Not equipping in all areas of their life

A mentor is not trying to multiply himself

A mentor relationship may not lead into a strong friendship

Mentoring is listening, explaining, giving when needed –specific.

Mentoring does not happen on a consistent basis

Mentoring is not a biblical command

A mentor does not have to count the cost in the relationship. The commitment is minimal.

Discipling is primarily a spiritual form of assis-tance

A disciplemaker trains for life situations.

Disciple leader sets the agenda for the meeting

Disciplemaker is not specific on experiences & may not be far ahead of the disciple

Disciplemaker is establishing and equipping a person in the Christian life

Disciplemaker is equipping in all areas of their life

The process of multiplication is one of the major objectives

Discipleship builds a specific relationship with a person in order to impact them more fully

Discipleship is teaching, counseling, building – general.

Discipleship does have on a regular basis

Discipleship is a biblical command

A disciplemaker must count the cost in the relationship. The commitment is to the whole person – not a specific area

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Fill out the following chart to begin tracking through where you have come from and learn the direction that God has set you in.

Sovereign Foundations

Inner-life Growth

Ministry Maturing

Life Maturing

Convergence

Personal Calling

Timeline

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Calling Key Events in my life (people, circumstances)

Dates (3-5 year incre-ments)

Significance / Contribution

Patterns / Princi-ples about Leadership Process

Lessons Learned / Reflections about YOU

Sovereign Foundations

Inner Life Growth

Ministry Maturity

Life Maturing

Convergence

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Personal Life Vision Profile Summary

Dreams, Desires

Design, Capacity (reference Design Assessment Questions)Leadership

Relationships

Communication

Thinking

Pace

Decision-MakingDevelopment

Summarize your Personal Vision as you know it right now: (also include 1 Year and 5 Year assessment markers that you want to hit.)

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Introduction

If the world was a village of one hundred people it would consist of 70 adults and 30 children; 48 men and 52 women; 30 white people and 70 non-white people; 61 Asians, 13 Africans, 13 North and South Americans, 12 Europeans and 1 Oceanian; 33 Christians, 24 Non-Theists, 19 Muslims, 13 Hindus, 6 Buddhists and 5 Animists…and one college graduate. College students are the powerful percent. They are the leaders of the next generation – for better or for worse. Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, used to say, “If we can win the university today, we will win the world tomorrow”. When considering these statistics it’s easy to understand why! College students are a rare breed. They will lead families, businesses, churches, schools, government and movements. I believe they have one of the most strategic roles in fulfilling the great commission. The goal of this paper is to suggest and test the theory that the college campus is not only an incredibly needy mission field, but an influential launching pad for missions by surveying the role college students have played and will play in the past, present and future of world missions.

The Historical Role of College Students in Missions

Historically, most of the greatest movements for the gospel and spiritual awakenings in the world began with college students or college-aged students. Such men and women, gripped by a passion to know, love, trust, enjoy, obey and follow God above all things, and a vision to make Him known, multiply their lives and meet the needs of a needy world head on, have become dynamic forces of change. A survey of the role that college students have played in world missions in the past not only reveals the potential of individuals, but the power of movements.

Students in Missions

In his book The Fuel and the Flame: 10 Keys to Ignite Your College Campus For Christ, Steve Shadrach reflects back on the historical foundation of working with

Drew Epting, Reformed Theological Seminary, History of Missions, 2013

The U.S. College Campus & The World Missions Movement

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college students. The first thing he mentions is the biblical account of Paul working with students at the school of Tryannus. Though Shadrach is quick to point out that this school was not a carbon copy of a university today, he does affirm the strategic nature of working with a concentrated group of younger and impressionable people. In Acts 19:8-10 Luke explains that Paul was “reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. And this took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks”. It is interesting to note Paul’s personnel, his practice, his period and the product of working with this school. His personnel was interested and available students. His practice was reasoning with them. It doesn’t say he was teaching or proclaiming, but rather giving evidence and argument and helping them understand his message with as much clarity as possible. This probably involved a lot of discussion on top of discourse. His period was two years. This was not a fly-by ministry, but rather a sustained effort. Lastly, the product was that all of Asia was saturated with the gospel. Luke draws the connected between Paul’s ministry in this school and the increasing area of influence beyond it.

