All About Calling & Purpose

Table of Contents

  1. The Trinity Western Perspective: Calling  
  2. A Global Perspective: How People Make Meaning of Work and Purpose
  3. Take Action: Clarifying Calling and Purpose in Your Own Life

Content Sections

 

The Trinity Western Perspective: Calling  

You've probably heard someone say "this is my calling" — but we don't always stop to ask what that actually means, who is doing the calling, or how you'd even know if you were hearing it. At Trinity Western University, we think those questions are worth slowing down for. Because most students start somewhere else: What job should I choose? That's an important question — but it's not the best place to begin.

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." — Ephesians 2:10

Calling starts deeper than a career

When we talk about "good works," we're not starting with a job title or a career decision. We're starting with identity, relationship, and direction. From a Christian perspective, calling begins with the belief that you are called by God, called into relationship with God, and called for a purpose in the world. This reframes the central question — not What job should I choose? but Who am I being called to become, and how does that shape the way I live and work?

A simple way to understand calling

One way to make sense of calling is through the intersection of three things: who you are (your identity, values, and strengths), what you do (your skills, education, and work), and what the world needs (real needs, opportunities, and places to contribute). Where these overlap is often where a sense of calling begins to take shape.

 

It's less like finding a single answer and more like learning to pay attention — to God, to your life, and to the direction that's slowly becoming clear.

What this can look like in real life

Calling rarely shows up all at once. More often it becomes clear over time, through decisions, experiences, and reflection.

As you watch, pay attention to how their direction developed. What shaped their decisions? What changed along the way?

This conversation is open to you

Students come to this from different places — strong faith, honest questions, or real uncertainty. Even if you're unsure what you believe, the idea of calling still invites you to wrestle with questions like: What kind of life do I want to build? What gives my work meaning? What responsibilities do I carry toward others? This isn't about having all the answers. It's about beginning to ask better questions — and paying attention to what shapes your direction.

Going deeper

If you want more space to explore these questions, Prep100 is a one-semester course designed to help you reflect on calling, purpose, and direction in a more intentional way. You can also explore further resources on the topic linked below.

A Global Perspective: How People Make Meaning of Work and Purpose

Across cultures, traditions, and disciplines, people have long asked the same question: What makes work meaningful — and what is it for? There is no single answer. Instead, different perspectives offer ways of understanding how work connects to purpose, contribution, and a life well lived.

Christian thinkers: work as participation in something larger

Drawing on Luther's theology of vocation, some Christian thinkers have described work as a way of participating in God's ongoing work in the world — reflecting God the Father through creating, God the Son through serving others, and God the Spirit through sustaining and renewing what exists.

Timothy Keller expands this further in his book Every Good Endeavor, showing that work contributes to the world in more ways than we often notice. He describes how work can serve God through:

  1. Furthering social justice in the world
  2. Being personally honest and evangelizing our colleagues
  3. Doing skillful and excellent work
  4. Creating Beauty
  5. A Christian Motivation to glorify God, seeking to engage and influence culture to that end
  6. A grateful, joyful, and gospel-changed heart
  7. Whatever gives you the greatest joy and passion
  8. Making as much money as you can so that you can be as generous as you can

—Work is not just Do I like this? but Who does this serve, and how?

Os Guinness draws a distinction that is easy to miss. Our primary calling, he argues, is to God himself — by him, to him, and for him. We are called first to Someone, not to something like a career or a cause. From that foundation, our secondary calling takes shape: the specific ways we live out that primary calling through our work, relationships, and roles. His warning is direct — if you confuse the two, your work will carry more weight than it can hold.

Other frameworks: meaning without a religious starting point

Not every framework begins with God — but many still wrestle seriously with purpose.

Ikigai looks for the overlap between what you love, what you're good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. It's practical and revealing. Most people don't experience perfect alignment, and that tension becomes part of the process.

Ubuntu starts from a different assumption entirely: I am because we are. Here, purpose is not individual — it's relational. Your work and identity are shaped by your community, your responsibilities to others, and the impact your choices have on the people around you.

Where this leads

If this section has expanded how you think, the next step is to begin applying it. What assumptions do you already hold? Which perspective resonates — or challenges you? How might this shape your decisions moving forward?

 

Take Action: Clarifying Calling and Purpose in Your Own Life

Calling and purpose don't usually become clear through pressure or sudden insight. They become clearer over time through attention, reflection, and practice. The goal isn't to figure it all out — it's to start noticing what's already shaping you.

Start with what you already believe

Everyone operates from assumptions about life and work, even if they haven't named them yet. Two useful lenses for surfacing those assumptions are your lifeview — what you believe about life, meaning, identity, and what matters most — and your workview — what you believe work is for, why it matters, and how it fits into a meaningful life. Putting language to these helps you see what's motivating your decisions, where internal conflict exists, and why certain paths feel right while others feel off.

