Personal Stories of Calling
Among University Professors
Don Thompson & Cindy Miller-Perrin
Pepperdine University
“Cultivating a Culture of Calling:
Mennonite Perspectives on Vocation”
Goshen College
October 21, 2005
Purpose of the Present Study

To examine university faculty members’
concepts of vocation, personal experiences
of discerning vocation, and personal bridges
and barriers experienced while pursuing
one’s vocation, along with potential gender
differences in these areas
Research Methodology

Quantitative Approach


Vocation Survey Responses
Qualitative Approach

Vocational Autobiographies
Vocation Survey

The assessment included a 75-item survey

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Definitions of vocation
Personal experiences of vocation
Barriers to vocational discernment and action
Sacrifices associated with living out one’s
vocation
Survey Sample

Recruited faculty from two private, Christian
liberal arts institutions

Sample size = 108

Response rates of 52% and 100%
Demographic Characteristics
of Survey Sample

Gender




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32% female
68% male
Mean age = 48 years
Majority are Caucasian (82%)
Religious Denomination

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51% Church of Christ
19% Presbyterian
8% Roman Catholic
3% Non-Denominational
Vocational Autobiography
Approach

Faculty were recruited from:



76 faculty completed autobiographies



Faith and Learning Seminars
Faith and Vocation Workshop
Response rates ranged from 65%-67%
Demographics are similar to survey respondents
Provided autobiography prompts
Vocational Autobiography Prompts
Most Theology is essentially autobiography - Frederick Buechner

Reflect on your past and how you have become who you are

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
Describe major “turning points” along your vocational journey.
Discuss moments of crisis or confusion as well as moments of joy and
clarity along your past vocational journey (e.g., experiences that have
affirmed or shaken your sense of calling).
Write about friends or mentors who have contributed to your vocational
development.
Include distractions, tensions, or barriers that have hindered the pursuit
of your vocational calling.
Focus on your present calling and your role as a mentor to students


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Describe evidence you have that you are living your call now
Explain how you practice ongoing discernment to your call
Identify what you do to mentor &/or facilitate a sense of vocation within
your students
Survey and Autobiography
Results



Definition and Scope

Discernment

Turning Points

Mentoring
Barriers and Obstacles
Gender Specific Findings
Definition and Scope of Vocation
Highlights from the Literature

Secular View


Christian View

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
Work, Career, Occupation
“a holy calling” 2 Timothy 1:9
Any human activity that gives meaning, purpose,
and direction to life: lifework
Public and Private Dimensions

Work, ministry, community, relationships
Definition and Scope
Survey Responses – Agree A Lot or Very Much

Vocation Refers To


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Life purpose – 94%
God’s will for one’s life – 87%
Job/Career/Profession – 81%
Personal interests or skills – 66%
Formal ministry – 48%
Gender – 8%
Definition and Scope
Survey Responses – Agree A Lot or Very Much

Lifework Aspects of Vocation

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Service toward others – 77%
Parenthood – 70%
Marriage – 66%
Church – 65%
Community – 57%
Friendship – 44%
No Personal Aspects – 4%
Definition and Scope

Vocation always involves service/benefit to others


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
Not at all
A little or somewhat
A lot or very much
9%
26%
63%
My vocation includes serving those in need



Not at all
A little or somewhat
A lot or very much
1%
17%
82%
Definition and Scope
Essay Summary

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Our commission from God to identity, lifestyle,
ministry, and service
Every decision, every relationship, every work
Discipleship, becoming like Jesus, loving God
Living from the outside in, rather than inside out
Seeking God’s will
The journey itself
Using God’s gifts
Definition and Scope
Essay Responses

Both my spiritual heritage and my professional identity
as a scholar lead me to cast my personal sense of
vocation in terms of a biblical text. Specifically, I find
myself called by Deuteronomy 6:4-5, known as the
shema: “Listen, Israel: There is no god except the Lord
your God. Love the Lord your God with your entire
heart, your entire self, and your entire ‘muchness’ (my
translation). Thus the most concise expression of my
calling is that I am called to love God with everything I
am and have. Loving God is my vocation.
Discernment
Survey Responses – Agree A lot or Very Much

Personal sense of vocation develops from:

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God’s will – 87%
Personal Interests/Skills – 81%
Significant Life Experiences – 80%
Influence of others – 73%
Discernment
Survey Responses

I have a strong sense of my own personal
vocation
Somewhat
A lot
Very much
8%
37%
55%
Discernment – Process
Essay Summary

Intersection of talents, skills, desires and deep
need for mankind

Gut feelings - innermost convictions

God’s loud voice speaking through tragedies,
disappointments, losses

Ask and be asked questions

Through experience, trial and error, surprises
Discernment Process
Essay Responses



