Challenge 44. Blog 38.

This is the second of a two-part blog series about how to transition well into your next Christian calling role.

In Part 1 of this blog series, you learned that a “Christian calling role” is anything you believe God has inspired and equipped you to do, such as a volunteer church role, community service role, career, etc. Therefore, “calling role” does not refer exclusively to roles directly connected with church and missions.

God’s Purposes for Your Calling at Different Ages

In Part 1 of this blog series, you learned that most people go through identifiable stages of Christian calling at somewhat predictable ages. Tony Stoltzfus described these stages in his groundbreaking book, The Calling Journey. Stoltzfus’ findings are based on his own observations during a 35-year career of coaching people about Christian calling, and on his studies of Bible characters such as Joseph and Abraham.

In Young Adulthood (ages 18-35)

1. Explore lots of skills.

Some people know very early in life what they’re good at and what they love to do. Other young adults have some idea, and still others say they are absolutely clueless!

And that’s okay! God calls some of us to do many different things in early and middle adulthood—not just one thing—because we will need all of those skills later to do something that we cannot do now.

For most of us, the only way to find out what we’re good at is to try lots of things. So do that! Try some jobs and volunteer roles that you believe you would enjoy. God will use it all later!

2. Get lots of experiences.

When you’re young, get lots of different kinds of experiences. Meet lots of people from lots of different backgrounds and cultures. Visit lots of new places, including outside your own nation if you can. Learn lots of new things.

Why? You’ll gain insight about who you love to do life with and work with. You’ll discover what kind of lifestyles best fit your personality and interests. And God might set your heart afire with a passion for a specific people or cause.

3. Get mature Christian mentors.

Connect with and learn from some mature Christians that you admire. It doesn’t have to be a formal mentoring relationship, although that can be extremely valuable. As you serve with mature Christians who have the same gifts and passions that you do, ask them for encouragement and insight. Get mentored online from well-known Christians that you will never meet but who can mentor you through podcasts, blogs, and conferences.

4. Bounce back from your first big failures.

After you fail big-time for the first time—and it will happen—run to God for His perspective, forgiveness, grace, and encouragement. It’s not the end of the world, although it might feel like it. Depend upon Him and grow.

In Middle Adulthood (ages 35-50)

1. Get ready to specialize.

Sometime during middle adulthood, after a long and deep spiritual valley, you’ll probably experience the Releasing Stage of your Christian calling. Your Releasing Stage will probably be a literal 24-hour period when you’ll suddenly start doing a calling role that will be the best fit of your life, with regard to both passion and abilities. The beginning of the Releasing Stage will be somewhat like an apprenticeship, sometimes an intense one where you’ll feel like you’re drinking from a firehose. But trust me, you’ll absolutely love it!

2. Learn to say no.

You’ll have to stop doing a lot of the different kinds of things you were doing before, so that you can specialize on one or just a few things. You’ll also have to learn to say no to lots of opportunities to do new things and serve in new ways—things that you could do well but will not have time for, if you want to get to your Releasing Stage.

3. Get holistically healthy.

The middle adult years of Christian calling are usually the most demanding with respect to time crunches, stresses, life/work balance, and staying healthy in mind and body. If you don’t address these issues now, they can later set you back—or even take you down.

4. Get ready to risk.

Here’s the kicker. Most of the time, in order to transition into the Releasing Stage of your calling, you’ll have to take a big risk of some kind. The risk could be a financial one, where you need to invest a lot of money, or you might need to take a huge pay cut as you start over in a new career field. Or the risk could be a relational one—perhaps doing a calling role that your friends and family don’t understand. The risk could be a geographical move. Or something else. But most people must take a big risk of some kind in order to start the Releasing Stage.

At Ages 50+ 

1. Relentlessly pursue God

Tony Stoltzfus’ research, and my own experience coaching dozens of clients about Christian calling, confirm that the sweetest spot in your life and calling comes during the last third or even the last quarter of life. It’s called the Fulfillment Stage of your Christian calling. You’ll know, to a degree that’s impossible to know earlier in life, who you are, how God uniquely loves and values you, and what you do best in your Christian calling. You will no longer do your calling so that you will be fulfilled, but you will do it because you are already fulfilled.

This stage of life often begins with a long and deep valley in which a major event makes you question who you are and if you will ever again feel as fulfilled in your life and calling as you were in the past. This defining major event is often a health crisis, retirement, loss of a loved one, or other significant shock or loss.

But the good news is that God will replace the seemingly lost identity and purpose with Himself.

Do everything you can to know Him as you’ve never known Him before—not just learning more facts about Him, but knowing His personality, what He thinks and feels about you, and what He wants to say to you that will restore and regenerate your very soul into the person He wants you to be to finish well your life and calling in Him.

Click here for a blog on how to start this kind of journey with God.

2. Relentlessly pursue God.

3. Relentlessly pursue God!

4. Relentlessly pursue God!!!

No, that's not a typographical mistake! “Relentlessly pursue God!” really is the most important advice for Christian calling, especially at ages 50+! He is already relentlessly pursuing you!