Moving from a biblical to a more historical perspective, Shadrach proceeds to highlight more contemporary pioneer missionaries and leaders such as Count Ludwig Von Zinzendorf, John Wesley, Samuel Mills and the Haystack Five, Hudson Taylor, Lottie Moon, The Cambridge Seven, Robert Wilder and Cameron Townsend. Ludwig Von Zenzendorf went to the university to study law and ended up founding the Moravian Brethren Missions Society. This fellowship and missionary band was responsible for igniting a twenty-four-hour prayer vigil that lasted for one hundred years and, according to Dr. Larsen’s lectures, awakening within Protestantism an awareness of cross-cultural missions as a fundamental calling for the church. John Wesley, a student from Oxford University, went on to found the Methodist Church Movement. Samuel Mills was the principle leader of the Haystack Five Prayer Meeting, which ignited the first nationwide American student movement for missions, and is a continual reminder of the power of prayer for the purpose of revival. Hudson Taylor was a medical student in England who became so burdened for the millions dying apart from Christ in China that be founded the China Inland Mission. In his biography, Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret, Dr. Taylor writes of Hudson Taylor’s desire to see God provide one hundred missionaries, of which he thought the best place to recruit from was college students. This proved that he was not only an influential college student, but understood the potential of college students for mission. C.T. Studd and the group Cambridge Seven were a part of God’s fulfillment

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of Husdon Taylor’s prayer. As these influential and gifted students, led mainly by C.T. Studd as the greatest cricketer of his time, surrendered their lives to God’s will and sailed for China, they fueled the mission in China as was as ignited a movement among college students that spread to America.

The spark that the Cambridge Seven ignited burned fully and faithfully as it jumped across the Atlantic in the form of the Student volunteer Movement – the most potent missions sending movement in missions history. The flame was picked up by Robert Wilder and John R. Mott, the founders of the student volunteer movement, whose watchword was “the evangelization of the world in this generation”. Kevin Little writes,

From its outset the SVM called students to commit their lives, first, to the person and lordship of Christ, then, to taking the gospel of Christ to the unevangelized portions of the world. Students, looking for a cause worth giving their lives to and moved by the Holy Spirit, committed themselves in unprecedented droves to the evangelization of the world in their generation. At one point of its history, 75% of all female missionaries and 70% of all male missionaries were volunteers, who had been called to this pursuit by the SVM. In its history, the SVM was responsible for over 20,000 missionaries on the field, not committed to going but on the field. 20,000 college students had actually abandoned their dreams for the adventure of following Christ’s heart to the nations.

Adoniarm Judson, the first successful missionary to Burma after the aborted attempt of William Carey’s son, Felix Carey, was one of the first men sent out from the Student Volunteer Movement.

Henry Martyn, a man not on Shadrach’s list, is another abiding example of the historical roles of students in missions as recorded by Stephen Neil in The History of Christian Missions. Neil writes, “By far the most notable of the ‘pious chaplains’ was Henry Martyn, who arrived in Calcutta in 1806 and died in Persia on his way home to England in 1812 at the age of thirty-one…Martyn threw himself at once and with enthusiasm into the projects of his friends for the translation of Scripture. But the was a difference. They were all self-taught men, but Martyn had been Senior Wrangler at Cambridge, and had profited from the best philological training that the age could supply. He was at times rather sharply critical of the older men, and set himself a standard of scholarship which was beyond their reach. In seven brief years he had

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completed the New Testament in Urdu, a version which is still the basis of that which is in use today, had completed a thorough revision of the Persian, and was deeply launched on the revision of the Arabic”.

Common Characteristics

What was it that made these students, and college students in general, stand out? What did they have in common? Shadrach suggests the following six characteristics: first, they were young and idealistic, which meant that they were willing and able to take risks for great causes. Second, they had strong vision, which allowed the to see a greater future before them rather than simply living day to day. Third, they usually had vocal opposition, which is not only a great reminder for all who feel resistance for the sake of missions, but a test of their commitment to Jesus as Lord and provider. Opposition forced them to wrestle with the question, “Is Jesus worth it?”. Fourth, they recruited others. They didn’t settle for God’s will and call for their lives, but enlisted as many of their friends as possible. Fifth, they persevered. Sixth, they had deep relationships with God that fueled everything else they did. In addition to these characteristics, Henry Martyn provides insight into the higher caliber, as well as the potential challenges, of college students. Though he had a tendency towards criticism, he was highly trained, educated and ambitions and, therefore, was able to accomplish a large quantity of work for the cause of Christ in his limited time on earth.

