Christian Vocation: Suggestions and questions to ask yourself if you think God is calling you to reconsider your life and response to Him
- read this information carefully, especially the selection criteria carefully and ask yourself - have you the inner personal strength to look closely at yourself as you go through this process? Do you have the resilience to be vulnerable to the discernment of the Church, which could mean 'no' or 'yes'?
- speak to others about your feelings - but to those who can be honest with you. This does not necessarily mean your family and friends. They will be supportive, but can inadvertently put a lot of pressure on you by meaning well but encouraging you unrealistically;
- think carefully about the changes this will mean for your family; these could be to do with moving house, taking a large cut in income, losing their privacy, even feeling that they have lost part of you.
- look at the reading list; choose books that will stretch you in your thinking; could you manage to undertake a course of theological study to Higher Education level 3/4
- if you have not already done so, develop a regular pattern of prayer and Bible study;
- widen your horizons - get to know and meet more people, think about what is going on in the world, get to know more about the Church of England, try attending a service with a different tradition from your own, read something stretching and challenging;
- look for real evidence in your life that God is equipping you with the necessary skills and gifts for his service, do not just look for easy 'signs' or coincidences which you can hang your hopes on.
An introduction to the process of exploring and testing out a sense of vocation to authorised ministry:
