Welcome to Group Chat

Yes, being in a conversation with drinks is fun, but we need some guidelines as you enter into conversation with one another:

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Everyone is not right, and that's a good thing.

The concepts we talk about in theology can have multiple interpretations, but that doesn't mean they're all right. A lot of theology is investigating the words we use to see if they make sense and are if they're adequate for God. Being wrong is how we improve our theology, not by having all the answers.

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Pay attention to how people are using words.

We all use words like “love,” “God,” and “grace,” but the the reality is we often mean vastly different things. Try to listen to how people use words and if they're using them the same way you would.

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Ask for people to define what they mean.

We can't have a good conversation if we are all talking past each other. It's not embarrassing to ask people for a definitional a new word or concept, it's just how you have a good conversation.
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Make this work for you.

Have someone in the group keep an eye on the questions and try to make sure you're staying on topic. At the same time, it's fine to go down the rabbit holes. Sometimes, the rabbit holes can help us clarify something that we missed.

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Have fun.

You won't solve world hunger, you probably won't even convince that person in the group you disagree with. Relax, be respectful, and when the questions run out, enjoy yourself and talk about something that isn't theological. Hanging out can actually be pretty important for good theology too!

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Discussion Questions

• Who was your career role model early in life? What was it about their work that interested you?
• What is your personality or gifting test of choice? Ex: enneagram, Meyers-Brigg, strength finders. How do you feel about their proliferation in church and secular culture? Does knowing this information about yourself change how you interact with God? What are the pitfalls of personality typing?
• Based on your identity what gifts are you expected to have? What gifts are you not allowed to have?
  Ex: women often not being thought of as having the gift of teaching or it not being ok for them to exercise that gifting.
• How do you align your work with your gifts?
• In our broken world some gifts are more valued than others (ex: the pay of a CEO vs. a childcare worker) how do we as a church combat this?
• What resources do you need to learn more about your gifts?
• Does God have a purpose for our work and careers? What if you don’t feel a strong calling towards a job or project?
• How can we invite others into the process of discerning what our calling is? How can we create spaces where we feel safe to be seen in that way?
• Tish Harrison Warren talks about people who have mountain careers (a singular goal you are climbing towards the top) and people who have river careers (meandering along a current towards no particular destination, but making a difference along the way). Which do you think you have? Do you wish you had a different trajectory? Which one do you think our culture values more? Do both of these paths constitute a calling?

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Scripture to Consider

• 4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. /Romans 12:4-5
• 10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. /1 Peter 4:10–11
• 9  The heart of man plans his way,
  but the LORD establishes his steps. /Proverbs 16:9
• 10 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

Thoughts from Others

• “Our task is not to somehow inject God into our work but to join God in the work he is already doing in and through our vocational lives.” /Tish Harrison Warren, Liturgy of the Ordinary
• “A calling, on the other hand, when rooted deep in the soil of one’s soul, transcends roles. And I believe that my calling, as a Christian, is the same as that of any other follower of Jesus. My calling is to love the Lord with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love my neighbor as myself. Jesus himself said that the rest of Scripture can be rendered down into these two commands. If love was Jesus’ definition of “biblical,” then perhaps it should be mine.” /Rachel Held Evans, A Year of Biblical Womanhood

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