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Doctor of Ministry (DMin), “Houston, we’ve had a problem!” During the past few years, church leaders have been hit by a pandemic tsunami of epic proportions, pushing their ministry stress levels to an all-time high. Current pastors had never faced or trained for the storm that hit the church in 2020 and 2021. Decision fatigue led to ministry fatigue, ultimately leading to burnout and in many cases leaving the ministry altogether. The “Great Pastor Resignation” represents an urgent need for the church, and if not addressed, the exit will prove unsustainable. Finding a way to keep more pastors in the game has become priority number one for the Union Baptist Association (UBA). The UBA needs pastors who are resilient, equipped with the tools and habits needed to finish ministry well. The UBA began to ask, “How do we foster leaders who remain resilient throughout life and ministry and finish strong?” The churches in Houston need pastors who are resilient. The purpose of this project is to field test a resourcing pathway that will build greater resiliency into the lives of UBA pastors. The Resilient Pathway will introduce church leaders to the “Five Habits of Resilience.” One of the five trailheads on this pathway is the Resilient Learning Cohort. Sixteen church leaders journeyed together for seven months, processing and experiencing elements of the “Five Habits of Resilience.” The cohort included a two-stage process. In stage one, the cohort met for six months in a collaborative learning environment around the “Five Habits of Resilience.” In stage two, the cohort participated in a three-day “Shepherd’s Retreat” modeling the habits of repeated renewal and relational security. Upon completion of the pilot project, I evaluated the two-stage cohort journey and the impact on the participants. Each participant completed a pre- and post-survey to evaluate the impact of the cohort toward resiliency for their life and ministry practice. To gauge the impact of the Resilient Cohort, and on long-term sustaina

This thesis, through field research in the UK and Africa, contributes to the understanding of mission as integral to Christian discipleship, demonstrating how God’s call to mission can be lived out through short-term mission in partnership. The lived faith of those involved in teams and partner churches in the UK and of local volunteers in Africa, drawn together by the African NGO Hands at Work in Africa, is examined through interviews in the UK and Africa. This practitioner research offers a unique theological insight into cross-cultural short-term mission within the context of long-term partnerships. Criticisms of short-term mission found in a literature search, focus on a failure to understand local situations abroad and motives of self-interest and are found to be unfounded within this long-term partnership context. Through the encouragement that local volunteers in Africa identify in the short-term mission visits, local agency is further promoted, and the lens of financial cost-effectiveness is challenged within the mission context. New elements of short-term mission in partnership are found in wider participation in mission for the ordinary Christian, mutuality of relationship with hosts, reciprocity in ministry between hosts and teams and the reception of mission from the margins.

Surrendering to the biblical mandate and God's call to pastoral ministry produces profound joy. However, pastoral burnout intensifies, and pastors leave the ministry at a staggering rate. Adding to the pressure of pastoral ministry, many churches implement an annual pastoral performance review policy. Imitating secular employment performance reviews, many churches base successful pastoral ministry on numerical metrics, performance goals, and preaching effectiveness. The researcher evaluated various pastoral evaluation forms across different denominations. Additionally, the researcher investigated the biblical theology of pastoral leadership. The action research project aimed to design a comprehensive, intentional, and biblical pastoral evaluation strategy for a congregation-led church. The project aimed to lead congregational leadership through an eight-week course that equips participants with the STEP Pastoral Evaluation Strategy. The research data was a pre-course questionnaire that collected participants' insights and views on pastoral evaluations, behavioral observations as a collective group, and a post-course survey. The data revealed that participants are willing to embrace a strategy that evaluates pastoral leadership comprehensively, intentionally, and biblically. When churches are willing to embrace the STEP Pastoral Evaluation Strategy, then congregations have a clear pastoral evaluation strategy that produces a unifying purpose in pastoral evaluations.

This essay aims to shed some light on the still common sense of a vocation among scientists. Taking its cue from Paul Forman's analysis of twentieth-century disciplinary science and Emile Durkheim's social view of religions, it suggests that modern scientific communities resemble religious communities in their penchant for transcendence. The essay aims to illustrate this perspective by looking at some developments within the physics discipline since its emergence in the late nineteenth century. One indication for this penchant is the tendency to distance oneself from the material conditions which allowed the discipline to flourish. These utilitarian conditions, industrial as well as material, were seen to pose a threat to the disinterested pursuit of truth. Another is the persistent tendency among theoretical physicists to search for otherworldly, immaterial and unifying foundations.

The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to determine if servant-leader characteristics were common among recruits enrolled in basic law enforcement training programs in North Carolina Community Colleges and the relationship between recruit commitment to preserving public safety and public order and the call or natural feeling to serve others. This study explored whether law enforcement recruits inherently possessed servant-leader characteristics defined by Greenleaf and Spears (1998, 2002) and described in Matthew and Mark. One hundred eleven law enforcement recruits, both men and women, from various demographic backgrounds actively enrolled in 22 North Carolina Community College System’s Basic Law Enforcement Training programs participated in this study. Data was collected using a cross-sectional 6-Question Demographic and Information Questionnaire (identifying age, gender, race, religion, and other factors) and the Servant Leadership (self-reporting) Profile- Revised (SLP-R) to measure servant-leader characteristics common among law enforcement recruits. Descriptive/frequency analysis and the Kruskal-Wallis (1952) non-parametric analysis of variance were used to quantify the relationship (determine differences) between participants' commitment to serve and protect others and to identify servant-leader characteristics.

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore perceptions of vocation, calling, and work among junior classification students at Union University. Calling was defined as a transcendent drawing toward a particular path in life, particularly as it relates to work. Vocation was defined in light of its historical and theological roots with a focus on the transcendent drawing toward a way of life as a disciple of Jesus Christ. Work was defined as one’s job or career. The theory guiding this study was that of constructivism or social constructivism, which “understands human reality as socially constructed reality” (Berger & Luckman, 1966, p. 189). Social constructivism recognizes that as individuals seek to make meaning out of their life and experiences, that meaning is often shaped by history and social connections or interactions (Creswell & Creswell, 2018, p. 8). This study collected data utilizing interviews and journaling activities relevant to the topic from a sample of junior students in order to describe participants’ experiences and perceptions. In order to invite diverse perspectives, the researcher employed a purposive, maximum variation sampling to include factors such as gender, ethnicity, first generation college student, and major. The data was analyzed by triangulating interview and journal data to identify themes from individual participants in comparison to one another. The findings describe students’ experience of vocation, calling, and work and how the university’s overall programming culture, as well as its career center influence and interact with student perceptions of vocation, calling, and work. The researcher also provides data-driven, pertinent recommendations for campus programming and further research.

