Called Into Being

A New Program for YOU!

“Called Into Being” is designed to be the next step for Christians wanting to go deeper in their faith and find more purpose in their walk with God. In twelve meetings over four months, we will tell and listen to our own faith stories, and then engage those stories with others: the stories God is telling in the world, through the Church, and at Saint Paul’s.

By listening to our own stories, we’ll be able to ask where God is leading each of us and what that has to do with the Bible, the way we pray together, what we believe about God and reality, and so on. The program is a crash course in vocational training: in discovering, articulating, and exercising what God has called us to do and be—what the holy meaning of our lives is. But another way of describing it is just making sense of and integrating the stories that make up who we are.

We hope to fill two small groups this fall, with one meeting on weekdays and one meeting on weeknights. The specific dates and times can be settled by the schedules and preferences of each group.

An Outline of the Program

Because this is the first time we are doing this program, the structure may have some fluidity. But in rough outline, here is the plan:

The story God is telling in your life

• The ongoing story of how God is saving you and calling you into more life and love.

• What brings you joy and where you find or build meaning.

• The gifts you have been given and how they have developed.

The story God is telling in the world

• How to read the Bible and what the Bible has to do with a normal Tuesday night in your life.

• Theological anthropologies: what Christian theology has to say about the purposes and meanings of humanity and of each of us, and how that interacts with our individual faith stories.

• The last things: the direction God is taking the world, the goal of history, the highest good for humanity, and what all that has to do with a normal Tuesday night.

The story God is telling through the Church

• Anglican approaches to faith: the law of prayer is the law of faith and practice.

• The Baptismal Covenant as a broad strokes guide to Christian commitment and how it plays out in our lives and stories.

• Anglican prayer as a context for a rule of life: sacraments, corporate prayer, and private prayer.

• Rules of life and the story of our lives.

The story God is telling at Saint Paul’s

• Who we together have been, are, and are becoming.

• The role of each of us in that legacy and future, and how the story of Saint Paul’s intersects with our individual stories.

Knowing the stories by heart

• Our identity at the intersection of stories big and small.

• Our vocation at the intersection of stories big and small.

• Exercising our vocations at and through Saint Paul’s, and in the rest of our lives.

Throughout, we take a kind of spiral approach, where each “story” we consider is constantly engaged with our own stories. This approach will make the Bible, theology, and church history vitally relevant for our lives and help us understand our own stories in deeper, richer ways.

A Program for YOU!

This program is for anyone who wants to grow in their faith and can commit to engaging fully in the sessions. The goal is for participants to come out more empowered for their baptismal ministries. For some, this may mean simply signing up for an already existing ministry where your gifts can be exercised. For others, it will mean continuing work you are already doing with more depth, meaning, and love. For others, it may mean working with the church leadership to start something new that no one is doing yet.

Interested or have questions?

Please sign up by emailing Eric+ and indicating whether you prefer weekday or weeknight sessions, or are good for either.

When does the program begin?

We will begin meeting the week after August 11, so please sign up by Friday, August 9 so we can quickly set schedules.