Discerning and Equipping Vocation Claire Pedrick www 3

Discerning and Equipping Vocation Claire Pedrick www. 3 dcoaching. com

• Better done with strangers? Seeking The Way

What do we need to do to make the next two hours a valuable use of your time?

• More than caring • Defence – Corporate – Plumbing - CEO – paid ministry – volunteering anything! • No one vocation is more special than another

Our definition of work: • What you do when you earn money • What you do as a volunteer • What you do raising a family or caring

Discernment • • Latin Dis – sift Cernere – apart Not decision making but insight and seeing things differently • Vocation – a strong feeling of suitablility

Entry Points • thinking about changing career • forced to think it through • circumstances may have changed and it’s time to return to work • screensaver • nudges: Is God telling me to do something different? • ‘have you though about? ’ v God is telling me to tell you

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Know what’s in your toolbox Go Window Shopping Know your purpose Have a vision and a strategy Look at your situation from other perspectives – how does God normally guide you?

6. Do the Maths 7. Plan Time To Think and pray 8. Create your team 9. Don’t burn your bridges 10. Have a good action plan – CV, you do the work…

“Where your talents and the needs of the world collide, there lies your vocation” Aristotle Strengths Passions What the organisation wants (will pay for)

Called and competent enough? Is the gap fillable?

• Self understanding and truth-telling • Internally thought AND externally noticed

• Most people don’t know what their gifts and skills are • What’s in my toolkit? – Mindmap – Audit – Rocket science

The Angel’s Bag • Think about the angel who had to project manage the arrival of the great company of the heavenly host in the fields outside Bethlehem • What skills did they use • NOT tasks • What skills are there that we don’t expect

John Adair: ‘The door that leads to vocation is open to us all’

Of 132 public appearances Jesus made, 122 were in the marketplace Of 52 parables Jesus told, 45 were in the workplace context More than 75% of the characters in the Bible were working people who did ministry as part of their work

‘Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. ’ Colossians 3: 23 -24

Dedication Fit More than money alone Creativity Enthusiastic Humble Tenacious Service Love

• Describe what you do (skills) Not what you are (nouns) • Write them down – which are strengths – that you are good at? Which are passions? • In 24 hours. . . • Imagine someone else is bad at your job – what makes you good? Tool 3: What I do

Generating new ideas: • Can you think beyond the obvious 30? • What are the needs of the world – in all sectors? Not just the needs of the church

Listening to others

Avocation – a subordinate occupation pursued in addition to our vocation “I have come that they might have life in all its fullness” Jesus

Avocation What you are good at AND What the organisation wants Strengths Passions What the organisation wants

st 21 Joseph Century Career • Developed new skills • Gained experience • Made connections and contacts • Tried out new things • Sometimes made money – sometimes didn’t • Found a few angels • Strategic Volunteering

Joseph Sheppard-Lord Skills Customers/ Clients Location Animal husbandry Truth teller Sheep Home Dreaming Or tell tale? Prisoners Canaan Interpretation Trustworthy Public Egypt Listening Integrity Elite Prison Diligence Pragmatic – get on with it Military Organisations Maintenance Site Management Administration Managing people Values Small households

Finding other clues • Don’t use the internet as your primary finding tool! • Guardian every day for 2 weeks • Talk – listen – try out

• Whose job have you always wanted? • What’s your most important question? It’s not what can I do? It’s what can I do that will use. . . won’t. . and will. . . Be honest and write it down – however clunky! • Have some good conversations • Ask 5 people to tell you 20 things they could see you doing. You’ll have thought of the first 5, but. . . • Try some of these on for size – as an intern, on a day off, in a week’s holiday. . .

How does God normally guide you. . . ? How do you know if something is right? • How has God guided you and others in the past? • What about now? • Take a look back over past career decisions and explore what next this time

Dreams Interpretation Keep a notepad by the bed! Nudging/ Screensaver God speaking Events directly Listening to God Trying it! Revelation/ prophecy Fellowship Bible God told me to tell you =“Have you ever thought about? ” Gift of perception Sacrifice not misery Confirmation of God’s guidance Inspiration of what to say Feelings They ‘see something in you’ Godincidences Ambition RISK Right in front of your nose! Questions Knock backs Waiting Prayer Opportunity

Vocation • About risk and stretch • Jonah • Peter

Multiple Vocations • Sequential • Phases and priorities • Combinations – vocation as a parent + avocation at work (or vice versa!)

Come to the edge. We might fall. Come to the edge. It’s too high! COME TO THE EDGE! So they came and he pushed and they flew. Christopher Logue (or Apollinaire)

Who takes responsibility?

“The story doesn’t begin until it’s been told” Jeremy Clare

“We also need to break the perception that God prefers us to settle into being low achievers, or we will fail to make an impact on our communities. Paul strained forward to achieve fully an ambition that God gave him. This conviction sustained him throughout every imaginable adversity and enabled him to say in the end that he had ‘fought the good fight’ and had ‘finished the race’. That should be our life’s mission. ” Ken Costa, God at Work

• ‘I have come that they may have life in all its fullness’ Jesus • Your soul doesn’t care what you do for a living - and when your life is over, neither will you. Your soul cares only about what you’re being while you’re doing whatever you’re doing. Neale Donald Walsch • Many people mistake our work for our vocation. Our vocation is the love of Jesus. Mother Teresa

• Give honest and developmental feedback • Pray for people at work – not just in crisis • Use workplace images • Interviews • Posters • Maps • Run a vocations course • Give honest feedback

“When someone thinks of work as a calling rather than merely a job, the experience of working is transformed. ” William Damon Wendy’s story

What is ‘it’? “The Banks of the Yangtze give it depth, drive and direction”

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