The purpose of this study was to understand if a relationship exists between Midwest baccalaureate Christian and Non-Christian nursing programs’ organizational servant leadership characteristics and pre-licensure baccalaureate nursing students’ caring dimensions. This study utilized a quantitative approach to a correlational design using survey methodology for data collection. The first sample consisted of four Christian pre-licensure baccalaureate nursing programs’ Faculty/Staff, Supervisors, and the nursing program’s Top Leadership, along with their pre-licensure baccalaureate nursing students. The second sample consisted of three Non-Christian pre-licensure baccalaureate nursing programs’ Faculty/Staff, Supervisor, and nursing program Top Leadership and their pre-licensure baccalaureate nursing students. Many nursing studies reveal a persistent culture of incivility that begins in academia and continues into the graduate nurse’s bedside practice, where nurses are known to “eat their young” (Palumbo, 2018, p. 144; Katz, 2014, p. 1-2). Incivility is a problem in nursing because a toxic environment can adversely affect patient care. This study sought to discern whether servant organizational leadership offered a means to resolve incivility in nursing by producing nursing students who care more. Therefore, this study measured whether servant organizational leadership theory explained the relationship between a Christian and Non-Christian servant leadership organization as measured by the servant Organizational Leadership Assessment - Standard Version (OLA-SV) instrument and the pre-licensure baccalaureate nursing student’s caring dimensions as measured by the Caring Dimensions Inventory - 25 (CDI-25) instrument.

The purpose of this study is to create a better understanding of work-related stress and wellbeing amongst employees who do meaningful work in volunteer-based organizations. The research question chosen to explore this topic is "How do employees in girl’s support centers, who perceive their work as meaningful, experience stress and wellbeing in their jobs?". The data was collected using 16 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with employees at different girl’s support centers in Sweden. This thesis is based on constructionist ontology, interpretive epistemology and abductive reasoning. In terms of theoretical grounding, the concepts of stress, wellbeing and meaning at work are used as a basis for the analysis. The main literature drawn upon is Dupret and Pultz’s (2021) research on work in purpose-driven organizations, multiple scholar’s research on calling and identification as well as the autonomy paradox and related research. The key findings of this thesis relate to the ambiguous yet positive effects of meaningfulness on employee wellbeing. This thesis adds to previous research by showing how experiences of autonomy and meaningfulness interact and contribute to both stress and wellbeing simultaneously.

The issue of volunteer retention is of central interest to academics and practitioners given that non-profit organizations depend on volunteers while, at the same time, many non-profits surprisingly lack a formal retention strategy. Existing studies on volunteer retention also tend to focus on only a few isolated aspects of retaining volunteers such as commitment, motivation, personal growth in a career path, work engagement, learning opportunities, job satisfaction, incentives, or other factors. Within the context of faith-based organizations (FBOs), this dissertation thus aims to unravel how individual perspectives and management practices interact with each other and how both relate to volunteer retention in FBOs. This dissertation seeks to contribute to volunteer retention literature in three main ways. First, it introduces a perspective that centers on the interaction of personal aspects and management practices in the study of volunteer retention. Second, it seeks to contribute new crucial concepts at both individual (i.e., calling, connectedness, and volunteering career) and organizational levels (i.e., management of calling, religious HRM, and the paradox of transcendental rewards) to current literature. Third, it develops a link between individual perspectives, management practices, and religious values. This dissertation integrates the theme of religion into current theories of volunteer retention.

Avian species often use anti-predator calls such that the costs and benefits of vigilance are distributed within the group. Some species respond differentially to graded risk by attending to relevant predator cues, such as head orientation and gaze direction. One benefit of graded-risk sensitivity is fewer missed foraging opportunities. It is not known how the makeup of risk response behaviors in mixed-species flocks may relate to the relative nuclearity of each species in the flock. In the current study, predator models were presented to two nuclear and two satellite species of passerines that frequently occur in natural mixed flocks. Predator models either faced toward or away from a nearby stocked feeder to simulate high and low risk of predation, and calling and seed-taking rates of the present flock were recorded. The nuclear species, great tits (Parus major) and crested tits (Lophophanes cristatus), took more seeds when the predator faced away from the feeder than toward it. The satellite species, Eurasian nuthatches (Sitta europaea) and willow tits (Poecile montanus), did not show an effect of predator orientation. No species showed consistent differences in calling behavior relative to predator orientation, although insufficient calling data for great tits prevented analysis for this species. The results of this study suggest that one aspect of nuclearity in mixed-species flocks is a tendency for graded-risk sensitivity, or alternatively, that satellite species are more sensitive to mere predator presence rather than to predator orientation cues.

Across a large part of the world, there is currently a shortage of nurses, this is no exception in Sweden. In this study, we have thus intended to investigate the contributing factors behind the shortage of nurses in Sweden. This purpose has been investigated through a qualitative method, where nine semi-structured interviews have been conducted with licensed nurses who have been in the profession for a maximum of 5 years. The results of the study have been analysed through Herzberg's two-factor theory and Adam's equity theory. The results that came from this study show that nurses choose the profession with an expected return in the form of patient contact, the possibility to make a difference and self-development within the profession. What creates the intention to leave the profession is when the return is smaller and there is no room to establish the return, which is derived from the nurse's context, in the form of, among other things, too high a workload, lack of support and neglected skills. Conclusions of the study show that measures in the form of increased decentralization, increased professionalization of the profession and consideration of individual needs need to be taken to retain more nurses in the profession., Över en stor del av världen råder det just nu en brist på sjuksköterskor, detta är inget undantag i Sverige. I den här studien har vi därmed ämnat undersöka vilka bidragande faktorer som ligger bakom bristen på sjuksköterskor i Sverige. Detta syfte har undersökts genom en kvalitativ metod, där nio semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts med legitimerade sjuksköterskor vilka har varit i yrket i max 5 år. Resultatet av denna studie haranalyserats genom Herzbergs tvåfaktorteori och Adams jämviktsteori. Resultatet som kom av denna studie visar att sjuksköterskor väljer yrket med en förväntad avkastning i form av patientkontakt, att göra skillnad och självutveckling inom professionen. Det som skapar intentionen att lämna professionen är när avkastningen blir mindre och utrymme inte finns för att etablera avkastningen, vilket härleds till sjuksköterskans kontext, i form av, bland annat, för hög arbetsbelastning, brist på stöd samt försummad kompetens. Slutsatser av studien visar att åtgärder i form av ökad decentralisering, en ökad professionalisering av professionen och hänsynstagande till individuella behov behöver tas för att bibehålla sjuksköterskor inom professionen.