The Contemporary State of College Students

Turning from the past to the present we can see the strategic importance of college students due to the context of the campus, the characteristics of this particular generation and the centrality of universities in a globalized culture. In his book College Ministry in a Post-Christian Culture Steven Lutz, an experienced pastor and college minister shares his conviction that “college students are the most strategic ministry people group in the world today”. What would lead him to make such an audacious claim? I believe that as we consider the openness, availability, concentration and potential the current college campus provides, the answer to that question comes into focus with power.

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Context of the Campus

Prior to college, students are primarily shaped and influenced by their parents and their peers. During college, however, student openness is at its highest as students seek to test their boundaries, enjoy their freedoms, seek to find out who they are as well as what they really believe about God and the world. Dr. Meg Jay, a clinical psychologist who specializes in adult development and twentysomethings in particular, says, “In our thirties, consequential experiences start to slow…with about 80 percent of life’s most significant events taking place by age thirty-five, as thirtysomethings and beyond we largely either continue with, or correct for, the moves we make during our twentysomething years.” More people make life-altering decisions during their tenure on the campus and immediately after the campus than at any other part of their lives. Because of this openness to new ideas and the potential consequences of spiritually beneficial decisions during this stage of life, the college campus is ripe for spiritual harvest and leadership and life development.

Other factors include student availability and concentration. It is hard, and potentially impossible, to find another context for spiritual influence with as large of a population as we find with college students. One could argue that it is the modern day equivalent of the agora in Greek Culture, where new ideas intersected and the greatest influence occurred. Whether it is in dorms, athletic teams, fraternities and sororities, weight rooms or students lounges, the concentration of students is dense. On top of their population concentration, is their availability. Because of these two factors, the opportunity to develop high quality leaders is enormous. In his book Movements That Change the World: Five Keys to Spreading the Gospel, Steve Addison says

Great leaders grow leaders. They reject the arrogant notion that their ministry is primary. Like Jesus, great leaders create opportunities that equip and mobilize leaders. They focus on the whole person: hands, head and heart. And they don’t just grow leaders, they multiply them, They know the harvest is plentiful and the workers are few. They have learned that if the eternal Son of God spent the bulk of his precious time growing leaders, they should do the same. The college campus provides ministries that focus on evangelism, discipleship and leadership development the most strategic opportunity for life-on-life and real time training.

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The final aspect of the campus context is student potential which, as was stated in the introduction to this paper, is that college students are the next generation’s leaders. The implication of this is that by working with college students one works with few heads of departments, states, countries, firms, organizations and movements throughout the world.

Characteristics of Millenials

If the campus context is persuading for the sake of ministry to college students in the hopes of training college students, then the characteristics of this generation of college students is even more so. In a culture that is bemoaning the demise of morality among younger generations, Neil Howe, William Strauss and Dr. Daniel Egeler offer a beam of hope in their books about the current generation of college students called Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation and Mentoring Millenials: Shaping the Next Generation. In Millenials Rising, Howe and Strauss say

There’s a revolution under way among today’s kids – a good news revolution. This generation is going to rebel not by behaving worse, but better. Their life mission will not be to tear down old institutions that don’t work, but to build new ones that do.

Dr. Daniel Egeler picks up the microphone next as he says in Mentoring Millenials that this current generation of college students is not looking to their parents as models for their lives, but to their grandparents who fought for worthy causes such as World War II. Egeler says, “Millenials go beyond just desiring to commit to a cause; they are much more prone to voluntarily contribute their time towards what they feel are worthy endeavors”. As students’ hearts are changed by the Spirit of God and their passions are re-directed towards God and His purposes then like C.T. Studd a century ago, they too will “[devote themselves] to Christ with the same determination which he had devoted to cricket”.

Centrality of the Campus in a Global Culture

Last in our survey of the present state and strategic nature of the college campus is the centrality of the university in a culture defined and shaped by globalization. According to Collegestates.org, the list of the top ten largest universities in the world include places such as India, Iran, Turkey and Thailand. Other strategic university centers are

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in places such as Johannesburg, South Africa, Manilla, Philippines and Hong Kong. As globalization continues to connect and influence the world around us, a college education becomes more necessary, and college locations become more strategic as access points into closed countries. An example of this is English Language Institute in China (ELIC), which works with Chinese universities to hire American students to teach English with the goal of sharing the gospel and planting churches in China. In a time and age that requires creative access ideas for gospel ministry, universities seem to be on of the most accessible options.

