Being called: Women's paths to service and activism

Abstract

This study explored how women experience God's “call” to vocations in social service and social activism. In‐depth interviews were conducted with fifty Protestant laywomen who were providing social services or working for social change as volunteers or professionals in sectarian and secular agencies and organizations. Using a grounded interpretive method, the analysis of the interviews revealed that the respondents heard God's call as a “still, small voice” and were “led” to their work through a sense of urgency to respond to particular needs, through experiences and observations of oppression and injustice, and through discovering ways to use their unique gifts and skills to help others. Insights from the study can inform social workers’ self‐examination of their own “call” to the profession and their work with religious organizations involved in community‐based social programs and services.

Keywords:

• Vocation
• calling
• social service
• social activism
• women