The Spiritual Career: How to Find and Follow Your Calling to Work
By Wayne Back
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About this ebook
This book helps Christians to discover and celebrate their calling to the workplace. Most Christians are called to the workplace and this book gives a solid biblical foundation to the pursuit of your career-calling. I bring my experience as a Bible College lecturer and principal, as a pastor for twenty years and as a corporate trainer to fill this book with practical understanding on how to both follow your calling and be excellent in the pursuit of your career
The chapter titles are:
1. Embracing a calling-driven career
2. Using gifts and passions in your career: The key to personal effectiveness
3. “Activities” in your career: Expressing your uniqueness
4.Being led by the Spirit in your career: Leadings for spiritual work, physical work and decision making
5. The great commandments: The foundation of priorities
6. Establishing work priorities: Six aspects to consider
7. Time management: Redeeming the time
8. Excellent customer service: Showing servanthood at work
9. Effective Communication: Understanding others
10. Stress Management: Learning the easy yoke
11. Stress Management: Building inner strength
12. Career Planning: Pressing on towards the goal
13. Personal and Professional Development: Being transformed
This book answers questions like:
How do I get started on a Christian career when I have absolutely no money?
How might Christian beliefs affect his/hers choice for a career?
As a Christian, would God allow me to choose my own job or career?
What's a good Christian reason to work hard at my career?
I am a Christian and am looking for a career that will help me out as well as my spiritual life.
Do you think there are certain careers that are not fit for Christians who are serious and really want to take the cross and follow Jesus.
How does a Christian pursue any sort of career in a for-profit company with any heart?
Can one be successful in spiritual practices and be successful in the worldly career simultaneously?
How do I find spiritual purpose in my career?
I am looking for a Christian career but still need to support my family.
What is a good career that uses my Spiritual Gifts?
Are excellent grades important in understanding my career?
Without praying or anything spiritual, how you know a suitable career for you?
Wayne Back
Wayne Back is the founder and Managing Director of Management Training Australia (www.mtaustralia.com). He holds an honours degree in Physics, a Diploma of Ministry and a Masters in Management. Wayne lives in Melbourne, Australia.
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The Spiritual Career - Wayne Back
The Spiritual Career
How to find and follow your calling to work
Wayne Back
Copyright 2012 Wayne Back
Smashwords Edition
This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
All rights reserved. Except for the fair dealing exceptions of the Copyright Act, e.g. for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission.
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (TLB) are taken from The Living Bible, Copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
All inquiries about this book should be made to
answers@wayneback.com
Information about keynote speaking, workshops and other resources from Wayne Back, go to www.wayneback.com
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter one: Embracing a calling-driven career
Chapter two: Using gifts and passions in your career: The key to personal effectiveness
Chapter three: Activities
in your career: Expressing your uniqueness
Chapter four: Being led by the Spirit in your career: Leadings for spiritual work, physical work and decision making
Chapter five: The great commandments: The foundation of priorities
Chapter six: Establishing work priorities: Six aspects to consider
Chapter seven: Time management: Redeeming the time
Chapter eight: Excellent customer service: Showing servant-hood at work
Chapter nine: Effective Communication: Understanding others
Chapter ten: Stress Management: Learning the easy yoke
Chapter eleven: Stress Management: Building inner strength
Chapter twelve: Career Planning: Pressing on towards the goal
Chapter thirteen: Personal and Professional Development: Being transformed
Conclusion
About the Author
Acknowledgements
First of all I would like to thank all of those who contributed a part of their career story to this book. Their lives exemplify various aspects of pursuing a calling to the workplace. You might not have heard of these people, but they are the sort of people who make the Kingdom of God tick. They are real heroes who have spent their lives earnestly pursuing the call of God. For some that has meant business, others education and yet others working in the family home. Their stories, like yours and mine, are not perfect but their stories are not yet finished. These stories have enriched the pages of this book and I am sure they will help you to consider how to pursue a Spiritual career.
Secondly I would like to thank the two editors of this book – Steve Keil and Hilary Back. Thank you for being generous with your time and patience in helping me to translate my thoughts into something others can more fully understand.
Finally I would like to thank my wife and daughters who release me to do all I feel called to do and who also bring me much joy and warmth into my life.
Introduction
This book is written to celebrate, encourage and equip people who are called to work in the marketplace. A calling to the marketplace has not been valued as highly as a calling to be a church minister or a missionary. Martin Luther attempted to address this mindset in the sixteenth century. He stated that Ploughboy at his plough is as pleasing to God as the priest at his prayers.
However, centuries later many Christians would still believe that their minister, pastor or priest is more important to God than they are.
This book will help you to discover, be passionate about and follow your calling to the marketplace. There are four aspects to each chapter that come from 2 Peter 1:5-7. This passage tells us to base our lives on faith, add virtue, then knowledge, then six qualities that are fruits of the Spirit, with love as the final ingredient. It says that these are essential to building lives and careers that are significant in building the Kingdom of God.
This Second Peter passage begins by saying that we should base our pursuits on faith. Faith comes from what God has revealed to us. This first essential aspect of each chapter highlights what the word of God says about the subject matter of the chapter. It is important what revelation comes from those Scriptures, because it is that revelation that builds faith. I have relied on two decades of preaching at churches and lecturing in Bible Colleges to build this Scriptural foundation for each chapter.
The second aspect of this Second Peter passage tells us to add virtue
. The modern phrase for this word virtue
is the word value
. I add value by calling on my experience of pastoring thousands of people and helping them to live out their lives of faith in the workplace. In this way, I help you to understand how to bring virtue or value into your work life.
The third aspect of this Second Peter passage is about adding knowledge. I bring this important facet of practical knowledge and know-how to life in each chapter by drawing on material from twelve of the corporate training workshops that I have prepared and delivered throughout Australia and Asia Pacific.
The fourth aspect of this Second Peter passage is various fruits of the Spirit. For this aspect I have relied on inspiration from the stories I have included in each chapter about how people have pursued their calling.
I was a pastor and preacher for over 20 years and studied other preachers as to what made me enjoy, be challenged, be informed or inspired by their messages. Preacher’s messages that impacted me stood out in at least one of the four aspects listed above. They told great stories or they had great practical advice. They called for excellence or they had great revelation of the Bible. The very best had all four. Not surprisingly, Scripture has instruction that all four are options for preachers.
1 Corinthians 14:6 But now, brethren, if I come to you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you unless I speak to you either by revelation, by knowledge, by prophesying, or by teaching.
We need revelation that brings faith. We need prophesying that brings focus or value. We need knowledge that brings the know-how and we need teaching that helps us to walk it all out with the fruits of the Spirit. This is what I am attempting in each chapter of this book.
Chapter one: Embracing a calling-driven career
2 Timothy 1:9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.
Every person who has been saved by Jesus Christ has also been given a calling from Him to participate in His master plan to make Earth a little more like Heaven. We are all important to the fulfilment of this plan. Our calling is designed especially for us and is different to that of our spouse, our friends, our minister, our mentors and our heroes. We should be eager to discover our calling because pursuing our calling results in us contributing maximum value to the world as well as maximising our personal passion in our work.
When many people consider their God given calling, they think that their calling should be added on to what they are already doing in their work life. Their first responses to following their calling are often to determine how to serve at their local church, give financially or to support mission ventures. Once these things are attended to, people often realize there is more. They not only do missions, they want to be missions.
They establish workplace ministries, evangelise and disciple people in whatever they do. They even possibly attempt to establish a Kingdom culture at their workplace. All of these things are important and have their place.
There is a diversity of callings
Colossians 3:23-24 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.
Whatever pursuits we follow in our career, whether it is in business, working in a church, doing missions, pursuing politics, or working in the arts, family or education, our career and work life should flow out of the calling that God has for us. We should do it heartily
and to the Lord
. For some this means having a successful business and giving to missions, for others it is a workplace ministry and yet others a career in politics. We tend to label the expressions of callings with terms like business person
, minister
, missionary
, pastor
, corporate manager
and home duties
. It would be better not to have these labels and not consider them as separate endeavours. Our calling might include activities from a variety of these arenas at different times.
It is important that we start pursuing our calling and then let that calling drive our career. Our calling can often be found at the intersection of our passions and our gifts. Our passions drive us to action in certain arenas and our gifts are where we add value. This calling becomes a career as it intersects with demand from people.
We shouldn’t just pursue our understanding of our calling without it fulfilling the needs of people. The best career advice I ever gave as a pastor was for people to find a job that they would gladly do for nothing and do it well enough that people will pay them handsomely to do it
.
Our career should flow out of our calling. Harvey MacKay famously said Find something you love to do and you'll never have to work a day in your life
. The spiritual version may be Find God’s calling for your life and you’ll never have to work a day in your life
. God’s calling is not only what you love, but it is also what you are good at. It contains eternal significance. The added bonus is that pursuing a Spiritual career also assists our spiritual life as we are being used by God whilst we do it.
A calling-based approach to our career introduces a different approach to our work. We not only think about the needs of our career, but we also think about how the Lord wants to bring Heaven to Earth through our career. We consider ourselves called, we pray for our calling, we listen to the Spirit and others for guidance about our calling, we expect trials for our growth and we build our faith for our calling. Above all, when we pursue a career from our calling, we approach our work with faith of God’s blessing through it. How then do we get started to pursue our calling in the workplace?
Take the risk to explore what you are called to do
For the purpose of understanding your calling, don’t think about why you can’t make changes at the moment. We legitimately want to provide for our family and contribute to where we currently work. There will be problems to solve but we shouldn’t think of the problems yet. We need to trust that the Lord won’t force us into any changes we aren’t ready for and also that He will provide all of our needs as we follow His will. It is always our choice. However, if we are smart, we should trust His wisdom for us.
Is my current career helping to bring Heaven to Earth?
1 Corinthians 7:20-24 Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called. Were you called while a slave? Do not be concerned about it; but if you can be made free, rather use it. For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who is called while free is Christ’s slave. You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men. Brethren, let each one remain with God in that state in which he was called.
The answer to the question posed by the preceding title may be Yes
. We see in the Bible that God calls people not only to be kings, priests, prophets and judges, but also to be craftsmen, inventors, architects as well as beauty queens like Esther. In fact, as far as our career is concerned, our first thought should be to keep doing what we are currently doing, unless it is clearly unscriptural, illegal or immoral. The preceding Scripture tells us to remain in the situation we were working in when we were called. Martin Luther stated that there were only three professions that were illegitimate - usurer, prostitute and monk. We should, however, ensure that our personal beliefs are not compromised by what we are expected to do. In whatever career you are pursuing, there are many opportunities to bring the Kingdom of Heaven by helping people, being an example and sharing your faith.
Am I called into this career? If so, is my calling a priority?
It is important to understand whether you are in a career that God has called you into. It may be easy to convince yourself that you are, however, you should come to God with an open heart and ask Him. Author Stephen Covey said If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster
. It takes courage to stop and question yourself and even greater courage to make a mid-course correction.
If my present career is not consistent with my calling, then what should I do?
Firstly, we must be convinced that we need to make a change. Others may be convinced for us, but we need personal conviction so that we can approach the pursuit of our calling with faith. Every calling is tested at some stage through the lack of something and we need to be able to approach that lack with a personal belief that our calling is God’s will. There are times in all careers where we will have difficulty or have to put in extra time. How will we convince ourselves that the effort is really worth it? At those times it is our faith in our calling that carries us through.
I have been involved with numerous endeavours and roles, but the Lord has led me into two major career changes in my life that I needed to be personally convinced about. Firstly, I made a transition from scientist to Pastor. Secondly I transitioned from being a Pastor to business person. Even though I would not set this as a standard, it took me at least a year in both instances to become fully convinced. If you are not convinced, don’t pretend to be. Abraham became fully convinced
(Romans 4:21) that he would