The aim of this essay is to present and analyse six calling narratives that has been collected from six different priests. Three of them belong to the Roman Catholic Church and three of them belong to the Church of Sweden. I have chosen to have priests from two different churches because I also want to investigate if their calling narratives can be connected to the church they belong to. To be ordained in any of these two churches one´s calling must be acknowledged by the Church involved. In the Church of Sweden, they look at the calling (or vocation) as something with two dimensions, the inner calling and the outer calling. Meanwhile the Roman Catholic Church looks at the calling as one dimensional. The calling narratives has been collected by interviews with each priest. The interviews have been semi-structured, with the intention that the priests should have been able to talk freely about what they have found important. The main questions, that all the priests got, was “Why did you choose to become a priest?”, “How did you assure yourself that the calling was from God?” and lastly “What has the calling meant in your role as a priest?”. The essays questions are what the priests think has been crucial for their journeys to become priests, and also if there is possible to see any difference between how the priests from the Roman Catholic Church assured themselves that the calling was from God compared to how the priests from the Church of Sweden assured themselves that the calling was from God. The answer to the first question is that I noticed two different kinds of narratives, one where the calling narrative was described as a process and one where it was affected by one specific experience. The answer to the second question is that I saw a pattern where all the priests from the Church of Sweden described that confirmation from other people, about their adequacy for the priest role, had been crucial to them, while none of the priests from the Roman Catholic Chur

Según el símil de la caverna y, de acuerdo a la experiencia de la liberación del prisionero descrita allí, la filosofía lleva a cabo una reconducción de lavida humana. Esta reconducción no está sujeta a la voluntad de quien la padece, por lo que no se la puede autoprocurar, sino que ocurre por la violenta acciónde otro. Esta violencia destaca que la Filosofía nace de una relación entre uno que provoca su experiencia y otro que la experimenta, y, además, que esta experiencia conlleva una transformación de la existencia. A esta experiencia parece aproximarse la expuesta por Heidegger al momento de analizar la modificación existencial desde el uno mismo al sí mismo. Aquí también se destaca una relación y una determinada actitud que, al provocarse violentamente, sugiere la indisponibilidad de la experiencia filosófica. El presente artículo busca exponer el sentido de la vocación filosófica en Sócrates y Heidegger, y comprender en qué medida la trasformación que aquí se genera pone en marcha no sólo dos maneras distintas de filosofar, sino dos modos de ser que hasta cierto grado parecen conciliables, pero que, en último término, resultan incompatibles., According to the allegory of the cave and the experience of the liberation of the prisoner described there, philosophy implies a redirection of human life. Thisredirection is not subject to the will of the person who experiments it; therefore, it cannot be self-procured, but rather occurs through the violent action of another. This violence highlights that philosophy arises from a relationship between one who provokes this experience and another who experiences it; and, in addition, that this experience entails a transformation of existence. This experience seems and a certain attitude that suggest —insofar they are provoked violently— the unavailability of the philosophical experience come here to the foreground. The following paper attempts to outline the meaning of the philosophical calling according to Socrates and Heidegger, and to understand to what extent the transformation that is generated here sets in motion not only two different ways of philosophising, but also two ways of being that seem conciliable to some degree, though they turn out to be ultimately incompatible.to come close to the one discussed by Heidegger in his analysis of the existentialmodification from the They-Self to the authentic Self. Additionally, a relationship

The work presents the basics of St. John Paul II’s reflection on women, their dignity, nature and vocation, pointing to motherhood as the key to the development of the Pope’s teaching, organizing his statements. An analysis of the writings of John Paul II shows that, regardless of his reflections on human dignity, he supports his reflections on women by emphasizing their ability to physical motherhood, assuming the impact of this ability and the possibility of its realization on the tasks and obligations of women towards all humanity. An analysis of the Pope’s writings shows that he did not devote the same amount of attention and space to reflection on the meaning of masculinity and the vocation of men.

This research explores the notion of work as a calling and its impact on job performance and innovation in the context of the Catholic Church. Employing the data gained from Catholic priests in Australia and Indonesia and utilising the lens of role identification and person-environment fit theory, this study revealed that priest’s calling is multidimensional and influences different dimensions of their job performance. Additionally, the results found the importance of organisational climate and living the calling as essential factors in enhancing the effect of calling on job performance. This research extends the literature of calling, job performance, and innovation.

This scientific essay is researching how we can understand the interplay between the private and the professional identities of teachers in school-age educare. This paper is based on our early working experiences, compared to our present-day experiences. The methods we have used are the scientific essay and participant observations. The theoretical framework consists of Isaiah Berlin’s concepts of liberty, Louis Althusser’s concept of interpellation and Jonas Aspelin’s relational concepts: closeness, distance, interhuman and social approaches. The study shows that it is possible to identify a contradiction between the private and the professional identities in the Swedish curriculum and, also, that it is possible to find agency in that conflict, through conscious and intentional didactic movement between closeness and distance., Denna vetenskapliga essä är en undersökning av hur fritidshemslärarens yrkesroll kan förstås utifrån samspelet mellan privatpersonen och den professionella personen. Framställningen bygger på gestaltningar ur våra tidigare yrkeserfarenheter, vilka vi jämför med våra erfarenheter idag. De metoder vi har använt är vetenskaplig essä och deltagande observation. Teoriramen består huvudsakligen av Isaiah Berlins frihetsbegrepp, Louis Althussers tankar om interpellation och Jonas Aspelins relationella begrepp: närhet, distans, mellanmänskligt och socialt förhållningssätt. Essän visar att det är möjligt att identifiera en motsättning mellan privatpersonen och den professionella personen i läroplanen och även att det är möjligt att finna en agens i denna motsättning genom en medveten, didaktisk rörelse mellan närhet och distans.

