You don’t need a specific call to serve God. You just need to be willing and available.
The problem is, we’ve made calling more about places and tasks than we have about purpose, vision and movement. You are called first to purpose and vision, which ultimately involves places, people and titles… but they all change, whereas purpose doesn’t.
Sadly our wrong understanding of calling has produced lots of stranded people who claim they felt called to “places” but years later are not happy or fruitful and don’t really know what they’re supposed to be doing there.
The old “missionary” mindset often prevails when it comes to calling and we can be left feeling that to appear called we have to go somewhere. For many their calling has become their containment and graveyard because we’ve been taught that we must never question our calling and stick with it no matter what.
Some of you have made the huge mistake of marrying the model but dating the mission or calling. Don’t ever marry the model by limiting your calling to a town-city-nation-role-job-group or denomination, your first loyalty is always to God, not people or geography.
We are called to serve a purpose, vision or dream and that will always translate firstly into serving people in the place where you are now.
God is drawn to movement and action that doesn’t require new locations to function. It’s by serving where you are that puts places on the map however ordinary that may feel compared to the glamour of having a “call to China”. Hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions around the world only know about Bradford in the north of England because we built a world class church there.
Tens of thousands have come to our city, who believe me would never have dreamed of doing so, because of the church we built there. Yet in over 30 years of pastoring in that city I have never felt called to Bradford or married to Bradford, I just got on with reaching people, because if you build it they will come.
You can do a lot for God and people without waiting for a “call”. You are already called.
“Go into all the world” is more than enough of a call to create movement and service.
God is drawn to movement – two thirds of his name is “GO” and read backwards is “DO”. God is interested in going and doing not parking and praying. Moses wasn’t “called” into a role until he was 80, Joseph until early 30’s he had his dream age 17 but his role in Egypt came much later after years of flourishing wherever he was.
You don’t have a pre-called life and a called life, your life isn’t about calling, it’s about involvement and service.
Don’t waste another day trying to find your call, just serve where you are and your call will find you. The world needs purpose and service driven people not call driven people.
Paul Scanlon
Leadership – Communication – Growing Big People
Social: @PaulScanlonuk
www.paulscanlon.com