Growing up I wanted to become an architect.  I loved to design and build things.   As a child I loved to build forts in our backyard.   Or boxes made from toothpicks or popsicle sticks.   In my teenage years  I used larger pieces of wood to build furniture I had designed.  I think my dad wanted me to take over his landscaping business, but I did not like doing lawn and garden maintenance.   I got easily frustrated and bored doing the same thing week after week.   Cutting the same lawns, trimming the same hedges, working up the same gardens.   I wanted to start things, design things, and see these things built.

My aspirations to become an architect were shelved when in my mid-teens our church's pastor challenged me to pursue full-time ministry as my vocation in life.   I soon sensed a calling to serve local churches as a pastor.   The trajectory of my life was clear cut.   My life's partner would have to support me in this role.  There would be many years of study.   And at 25 years of age I began pastoring a church, fully supported by my loving wife Jeannie.

But it did not take me long to feel somewhat frustrated in my role.   The routines of daily ministry set in.  Much of what I was doing in the church seemed like maintenance.  I still had this longing to start, design, and build things.   I took up woodworking as a hobby, and this filled a bit of the void I was feeling.  It should not surprise you that within three years our family had moved to a different city to plant a new church.   As a pastor I now was able to be like an architect -- to start, design, and build something.   Not would of wood or stone -- but a community of gathered followers of Jesus.

Prior to coming to Australia I spent some time at Princeton Theological Seminary and while I was there I came to fully understand why at times I felt frustrated and even bored in my ministry role(s) within the local church.  I came to appreciate that God had wired and gifted me in such a way that my leaning would be toward starting things, designing things, and seeing things built up.  My primary vocational role is one of a catalyst.   Thankfully there are people who are very good at maintaining things, but that is not where I tend to focus my energy.   It is no wonder I wanted to become an architect, to do woodworking, plant churches, and start up new ministries.   And when the opportunity came for me to come to Australia and partner with the Reformed churches here, it was not a difficult decision.   In my vocational role here I spend the majority of my time and energy starting and designing initiatives that result in seeing churches, their leaders, and their people built up!

What is your calling in life?   Dr. Tim Keller suggests that to discern your calling you need to consider AFFINITY (what people needs do I resonate with?), ABILITY (what am I good at doing?), and OPPORTUNITY (where do others tell me I am needed?).   [You can check out Keller's whole article here.]   If you answer these questions you can come to some clarity as to your vocation in life -- your calling.  In essence, that is what I did at Princeton, and it gave me clarity as to my vocation in life.  

The same is true for churches as a whole.  We are called as churches to be salt and light (Matthew 5:13-16), to be Christ's witnesses in this world (Acts 1:8), and to be disciple makers (Matthew 28:18-20).   As Reformed churches in Australia we summarize these truths by saying that we are to be a church reforming to reach the lost for Christ.   But how this missional vision plays out in each local church is something for each church to discover and decide.   What is God calling your church to do?   To be?   If you are unsure, a good place to start is using the questions Keller suggests to discover your calling in life.   Ask yourself, what needs in your community does your church resonate with?    What is your church good at doing?   And talk amongst each other.  God put us into a community, and we discern his will and calling together.   Affinity, ability, and opportunity.   Ask these questions, and as a church you will discover your calling.   Then heed the words of the apostle Paul:  "I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received."  (Ephesians 4:1)   And as you live out your calling, the church will be built up (read Ephesians 4:1-16).   So ask yourself, and ask your church:  what is your calling?