Vocation & Purpose

How does where you’ve been contribute to where you’re going? How does your story shape your sense of purpose? Developmental psychologist William Damon (Stanford University) has spent his career studying the human lifespan, and has found both in his research and personal experience, that by courageously exploring our personal histories, we’ll stay on a path toward purpose and peace.

Are you looking for a sense of purpose? Does it feel like you’ve lost your way? Purpose is a vital part of our spiritual health. We know we need it, but for some of us, it can be so hard to find. Psychologist Belle Liang helps us navigate and thrive holistically through an understanding of our own journey and the stories that shape us. She names four essential elements of purpose: (1) character strengths, (2) skills and expertise, (3) deeply held values, and (4) a sense of contribution to the world. Includes a real-time practical exercise for aligning with our purpose and explore how it can help us navigate the journey of life.

What serves to ground, connect, and direct towards joy? Dr. Pam King asks this question as a guide for Mothers and others.

These questions are intended to help you examine your life to discover meaning and purpose, no matter where you are in life's journey.

This practice is taken from an interview with Dr. Belle Liang and is adapted from her book, How to Navigate Life.

Download this practice to help you discover more about yourself and your purpose.

Purpose is at the heart of thriving and an outcome of healthy spirituality. Our fall Thrive Book List suggests great guides for discovery.

We all need a purpose.

If you want to train your brain out of anxiety and/or discover more about yourself, find a trusted friend or small group and work through these questions

When we know that finding purpose is so important for our spiritual health and wellbeing, why is it sometimes so hard?

What is purpose and why is it important?

  Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results by James Clear Why we like this book: James Clear offers concrete steps we all can take to change our habits for more purposeful living. If you have trouble making changes in your life and have goals you want to achieve, this book provides a framework for how to get results. The trick is to think in baby steps. My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem Why we like this book: Menakem describes how pain and trauma are embodied. The body holds our deepest wounds, and this book offers a healing process for recovery from the harms of racism, and a process for purposeful change.

Psychology and theology come together to provide a vision for the good life

Dr. Pamela King discusses how tapping into our faith and contributing to a flourishing world can help us thrive through difficulty.

As the world continues to languish, Dr. Pamela King emphasizes the need for spirituality as a source of personal and societal transformation.

Dr. Pamela King invites leaders to reimagine and lead in new ways in order to enable all people and communities to thrive.

This article is from the Peer Magazine issued in September, 2021.

Researcher, Dr. Susan Mangan offers summer activities to help us discover our purpose in this changing world.

A college student reflects on the importance of finding a sense of purpose as the key to thriving in college.

Dr. Pam King discusses how spirituality can help us stay grounded, connected, and directed throughout difficult challenges.

Summary Developmental psychologist, Benjamin Houltberg traces the intersections of research and ministry in his work, as well as his desire to integrate his research with understanding people’s pain and representing God’s love with them. He was interviewed by Evelyn and Frank Freed Professor of Marital and Family Therapy at Fuller Theological Seminary, Terry Hargrave. Author’s Note This presentation was originally published on FULLER Studio. About the Author Benjamin Houltberg was the former associate professor of human development at the Thrive Center. As a developmental scientist, his research centers on relational factors that impact emotional health within high-stress environments. Much of his work is on the role of identity development and character virtues in sport as they relate to emotional health and athletic performance. He currently serves as the president and CEO of the Search Institute.  …

Benjamin Houltberg discusses the impact performance and success have on emotional wellbeing on the I Love Success Podcast.

Benjamin Houltberg defines thriving, sharing the key ways anyone can live a flourishing and purposeful life on the Converge Podcast.