Knowing the will of God as a life calling
occurs through experience itself. We
discover what our calling is in the same way
an artist paints on a canvas. We learn by
trying, by experimenting, by doing. Our
calling is inseparable from the journey. It IS
the journey.
Listening to God’s voice inside of me.
Discernment is where prayer meets action.
Discernment – Evidence
Essay Summary

When nothing else matters

Spiritual growth occurs

Deep sense of joy, satisfaction, contentment,
peace, excitement, renewed energy

Positive feedback from others

Answered prayer
Discernment Evidence
Essay Responses


Am I living my call now? I am uncertain. Is it possible
that I am living it in one area of my life and not
another? Now that God is opening doors and I am
reconnecting with my passions. I have a sense of
peace about what I am doing and the results are
positive. Individuals, families, and students are being
helped. Those that I trust have encouraged me in my
present pursuits, while providing words of caution
about overextending myself. My reward is a deep
sense of satisfaction, excitement, and renewed
energy.
It is related to whether I would perform certain aspects
of my work without pay.
Turning Points
Essay Summary

Death of family member or close friend

Life’s mistakes & wrong turns

Education

Accepting Jesus

Conflict, tension, growing pains

Helping someone in need

Parenting
Turning Points
Essay Responses

All of my science courses seemed like work; all the literature
courses seemed like play. On Thanksgiving holiday, I had to work
through some heavy-duty equilibrium problems for my
quantitative analysis chemistry course, and I was to read
Thornton Wilder’s Our Town for my American literature course.
The power of the play overwhelmed me. I didn’t know it then, but
I was feeling the difference between what Thomas De Quincey
called the literature of knowledge and the literature of power.
And I began to think, “Something is wrong here. Why am I
competent in but so unmoved by my major, and why do plays
and stories and novels and poems move me so?”
Turning Points
Essay Responses

I was watching the news when a disturbing story
came on. In England, two young boys had
kidnapped a toddler and killed him. I couldn’t get
over that event. After hearing that story, I began to
wonder what would cause someone, particularly
children to do such a horrific thing. At that point I
changed my major to psychology, transferred to a
different school, with a better psychology program,
and focused on understanding child development.
Mentoring
Parks, S.D. (2000). Big questions, worthy dreams.
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
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Recognition of their Protégés
Support
Challenge
Inspiration
Dialogue
Mutual Attraction Toward Similar Aims
Mentoring – Mentor
Essay Summary

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

Encourage, serve, support, lead, nudge,
excite, energize, hear, listen, share inner lives
Learn about self, giftedness, passions, life
purpose
Help students navigate faith integration
Build and foster courage
Mentoring – Mentor
Essay Responses

I need to listen to my students. I need to hear what
they are hearing. I need to be able to take their
perspective as I decide what and when to share my
own vocational journey. Perhaps it is enough that
they fully grasp that vocation is a journey; they don’t
have to understand it or be able to articulate their
own vocation. They just need to accept that if they
listen they will eventually find as Buechner says
“where their deep gladness meets the world’s deep
hunger.”
Mentoring – Protégé
Essay Summary



From Teachers, Professors &
Colleagues
Through scripture & inspirational
writing
Via spouse, parents, family members,
church family & friends
Mentoring – Protégé
Essay Responses

Throughout my life, my grandmother wrote
several letters to me. In almost every one she
included the following verse, from II Timothy
2:20: ‘In a large house there are not only
articles of gold and silver, but also of wood and
clay; some are for noble purposes, made holy,
useful to the Master and prepared to do any
good work.’ This advice gave me a sense that
I was called by God to do important things.
Mentoring – Protégé
Essay Responses

One of my professors encouraged me to
pursue graduate school. He even went so far
as to sign out a school car, make appointments
for me with faculty, and drive me to the
university to consider its program in human
development. He encouraged me to consider
teaching at the college/university level and
helped me find my first academic post.
Barriers/Obstacles

Various obstacles or barriers may interfere
with our ability to discern or act upon our
vocational callings

Barriers serve as challenges that either


create struggles that we must overcome
create an impasse that redirects our journey
Barriers/Obstacles to
Vocational Action

Demographic Barriers/Obstacles
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Most faculty responded “not at all”
Age
Gender
Ethnicity
Education
Income
50%
64%
73%
56%
57%
Gender as a Vocational
Barrier/Obstacle
70
60
50
40
Gender
30
20
10
0
Not at all
A little
Somewhat
A lot
Very much
Barriers/Obstacles to
Vocational Action

Personal Attitudes or Emotions as
Barriers/Obstacles
 Variable responses from faculty

