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Your Vocational Credo: Practical Steps to Discover Your Unique Purpose
We know God has created each one of us in unique ways, but we often struggle to understand his divine plans. Instead, we live with a vague sense of discontent as we question who we are and what God has designed us to do. Vocational coach Deborah Koehn Loyd believes that every person has a voice that must be heard and expressed through vocation. She walks you through a transformational journey of creating your own vocational credo so that you can be a world-changer in the way God has intended. You?ll Using unique tools and practical guidance combined with inspiring stories of personal transformation, this workbook will provide you with the resources to find your credo and accomplish the work God has designed just for you.
- GenresLeadershipChristian
192 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2015
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60 people want to read
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April 3, 2025picked this up from a stack that friend who moved out of town left behind!
a bit self-help cringey, and very IVP lol. but has some ideas I found helpful for my quarter life crisis !
a bit self-help cringey, and very IVP lol. but has some ideas I found helpful for my quarter life crisis !
October 29, 2015
Here is a book I've read cover-to-cover but am not done with yet: Your Vocational Credo by Deborah Koehn Loyd. In the past couple of weeks I resigned from a position I held for just short of a year and I am taking the time to reflect on my shape and life purpose as I discern next steps. Loyd's book has been useful as I try to find a new place to serve in my passion. Loyd, is a church planter, pastor, teacher and professor at George Fox and wrote Vocational Credo to help others distill their calling by composing a 'vocational credo.' A Vocational Credo is a short statement which describes what what we were put on earth to do.
Loyd wants to enlarge our idea of vocation from thinking of it as a call to particular location, what we get paid to do, a super spiritual breath of God type experience or a non-specific generic view(39-40). Instead she argues, "Vocation is speaking or living from the truest form of self. Vocation doesn't merely happen to us from the outside in a blinding light from heaven or an official 'call' from God. That sweet spot of significance suited only to you must be discovered from the inside as well. A thorough inner exploration is necessary because it will allow you to bring your most energized and creative self into the future. It will ignite passion in your soul that is specific to you. When passion collides with God-given opportunity, you have the elements of vocation and the power to change the world" (18-19).
So Vocational Credo involves inner work, so that we can serve God as our true selves. Loyd shares her own discovery of her calling as she probed the depths of past painful experience, her values, and how her passion, anger, joy revealed the particular way God called her to bring healing in the world. She invites us to take a similar sort of journey by creating a personal 'vocational triangle' reflecting on how our 'first wound' sets the trajectory of our calling, our personal values (which may be revealed to us through a favorite book or quote) and the way our shape allows us to respond to the needs of the world around us. By paying attention we can craft our credo: God created me to _________________ so that __________________.
Loyd also offers practical reflections and insights about 'toxic skills' (things we can do well or need to do but feel drained by), the gift of opportunity in chaos and change, how to discover our personal vocational preferences, and leaving a legacy as part of our calling.
This book proves to be a practical tool for leaning into everything God wants to do through you. My undone-ness with it means it has alerted me to some inner-work I still need to do. For example, Loyd is poetic about the way pain sets the trajectory of our calling and she shares vulnerably about how her childhood experience of abuse silenced her voice. As she worked through the trauma of those experiences, she saw ways that the things that broke her aroused anger toward injustice and suffering which offered clues to her discovering her true self. I have spent some time in reflecting on how pain has shaped my journey and can point to some hurtful moments, but I don't have a clear sense of how my 'first wound' shapes my life passion and purpose. I agree it does, but I have more work to do.
So I've read and commend this book as a tool for self reflection and discernment but I haven't composed my vocational credo (to my satisfaction) yet. I give this four stars.
Note: I received this book from InterVarsity Press in exchange for my honest review.
Loyd wants to enlarge our idea of vocation from thinking of it as a call to particular location, what we get paid to do, a super spiritual breath of God type experience or a non-specific generic view(39-40). Instead she argues, "Vocation is speaking or living from the truest form of self. Vocation doesn't merely happen to us from the outside in a blinding light from heaven or an official 'call' from God. That sweet spot of significance suited only to you must be discovered from the inside as well. A thorough inner exploration is necessary because it will allow you to bring your most energized and creative self into the future. It will ignite passion in your soul that is specific to you. When passion collides with God-given opportunity, you have the elements of vocation and the power to change the world" (18-19).
