Is a Personal Calling a Gift, Responsibility, or Invitation?

When three different people say they felt the stirrings of a personal calling, each one could mean something different. The first might view their calling as a spiritual gift they’ve been given, the second person could see their calling as a responsibility they need to carry out, and a third may see their calling as an invitation from God to live their life in a certain way. 

As a church leader, what guidance would you give them, based on their three different views? 

At Clarity House, we empower individuals to discern, articulate, and live out their personal callings where they live, work, learn, and play. There is strength in numbers—the more people in a church who have a clear understanding of their unique purpose, the greater the collective gospel influence of the church in the everyday places of life. 

Here’s a look at three characteristics of personal calling and how each works to empower people within a church’s disciple-making pathway.

Your Calling is a Responsibility 

“No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” John 15:15 

This verse from John shines a light on the concept of calling as a responsibility. The primary question in discipleship is “can I trust God?” When people move from disciples to leaders, the question shifts to “can God trust me?” We see this in John as servants become friends—or leaders—and they deepen their understanding of their role to play in God’s plan. 

Calling as responsibility means living up to the trust He has placed in us. We should feel the weight of that responsibility in a healthy way—the creator of the universe has placed trust in us and that calling prevents us from sliding into the worst of ourselves. As with any responsibility, there can be delight as well as duty, significance as well as sacrifice. We can better understand and embrace our calling when we acknowledge both sides of it, and view responsibility as a holy obligation to honor God’s trust. 

Your Calling is an Invitation 

“The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field …” Genesis 2:20

We see calling as an invitation from the very beginning of the biblical story. God entrusts Adam to give names to the cattle, birds, and beasts of His creation. In the same way, God extends an invitation to us by way of a calling, and this invitation is something we can accept or reject. 

An invitation means we are included in God’s plan, and activating our calling means we take the opportunity to participate in what God has planned and provided. In a Jewish theology of participation, people are reminded that God will work through us and in us but not instead of us.

God is going to carry out His plan with or without us, but He won’t work instead of us. This is an important reminder that church leaders can pass on to the people who call their church home—they all have been invited to do holy work and have been given the gifts and trust (responsibility) to accomplish it. They can say no to that invitation, but that means saying no to a participatory relationship with God.

Integrating the Gift, Responsibility, and Invitation 

What happens when people see their calling as only one or two of these three aspects? 

• Gift + invitation = someone sees their calling as a hobby. Something they can dabble in and get around to when they have the time. 
• Responsibility + invitation = a recipe for someone to feel they are carrying a burden. It becomes something people feel they “have to do” instead of the joyful and holy opportunity to “get to do.” 
• Gift + responsibility = a calling becomes self-serving. The larger collective mission goes missing from someone’s calling, and people lose sight of the fact they are cooperating out of communion with the master and doing good works for the good of others and the glory of God. As we covered in our last blog, a mission is what WE do.

A Final Note for Church Leaders 

Awakening and integrating the gift, responsibility, and invitation of a calling in people activates their intrinsic motivation. They are moved by the Spirit to live out their calling where they live, work, learn, and play, and this empowers the organism of the church. Activating people’s calling also resets the time clock in people’s lives—they go from having an hour or two per week to devote to the church to removing time as a barrier from their spiritual pathway and what God has called them to be. They’re willing to devote their entire lives to their calling.

And lastly—vocational ministry leaders can tip toward the responsibility + invitation side of calling, and lose focus on the gift. Part of our work in awakening calling is helping church leaders refuel the joy behind their calling and rediscover their God-given gifts. 

Suggestions for Application and Discussion

• Start with doing a self-evaluation. How do you perceive your calling? Most of us will have a tendency to overemphasize or deemphasize the same aspect of calling and get out of balance. What is your tendency? Do you slide into feeling too much of a burden by overemphasizing responsibility? Do you drift into a self-serving view of your calling that deemphasizes invitation? Spend time in prayer, asking God to make this clear to you and guide you to remain in proper balance.
• Facilitate a discussion about these three ways of relating to your calling with your key leaders and staff. Invite them to share their tendencies and struggles as they feel comfortable. Encourage them to share any practices they’ve found to be helpful in keeping these elements in balance. 
• Work with your adult discipleship team to look for the right ways and places within your disciple-making pathway that you can incorporate these ways of relating to calling. What practices could you invite people into to understand their tendencies and stay in proper balance?
• Student ministry, especially high school ministry, is a great place to talk about the concept of calling. Collaborate with your student ministry team to incorporate ways to introduce these ideas and ways of understanding calling into their existing rhythms of ministry.

Shout Out to Derek Sanford from Grace Church in Erie, PA

This framework of calling as a gift, responsibility, and invitation comes from our friend Derek Sanford, the lead pastor of Grace Church, Erie. Thanks, Derek!

This is the third article in our series about the role that a personal calling plays in a meaningful spiritual growth pathway.

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We’re here to help church leaders discern their own personal callings and build a pathway for disciples to carry the gift, responsibility, and invitation of their own calling. We always begin with an easy conversation and welcome the chance to talk with you.