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Christian Worldview and Discovering Calling
The document explores the Christian worldview regarding calling, vocation, and work, emphasizing that everyone's worldview influences their perceptions and actions. It highlights the significance of work as a means of personal and societal growth and discusses the balance between secular and spiritual roles in fulfilling one's calling. Furthermore, it provides a framework for discerning personal calling through understanding individual gifts, passions, and societal needs.
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Christian Worldview and Discovering Calling
- 1. The Christian Worldview& Discerning Calling Vocation, Calling, and the Purpose of Work, Week 6 Evan Donovan
- 2. What is Worldview:Review of Last Week Everyone has a worldview, often picked up from family, peers, and culture A person’s worldview is: ◦ Largely unconscious ◦ Always distorted to a certain extent, due to the effects of the Fall ◦ A lens that filters how we see reality ◦ A set of assumptions about the meaning and purpose of life that guides our values and actions ◦ A story: a narrative and set of metaphors for life that affect our emotions Our worldview can be reformed through study of the Scripture and the work of the Holy Spirit: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom. 12:2) In these weeks, we are exploring how the true worldview of Scripture provides resources for thinking about work
- 3. What is Work? vocation sacredto God means of personal growth means of personal satisfaction way to build up society way to provide for self and others Categories taken from Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Physiological Safety Love/Belonging Self-Esteem Self-Actualization Self-Transcendence
- 4. What is OurMotivation for Work? Many good purposes: ◦ survival ◦ need to support others ◦ identity and meaning ◦ service ◦ growth ◦ pleasure/joy in work itself ◦ love ◦ the Kingdom of God ◦ God Himself Some negative: ◦ finding self-worth in others’ approval ◦ seeking power over others Key question: Does our work add value to creation or society in some way? Challenge: Constraints of situation often keep us from working as we would like
- 5. Calling is Morethan Our Work Personal Calling Great Commandment & Great Commission Creation Mandate Balance of Multiple Roles Redemption Both Material & Spiritual: “Ministers of Reconciliation” Co-Creator Sustainer Humanity (Made in God’s Image) Christians
- 6. Calling is Morethan Our Work: A Sampling of Roles Spiritual Avocation / Creativity Self-Care / Renewal Personal Needs Family Church Work Civic / Community
- 7. Balancing Material &Spiritual Needs in Calling Bible shows the Holy Spirit calling people to “secular” occupations Secular occupations can be done to the glory of God just as much as “full-time Christian service” – no division between Sunday and rest of week However, all Christians are called to Great Commission as well as Creation Mandate. Work done to advance the “knowledge of the glory of the Lord” (Hab. 2:14) on this earth has a particular kind of eternal impact “How will they hear without a preacher?”(Rom. 10:14)
- 8. Finding Your OwnCalling For Christians, finding your personal calling requires you to discern how the giftings that you have and the situations God has placed you in put you in the middle of His story. A “Formative Sabbath” allows you to reflect on the deep questions of life that will inspire your work “Christians should find out where the Kingdom is coming and go to work there.” ~John Perkins
- 9. Calling: Where Desireand Need Meet Calling Passion Ability Affinity Opportunity Benefit What you enjoyWhat you are good at The causes that inspire you What the world needsWhat the world will pay you for
- 10. Types of Gifting Spiritual Acquired/ Developed Natural
- 11. A Rough Guideto Discerning Calling in Work 1 2 3 4 Affinity: What You Enjoy Ability: What You Are Good At Passion + Benefit: What the World Needs and That Inspires You Opportunity: What the World Will Pay You For • SHAPE: Heart • SHAPE: Experiences • Life Line • SHAPE: Abilities • Strength Finders • SHAPE: Spiritual Gifts • SHAPE: Experiences • SHAPE: Personality • Myers-Briggs • Holland Codes • SHAPE: Heart • Personal Brand & LinkedIn Profile • Market Assessment • Networking Plan 5 Life Plan • Personal Vision, Mission, Values • Personal SWOT • Personal Business Plan
- 12. Final Project Structure Part1: Your Story Part 2: Your Identity & Vocation Part 3: Personal Business Plan & Personal Brand Chapter 1: Literature & Materials Review Chapter 2: Vocational Reflection & Life Plan • SHAPE: Experiences • Life Line • Myers-Briggs • StrengthFinders • SHAPE • Life Line • Worldview • Market Research • Networking Plan • 5-10 Year Plan for Calling Chapter 3: Self-Evaluation, Reflection and Suggestions
- 13. For Further Study Fletcher Tink, “Theology of Work for the STEM Professions,” weeks 1-8 slides (http://www.slideshare.net/techmission/tow- week1) Tim Keller, “Every Good Endeavor” presentation (in course) Tim Keller, Every Good Endeavor R. Paul Stevens, The Other Six Days
Editor's Notes
- #2 Welcome to Week 6 of Vocation, Calling and the Purpose of Work, and the second of three presentations on worldview and work.
