Overcoming the Tension Between Expectations and Calling
Our work and artistry are the witness, not an addition to it.
When I published this post, a Christian friend I trust challenged me:
“… the problem here is that in the process of criticizing working in the church, you do the exact thing you lament. Working in the market isn't any better than ministry. Entrepreneurs aren't better than pastors, and ministry and pastors aren't better than entrepreneurs.”
Point taken. As you re-read this, forgive me for not recognizing that all vocations are equal. There’s no point in being critical; I forgot my goal is to observe critically and frame my observations constructively.
If you’re not in professional ministry, does it ever feel like you live in the tension between ministry expectations and your work?
Do you experience tension because you’re unsure if your career or vocation matters to God?
Every Sunday for decades, we’ve been taught the message that we’re commanded to do this or that in Scripture, inferring that if we’re not doing that one thing (that happens to be part of the seven-week sermon series), somehow we’re not obedient or fulfilling God’s calling.
Our call is to Christ; our calling is to serve him. It makes me sad that I’m learning late in my career that the breadth of his love applies as much to my work and creativity as it does to my soul.
I want to connect significantly with God’s character and Jesus’ redemptive work in my career and calling as an entrepreneur. We have great potential for building relationships with clients and coworkers.
I have friends in part- or full-time vocational ministry and many more who are business professionals, owners, entrepreneurs, artists, and creators. We all participate in different parts of the marketplace daily, trying to infuse biblical teaching into our work and experiencing the joy of our faith. I understand we’re all focused on whatever marketplace we’re called to. I wish there were more balance between “come to church” and “Let’s look for God in the marketplace and meet him there” (With thanks to Frederick Buechner).
We’re all creators and co-creators. It doesn’t matter what role we choose — or the Lord chooses for us — entrepreneur, artist, professional, tradesperson, pastor, theologian — our work and artistry are the witness, not an addition to our witness. All vocations have value, and we all overcome challenges in our struggle to be victorious in expressing our faith and fulfilling the ministry of reconciliation.
On Monday, I work to serve the people and companies we’re fortunate to consider our clients. With great risk is the potential for great reward.
I don’t mean this to be an “us vs them” discussion. I’m trying to make the point that there needs to be more dialog, interaction, and recognition of the role every vocation has in God’s redemption story and in building up Christ’s body.
“That means our work, artistry, and witness are tethered together rather than severed by a faux holiness. We don't look at our society as "unclean" and to be avoided but as a field in which the Lord of the harvest is laboring and to which he summons us as co-laborers.”
Until Twitter stops feuding with Substack, click here to read this twitter thread:
https://twitter.com/DPCassidyTKC/status/1656361012243644417?s=20
Many, if not most of us, live with the tension that our non-ministry vocations aren’t God’s purpose for our lives, and that’s not true.
“Called to Create” by serial entrepreneur Jordan Raynor reminded me of this. It helped to cleanse my soul and remind me that we can pursue our work as a calling to serve God.
No matter our vocation, work is work. We can play semantic games and call work ‘ministry,’ but that only continues the vocational divide between the chosen and everybody else. There’s no higher value in ministry than entrepreneurship as long as we’re pursuing the command to love God, follow Jesus, and love people.
When God introduces himself to us, it’s as the Creator, and he gives the first people he created the responsibility to co-create with him.
You can’t dispute that. Naming the animals was no simple task; I bet it was fun! Adam called them all: Hippopotamus, aardvarks, orangutans, and monkeys.
The problem is that over time, the truth of God as Redeemer has overshadowed the complementary truth of God as Creator. I understand why; without our Redeemer, we have no hope. Christ created all things and sustains all things. One without the other leaves us with an incomplete idea of God’s character.
My trip to Israel reaffirmed that while Jesus spent three years in ministry, the foundation for his ministry was as a workman and craftsman. I can imagine he was known for his work ethic, honesty and integrity, and skill and craftsmanship as a builder. He learned how to interact with people from being in business and growing favorably with God and man.
I used to think the tension I feel is because I was not following Christ according to other people’s expectations, which is a poor way of evaluating our discipleship.
The tension comes from reconciling what I do with what God calls me to do — to reveal his character — and love people through my work. I am irresistibly and lovingly invited to create.
As a colleague reminds me, “It’s easy for a dead fish to float downstream.”
The tension is exquisite because, as creators, we are compelled to swim against the current by the convictions of our creativity.
As creators and entrepreneurs, we are at odds with the ministry-only-focused messages we hear because we want to pursue our calling in different work. We are compelled to create and find our greatest joy in serving God, revealing his character, and loving others, no matter where that takes place or in what vocation we pursue.
We feel tension when we believe we must accept the expectations of others who place a higher value on vocational ministry. If we resist God’s call to our work of co-creating, neglect the task of sharing the message of reconciliation, and think the only way to love others is the way the church says, we are unfulfilled and perhaps disobedient.
Raynor states, ‘The gospel has the power to change everything, including how we create.”
The whole story is that God loves his creation so much that he became its Redeemer and Restorer. You and I are redeemed and restored to be co-creators.