So Vocational Credo involves inner work, so that we can serve God as our true selves. Loyd shares her own discovery of her calling as she probed the depths of past painful experience, her values, and how her passion, anger, joy revealed the particular way God called her to bring healing in the world. She invites us to take a similar sort of journey by creating a personal 'vocational triangle' reflecting on how our 'first wound' sets the trajectory of our calling, our personal values (which may be revealed to us through a favorite book or quote) and the way our shape allows us to respond to the needs of the world around us. By paying attention we can craft our credo: God created me to _________________ so that __________________.
Loyd also offers practical reflections and insights about 'toxic skills' (things we can do well or need to do but feel drained by), the gift of opportunity in chaos and change, how to discover our personal vocational preferences, and leaving a legacy as part of our calling.
This book proves to be a practical tool for leaning into everything God wants to do through you. My undone-ness with it means it has alerted me to some inner-work I still need to do. For example, Loyd is poetic about the way pain sets the trajectory of our calling and she shares vulnerably about how her childhood experience of abuse silenced her voice. As she worked through the trauma of those experiences, she saw ways that the things that broke her aroused anger toward injustice and suffering which offered clues to her discovering her true self. I have spent some time in reflecting on how pain has shaped my journey and can point to some hurtful moments, but I don't have a clear sense of how my 'first wound' shapes my life passion and purpose. I agree it does, but I have more work to do.
So I've read and commend this book as a tool for self reflection and discernment but I haven't composed my vocational credo (to my satisfaction) yet. I give this four stars.
Note: I received this book from InterVarsity Press in exchange for my honest review.
January 29, 2022
Very practical, indeed. Steps laid out clearly, narrative was relevant and limited so I didn't feel like I had to skim through a lot of slow and boring side stories as are so common with these sorts of books. By the end of book, I had identified more specifics about my story, values, and written a vocational credo that felt right for me. Especially appreciated Loyd's dive into calling vs. discernment and other confusing terms. This book was also unique for focusing on altruistic purpose. For someone who's been hopping around trying different jobs, fields and other modes of vocational discernment for years, this book actually presented some new ideas and strategies that I will continue to use! Highly recommend.
June 29, 2019
I read this novel for a summer camp I went to. I felt like Ms. Loyd goes in depth on explaining what a vocation is and how it is different from just a job and also how to find what our own vocation is. There were a couple things that I want to point out to anyone who was confused; 1) your "first wound" in the novel is NOT your actual first wound, but your first major wound, and 2) one's vocation is not something found quickly, but over the span of years. I believe that these are pretty critical things that I didn't gather from the novel, which is partially why I dropped the stars to 4. I believe that this book is one of those books that one have to read a different stages of one's life.
November 10, 2021
This book is incredible. It covers vocation, purpose, and legacy in a way that is practical and accessible. It is also filled with great, relatable stories. I will note that for Loyd, purpose is fulfilled in serving others--very outward focused. While I do not deny the power of this, I think she underestimates the power of purpose being for oneself. Regardless, the book made me laugh and cry. I also experienced many epiphanies. My biggest takeaway is that our primary pain for first wound has the potential to become our passion and purpose.
October 6, 2022
I read this book for my Contextual Education course under Dr. Dana Preusch at Nazarene Theological Seminary.
It was a helpful book for thinking about whether the many things we do in our lives are actually a part of fulfilling our vocation, our vocation being where our deep joy and the deep needs of the world meet.
It was a good reminder to be intentional about the way we live our lives, rather than just doing without thinking. Loyd urges the reader to slowly cease doing the things in one's life that bring them no joy and purposefully do things that one is called to.
It was a helpful book for thinking about whether the many things we do in our lives are actually a part of fulfilling our vocation, our vocation being where our deep joy and the deep needs of the world meet.
It was a good reminder to be intentional about the way we live our lives, rather than just doing without thinking. Loyd urges the reader to slowly cease doing the things in one's life that bring them no joy and purposefully do things that one is called to.
