Recovering Calling: Helping Millennials Navigate Faith & Work

By Natasha Crozier

If you're a pastor or Christian leader working with the Millennial generation you've probably lamented the trend of "young people" leaving the church and possibly found yourself at loss knowing how to lead and mentor the ones that remain.

After nearly three years of extensive research, I believe that the way Christians teach about calling is a key element to successfully engaging and mentoring my peers. This book is about equipping you to help Millennials navigate their questions about meaningful work and service in today's world.

In three short sections I cover why calling is essential for our faith, what’s problematic in how we typically talk about callings, and how we can foster an environment that encourages each person in their unique calling.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Natasha Crozier
• Release date: Dec 13, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301684489

Natasha Crozier

20-something Canadian writer, born and raised in Germany, now living within a stone's throw of the Puget Sound.

Book preview

Recovering Calling: Helping Millennials Connect Faith & Work

By Natasha Crozier

Text Copyright © 2012 Natasha Crozier

All Rights Reserved

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Acknowledgments

Many of the people I have to thank I have never met and probably never will – they’re the thinkers and theologians you’ll see quoted throughout this book. These writers have changed my life and I am grateful for the wisdom they have passed on through their works.

This book wouldn’t have been completed without the help of:

John – I am so grateful for a husband who has encouraged me in my calling.

Jess, Mom & Dad – You have all read and edited and commented and discussed my writing for many years and I deeply appreciate that I have a family that reads.

Dana, Darla and Linda – For providing so much by way of inspiration, wisdom, ideas and great discussion. Thank you for mentoring me.

Steve & the Alderwood Homebuilders – I love doing church with you. Thank you for being an awesome part of the body of Christ.

Lauren – For editing and encouraging.

The Sno-Isle Library System – For allowing me to do crazy amounts of research without breaking the bank!

Cover Photo Credit: Mark Wiebe

Table of Contents

Introduction

Why Understanding Calling is Important

How We Misunderstand Calling

Recovering Calling: Defining Work

Recovering Calling: Self-Awareness, Freedom & Diversity

Practical Suggestions Summary

Appendix 1: Collection of Calling Definitions

Appendix 2: Resources for Further Study

About the Author

Endnotes

This is a generation hungry for substantive answers to life’s biggest questions, particularly in a time when there are untold ways to access information about what to do. What’s missing – and where the Christian community must come in – is addressing the how and why. [1]

-David Kinnaman

Introduction

Hi. I’m a Millennial – the oldest of us just turned 30, the youngest are in high school. I’m tired of all the bad news surrounding my generation and our lack of faith. Maybe you are too.

The evidence of this phenomenon is everywhere with all kinds of scary statistics about dying churches and the mass exodus of youth from faith. In The Leavers, published in Christianity Today in November of 2010, Drew Dyck writes that,

The Nones [those marking ‘no religion’ in a 2009 study] were most numerous among the young: a whopping 22 percent of 18 to 29-year-olds claimed no religion, up from 11 percent in 1990. The study also found that 73 percent of Nones came from religious homes; 66 percent were described by the study as ‘deconverts.’[2]

While in the past it was common for young people to leave the church for a few years after high school, they would usually return after college when they started their own families. But as Dyck notes, the period of time between leaving home and starting a new family also used to be a lot shorter. Today, our generation puts off marriage and starting new families until much later. Returning to the fold after a two-or three-year hiatus is one thing, Dyck notes. Coming back after more than a decade is considerably more unlikely.[3]

Theories on this departure are numerous. In The Millennials, Thom and Jess Rainier write, Religious institutions have failed to be a force in the lives of Millennials (the generation born between 1982 and 2000). Perhaps one of the most surprising aspects of our research was how little this generation values religion of any kind.[4] Instead, religion is viewed as divisive and argumentative, and the perception is that churches have little significant impact on the world.  Millennials still believe in God (72% believe he is real and personal) but are uninterested in the communities that exist in his name.[5]

In Almost Christian, Kenda Creasey Dean writes, we have received from teenagers exactly what we asked them for: assent, not conviction; compliance, not faith.[6] Her book explores how true Christian faith has eroded into teenagers practicing Moralistic Therapeutic Deism – a religion of believing in a nice God who just wants everyone to be happy, not because they reject Christianity, but because this is the only ‘Christianity’ they know.[7] She points the finger back at the rest of the church congregation and says that we have failed our teenagers in modeling an active pursuit of Christ in our lives. Teenagers consider the church irrelevant to their own lives because they see that it has little relevance in the lives of the adults around them.

I believe these adults find it difficult to model Christ’s relevance to their children because many have little understanding of how their everyday work is part of following Christ. Somehow, we have missed out on truly understanding how work and faith connect, and if we have no sense of God’s calling in our daily lives, we fail to pass on this sense of purpose to the next generation. I see this as one of the major reasons so much of my generation perceives the church as irrelevant.

More recent research backs up this theory that what is missing is our sense of purpose. In You Lost Me, David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group, writes:

For me, frankly, the most heartbreaking aspect of our findings is the utter lack of clarity that many young people have regarding what God is asking them to do with their lives. It is a modern tragedy. Despite years of church-based experiences and countless hours of Bible-centered teaching, millions of next-generation Christians have no idea that their faith connects to their life’s work. They have access to information, ideas, and people from around the world, but no clear visions for a life of meaning that makes sense of all that input.

I believe God is calling the church to cultivate a larger, grander, more historic sense of our purpose as a body and as individuals.[8]

This quote resonated deeply with me because I have experienced the utter lack of clarity he describes. My story is one that many Millennials can relate to:

As a lucky 2007 grad, I managed to start my career at 22 years old as an account manager at a graphic design agency, just in time to get a full-time job before 2008 and its mortgage crisis struck. This job seemed full of potential, with plenty of opportunities for me to use and develop my gifts and interests.

But . . . (you knew it was coming), even though the position related to my degree in business, and initially seemed like such a good fit (I’m even the daughter of a graphic designer!) it didn’t engage my attention or interest. My day consisted mainly of emails and phone calls. Everything was either urgent or a problem. When it wasn’t urgent, it was incredibly boring – and boring was almost worse. It was intangible meaningless work in a dead-end career path.

I also had to acknowledge the other account managers seemed to handle the job better than I did. The position itself was all wrong for me. This was something I didn’t expect. I struggled with feeling like a failure even