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What is Service Vocation? Concept, Elaboration & Examples

Vocational Service means services relating to, or being in the provider’s contract with the Division of Services to the trained in a skill or trade to be pursued as, an occupation or career.

: a summons or strong inclination to a particular state or course of action. especially: a divine call to religious life. : an entry into the priesthood or religious order. : the work in which a person is employed: occupation. : the persons engaged in a particular occupation.

Vocation could be work that is outside your wage-earning sphere of activity. For example, a businessperson might have a vocation as a youth sponsor or Sunday school teacher. A teacher might have a vocation as a mentor or worship leader. But vocation may also coincide with a career or grow out of a specific career path.

When a person has the conviction and passion for exercising a professional activity, it is said that he has a vocation. On the other hand, the idea of service in a general sense refers to the action of serving, that is, maintaining an attitude of empathy with others. Consequently, the concept of service vocation refers to the professional inclination aimed at meeting the needs of others.

It is a concept applicable to any activity or trade. Thus, any doctor, receptionist, hairdresser, or public servant can consider their professional work as a vocation of service. This means that its motivation is based on the satisfaction of its customers, on serving them in a kind and honest way, in short, within the exercise of their profession with professional and, at the same time, ethical criteria.

Solidarity help

The concept of service vocation is not always related to paid work, but rather to activities carried out altruistically and in a spirit of solidarity. Volunteers who work for NGOs do not receive any financial reward and their main motivation is their own personal satisfaction, in addition to feeling useful to others.

In other words, your time and energies are directed towards a noble cause, which is directly related to the concept of a vocation of service.

The vocation of service as an ethical approach

A professional needs to fulfill his work obligations as efficiently as possible in order to receive a salary in return. From this general idea, there are two possible approaches:

1) The professional tries to fulfill his responsibility because that is how he establishes what was signed, even because otherwise it would have negative consequences such as being fired;

2) The professional tries to comply because he considers it his moral obligation. In the latter case, your motivation goes beyond the salary you receive or some contractual clauses.

The ethical approach to the vocation of service consists in acting not by outside imposition (like a boss who gives you orders), but by your own moral conviction that forces you to act in a certain way.

the call of God

In the Christian world, some people claim that their religious vocation arose from the call of God. In this way, whoever receives a message or a sign from God feels that his life must be directed in a single direction: love for his neighbor, inspired by a love for God.

This religious motivation is also based on a vocation of service.