January 1, 2025
This is one of the very best books I have ever read on the topic of “finding your calling”. It offers everything I have always found missing from spiritual formation books (a deeply personal, practical and unique-to-you application). I wish I had read it ten years ago. Truly, I had so many breakthroughs by reading it and now want everyone I know to read it. I enjoyed going through it with several women at a book club, and then made my close friend, my husband, my mother in law, and my neighbors get copies. You need to read it!
November 27, 2021
This is a perfect little book to help someone ask the right questions and come to a personal life mission statement. This credo helps the reader filter major decisions in their life to make sure they align with the uniqueness of their personality, passion, values, and ambitions. Would highly recommend for the person who has no idea where they are going in life and desire elder wisdom to help them navigate their life-journey.
November 13, 2015
Purposeful, Missional Work
Almost twenty-two years ago, I packed up my favorite coffee mug, my personal files, and a few samples of my work, and walked away from my career in human resources. Four babies in eight years, homeschooling, ministry, and a huge vegetable garden each year have hardly left time for me to look in the rear view mirror, and I am still at least five years away from an empty nest. However, Your Vocational Credo by Deborah Koehn Loyd takes me where I didn’t bother to go the first time I chose a career. Deborah opens my eyes to the importance of thinking in terms of vocation:
“a creative significant work expressed with deep joy as an offering of love to God, self and others that meets the needs of the world in a significant way.”
Mothering has been that offering of love — truly a vocation for me — made significant by the meaning which God brings to faithfulness in the unseen, mundane duties of life.
But what about the next chapter?
Deborah provides numerous lists of excellent questions to consider in discovering ones vocation, and it is most helpful at the beginning to tease out the different shades of meaning among terms that we use interchangeably: vocation, calling, work, job, career. She goes on to debunk four myths about vocation. My personal Achilles heel is this: “People are called to serve wherever they can find something to do.” Yes, my soul . . . that is a myth.
It seems counterintuitive, but Deborah has argued effectively that ones deepest and earliest pain sets the trajectory for ones vocation. It follows this progression: If pain is allowed to teach us, it becomes productive, leading to meaning. This meaning “underlays the development of passion. Passion that is focused and practically lived out for the benefit of others is called a vocation.”
If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time, so Deborah wisely advises that we take time to think through and write down a statement of the beliefs or aims that guide our choice of vocation; i.e. a vocational credo. Begin by formulating a description of what you do: “I am on this earth to ________________”; or “My passion is _____________.” For example, a worship leader is a “curator who brings human beings face to face with the God of the universe.” A cab driver’s passion is “facilitating moments of hospitality and warmth while helping people get where they need to go.”
It helps to begin with an active verb such as establishing, solving, teaching, facilitating, or creating. Then, considering that first pain, a favorite quote or book that encompasses your most important values, and the dreams you have of how to heal the world, let this vocational triangle lead you in writing your own credo.
To keep her readers from getting de-railed, Deborah has identified some extremely helpful areas of caution:
1. Toxic skills — Those areas in which we can do well and even function with a certain degree of skill, but that bring us no joy. Obviously, everyone has to do things that they don’t enjoy sometimes, but a skill becomes toxic when it oversteps its bounds and stands in the way of an individual doing what she loves to do.
2.Fear of failure — Living ones way into a vocation demands trial and error, and, therefore risk of failure. Thomas Edison did not become famous for inventing ten thousand ways NOT to make a lightbulb, but all that error was a necessary step in finding the one way that actually worked.
3.Vocational preferences — Your Vocational Credo includes a survey for identifying the most satisfying means of living out one’s vocation. It is based on ten vocational preferences and incorporates core motivations and possible pathways for fulfillment. For example, I think my main preference is Communicator, which means that my core motivation is “to make the world a better place by learning, teaching, showing or demonstrating in order to bring new thoughts or experiences to others.” Possible pathways of exercising that would be educator, writer, life coach, artist, crafts-person, designer, musician, songwriter, or comedian. They all sound fun!
