Courage and Calling: Embracing Your God-Given Potential

You have a calling.

First, God calls us all to know and love him. Second, for each individual there is a specific call--a defining purpose or mission, with implications for all of life.

In this classic book on vocation, Gordon Smith invites you to discover your calling by listening to God and becoming a coworker with him. Courage and Calling has helped thousands of readers explore questions such as these:

• What is my calling?
• How do I live it out in the midst of difficult relationships or moral challenges?
• Will my vocation change as I enter a new stage of life?
• With competing needs and demands, how can I craft a balanced way of living?

Smith explores how to pursue excellence in all kinds of work and how to continue growing throughout a lifetime. He also considers four examples of particular callings: business, the arts, education, and religious leadership.

This third edition includes a new chapter that explores how a church community can be a dynamic venue for discerning vocation. Church leaders can help sustain a conversation about vocation, work, and career, and celebrate the diverse ways in which God is calling people. From students exploring careers to elders leaving a legacy, this book provides rich insight for all who long to courageously follow God’s call.

Gordon T. Smith is the president of Ambrose University and Seminary in Calgary, Alberta, where he also serves as professor of systematic and spiritual theology. He is an ordained minister with the Christian and Missionary Alliance and a teaching fellow at Regent College, Vancouver, British Columbia. He is the author of many books, including Institutional Intelligence, Called to Be Saints, and Your Calling Here and Now.