Previous | Next 

CURRENTLY IN BOOKS
Understanding our unique calling

Lori Matties

Courage and Calling: Embracing Your God-Given Potential Gordon T. Smith. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1999.

For those who have not thought much about how their life and work relate to the call of God, this is a book worth reading. Smith first affirms that calling has three parts: the general call to be a Christian, the specific call to each person to respond through service in the world, and the immediate call to the tasks of every day. The focus of the book is primarily on the second part.

Smith defines this aspect of call (using the word “vocation” interchangeably) as work that is sacred because it comes from God. Calling is not only work for the church, but is whatever one does that expresses one’s gifts and abilities in service to God and the world. Smith is careful to say that calling does not equal career, job or occupation, though it may be expressed through an occupation.

We discover our calling first by knowing ourselves. To aid in doing that, we can ask four questions: “What are my gifts and abilities?”; “What is the deepest desire of my heart?”; “Where do I sense the needs of the world and feel the brokenness in God’s creation?”; and “What is my unique personality or temperament?” As we answer these questions, both by ourselves and in the context of a community of faith, we learn our unique calling as God’s chosen servants.

The book has several gems, particularly in the chapter “Thinking Vocationally”. The many anecdotes, however, become somewhat tedious. Smith’s understanding of calling seems relevant only to those who have a broad range of choices about the work they may do. For the rest, I think God’s call must be defined more flexibly. Whatever we do, whether it fits our skills and abilities, if we do it for the love of God and our neighbour, we are answering the sacred call of God.

Lori Matties is editor of Sophia magazine and lives in Winnipeg.

Previous | Next 

Last modified March 6, 2001.

© 2001 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
Masthead and usage information.