- #3 Here’s a brief review of last week’s worldview discussion to introduce this presentation. [Go over the points] As we find weaknesses and shortcomings in our worldview, through facing the challenges in the workplace, our idols are revealed. Having a theology of work means simply to adopt a Biblical worldview of God’s purposes for work, one that can help us work diligently, find joy and fulfillment in work, serve others through their work, and find a proper balance between work, rest, and all the other responsibilities of life. This presentation will address some of the most important questions in theology of work: if there is really a God who is calling us to work, how do we find out what our calling is, specifically? What parts of our calling are held in common with everyone and what is unique to ourselves as individuals? How do you balance the desire to live out your calling and the need to make a living? We can’t give definitive answers to all these questions, but hopefully this presentation will point you in the right direction. Let’s begin this week by looking at the purposes of work.
- #4 Explain Maslow’s hierarchy Explain how work is multi-faceted and satisfies every level of the hierarchy Oftentimes, discussions of calling, even among Christians, just look at the upper levels, at people finding fulfillment in work, but this can reflect a bias toward majority culture or upper class people who have the luxury of “finding their bliss” in their work. Tim Keller’s book offers a good corrective to this by showing that not only is “white-collar” work a sacred vocation, but “blue-collar” work is as well. We see this from the beginning of Biblical history, when Adam worked as a gardener all the way to Jesus’s work as a carpenter and Paul’s work as a tentmaker. We’ll discuss this more in the final presentation in this series.
- #6 Creation Mandate - “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it.” (Gen. 1:27-30) all humans are in image of God, His representatives, like how the “image” of the king was placed throughout an ancient Middle Eastern realm. they act out His purposes in the world as co-creators, further developing creation, and as sustainers, providing what is needed Great Commandment (Matt. 22:37) – “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength” – in other words, your whole self, reason, emotions, and action, and “Love your neighbor as yourself. Often summarized as “Love God, love others.” Seen in action in Jesus’ ministry as He starts His ministry in a synagogue saying He has come to proclaim good news to the poor and liberty to the captives. Love in action, transforming society. Great Commission, or Redemption Mandate – “Go in the whole world and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.” (Matt. 28:19-20) It’s not just about telling people to believe in Christ as their Savior, though that is essential to His command, it’s about telling them how they can be like Christ by following His example. “All nations” – every ethnic group. Taken together, the Great Commandment and Great Commission form the distinctively Christian call to be “ministers of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:8), working in the Spirit’s power to bring both material and spiritual redemption to a fallen world. Jesus Christ has already redeemed the world through His death and resurrection, but He has given the privilege to His people to be His hands and feet in the world, making that redemption evident. At the top of the pyramid here is one’s personal calling. To put calling in the singular is actually a bit of a misnomer though, since calling has different aspects, as we’ve seen, and it is lived out in different roles, different spheres of life. We’ll talk more about that on the next slide.
- #7 We may spend most of our waking hours at work, but work should not be half our life. An ideal work/life balance doesn’t oppose work to the rest of life, but finds a way to reconcile our work with both the general callings that all people and all Christians (if you are a Christian have), and also allows you to serve well in the other roles you occupy. Often, it’s been said that our basic priorities should be God-family-work, but often we get off balance and try to derive our significant simply from our paying job. In doing this, we can also forget the Biblical commandment to love our neighbors, which means actually getting to know them and be involved in our community. Focusing on our paying job to the exclusion of all else also can leave out room for restorative leisure, for Sabbath. As Tim Keller suggests, there’s a rhythm to a life of work & rest that is freedom to us because God’s commandments describe how we were meant to live. We’ll discuss this more in the next presentation as well.
- #8 Bezalel, in Exodus 31, architect of the Tabernacle is an example of someone God specifically called and commissioned to a secular occupation. In Isaiah, we also hear of God appointing Cyrus, a pagan king, for his purposes. In re: point 3, in emphasizing the dignity and spiritual value of all work, we don’t want to overcorrect from an emphasis on religious occupations to make Christians feel like they don’t have to participate in evangelism and the exercise of spiritual gifts. Since bearing witness for Christ is uncomfortable and difficult for many, it would be easy to avoid it, yet it is vital. We can preach Christ through our actions, but if people don’t know that we are Christians, they could simply think that we are good moral people and not have a sense of the Gospel.
- #9 point 1 - The exercises you’ve done up to this point in this course will help with this point 3 – Of course, this is the ideal. In reality, we often have to take a job to survive and to support others and there’s nothing wrong with that. Since you are more than your job and calling is more than your paying work, you can find ways to advance the Kingdom in what you do, even if you have a job that doesn’t match up with all you would like to do or all the ways in which you would like to serve others.
- #10 Quote Buechner – “calling is where your deep gladness and the world’s deep need meet” Yet it is more than that, as both Andrew Sears and Tim Keller have shown in their talks earlier in the course. {Discuss how ability & affinity, passion & benefit, need to find opportunity intersect.} The diagram here is, of course, is an idealized picture. Most people’s work will not satisfy all these dimensions of calling, at least not fully, not at first, and certainly not all the time. But since calling is broader than just one’s paying job one can still find balance and fulfillment. Tim Keller’s talk from last week is helpful because it shows how you could stumble into your calling in various orders. [Tell my own story as an example.] Remember, as Tim Keller said, if you have multiple opportunities, don’t think there has to be one right answer. Don’t just sit on your hands waiting for God to tell you walk to do. You have a “big C” calling that can be realized multiple ways, as we discussed earlier when we showed the multiple levels of calling.
- #11 In his original lectures for this course, Fletcher Tink spoke of 3 types of gifting: Natural – genetically inherited Acquired – training, knowledge, and experience Spiritual – anointing of the Spirit, sometimes for a particular work in the church or a particular season of life In finding one’s calling, God works so that we can use all three types of gifts. We must work to develop the gifts that God has given us, as seen in the parable of the talents (Matt. 25:14-30), which is in fact where our word “talent” came from: talent is something given by God for us to steward for His Kingdom purposes. As seen in the SHAPE section of this course, he also uses our stories, including our suffering and our painful experiences to give us the gifts. “There is no test without a testimony,” it’s been said. The Apostle Paul writes of this in regard to his own “thorn in the flesh”, when he says that God told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, because my strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Cor. 12:9) Note that even though spiritual gifts can go beyond what we are able to do naturally, they often build on our natural capacities and inclinations. For example, someone who is naturally good at communicating may also have a spiritual gift of teaching. The difference is in the context that the gift is used and, sometimes, how it becomes evident and the degree to which someone has it. But since God is sovereign over everything, all giftings ultimately come from God.
- #12 There are many paths to discerning calling, and often we stumble into our calling, as was suggested earlier. But in a course like this where we are exploring vocation and personal calling intentionally, it’s helpful to have a plan to get started. This is one possible plan, intended to start you out with more options and then narrow them down as you proceed. I’ve indicated on here which of the assessments you’ve been through so far could help in each stage of the process. Stage 5 maps out how you will take what you’ve learned about yourself and the working environment in steps 1-4 and shows how you will advance in your career and overall calling as a result. The Personal SWOT shows how you now assess your situation in life, after having gone through the course. The Mission, Vision, and Values are the “guiding star” by which you will strive to live in your personal calling. For example, I envision a world where everyone has access to quality, academically rich, life-transforming Christian education – that is my vision. My mission is to work toward that through a humane use of the latest technology and developing curriculum based on what I’ve learned through life experience and my own Christian liberal arts education (as an English major). The values guiding the implementation of this mission are Jesus, justice, and the humanities. I’m calling this step #5 the “life plan” since, as I’ve said previously, work is only a part of life and your vision, mission and values can find expression in all the roles that you occupy in life. The personal business plan describes how you will leverage your personal brand in the markets that are viable for you to work, but the overall scope of your calling as a human being is broader than what you could accomplish in your paying work alone. For example, I also have experience with mental illness and aim to advocate for and support people with mental health issues, so I will continue to do that even if that doesn’t become part of my career.
- #13 This slide shows how to put the pieces of what you’ve done in this course together for the final project. Remember, a draft of the final project is due next week (week 7) and the final version is due in week 8. You’ve been working on these pieces throughout this course. However, in order to get the best grade, you will need to revise these and put them together. Make sure to use the more in-depth worldview perspective that you’ve gained from weeks 5 & 6 to provide a deeper perspective on what your calling should be.