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Fear
Selfishness
Self-doubt
Need for personal control
Desire for certainty
Need to feel secure/safe
Uncertainty about one’s vocation
Lack of faith
Fear as a Vocational
Barrier/Obstacle
35
30
25
20
Fear
15
10
5
0
Not at all
A little
Somewhat
A lot
Very Much
Self-doubt as a Vocational
Barrier/Obstacle
30
25
20
15
Self-doubt
10
5
0
Not at all
A little
Somewhat
A lot
Very much
Barriers/Obstacles to
Vocational Action

Interpersonal Relationships as
Barriers/Obstacles
 Most faculty responded “not at all”



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Parent or other family member
Friend
Boyfriend or girlfriend
Teacher or professor
Spouse
Mentor
Colleague
Supervisor/Boss
51%
72%
77%
65%
69%
79%
60%
54%
Parent or Other Family Member as
a Vocational Barrier/Obstacle
60
50
40
30
Parent
20
10
0
Not at all
A Little
Somewhat
A lot
Very much
Barriers/Obstacles to
Vocational Action

Personal and Social Circumstances as
Barriers/Obstacles
 Variable responses from faculty

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Lack of financial resources
Concerns about supporting standard of living
Unwillingness to sacrifice financially
Feeling pressure or a desire to get married
Gender discrimination
Job-related responsibilities
Raising children
Family responsibilities
Traditions of my church
Physical limitations
Lack of Financial Resources as a
Vocational Barrier/Obstacle
40
35
30
25
20
Finances
15
10
5
0
Not at all
A little
Somewhat
A lot
Very much
Job-Related Responsibilities as a
Vocational Barrier/Obstacle
35
30
25
20
Job Resp.
15
10
5
0
Not at all
A little
Somewhat
A lot
Very much
Barriers/Obstacles
Essay Summary

Pride, Self-Centeredness, Prejudice

Lack of faith, lack of self-confidence

Struggle with traditional gender roles

Balance between home and profession

Health setbacks

Family conflict, divorce, remarriage

Church culture
Barriers and Obstacles to
Vocational Action
Essay Responses

My first semester was painful. Straight out of
graduate school, I embraced my students excited
and ready to embark on an intellectual journey. I
found, however, that my students responded to my
enthusiasm with indifference, sleepiness, and even
hostility. I was also disheartened to see racial
tensions and divisions in and outside of my class
with minority students coming to me to say that they
felt depressed and alienated on campus. I felt that I
had to be an entertainer instead of a teacher and a
radical social activist instead of a private and
objective researcher.
Gender Specific Findings


The topic of gender differences in vocational
calling has not been examined empirically
Research in the areas of faith and identity
development suggests the potential impact of
gender on vocational development
Gender Analysis

Gender differences were examined for the
barriers and obstacles that faculty members
experienced related to their vocational calling

Gender differences were evident in two
areas:


Interpersonal barriers/obstacles
Environmental barriers/obstacles
Interpersonal Barriers/Obstacles
14.5
14
13.5
Interpersonal
Barrier Score
13
12.5
12
11.5
11
Female Faculty
Male Faculty
Specific Interpersonal
Barriers/Obstacles

Women reported that the views and opinions
of others served as barriers/obstacles with
regard to their ability to pursue their vocations


Parent or other family member
Teacher or professor
Environmental Barriers/Obstacles
24
23
22
21
Environmental
Barrier Score
20
19
18
17
Female Faculty
Male Faculty
Specific Environmental
Barriers/Obstacles

Women reported that environmental or social
circumstances interfered with their ability to
pursue their vocations:




Gender discrimination
Pressure/desire to get married
Raising children
Traditions of church home
Gender Barriers/Obstacles
Essay Responses

While it may be best that I didn’t end up a
youth minister, realizing that I was limited
because of my sex was deeply disconcerting
and left me a bit confused as to where God
was leading me. In fact, I recall thinking that
God only called men to positions of ministry
and so I resigned myself to that reality.
Gender Barriers/Obstacles
Essay Responses

The culture of my church indicates that women
should stay home with their children and tend to the
family. In spite of this there are many women who
work outside of the home at my church, but I would
not be surprised that many, if not all of us feel guilty.
I have attempted on three separate occasions to
leave my professional positions to be a “stay at
home mom,” but in every instance I was home for a
little more than a year and I would return to work
part-time and then eventually full time. This struggle
has greatly clouded my search for vocation.
Conclusions





Contrary to past research, our faculty sample
defines vocation more broadly than career
Mentors play an important role in the process of
vocational discernment
Turning points play a key role in shaping one’s
vocational journey
A significant number of faculty reported experiencing
barriers to living out their calling
Barriers manifest differently for men versus women