The General Spiritual Calling: Creation, Care, & Community

For many, the concept of being called was likely introduced to you in church youth groups, camps, and sermons. Often there was a frequent emphasis on your personal call to ministry, which likely took the form of a vocational call to become a pastor, evangelist, or missionary. Yet, while many churches’ focus on ministerial call; few congregations focus on callings to become a plumber, janitor, or factory worker.

Does God only call ministers to service? What about the everyday person in the congregation that desires to serve God but doesn’t feel called to ministerial service? Are their contributions to the world worthless due to a supposed lack of spiritual calling? To answer these questions, we note that the term spiritual calling has changed meaning over church history, and these changes affect how you interpret and discern your spiritual calling.

Title: Zindel Park Trails (7), Author: Nicholas A. Tonelli, Source: Flickr is licensed underCC BY 2.0

A Very Brief Church History of Discernment & Spiritual Calling:

The concept of calling as a particular job or career is a new concept in human history. Until the industrial revolution, an individual's occupation would be determined by their social position, economic status, and geographical location. If you were born a serf, there was little opportunity to have a choice of vocation; let alone a spiritual calling.

Early Church History

In their early church there was no distinction between “clergy” and "laity" (Barnett, 1965). We must remember Paul was not only an apostle but earned his living as tentmaker; therefore, the early church started out with a model that valued work, but there was no distinct calling to a particular job or career. While some early church fathers distinguished between the traditional work roles and monastic life; there was still no distinctive call of individuals to a particular job, career, or type of work as a ministry. 

The Dark Ages:

As the church progressed in its organizational development in the second through the eleventh century, the position of priest and bishop became elevated in the church as a unique and separate calling of God (Bainton,1956). This elevation of the priesthood began a culture where jobs outside of the church was viewed as lesser status 

As the dark ages progressed, individuals “called” to be priest were viewed as special and set apart for the contemplative life. It was during this era where unique spiritual callings were demarcated from normal work. Despite this growing distinction between work and ministry; many religious orders continued to incorporate work and daily jobs as a part of the contemplative life.

Title: Martin Luther, Author: Heather Kennedy, Source: Flickr is licensed by CC BY 2.0

The Reformation:

During the age of the reformation, “calling” and “vocation” were used in conjunction for the first time. Martin Luther viewed calling in the context of the priesthood, but also viewed that a religious calling was available to all believers. For the first time, spiritual calling was no longer unique to those who were called to serve in priestly or contemplative ministry; but available to all of God’s people. 

It was not only church leaders that were chosen; but all of God’s followers were chosen to serve in Luther's view. This perspective united the concepts of work and vocation with a spiritual calling. I should note Luther’s concept of vocation was broader than work alone. Luther believed any personal, relational or community activity an individual took part in during life was an act of Christian service. 

Another protestant reformer, John Calvin, also held Christian vocation as synonymous with calling. Calvin’s approach to calling was much broader than Luther’s and he recognized that a person’s calling and vocation may change overtime (Troeltsch, 1986). Calvin also expanded the concept of spiritual calling to include concepts of talents, gifts, and abilities in the consideration of a divine calling (Marshall, 1993).

Title: John Calvin, Author: Fondo Antiguo de la Biblio, Source: Flickr is licensed by CC0: Pubic Domain

The Industrial Revolution

During the age of enlightenment and progressing into the industrial revolution, there was a growing emphasis on secularization and the church lost its dominant role in society (Tawney, 1964). It was during this period that calling became associated with career and occupation, while the spiritual aspects of vocation (e.g., contemplation, prayer, and meditation) held less distinction in demarcating a spiritual calling from a career. As the church moved into the modern era, the concept of spiritual calling continued in some protestant circles as a special ministerial call by God; while the popular concept of calling as work, job, and career reflected a human desire to have meaning in work beyond just earning a living.  

Conclusion:

The concept of spiritual calling has changed over time and history. In the early church, there was no distinct call to ministry from a person’s job or vocation. In fact, during the early church history, you may be called to ministry and remain in your current life role or job. It was during the second through the eleventh century of the church it denoted unique calls to church ministry as “special callings”. Society began to view callings as special work that was distinguished from daily labor.

Reformation leaders such as Martin Luther and John Calvin brought a sense of equality to the concept of calling; noting that not only priests were called to service, but all believers were called to service. During the reformation, the concept of calling expanded to include acts of service in daily living with family, friends, community, and the world at large. As the cultural understanding of calling became individualized during the industrial age, calling became much more synonymous with individual callings that viewed ministry as callings to jobs, careers, and chosen vocations.