This survey has examined the work motivation among priests in the Church of Sweden (Svenska kyrkan). This report is based on a theory developed by Lars Ivarsson who distinguishes intrinsic motivation from extrinsic motivation associated with work. The survey is also based on a theory named Social categorization theory which is connected to confirmation of identity and work motivation. The survey has used a quantitative survey method to collect research data and a thematic analysis to analyze the collected data. The source material collected in the survey included answers from 40 priests who each answered 14 questions regarding their work motivation, lack thereof and calling. The result in this survey has argued that intrinsic work motivation is the dominant motivation in relation to extrinsic motivation, to choose priesthood as occupation. The most common motive to choose priesthood as occupation was argued by the respondents to be something defined as calling. Work environment and organizational issues was regarded as the biggest factors to reduce work motivation among priests in the survey. Calling was also discussed by the respondents in many parts of the survey as something exclusive to the occupation as priest.

Family motivation as a mediating mechanism is a novel and under-researched area in the field of positive organizational scholarship. Drawing on Social Exchange Theory (SET), this study empirically validates family motivation as a mediator between family support and work engagement. The process by Hayes (2013) was used to analyze time-lagged data collected from 356 employees of the education sector. Results confirm the mediating role of family motivation in the relationship between family support and work engagement and the moderating role of calling in the relationship between family support and family motivation. This study adds to the literature of family-work enrichment accounts by validating family support as a novel antecedent for family motivation and positive attitudes. The implications of the study are discussed.

In previous studies, calling mechanism as an adaptation result can be explained using the career construction theory (CCT) through the adaptive readiness and adapting response that employees have and do. However, this perspective has not accounted for external factors that might affect the adapting response impact on the formation of their calling. This study aimed at addressing this gap by using not only the CCT perspective but also the social exchange theory (SET) to see the relationship between proactive personality and individual calling through the roles of two mediators, namely job crafting and LMX. The research data were collected using an online survey involving active employees (N = 222) who have worked for at least one year in various banking industries. The data were analysed using a parallel mediation model analysis from Hayes (2017) with SPSS for Windows. The results show that proactive personality positively contributes to calling either directly or indirectly through both mediators (i.e job crafting and LMX). This dual path mediation model provides a new perspective in understanding that each job crafting and LMX has their role in explaining the mechanism of the relationship between proactive personality and the calling of the employees in their work. Therefore, this study has both theoretical and practical implications for the existing literature of calling., Pada studi sebelumnya mekanisme calling sebagai adaptation result mampu dijelaskan menggunakan career construction theory (CCT) melalui adaptive readiness dan adapting response yang dimiliki dan dilakukan karyawan, namun perspektif tersebut diketahui belum memperhitungkan faktor eksternal yang mungkin dapat mempengaruhi adapting response sehingga dapat berdampak pada pembentukan calling mereka. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengatasi kesenjangan tersebut dengan menggunakan tidak hanya perspektif CCT, melainkan perspektif social exchange theory (SET) untuk melihat hubungan proactive personality dengan calling individu melalui peranan dua mediator yaitu job crafting dan LMX. Data penelitian dikumpulkan menggunakan survei daring dengan melibatkan karyawan aktif (N=222) yang telah bekerja minimal satu tahun di berbagai industri perbankan. Data kemudian dianalisis menggunakan analisis model mediasi paralel dari Hayes (2017) dengan SPSS for Windows. Hasil menunjukkan bahwa proactive personality secara positif berkontribusi pada calling baik secara langsung maupun tidak langsung melalui kedua mediator (i.e job crafting dan LMX). Model mediasi jalur ganda ini memberikan perspektif baru dalam memahami bahwa job crafting dan LMX masing-masing memiliki peran tersendiri dalam menjelaskan mekanisme hubungan proactive personality dengan calling karyawan dalam pekerjaannya. Maka dari itu temuan ini dapat melengkapi literatur yang ada tentang implikasi teoritis dan praktis dari calling.

The similarities between psychosis and different mystical experiences are striking. Professor Jens-Ivar Nergård (1998, 2006) has pointed out similarities between the calling of the Sami shaman/nåjd and the state of psychosis and high-lights the reciprocal meanings andpurposes of these similarities in a Saami context where the calling and the called are regarded as meaningful for the community. By comparing what psychodynamic theorynames psychosis with the calling process of the nåjd the aim of this work is to investigatethe question of how the latter’s discourse finds individual and contextual purpose andmeaning in the psychological functions leading to the former. Since this comparison andinvestigation concerns two different ontologies and discourses, with their own conceptsand views on the psychological functions mentioned, it is done in a qualitative comparativemethod of discourse analysis.The psychodynamic discourse through the books of professor Johan Cullberg classifiespsychosis as a psychological regression to a more primitive psychological state in whichthe individual is caught in primary process thoughts; characterized by dilutions, hallucinations and magical thinking. The psychodynamic discourse sees no contextual, and verylittle individual, meaning or purpose with these functions. This theory is what I will compare to the material given by primarily Jens-Ivar Nergård from a Saami discourse.What I find in the discourse material is an ontology - simultaneously psychological, spiritual, practical and religious (hence the interest from the perspective of psychology of religion) – which differs from the ontology of the psychodynamic discourse in crucial ways.In the Saami discourse the individual experiencing what the theory would name hallucinations, dilutions or psychosis is never disconnected from his or her community and contextbut is instead seen as an important and strong bringer of insights and knowledge. This isconnected to the ontology mentioned above

Doctor of Ministry (DMin), The goal of this doctoral project is to provide a short monograph on a theological understanding of vocation in retirement. This will further the theological grounding for the work of the consultants and staff of the Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) who prepare and present pre-retirement seminars to church workers. The document previously used was written for pastors by a seminary president. However, the demographics of the participants are changing, creating a need for a document written in a more conversational style for an audience with less formal theological education. The project reviewed relevant literature, drawing from the Patristic period and the Protestant theological tradition, as well as considering current understandings of vocation and calling in retirement. Gregory of Nazianzus’ emphasis on transformation is considered. Martin Luther’s broadening of vocation from merely ecclesiastical usage to include the work of all Christians. Three contemporary authors on vocation serve to move the theological conversation from the past into the present. The products of this project include a fresh monograph on calling in retirement, a set of reflection questions for those preparing for the seminar, and a set of questions for group discussion within the seminar. The resources of this project may be incorporated into the new THRIVE seminar. To that end, interview questions for the staff who will be tasked with presenting the new seminar are included as a means of feedback on the offered resources. A survey is also provided for these resources to be evaluated by participants.