The Future Potential of College Students in World Missions

Having surveyed the role college students have played in the past and the things that characterize them in the future, we now turn to the potential they provide for fulfilling the great commission in the future. There are two primary challenges that the future of missions will face which I believe can be helped by college students. The first is the collapse of the “west-reaches-the-rest” mentality and the second is the challenge of volunteer-driven missions societies functioning in communal cultures.

The Collapse of the “West-Reaches-the-Rest” Paradigm

In his book Invitation to World Missions: A Trinitarian Missiology for the Twenty-first century Timothy Tennent list seven changing paradigms in world missions today, among which is the “west-reaches-the-rest” paradigm. Tennent writes,

Western Christians have been slow to grasp the full missiological implications of the simultaneous emergence of a post-Christian west and a post-Western Christianity. The loss of Christian vitality in the West inevitably led to a dramatic loss in formal Christian identity. During the fifteen-year period between 1970 and 1985, at least people left the church every day in North America and Western Europe. This pace shows no signs of abating. The old mission-sending center is collapsing…the new reality of mission is both multidirectional and multicontenental.

Tennent argues that Protestants have never known a missions paradigm that did not include the West as the tip of the spear in missions. Indeed, the reality of the Global South, where the Church’s center of gravity has shifted and the typical Christian is a lower class black African rather than a middle class white American, has dramatic

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implications on the West’s approach to missions.

But to this point I would suggest two reasons that college students can fill the void of this collapsing paradigm. First, they are open to new ideas, concepts and paradigms. Because their worldviews and concepts are being formed and shaped in college, they will be more open to changing paradigms and practices in world missions. Secondly, if campus ministries take the approach of working on college campuses in neighboring countries of unreached countries, it is more likely to reach, train and send those students, rather than western students, into their neighboring countries.

The Old Age of the Missionary Movement

The second major challenge that is the one put forth by Andrew Walls in The Missionary Movement in Christian History that the modern missions movement, characterized by the emergence of missions societies, is largely dependent upon volunteers from individualistic western cultures. Walls, who refers to this as the “old age” of the missionary movement, writes,

The volunteer society, and its special form in the missionary society, arose in a particular period of Western social, political, and economic development that was shaped by that period. It was providentially use in God’s purpose for the redemption of the world. But as Rufus Anderson noted long ago, it was but the modern, Western form of a movement that has periodically reappeared from an early period of Christian history…From age to age it becomes necessary to use new means for the proclamation of the Gospel beyond the structures which unduly localize it.

Walls is arguing that as the center of gravity shifts from individualistic Western culture to a more communally-driven and collective World culture the impetus for the volunteer society will become increasingly less relevant. More simply, communally driven cultures produce less pioneer missionaries.

My proposal is that a specific kind of campus ministry, one that evangelizes non-Christians, disciples them to grow in Christ, develops them as leaders and mobilizes them into the lost world, meets the need that Walls’ assessment creates. The reason for this is due to the fact that such a ministry is not based on volunteers only, but rather is one that builds a pipeline for training people and instilling convictions in

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people to go into the world. Four years of intentional life-on-life discipleship provides an incredible context to influence college students with the heart of Jesus Christ for all peoples, inspire them to contribute to the fulfillment of the Great Commission, and then practically to involve them in missions fresh out of college. Add to this that the university is increasingly becoming shaped by Western values, and you have a dynamic context for raising up the next generation of motivated and trained world missionaries. In Movements That Change the World, Addison lists five keys to spreading the gospel. On of these keys, as he surveys the history and effectiveness of gospel and missional movements, is that of rapid mobilization. He says, “In the previous chapter we saw that no missionary movements can grow exponentially if its expansion is solely the responsibility of paid professionals. Movements spread, rather, through the efforts of ordinary people who inspire and equip key leaders”. One of his top five conclusions is that movements grow as people are mobilized. That is why college students are so strategic – if they are helped in the discipleship and mobilization process.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I have made a case for the strategic role that college students have played, are playing and will play in the fulfillment of the Great Commission. Today’s college campus is not only a mission field…it is a launching pad. May God use the efforts of evangelical and missional campus ministries to evangelize, establish, equip and export students into the lost world to share the love of Christ.

