In the first history class of each new year at Bethel Seminary, I have my students talk about their sense of calling. Many of them tell a similar story: "I quit my job to go into the ministry." What drove them to this decision was a sense of frustration and meaninglessness in their daily work. They didn't see their workas pleasing to God or useful in the kingdom. The frequent assumption is that ordained ministry is where people are really working for God.

If that's true, where does that leave the vast majority of Christians, who by the end of their lives will each have spent an average of 100,000 hours in non-church work? Can they see secular jobs as a holy vocation? Can non-church work be a means to serve others, giving cups of water to the thirsty, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked (Mt. 25)—which (for example) parents do every month, whether through a paycheck or in the work they do in the home? Those in secular work often feel like only those doing ...