Summary Pamela Ebstyne King, executive director of the Thrive Center, provides her definition of telos and explains the important role it plays in youth development inn this interview with Yale Youth Ministry Institute.   Author’s Note This interview was originally published on Yale Youth Ministry Institute.   About the Author Pamela Ebstyne King Pamela Ebstyne King is the executive director of the Thrive Center and serves as the Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at Fuller Theological Seminary. Her primary academic interests are applied research at the intersection of human thriving and spiritual development. Dr. King’s work combines theology, empirical research, and community engagement to further understand what contexts and settings enable all people to thrive.

Summary Executive director of the Thrive Center, Pamela Ebstyne King shares the meaningful ways youth practitioners, ministers, and mentors can help advance a sense of telos or purpose in adolescents. Author’s Note This interview was originally published on Yale Youth Ministry Institute.   About the Author Pamela Ebstyne King Pamela Ebstyne King is the executive director of the Thrive Center and serves as the Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at Fuller Theological Seminary. Her primary academic interests are applied research at the intersection of human thriving and spiritual development. Dr. King’s work combines theology, empirical research, and community engagement to further understand what contexts and settings enable all people to thrive.

Summary Why is purpose so important to joy? Executive director of the Thrive Center, Pamela Ebstyne King discusses how pursuing purpose can help adolescents discover true joy in this interview. Author’s Note This interview was originally published on Yale Youth Ministry Institute.   About the Author Pamela Ebstyne King Pamela Ebstyne King is the executive director of the Thrive Center and serves as the Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at Fuller Theological Seminary. Her primary academic interests are applied research at the intersection of human thriving and spiritual development. Dr. King’s work combines theology, empirical research, and community engagement to further understand what contexts and settings enable all people to thrive.  …

Summary In this interview, Pamela Ebstyne King, executive director of the Thrive Center, argues that vocation stems from three simultaneous processes: becoming like Christ, forming a unique sense of self, and establishing a healthy community.     Author’s Note This interview was originally published on FULLER Studio.   About the Author Pamela Ebstyne King Pamela Ebstyne King is the executive director of the Thrive Center and serves as the Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at Fuller Theological Seminary. Her primary academic interests are applied research at the intersection of human thriving and spiritual development. Dr. King’s work combines theology, empirical research, and community engagement to further understand what contexts and settings enable all people to thrive.  …

A Thrive Fellow reflects on her experience of building a home for a family in Mexico, and the power serving others can have on purpose.

Summary Founding member of Hope Sports, Benjamin Houltberg offers psychological insights on what it means for young athletes to have a purpose-based identity, and how to help them move from a performance-based identity to purpose in sports.   Author’s Note This presentation was originally published by Hope Sports. About the Author Benjamin Houltberg Benjamin Houltberg was the former associate professor of human development at the Thrive Center. As a developmental scientist, his research centers on relational factors that impact emotional health within high-stress environments. Much of his work is on the role of identity development and character virtues in sport as they relate to emotional health and athletic performance. He currently serves as the president and CEO of the Search Institute.

Citation King, P. E., & Mangan, S. (2023). Hindsight in the 2020s: Looking back and forward to positive youth development and thriving. In L. J. Crockett, G. Carlo, & J. E. Schulenberg (Eds.), APA handbook of adolescent and young adult development (pp. 609–627). American Psychological Association. Abstract Positive youth development (PYD) started as a field of practice before it became a field of study. With a heightened awareness of the necessity of a framework for the thriving of all youth and all societies, the chapter considers the purpose of PYD and consequently revisits the concept of teleology, offering a revised understanding of telos, or the ultimate goal of a given construct—in this case, of PYD. It refines and updates the current notion of thriving to not only emphasize adaptivity and relationality as central to thriving but also identify the significance of considering the purpose of PYD. A teleological perspective…

