Vocation and Call: Thinking about vocation

4. Thinking about vocation

As people seeking to Walk the Way of Jesus, we know ourselves called to faith. And we also know that this call prompts, encourages, compels us to respond. Vocation is the response to a call.

Activity:

Name as many different vocations as you can.
Remember that God calls us beyond the church, so be sure to include non-church roles too.

And God calls all kinds of people. Can you think of any examples from the Bible where God has called some unlikely characters? Here are some examples to get you started (click the links to open each passage in BibleGateway).

The call of Abram (Genesis 12)
The call of Moses (Exodus 3)
The call of Samuel (1 Samuel 3: 1 - 10)
The call of David (1 Samuel 16: 1 - 13)
The call of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1: 4 - 9)
Esther's vocation (Esther 4: 1 - 14)
The call of Mary (Luke 1: 26 - 38)
The call Ananias and the conversion of Paul (Acts 9: 1 - 22)
The call and conversion of Lydia (Acts 16: 11 - 15)
God's calling to all Christians (Ephesians 1: 3 - 14)

What are the things that stand out to you after reading some of these stories, or others that you can think of? What does this say about God and about us?

Videos:

In these two short videos Revd Nicola Furley-Smith and Sam Richards offer their reflections on Vocation and Call

Click Here for a transcript of this video

Going further and deeper:

If you want to explore the biblical background to Call and Vocation and find out what the URC says and believes about it then read these papers by Revd Nicola Furley-Smith, URC Secretary for Ministries, and Revd Dr Robert Pope, Convenor of the URC Faith and Order Committee.

Call and Vocation

Call and Vocation, going deeper