With this article, we open a special issue of the Journal of Vocational Behavior on “Calling and Careers: New Insights and Future Directions.” Calling has become an important emerging topic of study in vocational psychology and organizational behavior, as the exponentially increasing volume of published studies on the topic indicates. After summarizing the aims of the special issue, we introduce each of the nine studies of calling and careers selected for inclusion. These studies initiate fresh research directions in key domains of calling research, such as: a) the conceptualization of calling, b) the emergence and development of calling, c) positive and negative effects of calling, and d) further theoretical development related to the construct. Together with the authors of these studies, we hope this special issue succeeds in moving the scholarly conversation on calling and careers forward.

Despite the long tradition of studies on calling conducted in established professional and occupational groups, little is known about what it means to enact one's calling in the context of less-established professions, absent career structures and temporary organizational settings. However, with the changing nature of work, this knowledge is highly needed to support independent workers. This paper presents a study of twenty-four founders of (video)game development companies in the Dutch video game industry who enact their calling in the context of poorly established career structures and scarce resources. Our findings reveal that the way the game company founders describe the meanings they attach to their work and to video game development suggests the presence of a creative calling, which focuses on the creative process rather than on a specific occupation or profession. The founders engage in emergent entrepreneurship and bond with like-minded people to create space that allows them to enact their creative calling in the video game industry. In doing so, they anchor their creative calling enactment in either an idealized or a crafted work identity. In turn, the choice of work identity anchor shapes how successful they are in sustaining this creative calling enactment in the video game industry. Our findings shed new light on the concept of calling and its enactment in the context of less-established career structures and scarce resources; they further provide practical implications for individuals who pursue their calling in contemporary work contexts and for career counselors.

Doctor of Ministry (DMin), The purpose of this project is to develop a strategy for starting missional communities in Singapore through the work of bivocational personnel. To achieve this, a new work was started with the intention of reaching non-Christians, bringing them into community and discipleship, developing them as leaders and empowering and releasing them to form new missional communities. Special attention was made on spiritual formation, community life together and a transformative leadership process of developing leaders who replicate themselves. The context of Singapore is one in which Christianity has enjoyed great success. Singapore churches generally embrace a missiological theology but this outlook is being eroded as churches grow and are becoming institutionalized. It is the intention of this project to reclaim the centrality of mission, remove any clergy-laity divisions and return the church to a form of team-based, egalitarian leadership structure with distributed authority. While the goal of replicating the community was not successful and the community disbanded after two years, the insights gleaned are helpful for future efforts at starting missional communities. One key lesson learned was the need to pay attention to cultural and societal norms in Singapore. These include Singapore being a collective society, the influence of Confucianism, high power distance index and desire for structure, organization, and planning in the mentality of the people. In addition, the home setting may not be the most ideal place for maintaining and growing missional communities in Singapore. Now understanding community sizes and sustainability, the goal should be to aim for a size of fifty people within two years of community formation. On the other hand, to ensure the continuity of bivocational leadership in the community, it is recommended that the community not be allowed to grow beyond 150 people before multiplying.

Mobile phone distracted driving is a recurrent issue in road safety worldwide. Recent research on driving behaviour of distracted drivers suggests that in certain circumstances drivers seem to assume safer behaviours while using a mobile phone. Despite a high volume of research on this topic, self-regulation by mobile phone distracted drivers is not well understood as many driving simulator experiments are designed to impose an equal level of distraction to participants being tested for their driving performance. The aim of this research was to investigate the relationship between self-regulatory secondary task performance and driving. By a driving simulator experiment in which participants were allowed to perform their secondary tasks whenever they feel appropriate, the driving performance of 35 drivers aged 18–29 years was observed under three phone conditions including non-distraction (no phone use), hands-free interactions and visual-manual interactions in the CARRS-Q advanced driving simulator. Drivers’ longitudinal and lateral vehicle control observed across various road traffic conditions were then modelled by Generalized Estimation Equations (GEE) with exchangeable correlation structure accounting for heterogeneity resulting from multiple observations from the same driver. Results show that the extent of engagement in the secondary task influence both longitudinal and lateral control of vehicles. Drivers who engaged in a large number of hands-free interactions are found to select lower driving speed. In contrast, longer visual-manual interactions are found to result in higher driving speed among drivers self-regulating their secondary task. Among the road traffic conditions, drivers distracted by their self-regulated secondary tasks are found to select lower speeds along the s-curve compared to straight and motorway segments. In summary, the applied human-machine system approach suggests that road traffic demands play a vital role in both secondary task mana

Using a two-study design (total N = 1232), this paper examines the relationship between calling and employability. We suggest that, on the one hand, calling can positively relate to employability due to individuals’ engagement in proactive professional development (PPD). On the other hand, calling can negatively relate to employability due to the career inflexibility that is associated with having a calling. The results of Study 1 revealed that calling does not directly relate to employability. When accounting for PPD in the calling-employability relationship, we found that calling positively and indirectly relates to occupational expertise dimension of employability, while it relates negatively and directly to personal flexibility dimension of employability. Findings from Study 2 showed that calling indirectly relates to employability both positively through PPD and negatively through career inflexibility. The findings from the two studies suggest the double-edged nature of a calling in relation to employability. The importance of these findings for understanding the career-related outcomes of calling is discussed.

Within Christian circles, the ‘calling’ of the vocational minister is frequently abused and misunderstood and muddled by the lack of Scriptural evidence for the overused term. The focus of this research is to observe first, the current cultural climate surrounding the nature of calling, and second, to compare this understanding to the authoritative Scriptural teaching on the subject in both the Old and New Testaments. This analysis reveals that the “internal” vocational call to minister is absent from the Bible and must be replaced by an alternative the Scripture directly teaches. It is concluded that God gives man the desire to become a minister but does not audibly select leaders in the manner of biblical characters.

The purpose of this study is to analyze how deacons embody their second ordination vow concerning ‘helping those in need and standing by the oppressed ones’ side’. We conducted seven semi-structured interviews with deacons from one diocese in the Church of Sweden. The empirical material for this study is based on previous research about diaconia and analyzed through theoretical concepts of calling and self-discrepancy. The results of this study show that the ordination vows give the deacons direction for their actions, at the same time as they can be difficult to fulfill. The deacons state that diaconia provides room for spiritual expressions, in contrast to the public sector. The diaconal help can take different forms, but most important is seeing and confirming the people the deacons meet. When the deacons define which groups they consider the most needing they say: the lonely, addicts, elders and people far from the labor market. All deacons talk about loneliness as a big issue, but don’t have an answer on how this need can be met.