Citation King, P. E., & Baer, R. A. (2022). Back to the future: Volf’s eschatological vision of flourishing for a psychology of thriving. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 50(1), 38-49. https://doi.org/10.1177/00916471211072312 Abstract In this article, we aim to explain how Miroslav Volf’s theology of flourishing provides a new vision for psychologists. As the Henry B. Wright Professor and Founder and Director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture, Volf is recognized as one of the most influential living theologians. His recent work offers a theology of human flourishing based in an eschatological vision of God’s homecoming, the unification of the Creator with His created. For Volf, the end provides a telos, a purpose, and direction, for current human life. He asserts that although proleptic, flourishing occurs simultaneously within the two eschatological “already” and “not yet” realities through the inbreaking of the Holy Spirit in the context of love. The…

Citation King, P. E. (2021). O Sujeitoreciproco: Antropologias Trinitaria e Cristologica do ser e do Vir-A-Ser. (The reciprocating self: Trinitarian and Christological anthropologies of being and becoming.) Journal of Teleological Science, 1(2), 22-61. Abstract This paper summarizes a Christological and trinitarian anthropology in order to propose a developmental teleology that offers a vision for being and becoming human. From a Christological perspective, Jesus Christ is the perfect image of God, and becoming like Christ as distinct persons is God’s intention for all of humanity. How humans are conformed to Christ occurs through and results in mutual, reciprocal relations with God, humans, and creation. Drawing on Christology and the doctrine of the image of God, I propose that living as reciprocating selves is God’s telos for humankind. As such, the significance of conformity to the…

Citation King, P. E., & Defoy, F. (2021). Alegria como virtude: Os meios e finsda alegria. (Joy as a virtue: The means and ends of joy).  Journal of Teleological Science, 1(1), 117-163.  Abstract To grasp human flourishing and thriving, we must understand joy. However, no theoretical models explain the complexity of joy as a fruit of the Spirit, nor fully account for its impact on human life. We suggest that joy is best conceptualized as a virtue, a psychological habit, comprised of characteristic adaptations and given meaning by transcendent narrative identity. Thus joy involves knowing, feeling, and enacting what matters most. Developmental science and Christian theological approaches to teleology inform the ultimate ends to which joy is aimed. They suggest that telos, the purpose or goal of development, may be understood as a dynamic process that…

Citation King, P. E. (2021). Vocation as becoming: Telos, thriving and joy. In Seminary Student Vocation Formation (eds. David J. Downs, Tina Houston-Armstrong, and Amos Yong). Vocation, Formation, and Theological Education: Interdisciplinary Perspectives from Fuller Theological Seminary. Claremont, CA: Claremont Press, p. 185-210. Abstract This volume represents one set of reflections on issues of vocation, formation, and theological education in the first quarter of the twenty-first century. Each of the contributors to the volume is (or was, in one case) a faculty member at Fuller Theological Seminary, an institution that, like many others, has been wrestling seriously with the global transformation of theological education for at least the past decade. With the generous support of Fuller’s Office of Vocation and Formation, the editors of this volume–all of whom at the time of the project’s origins directed the PhD program in their respective schools (Downs in the School of Theology, Houston-Armstrong…

Citation King, P. E., & Defoy, F. (2020). Joy as a virtue: The means and ends of joy. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 48(4), 308-31. Abstract To grasp human flourishing and thriving, we must understand joy. However, no theoretical models explain the complexity of joy as a fruit of the Spirit, nor fully account for its impact on human life. We suggest that joy is best conceptualized as a virtue, a psychological habit, comprised of characteristic adaptations and given meaning by transcendent narrative identity. Thus joy involves knowing, feeling, and enacting what matters most. Developmental science and Christian theological approaches to teleology inform the ultimate ends to which joy is aimed. They suggest that telos, the purpose or goal of development, may be understood as a dynamic process that perpetuates human and social thriving and involves (1) the growing…

