In this episode, we discuss vocation, calling, purpose–spiritual ways of saying, what are we supposed to be doing with our lives? In the churches we grew up in, we learned a lot of misconceptions and rigid ideas about how God works Their good will through us and in the world–like that we’re called, or even predestined, to do this One Thing for life or that a call to ministry or evangelism is the highest calling one can have, and that in fact Christianity should be incorporated into whatever career we pursue. We also talk about the Basic Bitch Bible verse, Jeremiah 29:11, that is always misinterpreted to mean that God has the entirety of our lives planned out for us. Since we both considered the idea of becoming missionaries when we were evangelical (*cringes*), we go into the problematic aspects of missionary work (voluntourism, colonialism), and discuss better ways to approach humanitarian work in countries that are not our own (if the locals aren’t leading the work, and if evangelism is compulsory, that’s a red flag).
We also discuss how, as our beliefs shifted, we found that we both started to look at our callings in life in a much more open way–that we are in a creative partnership with God in how we are bringing about God’s love, mercy, and hope on earth. We are always going to be living out that purpose, but the way we live it out will change throughout our lives. And of course, our passion for helping LGBTQ+ youth is something that guides us both as Anna pursues studying social work and April pursues studying theology.
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Our social media: @reclaimingthegarden on Insta, @RtGardenPodcast on Twitter, and Reclaiming the Garden on Facebook. Our personal accounts: @thatpunchabletheaternerd, @April_TheWriter (April is on Twitter and Insta). Also, our podcast account follows a bunch of awesome folks + podcasts in the exvangelical/deconstruction world and progressive Christian world, so if you’re looking for more resources, that’s a great place to start!