Doctor of Ministry (DMin), Military chaplains are both clergy persons and officers in the armed services who minister to the members of the military and their families. The military is a unique subculture with its own geography, customs, traditions, and even clothing and hairstyles. Chaplains become a part of this subculture, serve under the same requirements and limitations as any other service member, and enjoy the same benefits, which include a very generous retirement package. When the time comes to transition out of this subculture, retiring chaplains face unique challenges. This dissertation will identify and examine the challenges facing retiring chaplains, the unique gifts and abilities these chaplains have to offer the church, and some of the negative stereotypes they will have to overcome. This study will look at the underlying biblical and theological issues involved in the retirement of military chaplains. Relevant literature and biblical passages will be reviewed in an effort to develop an understanding of clergy retirement. This work looks carefully at the meaning of ordination as a life-long state and at the concept of vocation or calling as it relates to clergy, with a special focus on retired clergy. This dissertation argues that to successfully transition to civilian life, retiring military chaplains need to go through a period of liminality, a time where the chaplain examines his or her life journey thus far and listens for God’s leading for the future. The study offers some concrete suggestions of ways chaplains can find healing for the spiritual and psychological wounds they may have received during their time in the military. Finally, this study will give some concrete ways that retiring military chaplains can discern God’s call for the next phase of their lives.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss a Christian teacher’s calling in response to the great commission of Jesus Christ in building character in digital era. The main task of a teacher in the context of Christian education is to assist students in knowing God in Jesus Christ and being like Christ in their daily lives. Christian teachers become co-workers with God in conveying the values of His kingdom in a digital era that is filled with individualism, selfishness, and self-righteousness, all of which lead to the loss of love. The teaching that is delivered by Christian teachers can bring students to God’s truth which will affect students’ character, intellect, and spirituality. These not only help students but can also be used to serve and help other people to face the challenges of this digital era.BAHASA INDONESIA ABSTRAK: Tulisan ini bertujuan untuk membahas panggilan guru Kristen sebagai wujud amanat agung Yesus Kristus dalam penanaman nilai pada era digital. Tugas utama seorang guru dalam konteks pendidikan Kristen adalah membantu para siswa untuk belajar mengenal Allah di dalam Yesus Kristus dan melalui firmanNya. Mereka dapat menjadi serupa dengan Kristus dalam kehidupan sehari-hari. Oleh sebab itu penting sekali mahasiswa menangkap panggilanNya sebagai Guru Kristen, karena dengan demikian akan menjadi rekan sekerja Allah dalam menyampaikan nilai-nilai kerajaanNya di era digital yang sarat dengan egoisme, mementingkan diri sendiri, bahkan merasa diri benar, sehingga kasih menjadi pudar. Dengan demikian, pengajaran yang disampaikan guru Kristen akan membawa para siswa memiliki nilai-nilai kebenaran yang justru kembali kepadaTuhan dan berpusat kepada Kristus, yang berdampak kepada pertumbuhan karakter intelektual, spiritual, intelegensi tidak hanya menjadi kebanggaan sendiri melainkan dipakai untuk melayani dan menolong orang lain dalam menghadapi era digital ini.

This article develops the reflection around a key of the human approach to the work of art: the call to the meaning of life. It also seeks to extract the deepest educational value of art. For this, we study the relation of art to the question of personal "calling," from the philosophical perspective, and recourse is made to the most notable authors, to reflection on aesthetics and artistic works. As a result, it can be seen that reflection reveals how this issue is decisive for living the deepest educational value of works of art. In the deep call that in every masterpiece of art can be found the key to its educational value. The reason is that that appeal opens the person to the question of the meaning of their life and helps to see the work of art as a personal message. In this way, it is concluded that for the subject to have a personal and creative relationship with the work of art must be able to connect it with his life and vocation. Art thus offers a fruitful light when it comes to living one's existence with creativity., Este artigo desenvolve uma reflexão em torno a uma chave da aproximação humana para a obra de arte: a chamada para o sentido da vida. Também pretende extrair o valor educativo mais profundo da arte. Para isso se estuda a relação da arte com a questão da “vocação” pessoal, a partir da perspectiva filosófica, se recorre a os autores mais significativos, à reflexão em volta da estética e a obras artísticas. Como resultado, pode-se ver que a reflexão revela como esta questão é crucial para viver o valor educativo mais fundo das obras de arte. Na profunda chamada de que em toda obra-prima da arte pode encontrar-se a chave de seu valor educativo. A razão é que este apelo abre à pessoa para a questão do significado da sua própria vida e ajuda a ver a obra de arte como uma mensagem pessoal. Assim, conclui-se que para que o sujeito possa ter um relacionamento pessoal e criativo com a obra de arte deve ser capaz de se conectá-la com sua própria vida e vocação. A arte oferece assim uma luz fértil na hora de viver a própria existência com criatividade., Este artículo desarrolla la reflexión en torno a una clave del acercamiento humano a la obra de arte: la llamada al sentido de la vida. También busca extraer el valor educativo más hondo del arte. Para esto se estudia la relación del arte con la cuestión de la “vocación” personal, desde la perspectiva filosófica. Se recurre a los autores más significativos, a la reflexión en torno a la estética y a obras artísticas. Como resultado puede verse que la reflexión revela cómo esta cuestión resulta decisiva para vivir el valor educativo más hondo de las obras de arte. En la profunda llamada de que en toda obra maestra del arte puede encontrarse la clave de su valor educativo. La razón es que esa apelación abre a la persona a la cuestión del sentido de su propia vida y ayuda a ver la obra de arte como un mensaje personal. De esta manera, se concluye que para que el sujeto pueda tener una relación personal y creativa con la obra de arte, debe poder conectarla con su propia vida y vocación. El arte ofrece así una fecunda luz a la hora de vivir la propia existencia con creatividad.