Citation Schnitker, S. A., King, P. E., & Houltberg, B. (2019). Religion, Spirituality, and Thriving: Transcendent Narrative, Virtue, and Lived Purpose. In Hardy, S. & King, P. E. (eds.). Special section: Processes of religious and spiritual influence in adolescence, Journal of Research on Adolescence, 29(2), 276-290. Abstract A theory is proposed to explain how religion/spirituality (R/S) is related to positive youth development and thriving. The concept of telos is employed to define thriving as continued growth through strength-based living that leads to contributing to one’s communities and living out one’s ethical ideals. Virtue development is proposed as a primary process by which R/S promotes thriving. Virtues are defined as hybrid personality units emerging when characteristic adaptations are given meaning by a transcendent narrative identity. R/S contributes to virtue formation through the ideological, social, and transcendent contexts embedded within religion by providing opportunities to grow both the characteristic adaptations and transcendent…

Citation Damon, W., Colby, A., & King, P. E. (2018). They do care: An interview with William Damon and Anne Colby on moral development. Journal of Moral Education, 47(4), 383-396. Abstract What follows is an interview with William Damon and Anne Colby, pioneers in the fields of moral psychology and education. Throughout their careers, they have studied, moral identity, moral ideals, positive youth development, purpose, good work, vocation, character development in higher education, and professional responsibility. In their words, they are interested in the ‘best of humankind’—not only the competencies, but also the character necessary for living a good life—not only for the sake of the individual, but also for society. They have received numerous academic and civic awards and honors. Their publications include Some Do Care, Greater Expectations, Educating Citizens, The Path to Purpose, and most recently, The Power of Ideals—in addition to editing, for example, New Directions for…

Citation King, P. E. (2018). Kids & God: Nurturing spirituality and the ability to thrive. In Benjamin D. Espinoza, James Riley Estep & Shirley Morganthaler (Eds.) Story, Formation, and Culture: From Theory to Practice in Ministry with Children. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock Press, 296-306. Abstract Story, Formation, and Culture brings together a myriad of scholars, researchers, and ministry leaders into conversation about how we can effectively nurture the spirituality of children. Built around the three themes of story, formation, and culture, this volume blends cutting-edge research and insights with attention to how we can bring theory into practice in our ministries with children. The work of children’s spiritual formation is often a marginalized component in the church’s overall ministry. This volume seeks to equip pastors, leaders, and scholars with cutting-edge research and practices that effectively strengthen their ministries with children. Copyright Year: 2024 Holder: Wipf and Stock Publishers DOI:…

Citation Lerner, R. M., Lerner, J. L., Geldhof, G. J., Gestsdottir, S., King, P. E., Sim, A. T. S., Batanova, M., Tirrell, J. and Dowling, E. (2018). Studying positive youth development in different nations: Theoretical and methodological issues. In Lansford, J., & Banati, P. (Eds.) Handbook of Adolescent Development Research and Its Impact on Global Policy. New York: Oxford University Press. Abstract International interest is growing concerning using strength-based models of adolescent development to understand how mutually influential relations between individuals and their key settings may be a basis for positive, healthy development. Bidirectional relations models are linked to relational developmental systems (RDS) metatheory, with a focus on the positive youth development (PYD) model, the most used ininternational PYD-related research and programs. A three-nation, counterfactual, comparative, longitudinal study is described to understand if Compassion International programs enhance thriving of the world’s poorest youth. RDS metatheory ideas point to the need…

Citation Carr, D. R. & King, P. E., Meier, A. M. (2014). Purpose and spirituality: Exploring the role of fidelity in diverse adolescents. Journal of Youth Development, 9(2), 5-15. Abstract Purpose is understood to reflect young people’s stable and generalized commitments to accomplish meaningful activity and contribute productively to society. Religion has been linked with purpose; however, the nature of this relationship is not well understood. Given that purpose and religion involve beliefs and devotion, the current study examined fidelity as a means of understanding this relationship in a group of religiously and culturally diverse youth from around the world. The participants were 30 adolescents aged 12-21 (M = 17.73 years) nominated for living with profound spirituality in their community. Consensual qualitative research (CQR) strategies were used. Analysis revealed that 29 of the participants reported a sense of purpose and all 30 participants described some aspect of fidelity that involved…