Do you ever feel a little confused by what it is to have a calling from God? Well, every Christian eventually comes across a question like this. What has God called me to do? Is it only for Pastors and Priests? Not everybody works for the church. In fact, the vast majority of us don’t look for a calling, but a career path. But what if faith and career are not separate from one another? What if our career was in line with our calling?
We’re going to be talking about an exciting initiative drawing together the cream of young Australians, shaping a future which looks beyond just the idea of a big house and expensive cars. We’re talking today about where we might fit in the idea of leaders, and how a calling from God helps us to aspire to social transformation.
An event that’s coming up in November this year is called The Gathering. Jonathan Green and his wife Laura are leading The Gathering with an outstanding set of speakers and mentors, ready to inspire an emerging generation of leaders. Jonathan Green joined Neil Johnson on Twenty20 to discuss his thoughts on how our calling affects our career.
Jonathan believes that God has a purpose for each and every person, and that it will look different for all of us.
“There are multiple ways in which people can fulfill that purpose. I’m not settled on the idea that there’s just one calling for a person. If we embrace the purpose that God has for us, we start to see the things that we’re doing come together. We begin to see the ways in which God is working in us and through us,” says Jonathan.
“That’s really what we look at through ‘The Gathering.’ We help people to mesh those things together, to start to see the ways in which God already has worked in their lives. It’s not just segmented to family life or church life. We encourage people to take a holistic approach to living a purpose filled life, that aligns with the purpose that God has given each one of us.”
Jonathan continues that the age group he focuses on is 25- to 40-year-olds. “We want to focus on encouraging people from the early stages of their career. We want those formative career years to really align with what we’re doing with God’s purpose for our lives. If people can get the idea from a young age to build God’s kingdom into the work they do, the impact that they can have is incredible.”
Jonathan points out that as Christians we should be looking to position ourselves so that we can have an influence on society instead of spending our time complaining. “There’s an important role for us in speaking up when things are wrong, when we believe there’s a there’s another way. Perhaps we could actually put ourselves into positions where we can play that influential role.”
Jonathan says that is the idea behind ‘The Gathering’. “We all know that William Wilberforce achieved incredible things, but he couldn’t have done that on his own. He had a support group, and those people supported him with resources and prayer. There’s a whole host of well-known organisations today that Wilberforce had a hand in establishing and influencing.”
Jonathan believes we should get behind others who are doing things in our society to influence it for God’s kingdom. “I always feel like what we’re doing now is riding on the shoulders of people who’ve been before and great influencers who have made significant differences in our society. For me, part of the inspiration for doing this is I asked the question, why can we not have Wilberforce’s of today?”
“The idea of ‘The Gathering’ is that we can serve God in and through the places where He’s gifted us, and where He’s given us the skills to be able to influence society. We don’t have to step out of those places to be in full-time ministry and to serve God.”
Listen to the rest of Jonathan’s fascinating discussion with Neil here…
Tune into 20Twenty and join the conversation with Neil Johnson, weekdays on Vision Christian Radio. Click here for your local times.
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