When the calling is brought to a head: Retirement from an existential sociology perspective In this article we analyze how the meaning and value of work can emerge, be defined and redefined in relation to the coming of retirement, by focusing individuals with dedicated work approaches interpreted as a calling. By relying on an existential sociology framework we analyze the retirement process as an existential imperative, e.g. life phases or processes where questions on meaning and life quality become prominent. For the interviewees, the day of retirement becomes a sort of a road sign that – depending on the distance of time to the point of retirement – has intensified existential questions and the meaning of work. The article explores the defining dimensions of a calling as found in the interviewees dedicated work approaches. We address the types of problems and opportunities that arise when the interviewees are soon to retire and their associated strategies: listening to a calling on ”standby”; learning not to listen to one’s calling, listening to a calling from a private sphere and project the calling’s commitment to other activities., Sociologisk Forsknings digitala arkiv

Successful teaching experience and outcome is often dependent upon the teacher's personal charisma which includes the qualities of a sense of humor, friendliness, forgiving, understanding, caring, patience, and so on. A critical link to all these positive characteristics is that the teacher feels a deep sense of gratitude on a daily basis. This article reports on studies from the field of positive psychology that focus on grateful affect and grateful expression. As far as teaching is concerned, it reveals that gratitude is one of the most obvious positive emotions to flourish a teacher's life and career. In practice, some tools of cultivating gratitude for a teacher are introduced such as staying away from mass media, keeping a gratitude journal and keeping a gratitude reminder. It is hoped that through practice, teachers in their daily teaching experience can tune their feelings to the grateful channel and arrive at the level where teaching becomes a calling in their life.

Motivation: In virology, massively parallel sequencing (MPS) opens many opportunities for studying viral quasi-species, e.g. in HIV-1- and HCV-infected patients. This is essential for understanding pathways to resistance, which can substantially improve treatment. Although MPS platforms allow in-depth characterization of sequence variation, their measurements still involve substantial technical noise. For Illumina sequencing, single base substitutions are the main error source and impede powerful assessment of low-frequency mutations. Fortunately, base calls are complemented with quality scores (Qs) that are useful for differentiating errors from the real low-frequency mutations. Results: A variant calling tool, Q-cpileup, is proposed, which exploits the Qs of nucleotides in a filtering strategy to increase specificity. The tool is imbedded in an open-source pipeline, VirVarSeq, which allows variant calling starting from fastq files. Using both plasmid mixtures and clinical samples, we show that Q-cpileup is able to reduce the number of false-positive findings. The filtering strategy is adaptive and provides an optimized threshold for individual samples in each sequencing run. Additionally, linkage information is kept between single-nucleotide polymorphisms as variants are called at the codon level. This enables virologists to have an immediate biological interpretation of the reported variants with respect to their antiviral drug responses. A comparison with existing SNP caller tools reveals that calling variants at the codon level with Q-cpileup results in an outstanding sensitivity while maintaining a good specificity for variants with frequencies down to 0.5%.

Literature reports on the ethical challenges health care practitioners are experiencing due to their working environment, personal circumstances and a growing need to deal with challenges pertaining to the care of war veterans, geriatric patients, abused children and women. These challenges contribute greatly towards the ethical vulnerability of health care practitioners. In order to assist health care practitioners to understand these challenges, a discussion is offered on medical ethics as the science of normative perspective in health care. It is proposed that ethics should be understood from a four quadrant perspective. In addition it is argued that ethics as growth and compromise in ethical dilemmas can contribute to a comprehensive understanding of ethics as normative perspective. This paper promotes the idea that in view of the four quadrant perspective health care practitioners, as with the priesthood, have a calling too. As such calling in this study is not reserved exclusively for the priesthood, but for all kinds of workers. Health care practitioners' calling is profiled by service, community, mercy and justice. The aims and objective of this paper are (i) to extend the scope of medical ethics to include the ethical vulnerability of health care practitioners, (ii) to propose an interpretation model for medical ethics that can assist health care practitioners to identify and understand some of the ethical challenges and (iii) to pass ethical judgment on these challenges.

Purpose and meaning in career development is a rapidly growing, crossdisciplinary area of research and practice in which counseling and vocational psychology aligns with positive psychology to yield promising applications to career counseling. We provide a brief overview of theory related to purpose and meaning in work, then review six specific areas of application: strengths, positive emotions and flow, gratitude, work hope, job crafting, and perceiving and living a calling. The links of these applications to theory and research are emphasized, and recommendations are offered for how counseling and vocational psychologists might leverage these applications in their work with clients engaged in the career development process.

Literature reports on the ethical challenges health care practitioners are experiencing due to their working environment, personal circumstances and a growing need to deal with challenges pertaining to the care of war veterans, geriatric patients, abused children and women. These challenges contribute greatly towards the ethical vulnerability of health care practitioners. In order to assist health care practitioners to understand these challenges, a discussion is offered on medical ethics as the science of normative perspective in health care. It is proposed that ethics should be understood from a four quadrant perspective. In addition it is argued that ethics as growth and compromise in ethical dilemmas can contribute to a comprehensive understanding of ethics as normative perspective. This paper promotes the idea that in view of the four quadrant perspective health care practitioners, as with the priesthood, have a calling too. As such calling in this study is not reserved exclusively for the priesthood, but for all kinds of workers. Health care practitioners' calling is profiled by service, community, mercy and justice. The aims and objective of this paper are (i) to extend the scope of medical ethics to include the ethical vulnerability of health care practitioners, (ii) to propose an interpretation model for medical ethics that can assist health care practitioners to identify and understand some of the ethical challenges and (iii) to pass ethical judgment on these challenges.

Speaking about the problems affecting Wik youth of Aurukun, Cape York, a local community health worker, Derek Walpo, lamented that ‘their spirits have wandered too far. We need to call them back.’ The poignant reflection was made at a debriefing session following a social and wellbeing festival in Aurukun.1 The five-day event culminated in a Mary G concert, in which almost all the township gathered to laugh and cheer the indomitable Broome ‘lady’. It was not just Mary G’s ribald humour that vitalised and galvanised the crowd, but also her performance that playfully reflected back and validated some of the locals’ experiences and values, such as humour in the face of hardship. Derek was emphasising the importance of community celebrations and cultural ceremony as vehicles for improving the wellbeing of Aboriginal youth and community. Without denying or eclipsing the specificity of his remark, I would suggest that he was referring to an existential problem: the young people are overwhelmed by the dominant culture and fracturing local life and have lost a purpose of existence. His words underscore the ephemeral qualities that are vital to a good life. More, he evokes Indigenous life worlds that the settler-colonial state finds difficult to countenance.

The present study examined whether college students who have academic majors that are incongruent with their career aims experience diminished career development. Because the value placed on self-expression differs across cultures, we tested hypotheses in both the United States (N¼301) and South Korea (N¼200). Similar proportions of American (20.2%) and South Korean students (25.5%) reported having an incongruent major. In both samples, students with incongruent majors reported significantly lower levels of career decision self-efficacy, meaningful work, and calling, with medium effect sizes. Potential moderators and mediator in the link of major incongruence to calling and meaningful work were also examined. The patterns of relations among major incongruence and career development indicators (i.e., career decision self-efficacy, meaningful work, and calling) did not differ by nationality or the levels of collectivism, indicating no significant moderating effects. Career decision self-efficacy was found to partially mediate the relation of major incongruence to calling and meaningful work in both samples. These results indicate that major incongruence relates to lower sense of calling and meaningful work in part because of decreased career decision self-efficacy. Directions for future research are discussed.

