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1.2.1 Why Is Calling Important?
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When I was younger, I was involved in the Christian music scene, and I witnessed people impacted by testimony and ultimately altar calls – giving their lives to God. At this stage in my life, I find that living my life as a Christian in the community where I live, and my work environment tends to open doors. I have found myself being asked multiple times to say a blessing at different work events and I have also found that people will approach me, from time to time, to discuss spiritual things. While these are not earth-shattering examples, I suppose they speak to the fact that people are always watching. They see how we, as Christians, live our lives and react accordingly.
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I am a teacher and one of the most fascinating aspects of my job is getting to know the heart and soul of each of my students (one by one) and what makes them tick. I see the potential in each one of them (no matter who they are or how old they are) and as I pray for them, my desire is that each of them would come to know God and hear His call to Himself. God continues to transform my life, filling me with such joy and passion for life, and I think that my students here in Italy see it. The vast majority of my students don't receive very much encouragement in the educational sphere and really feel quite down on themselves. My students know that I care about them and they begin to believe that they really do have great personal worth and also something important to contribute. It requires a lot of time, a good listening ear, and a great deal of patience, but, in faith, I plant seeds in these precious lives that I believe are an investment for eternity–an investment for both individual transformation and thus community impact. Another recent example of community impact is the efforts of the local church to gather and provide for the needs of refugees in neighbouring countries due to the Ukrainian-Russian war.
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In my life, I have seen community impact and transformation through my faith by witnessing the changes in people as they step into uncomfortable situations as I encourage them to do so.
I lead a group that consists of women who are considered powerful prayer warriors and they certainly are. However; there are things that are highlighted in each person including myself that can be strengthened or developed. We support each other and love each other in truth, always in truth.
I have seen women transformed and new gifts surface. It is really beautiful to see! I am so blessed that these powerful women also pour into me and through their faith have transformed my own life as well!
Through these transformations our families are directly and positively impacted and in turn benefiting our communities. The positive outcome for community and family impact is generational.
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Thanks @GerryB for your detailed response and pointing readers to your profile (it is awesome to see what God is doing in your life).
It is absolutely true that your family is your primary community. And as a father you hold an important position of influence; something you are evidently taking very seriously. Chrysostom, an early church father, said that every house should be a little church and every head of a family a spiritual shepherd.
Furthermore, the puritans frequently celebrate how wonderful it is for pastors when parents take this role seriously:
"Blessed is the church where family worship takes place in the home! In that place the pastor need not exhaust himself trying to do the work of many spiritual fathers at once. Church members well-catechized by their parents 'will be able to read other books more understandingly, and hear sermons more profitably, and confer [have Christian fellowship] more judiciously, and hold fast the doctrine of Christ more firmly, than ever you are like to do by any other course.'" (Quote is from A Puritan Theology, Kindle Location, 32796, but here is the original source).
Finally, I was really inspired by this video, which presents a vision for Family Worship for our modern world (don’t let it make you feel guilty for not doing enough, rather, be inspired by how important the role of spiritual shepherd is in one’s own home):
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