Vocational Formation: What Students Need to Know

By Chris Armstrong, reprinted from Humanism as a Way of Life.

See the first post in this series here.

What Is Vocation?

Second, what is vocation? I’d say it is at least this

First, it is a historical Christian term that has become secularized
Second, in the Christian tradition, it has meant a “calling” (from God) – we may thus use “vocation” and “calling” interchangeably
And third, the church has recognized two kinds of callings

The first may be summarized as the general call to life in God – or simply, to holiness; note that we almost never use the word vocation for this kind of calling any more.

The second is a set of particular callings that have to do with our particular situations, gifts, and modes of service to others.

General Callings

So first, our general callings:

Creation vocation: Be fruitful and multiply; cultivate and keep the earth (Gen 2:15); exercise dominion in the earth (Gen 1:26)
Moral vocation: Keep the Ten Commandments (Exod 20:1-17 and Matt 5)
“Love vocation”: Love God and neighbor (Matt 22:34-40); serve others spiritually (Matt 28:16-20) and practically (Matt 25:31-46)

This list is incomplete, and contains overlaps. We receive many general callings in scripture. The main insight here is that the church has understood “general callings” to include all the things everyone is called to by God.

More of our conversations about vocation should start here, with the callings for which we’re all clearly responsible.

Particular Vocations

Different people are called, gifted, and given opportunities to do different kinds of work
Through these particular vocations, we love God and neighbor through specific kinds of work
Through them too, God meets the needs of many through the work of many

Now we turn to particular callings or vocations:

Protestant Reformers used this term to point to the diversity of work different people are called to. (I speak here as a Protestant, but I know there are parallels in the other Christian confessions.)

Most of the time when we talk about vocation in a university setting, we’re talking about how students can discern your way into your particular callings.

· God seems to extend his grace and provision into the world through the exercise of human work across many sectors.

· We might say for example that God works through human vocations of creating or providing (think agricultural or manufacturing jobs), vocations of restoring or healing (think medical or social sector jobs), and vocations of protecting (think legal professions, law enforcement, and the military)—among others.

A Summary Definition

We can sum up with this brief definition:

(1) A summons (2) to meaningful work (3) in service to others. [Dik and Duffy, Make Your Job a Calling, p. 11]

This definition can do several things for us:

Vocation has both its origin and its telos outside of the self. So it challenges the narcissism of expressive individualism.
Multiple agents are active in our vocations: God is present and active in the world and in our lives, calling us to spend our lives meaningfully. We are also present and active in this equation.
Vocation is primarily an expression of love (1) between God and the vocational agent and (2) between the vocational agent and others.

Notice too that this definition is significantly silent on at least two points.

First, there is no mention of personal passions, so it recognizes callings to unwanted tasks (think about Moses for example—his calling DID NOT “align with his passions”).

Second, this definition doesn’t mention personal strengths. It leaves room for callings to things we’re good at and to things we’re bad at. So it challenges heroic or romantic narratives about vocation and leaves room for reliance on others, and indeed, on the power of God, in the practice of our vocations.

To be concluded.