Important Notes About Different Ages

As I said in Part 1 of this blog series, although God commonly works according to the patterns discussed above, He certainly also works outside these patterns. This is especially true of people who stick with the same calling role throughout life, and people who suffer through lots of dysfunctionality in their families of origin or in later adulthood. Also, if you accepted Christ in after age 18, and especially after young adulthood, God will probably speed up your timeline. How cool that God leads everyone in some way to the Fulfillment Stage, and that a climactically intimate relationship with Him is paramount!

Regardless of whether your life “fits” all or most of the patterns above, most people experience the “age 50+” part of the timeline as described, with respect to growing a deeply personal relationship with God.

How to Discern When the Timing Is Right to Transition to Your Next Calling Role

1. If you are on a Christian calling mountaintop, discerning God’s timing for your next calling role is relatively easy at any age. 

If you're on a calling mountaintop, you feel like you’re making a difference in what you do. You feel strong in your relationship with God. You feel confident in who you are. And there are no major crises in your life. Calling mountaintops typically last several years.You pray for God’s timing, and it happens fairly quickly.

• You clearly “just know” that it’s time to let go of one calling role and transition to another.
• Doors open quite easily for your next calling role, whether that be a new job or career, or a new volunteer role. You might even get several different offers to choose from.
• Usually, it’s your choice whether you want to leave your current calling role. You’re still valued in that role, but you feel drawn to move on.
• But if you are in a Christian calling valley, discerning God’s timing for your next calling role is very difficult. A calling valley feels exactly opposite a calling mountaintop. You feel stalled or stopped in your calling. It feels like slogging through mud. You doubt your abilities, and you wonder who you really are. Your relationship with God feels distant or even antagonistic. Often in a calling valley, you have multiple personal challenges, such as financial woes, relational issues, health problems, significant losses, etc. Calling valleys, like calling mountaintops, last several years. God’s purposes are to grow your character, skills, and relationship with Him.
• But at the end of every Christian calling valley, God lifts us back up to the next calling mountaintop. That lifting process is the transition to your next calling role.

2. If you are in a Christian calling valley, discerning God's timing for your next calling role is difficult at any age, as God takes you through the processes below:

• God takes you to a next level in relationship with Him.
• God grows your confidence in who He has created you to be.
• God heals you of hurts and sins.
• The loss of your current calling role is likely not to be by your choice, but could come through forced job loss, ill health, or something else beyond your control.
• Then, a door suddenly springs wide open where no doors were open before.
• Finally, you feel good about God and yourself again, joyful and free to move on!

3. Paradoxically, younger people often get more clarity more quickly about when to transition to the next calling role than do older people!

You might expect that the older you are, the more clearly you will hear God telling you when to transition to your next calling role. After all, you’re more mature in Christ, and you know yourself better.

Surprisingly, this is often not the case! Instead, as we mature in Christ, He starts giving us more freedom to choose what calling role to do next and when to do it. We then realize that who we are is more important to Him than what we do, and our relationship with Him is more important that just following His dictation!

4. The most important personal pre-requisite for transitioning to the next calling role differs for younger vs. older people.

At all ages, God continually grows our skills for our Christian calling. However, the younger we are, the more God seems to focus more on skill development. The older we are, the more He focuses on developing our personal identity and uniquely personal relationship with Him.

In fact, achieving a certain skill level is usually the factor that transitions younger adults into their next calling role. But with older adults, a new sense of identity and confidence, coupled with a delightfully fresh and personally meaningful relationship with God seems to be the more important prerequisite for transitioning to the next calling role.

Keys for Transitioning Well to Your Next Calling Role

All of the above suggests some helpful keys for cooperating with what God is doing in your life and calling, so that you transition well—and perhaps more quickly—into your next calling role. These principles apply regardless of your age and regardless of whether you are on a calling mountaintop or in a calling valley.

1. Find uniquely personal and meaningful ways to grow in your relationship with God.

Check out these blogs for tips:

• Click here for a blog about growing your ability to have back-and-forth, real-time conversations with God.
• Click here for a blog for additional unique ways to connect with God.

2. Talk with God and get resources for any ways He wants to refine your character.

• Ask God to show you anything He wants you to address, including character flaws, moral failings, past hurts, persistent insecurities, etc. Click here for a blog series about addressing your “dirty little secrets.”
• Discover more about who you are and how God created you. For example, Click here to discover your core values. Or Click here for a blog about the dreams God put in your heart.

3. Leave your current calling role well.

• As you move from one calling role to another, or even from one geographical location to another, leave well. Even if you’ve been mistreated, thank the people who helped and encouraged you, and encourage them too.

4. Start your new calling role well.

• Enter your new calling role with gratitude. Celebrate how far God has brought you and the blessings He now gives you.
• Enter your new calling with a teachable spirit. Take advantage of your delight with your shiny new calling role by learning all you can from people, books, videos, and other resources.

Community

• Please share your comments, questions, encouragement, etc., below.
• Below, please let me know what topics you’d like for me to write about in future blogs.
•  Would you please share this blog on social media or via email using the share buttons at the side or bottom of your screen?