Reflection questions — take your time with these:

Lifeview:

  • Why are we here?
  • What makes life meaningful?
  • What does a "good life" look like to you?
  • What do you believe ultimately matters most?

Workview:

  • What is work for?
  • What makes work worthwhile or meaningful?
  • What responsibilities does work create toward others?
  • What does "good work" look like?

We recommend giving yourself around 250 words each. Then notice: where do your lifeview and workview align? Where do they contradict each other? Where are you still unsure? That tension is not a problem — it's often where clarity begins.

Pay attention over time

Calling rarely appears as a single answer. It shows up gradually through patterns — recurring interests, questions you return to again and again, values that consistently shape your decisions, and experiences that feel energizing rather than just successful. Instead of asking What should I do with my life? try asking What keeps showing up in me — and what might that be pointing toward? Clarity often comes through noticing before it comes through deciding.

Discern in community

Calling is difficult to see clearly on your own. Other people often notice patterns in you before you do — which is why reflection needs conversation. Talk through what you're noticing with:

Ask them what strengths they see in you, where they see you most alive, and what patterns they notice that you might be missing. Sometimes clarity comes from being honestly reflected back to yourself.

Start small this week

You don't need clarity to begin — you need honesty and a first step. Choose one:

  • Write a first draft of your lifeview and workview
  • Bring your reflections to a career coaching conversation
  • Talk with someone who knows you well about what they notice in you
  • Start a simple journal tracking what energizes or drains you over a week
  • Take time in prayer to ask for both discernment and an open mind

The goal is not volume. It's attention.

A final reminder

Calling is not something you solve once. It's something you learn to notice, test, and respond to over time. As Timothy Keller puts it: "How do you find your calling? Look at the way you were created. Your gifts have not emerged by accident."

Want to dive deeper?

If you want to explore these ideas further:

  • Career Coaching — work through your lifeview/workview and emerging patterns with someone trained to help you reflect and discern direction
  • Prep100 Course — a structured, one-semester exploration of calling, purpose, and vocational direction

Consider Reading:

  • Every Good Endeavor — Timothy Keller
    • Keller argues that work was part of God’s original design, not a result of the Fall. How does this challenge or affirm your view of work as meaningful and good?
    • Keller also highlights the cultural tendency to either idolize or undervalue work. Where do you see yourself in that tension, and how might that shape the way you approach your future career?
  • Garden City – John Mark Comer
    • Comer frames work as a way of cultivating and contributing to the world, not just earning a living. How does this expand your view of what “counts” as meaningful work?
    • He also explores the tension between ambition and rest, encouraging a rhythm that honours both calling and limits. Where do you see yourself leaning—toward overwork or disengagement—and what might a healthier balance look like?
  • Kingdom Calling – Amy Sherman
    • Sherman emphasizes that every Christian is called to participate in God’s work of restoration in the world, using their skills for the good of others. Where do you see your abilities intersecting with real needs around you?
    • She also challenges the idea that meaningful impact is reserved for a few, highlighting everyday faithfulness and contribution. How does this reshape your understanding of influence and purpose in your future work?
  • A Treatise of the Vocations - William Perkins
    • Perkins emphasizes that every legitimate calling, no matter how ordinary, is a form of obedience to God. How does this challenge modern hierarchies of “important” vs. “unimportant” work?
    • What do you think it means to be “called” to a specific role or task, and how can you discern that calling in your own life?
  • The Theology of Work Project - Calling
    • The Theology of Work Project describes work as a way to participate in God’s ongoing creation and restoration. How does this broaden your understanding of what it means to “do meaningful work”?
    • How might seeing all kinds of work—paid and unpaid—as valuable in God’s economy change the way you view different career paths or roles in your life?

Consider Listening:

  • Os Guiness – What is your Calling & Purpose (Youtube) (Spotify)
    • Guinness describes calling as not just “doing what you love,” but responding to the Caller—God—who calls us to live for Him. How does this view influence the way you think about purpose and direction in your life?
    • What tensions do you feel between the world’s definition of success and the idea of being faithful to your calling as described by Guinness?
  • Why Work by Dorothy Sayers (Read Allowed)
    • Sayers insists that the true purpose of work is not to earn money but to serve the work itself—and to do it well. How does this change your understanding of excellence and motivation in your career?
    • Reflect on Sayers’ idea that the worker should serve the work. What kind of work do you feel drawn to serve, and why might that matter in discerning your calling?
  • How to Ikigai – Tim Tamashiro (Ted Talk)
    • Tamashiro presents ikigai as the intersection of what you love, what you’re good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. Which of these areas feels most clear to you, and which still needs exploration?
    • How might the concept of ikigai complement or challenge a Christian understanding of calling? What overlaps or differences do you notice?
 

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