1 / 20

Session #1: Vocation and the Call of Samuel Session #2: Discerning Talents and Skills

Three Sessions on Vocation. Session #1: Vocation and the Call of Samuel Session #2: Discerning Talents and Skills Session #3: Calling and Community. Calling and Community.

tamber
Download Presentation

Session #1: Vocation and the Call of Samuel Session #2: Discerning Talents and Skills

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Three Sessions on Vocation • Session #1: Vocation and the Call of Samuel • Session #2: Discerning Talents and Skills • Session #3: Calling and Community

  2. Calling and Community

  3. As you go through this session make sure that you look at the bottom of each slide because there will be helpful hints… …right down here!

  4. This session is designed for an intentional faith community (i.e. a congregation). If your faith community has a vision or mission statement, you’ll want that handy. And the group will need a way to record ideas, such as on a white board.

  5. We’re going to use as our starting point a quote by John Neafsey, author of A Sacred Voice is Calling:

  6. “The basic idea is that an authentic vocation is not just about ‘me’ and my personal fulfillment, but about ‘us’ and the common good….”

  7. “Socially responsible discernment seeks a proper balance between inward listening and outward, socially-engaged listening…”

  8. “…between listening to our hearts and listening with our hearts to the realities of the world we live in—especially to the ways the needs and pains of the world and its people are calling us.”

  9. Let’s move from using an individual person as the starting point to using a group, your community of faith, as the starting point.

  10. When has your community of faith responded to “the needs and pains of the world and its people”? Move on to the next slide for instructions.

  11. A Historical Vocation Snapshot • Get into groups of 3-5. Make sure that each group has at least one person who’s been part of the faith community/congregation for some time. • Take a moment to introduce yourselves if you don’t already know each other’s names. • Think of a time when your community of faith responded to, “the needs and pains of the world and its people.” Share in telling the story. Take 10 minutes.

  12. A Current Vocation Snapshot • Now think of one way in which your community of faith is responding right now to, “the needs and pains of the world and its people.” • How is this response rooted in your faith community’s identity? This identity could be expressed in your vision or mission statement/s, if you have them. • Do you know how your community discerned God’s calling into this response? Take 10 minutes.

  13. Before we move on let’s look • at one more way to understand vocation. • This is a reflective model that we use • at Concordia College. • It’s based on a concept model • by the Wilder Foundation.

  14. How do we reflect and discern our vocation? A Wilder-influenced Reflective Model of Vocation (Jon Leiseth, Vocation Associate, Concordia College, Moorhead, MN)

  15. A Snapshot of Emerging Vocation • As a group, choose one of the following questions upon which to reflect: • Who are we? • Who are our communities and what are their authentic needs? • Where/how is God at work in our shared life…related to how we are living into our future? Once you’ve chosen a question, move to the appropriate slide.

  16. Who are We? • As a community of faith… • What are our talents and skills? • What are our passions and aspirations? • What are our values? • What are our core relationships? (Between our community of faith and other individuals and/or groups.) • How does our vision/mission fit who we are? Are there ways in which we’re outgrowing our vision/mission? If you have time, move on to another question.

  17. Who are Our Communities and What are Their Authentic Needs? • Who are our communities? How do we think about community and does that limit/expand our ideas about our communities? • How do we listen to our communities? • What authentic needs of our communities do we know? How might we find out about other needs about which we do not currently know? If you have time, move on to another question.

  18. It’s possible that many questions have been raised during this session, • possible that you feel like you’ve just started • a conversation that now must draw to a close • due to time constraints. • Before ending the session, • consider going around the circle of people present, asking each person to speak one word that embodies their experience as a way to find some closure • before ending with prayer.

  19. Lord, God, • you have called your servants • to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, • by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, • not knowing where we go, • but only that your hand is leading us • and your love supporting us; • through Jesus Christ our Lord. • Amen. • “Evening Vespers,” Lutheran Book of Worship .

  20. Three Sessions on Vocation • Session #1: Vocation and the Call of Samuel • Session #2: Discerning Talents and Skills • Session #3: Calling and Community

More Related