Is a Spiritual Calling Even Real?

Once you view the concept of spiritual calling through the lens of church history, there is an inevitable sense that our modern, individualistic sense of spiritual calling was not held throughout church history. In fact, we can see that our experience of calling would be demarcated by multiple factors, including the historical era, political environment, our social status, and geographic location we were born into. Initially, seeing how the concept of spiritual calling has changed overtime can cause you to question if spiritual calling is even real. However, I think this despair is misplaced. Like Luther and Calvin, I believe in the universal calling of every created being; while it includes our individual call, there is a larger call to service that is rarely explored… our call within the creative order.

The Creative Order: The Calling to Creation, Community, and Care:

In Genesis and the creation of humanity, there is a central call to every human being to take part in the creative order. In Genesis 1:28-29, God creates humankind and then blesses them with the authority to create (Be fruitful), to build community (multiply), and to care (subdue) for the earth. Genesis 9:1 also gives this unique calling a second time when Noah exits the ark. This spiritual calling is universal and manifest though living your life as a contributing member of society, culture, and the larger world.

Create:

God created a template for you in the Genesis story of creation, showing the importance of contributing your own unique talents to the world. I would venture to say most individuals that are confused about their spiritual calling are not so much questioning their call; but how to best use their talents, skills, and abilities in the fostering of creation. God has given you unique skills and abilities that can contribute to the world. Your job is to find your niche and apply those skills in creating a better, abundant, prosperous world. 

Community:

The second part of our general calling within the creative order is to build a community through healthy friendships, family relationships, and community involvement. Besides contributing to creation through our skills, talents, and abilities; we are called to create and take part in healthy relationships. To build community expresses God’s vision and provision within your sphere of influence, beginning with our core family relationships, expanding to our friendships, and manifesting in our relationship with the community at large. Christ's highest command of loving God with your nature, emotions, personality, thoughts, and loving humankind as yourself (Luke 10:27) builds the foundation for you to create a community.

Care:

The last component of our general spiritual call is our care of creation, the environment, and the world God has given us. Various biblical translations interpret this as “subdue” creation and “rule over”, which leaves a false impression that we may misuse the natural resources of the earth however humankind sees fit. Instead, these words are meant to be interpreted administrating, managing, and caring for creation. Our general spiritual calling includes a mandate to care for our planet, wisely use its resources, and ensure its ongoing sustainability. 

Conclusions on Calling:

One reason you may become confused about personal spiritual callings the inability to recognize that the term “calling” has changed overtime as culture, history, and religious institutions developed. Initially, there was no distinction between the call to live a Christian life and normal life roles (e.g., solider, tax collector, slave, or farmer). Soon there became a focus on unique callings to institutional ministry during the dark ages and this continued up until the age of reformation. During the industrial revolution calling started becoming more focused on individual jobs, work, and careers as humans sought to bring meaning to their daily labor.  

As time has progressed and spiritual calling has become more individualized; discernment of your calling has become more difficult because we fail to notice God gave a clear pathway to your calling within the Genesis. Your spiritual calling is not a mystery; your calling is creating & contributing, building community with those around you, and finally to caring for the world in a responsible and sustainable manner.

Now that you know your general calling; the next step is where most individuals struggle; the discernment of how to create, contribute, and care. Your discernment of your own unique skills, talents, gifts, and abilities and how to use them in the creative order is the next step in identifying your spiritual calling. The next postings will explore how to discern these aspects within your personal spiritual calling.

By: Heath B. Walters, Ph.D.

Copyright September 21, 2022, Heath B. Walters, DBA Spiritual Life Resources, All Rights Reserved

Reference

Bainton, R H. (1956). The Ministry of the Middle Ages in H. Richard Niebuhr and Daniel Day Williams, The Ministry in Historical Perspective. New York: Harpers.

Barnette, H. H. (1965). Christian Calling and Vocation. Grand Rapids: Baker Books.

Holl, K. (1958). The History of the Word Vocation (Beruf). H.F. Peacock trans. Review and Expositor, 55, 126-154.

Marshall, P.  (1993). Callings: Spirituality, Work, and Duty in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century England. (Unpublished Manuscript).

Tawney, R.H. (1964). Religion and Rise of Capitalism. London, Penguin.

Troeltsch E. (1986). Protestantism and Progress. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.