Faith For Exiles By David Kinnaman And Mark MatlockSample

Day Five: Practice 4—To Ground and Motivate an Ambitious Generation, Train for Vocational Discipleship 

Scripture: I Timothy 4:12, Psalm 71:18

A friend of ours has a son, Keaton, who created a PowerPoint life plan at the age of eight that we think is the most awesome thing in the world. Keaton has ten life goals. Here they are, in his words:

1. I want to grow up to be a nice Christian man.

2. I want to get a nice wife.

3. I want to get a good job, one that I like.

4. I want to have two kids, each boys, two years apart.

5. I want to grow as close as I can get to God.

6. I want to make more and more friends as I grow.

7. I want to work hard in school.

8. Believe in God wherever I go.

9. Teach my kids about God and help them live their lives

as best as they can.

10. Do not give up on life.

On the next slide, Keaton listed possible careers: engineer, architect, hockey player, or Lego designer. Maybe you’re wondering where we’re going with this. What does an eight-year-old’s vocational wish list have to do with discipleship?

If this family showed up at your church, would Keaton, aspiring to be an engineer, an architect, or a Lego designer, find a place he could be mentored and developed into the kind of person he is meant to be? Or would that kind of mentoring happen only by accident? How old does Keaton have to be before his perspectives on service and generosity and integrity in the workplace matter?

We are convinced, based on mountains of data, that most churches ignore these topics among the young. It’s a huge blind spot. Too often church leaders pay attention to vocation only when it relates to how already-successful people can serve the church. We need to back up the train all the way to the station. Every person in the church, even and especially those under eighteen, is designed by God to do his work in the world. Shouldn’t their Christian community help them discern and live out that calling? Of course!

This is one of the key opportunities presented to the twenty-first-century church: to infuse the vocational imaginations of this new generation with the purposes of God; to help them understand that God has made them for something; to learn from and emulate the integrated faith-work profile that resilient disciples display.

In what ways might you speak with affirmation to the younger people around you and in your church with regard to their calling and possible future careers?