The challenge after having found and stated ones vocation is, in Gandhi’s words, to “be the change you want to see.” This happens through investing in others, particularly in the next generation. As a Gram-in-training, I have been reflecting on this, for I believe that my next new task in mothering will be the transition into new ways of building into my families’ lives and the lives of others. Frederick Buechner has identified this succinctly and well:
“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”
This is the nature of our generous God. We have the privilege of making an impact on the world, and we do it with joy, knowing that we are serving the good of others and that, in doing so, we bring Him maximum glory.
This book was provided by IVP Books, an imprint of Intervarsity Press, in exchange for my review. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Almost twenty-two years ago, I packed up my favorite coffee mug, my personal files, and a few samples of my work, and walked away from my career in human resources. Four babies in eight years, homeschooling, ministry, and a huge vegetable garden each year have hardly left time for me to look in the rear view mirror, and I am still at least five years away from an empty nest. However, Your Vocational Credo by Deborah Koehn Loyd takes me where I didn’t bother to go the first time I chose a career. Deborah opens my eyes to the importance of thinking in terms of vocation:
“a creative significant work expressed with deep joy as an offering of love to God, self and others that meets the needs of the world in a significant way.”
Mothering has been that offering of love — truly a vocation for me — made significant by the meaning which God brings to faithfulness in the unseen, mundane duties of life.
But what about the next chapter?
Deborah provides numerous lists of excellent questions to consider in discovering ones vocation, and it is most helpful at the beginning to tease out the different shades of meaning among terms that we use interchangeably: vocation, calling, work, job, career. She goes on to debunk four myths about vocation. My personal Achilles heel is this: “People are called to serve wherever they can find something to do.” Yes, my soul . . . that is a myth.
It seems counterintuitive, but Deborah has argued effectively that ones deepest and earliest pain sets the trajectory for ones vocation. It follows this progression: If pain is allowed to teach us, it becomes productive, leading to meaning. This meaning “underlays the development of passion. Passion that is focused and practically lived out for the benefit of others is called a vocation.”
If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time, so Deborah wisely advises that we take time to think through and write down a statement of the beliefs or aims that guide our choice of vocation; i.e. a vocational credo. Begin by formulating a description of what you do: “I am on this earth to ________________”; or “My passion is _____________.” For example, a worship leader is a “curator who brings human beings face to face with the God of the universe.” A cab driver’s passion is “facilitating moments of hospitality and warmth while helping people get where they need to go.”
It helps to begin with an active verb such as establishing, solving, teaching, facilitating, or creating. Then, considering that first pain, a favorite quote or book that encompasses your most important values, and the dreams you have of how to heal the world, let this vocational triangle lead you in writing your own credo.
To keep her readers from getting de-railed, Deborah has identified some extremely helpful areas of caution:
1. Toxic skills — Those areas in which we can do well and even function with a certain degree of skill, but that bring us no joy. Obviously, everyone has to do things that they don’t enjoy sometimes, but a skill becomes toxic when it oversteps its bounds and stands in the way of an individual doing what she loves to do.
2.Fear of failure — Living ones way into a vocation demands trial and error, and, therefore risk of failure. Thomas Edison did not become famous for inventing ten thousand ways NOT to make a lightbulb, but all that error was a necessary step in finding the one way that actually worked.
3.Vocational preferences — Your Vocational Credo includes a survey for identifying the most satisfying means of living out one’s vocation. It is based on ten vocational preferences and incorporates core motivations and possible pathways for fulfillment. For example, I think my main preference is Communicator, which means that my core motivation is “to make the world a better place by learning, teaching, showing or demonstrating in order to bring new thoughts or experiences to others.” Possible pathways of exercising that would be educator, writer, life coach, artist, crafts-person, designer, musician, songwriter, or comedian. They all sound fun!
The challenge after having found and stated ones vocation is, in Gandhi’s words, to “be the change you want to see.” This happens through investing in others, particularly in the next generation. As a Gram-in-training, I have been reflecting on this, for I believe that my next new task in mothering will be the transition into new ways of building into my families’ lives and the lives of others. Frederick Buechner has identified this succinctly and well:
“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”
This is the nature of our generous God. We have the privilege of making an impact on the world, and we do it with joy, knowing that we are serving the good of others and that, in doing so, we bring Him maximum glory.