Bibliography

Addison, Steve. Movements The Change the World: Five Keys to Spreading the Gospel. Illinois, Intervarsity Press, 2011.

Caridad, Paul. “If The World Were A Village of 100 People.” Visualnews.com. Last modified May 18, 2012. Accessed July 9, 2013. http://www.visualnews.com/2011/05/18/if-the-world-were-a-village-of-100-people.

Collegestats.org. “Top 10 Largest Universities in the World.” Collegestats.org, last modified 2007, accessed July 8, 2013, http://collegestats.org.

Egeler, Daniel. Mentoring Millenials: Shaping the Next Generation. Colorado Springs: Navpress, 2003.

English Language Institute China, last modified July 2013, accessed July 9, 2013, http://www.elic.org.

Howe, Neil and William Strauss. Millenials Rising: The Next Great Generation. New York: Random House, 2000.

Jay, Meg. The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter – and How to Make the Most of Them Now. Little, Kevin. “Students in Missions.” The Traveling Team, accessed July 9, 2013, http://travelingteam.org/12lessons/lesson9.

Little, Kevin. “Students in Missions,” The Traveling Team. Accessed July 9, 2013. http://travelingteam.org/12lessons/lesson9.

Lutz, Stephen. College Ministry in a Post-Christian Culture. The House Studio, 2011.New York: Twelve, 2012.

Neil, Stephen. A History of Christian Missions. New York: Penguin, 1064.

Pollock, John. The Cambridge Seven: The True Story of Ordinary Men Used in No Ordinary Way. Great Britain: Christian Focus, 2006.

Shadrach, Shadrach. The Fuel and the Flame: 10 Keys to Igniting Your Campus for Christ. Fort Worth: Branch-Smith Printing, 2003.

Taylor, Dr. and Mrs. Howard. Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret. Chicago: Moody Press,1989.Tennent, Timothy C. Invitation to World Missions: A Trinitarian Missiology for the Twenty-first Century. Grand Rapids, Kregal Publications, 2010.

Walls, Andrew. The Missionary Movement in Christian History. New York: Orbis Books, 1996.

Appendix

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231

LIFE-CHANGE

1. John Piper, Future Grace (Colorado Springs: Multnomah, 1995).

2. John Stott, Between Two Worlds (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 154.

LIFE-STYLE

1. Amy Sherman, Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2011), 79. This diagram was originally borrowed from James Choung’s True Story: A Christi-anity Worth Believing In.

2. Meg Jay, The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter and How to Make the Most of Them (New York: Twelve, 2012).

3. Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (New York: Penguin, 1985), xix-xx.

4. Edmund Clowney, Called to the Ministry (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1964), 5.

5. Os Guinness, The Call (Nashville: Word Publishing, 1998), 29.

6. Joe Ehrmann, Season of Life (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2003)

7. Time Keller, Counterfeit Gods (New York: Dutton, 2009), xvii.

8. Ibid., xviii.

9. Amy Sherman, Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good (Downers Grove, IL:

InterVarsity Press, 2011), 107.

LIFE-MESSAGE

1. Jim Collins, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don’t (New York:

Notes

HarperCollins, 2001), 95-96.

2. Robert J. Clinton, Making of a Leader (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1988)

3. Meg Jay, The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter and How to Make the Most of

Them (New York: Twelve, 2012).

4. Ibid.

5. Ibid.

6. Adopted from Paul Stanley, Leader Development Network, 1999.

7. This quote is taken from the introduction to John Eldridge, Wild at Heart (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2001).

8. A. B. Bruce, Training of the Twelve (New Canaan, CT: Keats Publishing, 1979), 16-17.

9. Katherine T. Phan, “Rick Warren Launches Coalition to Combat Five ‘Global Giants,’” The Christian Post, May 26, 2008. Date Accessed: January 9, 2014, http://www.christianpost.com/news/rick-warren-launches-coalition-to-combat-five-global-giants-32537/

LIFE-WORK

1. Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery (Penn State University: Electronic Classics Series Pub-lication, 2013), 56-57.

2. The section on the “5 questions every worldview seeks to answer” is borrowed from

James Sire, The Universe Next Door (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2009).

3. C.S. Lewis, Prince Caspian (New York: HarperTrophy, 1979), 171.

4. Chris Armstrong, “Refocused Vocation,” Leadership Journal (Winter 2013), 2.

5. Ibid., 2.

6. Ibid., 2.

7. Ibid., 3.

Notes

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8. Ibid, 5.

9. Ibid, 5.

10. John Calvin, Writings on Pastoral Piety (Mahwah, New Jersey: Paulist Press, 2001), 3.10.6.

11. 1. Gene Edward Veith, “Masks of God: God Work in and through Your Vocations, Whatever it May Be,” Modern Reformation 15, no .6 (Dec 2006).

12. Abraham Kuyper, “Sphere Sovereignty,” A public address at the inauguration of the Free Universi-ty, Oct 10, 1880. Translated by George Kamps.

13. Calvin Seeveld, Rainbows for a Fallen World (Toronto: Tuppence Press, 2005), quoted in Brad-

shaw Frey and others, eds., All of Life Redeemed (Ontario, Canada: Paideia Press, 1983).

14. Bradshaw Frey and others, At Work and Play (Ontario, Canada: Paideia, 1983), 56.

15. Bradshaw Frey and others, eds., All of Life Redeemed (Ontario, Canada: Paideia Press, 1983), 108.

16. Lindberg, Carter, The European Reformations, 2d ed. (Malden, MS: Blackwell, 2010), 126.

17. 2. Robert Kolb and Charles P. Arand, The Genius of Luther’s Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker Aca-demic, 2008), 111.

18. This is in reference to a chapter contained in Tom Nelson, Work Matters (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2011).

19. Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery (Penn State: Electronic Classics Series Publication, 2013), 61-62.

20. Andy Crouch, Culture Making, 2009.

21. Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged (New York: Signet, 1996), 1053.

22. Os Guinness, The Call (Nashville: Word Publishing, 1998).

23. Tullian Tchvidjian, “Our Glorious Ruin: Tullian Tchividjian on the Suffering that Sets You Free.” The Gospel Coalition, October 10, 2012. Date Accessed: January 7, 2014, http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2012/10/10/our-glorious-ruin-tullian-tchividjian-on-the-suffering-that-sets-you-free/.

Notes

233

24. Timothy Keller, Every Good Endeavor (New York: Dutton, 2012), 151.

25. Ibid., 168.

26. This phrase is taken from the website introduction to Amy Sherman, Kingdom Calling: Voca-

tional Stewardship for the Common Good. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2011). http://www.vocationalstewardship.org

27. James Davison Hunter, To Change the World (New York: Oxford UP, 2010), 89.

28. Matt Smethurst, “When the Gospel Invades Your Office: Tim Keller on Faith and Work.” The Gospel Coalition, November 12, 2012. Date Accessed: January 9, 2014, http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2012/11/12/when-the-gospel-invades-your-office-tim-keller-on-faith-and-work/.

29. Maltie Davenport Babcock, “This is My Father’s World,” 1916.

30. Abraham Kuyper, “Sphere Sovereignty,” A public address at the inauguration of the Free Uni-versity, Oct 10, 1880. Translated by George Kamps.

31. Colin Welland, Chariots of Fire, DVD, Directed by: Hudson, Hugh. Performed by Ben Cross and Ian Charleson, 1981. Twentieth Century Film Corporation, DVD.

32. Tim Keller, “The Gospel and the Poor,” The Gospel Coalition, December 2008. Date Accessed: January 7, 2014. http://thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/article/the_gospel_and_the_poor.

33. Amy L. Sherman, “Questions for Vocational Guilds to Consider,” Vocational Stewardship, Date Accessed: January 9, 2014, http://www.vocationalstewardship.org/resources/

LIFE-PLAN

1. These “categories of experience” are adopted from Robert J. Clinton, Making of a Leader (Colo-rado Springs: NavPress, 1988).

2. Brad Plumer, “Only 27 Percent of College Grads Have a Job Related to their Major.” The Wash-ington Post, May 20, 2013, Date Accessed: January 7, 2014, http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/05/20/only-27-percent-of-college-grads-have-a-job-related-to-their-major/.

3. This section is adopted from Robert J. Clinton, Making of a Leader (Colorado Springs: Nav-Press, 1988).

Notes

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235

INTRODUCTION 1 John 3:1-3, 1 John 4:7-12

Luke 2:49

Acts 9:15-16

LIFE-CHANGE Mark 1:16-22, Mark 3:14, Mark 10:45

Matthew 4:19, Matthew 6:33, Matthew 28:18-20

Acts 1:8

Philippians 4:9

1 Peter 2:2, 1 Peter 2:9-12, 1 Peter 3:18, 1 Peter 4:1-6, 1 Peter 4:10-11, 1 Peter 5:5

Galatians 2:20, Galatians 5:13, Galatians 5:22-23

Ephesians 2:10, Ephesians 4, Ephesians 4:13-16, Ephesians 4:11-16, Ephesians 4

Romans 8:14, Romans 8:32, Romans 15:4

John 1, John 4, John 9, John 10:27, John 14:1-6, John 14-16, John 15:1-11, John 15,

John 17:19

Hebrews 1, Hebrews 4:12, Hebrews 11:8-10, Hebrews 11:24-26, Hebrews 4:14-16,

Hebrews 11:6, Hebrews 13:17

1 John 1

2 Timothy 3:16-17

Scr ip tu re Index

Scripture Index

236

Proverbs 11:14

Luke 22:31-32

Psalm 119:105

2 Corinthians 3:4-6, 2 Corinthians 4:18, 2 Corinthians 5:7

Esther 4:16

Jeremiah 1:5

2 Peter 3:18

Deuteronomy 6

Colossians 4:2-6

LIFE-STYLE 1 Peter 2:9-12, 1 Peter 2:21

Matthew 6:33, Matthew 11:29-30, Matthew 13:1-52, Matthew 13:37-39,

Matthew 22:36-40, Matthew 24:14, Matthew 28:28-20

John 16:13-15, John 20:21-23,

1 Corinthians 15:25-26, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, 1 Corinthians 7

2 Corinthians 5:14-21, 2 Corinthians 5:17-20

Mark 1:14-20, Mark 1:15, Mark 3:31-34, Mark 7:10-13, Mark 16:15-16

Acts 1:8

Romans 8:28-32, Romans 10:13-15, Romans 15:20-21

Revelation 5:9, Revelation 7:9, Revelation 7:21-24

Psalm 32:8-11, Psalm 19:1

237

Scripture Index

Proverbs 2:1-7, Proverbs 11:14

Isaiah 30:18-22

James 1, James 1:5-7 ,James 4:13-15

1 John 5:14-15

Luke 24:46-48, Luke 4, Luke 14:5, Luke 12:48, Luke 14:25-26, Luke 19:40

Hebrews 4, Hebrews 13:5

Colossians 3:16-23, Colossians 3:22-24

John 4:23-24, John 12:24

Genesis 1:27-28, Genesis 2:24-25, Genesis 4:20-22, Genesis 3, Genesis 4:1-26

Ephesians 2:8-10, Ephesians 5:18 - 6:9, Ephesians 5:25

Romans 8:19

Deuteronomy 6:1-9

1 Timothy 3:15

LIFE-MESSAGE 1 Corinthians 1:9, 1 Corinthians 12

Romans 11:33-36, Romans 12:1-6, Romans 12

Jeremiah 29:11

Matthew 4:19, Matthew 9:36-38

Genesis 39-40, Genesis 41:46

Numbers 4:3, Numbers 4:23, Numbers 4:30

1 Samuel 13:1

Scripture Index

238

2 Samuel 5:4

Luke 3:23, Luke 15:10

Proverbs 11:24-25, Proverbs 12:4

Psalm139:14

John 10, John 14:12-14, John 20:21

Philippians 1:6

Ephesians 4

1 Peter 4

2 Peter 3:9

LIFE-WORK Ephesians 2:10

Matthew 5:41, Matthew 13, Matthew 13:33, Matthew 13:24-30,

Matthew 28:18-20

John 4, John 20:21

Genesis 2:5

Psalm 90, Psalm 145

Romans 1:18-20, Romans 2:15, Romans 10:14-15, Romans 14:23

1 Corinthians 7:20, 1 Corinthians 10:31, 1 Corinthians 12:21

Revelation 5

Ecclesiastes 2:18-26, Ecclesiastes 12:13

Genesis 1:27-28, Genesis 3:16, Genesis 3:15-24

239

Scripture Index

Hebrews 12:2

Colossians 1:15-18, Colossians 3:23-24

James 1:2-4

1 Thessalonians 5:18

Colossians 1

1 Peter 3:15

LIFE-PLAN 1 Thessalonians 5:24

Jonah 2

Genesis 12:1, Genesis 15:1

Matthew 4:19, Matthew 8:20-22, Matthew 28:19-20

Psalm 119:105

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