Este proyecto se enmarca en el análisis de datos de un estudio de epidemiología genética que tiene por objetivo final identificar genes asociados al desarrollo de cáncer. Se analizarán datos genéticos obtenidos en un estudio multicéntrico de casos y controles (MCC-Spain), mediante diferentes algoritmos de calling.

Since 2014, Fuller Magazine has been published for the global community of Fuller Theological Seminary. The sections of Story, Theology, Voice, and Departments are to reflect the life of Fuller in all her permutations: this is who we are, what we are talking about, and who we are becoming together. The editorial content of FULLER magazine reflects the opinions of the various authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the views of Fuller Theological Seminary.

Analysis of the sex pheromone gland of virgin Synanthedon scoliaeformis females by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry revealed six compounds structurally related to sex pheromone components of other clearwing moths: (E,Z)-2,13-octadecadienyl acetate (E2,Z13-18:OAc), (E,Z)-2,13-octadecadienol, octadecanol acetate, octadecanol, (Z,Z)-3,13-octadecadienyl acetate (Z3,Z13-18:OAc), and (Z)-13-octadecenyl acetate. Trapping tests demonstrated that E2,Z13-18:OAc is the sex pheromone of S. scoliaeformis and is essential for attracting males; addition of the other compounds did not enhance catch. Synanthedon scoliaeformis and S. tipuliformis are the only Palearctic clearwing moths whose distribution range and seasonal flight periods overlap and that are known to use E2,Z13-18:OAc in sex pheromonal communication. Hourly monitoring of male catches in traps revealed that sex pheromone communication in S. scoliaeformis and S. tipuliformis species follows different diurnal patterns. Z3,Z13-18:OAc, found in S. scoliaeformis females, is a known behavioral antagonist against S. tipuliformis males, while (E,Z)-3,13-octadecadienyl acetate, a minor sex pheromone component of S. tipuliformis, is an antagonist against S. scoliaeformis males. The effect of sex pheromones and antagonists, combined with different diurnal mate searching times, contribute to the specificity of sex communication channels in these two clearwing moth species., QC 20131003

Meaning in life is a powerful predictor of both motivation and wellbeing. Perhaps no other motivating force is greater than to possess a calling and believe that one is destined to fulfil a specific life role, regardless of sacrifice, with an attitude that in doing so, his or her effort will make a meaningful contribution to the greater good. This chapter describes a series of studies investigating calling in childrearing, a previously unexplored domain of calling. In a series of four studies utilising qualitative and quantitative methods, the applicability and the function of calling will be described. Over 800 participants contributed data that led to the development of a three-factor, 11-item scale that measured calling in childrearing. This chapter will describe the associations that exist between a parent's perceived calling in childrearing and a range of important wellbeing and parenting variables, including authoritative parenting style, importance of parenting, pleasure of parenting, parenting satisfaction, presence of meaning in life, satisfaction with life, savouring, and positive affect. This chapter will also briefly explore research that considered how parental sense of calling is related to wellbeing in early adolescence. Calling appears to be a salient and useful construct in childrearing, demonstrates consistency in function across domains, and is related to optimal parent and child wellbeing.

Micrometeorological factors can strongly influence calling activity in frogs, but relatively little empirical evidence has examined possible relationships in Australian species. Such information is important when using surveys to detect species for management and research. We recorded the calling activity of frogs breeding at 93 ponds through coastal northern New South Wales and used linear mixed effects models to compare the number of calling males with temperature, humidity and cumulative rainfall at 24 hours and 72 hours prior to calling surveys. We obtained sufficient data to analyze the relationships for nine species, obtaining a positive response to 72-hour rainfall in eight of the nine species. Twenty-four hour rainfall provided a positive response for six species and a negative response for two species. Similarly, temperature and humidity provided positive responses for three and five species and negative effects for three and three species respectively. Calling of all species was related to multiple micrometeorological factors and these varied between species.

Employees maintain a personal view toward their work, which can be referred to as their work orientation. Some employees view their work as their life’s purpose (i.e., calling work orientation) and they tend to be 1) prosocially motivated, 2) derive meaning from work, and 3) feel that their purpose is from beyond the self. The purpose of the current dissertation was to differentiate calling work orientation from other similar workplace constructs, to investigate the most common covariates of calling work orientation, and to empirically test two possible moderators of the relationship between calling work orientation and work-related outcomes of job satisfaction, job performance, and work engagement. Two independent samples were collected for the purpose of testing hypotheses: data were collected from 520 working students and from 520 non-student employees. Participants from the student sample were recruited at Florida International University, and participants from the employee sample were recruited via the Amazon Mechanical Turk website. Participants from the student sample answered demographic questions and responded to self-report measures of job satisfaction, job performance, work engagement, spirituality, meaningful work, prosocial motivation, and work orientation. The procedure was similar for the employee sample, but their survey also included measures of counterproductive work behaviors, organizational citizenship behaviors, conscientiousness, and numerical ability. Additionally, employees were asked whether they would be willing to have a direct supervisor, peer, co-worker, client, or subordinate rate their job performance. Hierarchical regression findings suggest calling work orientation was predictive of overall job performance above and beyond two common predictors of performance, conscientiousness and numerical ability. The results for the covariate analyses provided evidence that prosocial motivation, meaningful work, and spirituality do play a signifi

The construct of calling has received substantial recent attention in vocational research. This article reports on the development of a scale designed to measure parents’ subjective sense of calling in the childrearing role. Using exploratory, parallel, and confirmatory factor analysis, two studies revealed a three-factor, eleven item scale that measured calling in childrearing. Reliability findings are reported, as are convergent and discriminant validity. Parental subjective sense of calling in childrearing was positively associated with authoritative parenting style, importance of parenting, pleasure of parenting, parenting satisfaction, presence of meaning in life, satisfaction with life, savouring, and positive affect. The construct was negatively related to age, income, and the sense that parenting is a burden. Calling in childrearing is similar to calling in vocation, and appears related to optimal outcomes for those who possess it.