This book was provided by IVP Books, an imprint of Intervarsity Press, in exchange for my review. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
November 28, 2022
The purpose of reading was to reflect on vocational calling for a mentoring program I'm in, and it has been good for that purpose. The inspirational self-help framing and the interpretation of biblical texts through contemporary lenses drag my rating down.
July 3, 2019
I recommend reading this practical book with a small group so you can discuss your vocational credos together
July 2, 2016
This is actually more of a workbook in which I highly recommend taking the time to do the exercises after each chapter. Here are several things that were helpful for me despite having read many books on vocation in the past year or so:
1.) Strong and very short section on “why vocation matters” including statistics about college majors and career.
2.) Defines “What is vocation anyway?” via differentiating it from terms like employment, work, job, career trajectory. “Calling” for her hones in on a biblical “bidding forward into a new way of life”
3.) Has a wonderful section on discovering your vocational preferences, including a short test and 10 major types.
4.) Responds well to the critique that vocation is only for the affluent and powerful.
5.) Talks in the language of world changer in several places (E.g., “I have never met so many young people who want to change the world but just don’t know how to go about it. This is a crisis of vocation.”)
6.) Deals with 4 typical myths about vocation many people have.
7. Practical method for writing a vocational credo statement.
8. Deals with how to leave a legacy which has inspired me to change gatherings I have with staff.
9. Encouragement about vocation as writing our "song of life" to borrow a Lakota phrase.
10. Learning to hone in on our vocational DNA in making choices.
1.) Strong and very short section on “why vocation matters” including statistics about college majors and career.
2.) Defines “What is vocation anyway?” via differentiating it from terms like employment, work, job, career trajectory. “Calling” for her hones in on a biblical “bidding forward into a new way of life”
3.) Has a wonderful section on discovering your vocational preferences, including a short test and 10 major types.
4.) Responds well to the critique that vocation is only for the affluent and powerful.
5.) Talks in the language of world changer in several places (E.g., “I have never met so many young people who want to change the world but just don’t know how to go about it. This is a crisis of vocation.”)
6.) Deals with 4 typical myths about vocation many people have.
7. Practical method for writing a vocational credo statement.
8. Deals with how to leave a legacy which has inspired me to change gatherings I have with staff.
9. Encouragement about vocation as writing our "song of life" to borrow a Lakota phrase.
10. Learning to hone in on our vocational DNA in making choices.
August 12, 2016
Whether you’re discerning a new call or in the midst of ministry, this book offers a helpful and practical perspective on vocation. I especially appreciated the practical questions and exercises, including the Vocational Preferences Survey which helped me to reflect on the way I work and gave me some new language to describe it. See my full review, Do You Have a Toxic Skill and What Can You Do About It.
May 12, 2016
Feeling as if I was headed for a rut or perhaps already in the rut I felt a nudge to read this book. I unplugged for a few days and journeyed through this book. I imagine that I will keep this book for different seasons.
If you're feeling as if you need some guidance for what's next or if you have never really been passionate about your "job" then this just might be the book for you! ... now.
If you're feeling as if you need some guidance for what's next or if you have never really been passionate about your "job" then this just might be the book for you! ... now.
January 25, 2016
Loyd takes the oftentimes vague, mysterious concept of vocation/calling and makes it concrete and accessible.
Check out the rest of my review here!
Check out the rest of my review here!
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May 12, 2016Amazing
Loved the style and the authenticity sprinkled with humor and guidance. If you're wondering what is next for you or feel as if you have never had passion for a "job" then this might be the book for you!
Loved the style and the authenticity sprinkled with humor and guidance. If you're wondering what is next for you or feel as if you have never had passion for a "job" then this might be the book for you!
December 13, 2016
Deborah Loyd provides some handles for piecing together a personal vision of calling. It's a quick and accessible read.
March 4, 2022
vocation= creative, significant work expressed with deep joy as an offering of love to God and others that meets the needs of the world in a meaningful way
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews