WATCH DRURY WRITE A BOOK. – THIS IS A TEMPORARY POST Writer’s first draft of a book to be
published by The Wesleyan
Publishing House. as an introduction
to the ministry. This web-posted copy is
an early draft of the manuscript and not intended to be used as a final
document. While the editors will catch minor errors if you see something significantly
wrong or missing drop Keith Drury a note at kdrury@indwes.edu
©
2003 Keith Drury
3
What is a “Call” to
ministry?
What does it mean when we
say a person is “called” into the ministry, or “called to be a pastor?” How can I know for sure I am called (or not
called)? What do Christians mean when
they say “a call to ministry?”
We could study a variety of definitions of “the call” to the ministry
but we’ll settle on this one: “The call is an inner conviction from God
confirmed by the church that I am commissioned to lifelong vocational service
as an equipping minister for the people of God.”
By
breaking down this definition into its parts we will be able to understand what
we are speaking about when we say somebody is “called into the ministry.”
The call is an inner
conviction from God
While
the call comes in a variety of ways (see the chapter on Kinds of Calls), the result is always the same: I become inwardly
convinced that God is calling me. At first this call may come gradually. And at times it may be stronger or weaker,
but “the call” itself is the inner conviction that this indeed is what God
wants me to do with my life. The call
might have external elements like signs or outward confirmations, but the call
itself is inner—in my heart where God
speaks to me, telling me that this is what He wants for me personally. As God prompts and prods my heart, my “inner
ear” can increasingly hear His quiet voice convincing me that this is what He
wants for me. As I listen to God’s inner
prompting—I will probably take some “baby steps” in response to His call. As I
take these initial steps, I can become increasingly convinced of the certainty of this call. Eventually this certainty will rise to the
level of a conviction—I will be
completely convinced this is what God wants me to do with my life. In fact, this conviction will be so strong
that I know I would be wrong to pursue anything other than the ministry. This is “the call” to the ministry.
One
of the confirmations of a call is its growing nature. It gets stronger, not weaker over time. But the call does not grow in clarity all by
itself. A call grows clearer as we respond to what we’ve already sensed. For some the call tumbles in like a
thunderbolt from the sky, but for many men and women it comes
gradually—starting with a tiny hint or “precursor” from God. Once these hints come, it becomes our turn to
respond. Sometimes we might respond by
taking a volunteer job at church, or starting to give devotional talks at a
nursing home. Once we begin to respond
to God’s initial call, He often turns up the volume of His inner voice. When we respond to that increased volume by
taking more ministry opportunities (say going on a missions trip, or starting
some courses in ministry), God’s voice gets stronger and clearer. While some are called and confirmed in an
instantaneous moment, many move through several years of this “dance” with
God. He whispers our next move and we
respond. With time, His whispering gets
louder; I keep responding to that whisper until I am completely convinced of my
call.
But
what happens if you respond to what you thought God wanted and you do not get
an increased conviction you should be going into the ministry? What if you feel less and less convinced?
What then? It works both
ways. This is why it is so important to
get involved in ongoing ministry in a church immediately when you sense the
first hints of a call. As you respond to
whatever call you already sense, God can either confirm or block your future. Get involved in a couple years of increasing
ministry in a church and you will become more and more certain—either more
certain that you are not called, or more certain that you are called. This
inner conviction doesn’t increase as you sit around and wonder about the
future—it usually comes as you get involved in ministry.
The
call however does not come from the work itself, but from God—it is an inner
conviction from God. There are no vocational tests you can take
to tell you what God is saying to your heart.
Vocational tests are helpful to show if you are a “good fit” compared to
other ministers now serving. And they
can tell you how suited you might be to the work of ministry--just like reading
this book will do that, but neither will tell you if God is calling you personally. You have to find that out by listening to
God’s inner voice then responding by doing more ministry—until the call becomes
increasingly an inner conviction from God.
…confirmed by the church
But
your call is not just between you and God alone, it also involves the
church—the people of God. How can you
know for sure that you are not just wishing yourself into the ministry? How can you know if it’s truly God’s voice or
just your grandmother’s? You can know
this by getting confirmation or blocking from the people of God—the body of
Christ—the church. This is the primary
way God will confirm your call. He will
prompt His people to see your gifts and graces and affirm/confirm your call. If you think God has called you into ministry
but you find no church willing to affirm and receive your ministry, then you
should seriously question your call. God
confirms the call through the Body of Christ.
If you sense a call to the ministry and get involved in a church you may
hear God’s people affirm that call. As
these “ministry affirmations” pile up God will increasingly confirm your call
through His people. The ultimate confirmation of your call by the church will
be at your ordination service—where the church sets you apart as a minister and
leader for life. A call is an inner conviction from God, that it is confirmed by the church.
…that I am commissioned
The
source of your inner conviction does not come primarily from other people or
your positive experience in church work.
Sure, most of us who are called have gotten lots of confirmation from
the church (perhaps even before we sensed our own inner call from God!). But despite lots of prodding, nudging, or
encouragement from other people, ultimately you must become convinced that it
is God Himself who is calling and commissioning you. There will come a time when you are convinced
that God is recruiting you—you!—to
the ministry. You may feel
inadequate. You may feel
ill-equipped. You may be scared. You may wonder if God is making a
mistake. But a call leaves one convinced
that God is saying I want you—for the
ministry. The term “call” suggests
“come”—the term “commissioned” denotes “sent.”
God commissions people to the equipping ministry—he send you to His
church, you are his “gift” to the church (see Ephesians 4) A call is sensing that God is sending me,
commissioning me. To be called is to
become convinced that God is
commissioning me.
…to lifelong vocational
service
God
recruits people all the time. He
recruits people to Salvation. He
recruits people to service. He recruits people
to live a holy life. He even recruits
people for a specific task He wants done.
So we can honestly say God is recruiting everybody all the time. In fact, God calls everybody to ministry—in
the sense that “every Christian is a minister to others.” But the call to the ministry as a lifetime vocation is different than the general
call of God that everyone receives. It
is an inner conviction that God wants me to serve Him vocationally in “the
ministry”—as a pastor, youth pastor, or other professional minister. It is the conviction that I am to spend my
entire life—my vocational life, my profession, my daily job, what I do for
income—in church work. Having a call
from God to the ministry is to know what I plan to do the rest of my life. It
is a call to minister and build up God’s people.
Perhaps
understanding the term “vocation” itself might help. The term comes from the Latin vocatio “summons” and vocare, “to call.” In the 15th century the term was
only used to describe the call into the priesthood or a religious order. At that time, the only people who had a
“vocation” (calling) were priests and members of a religious order. Everyone else simply “had a job” to “make a
living.” Gradually the term vocation
broadened to include every kind of work, and the notion arose that all
Christians should consider their work as a “life calling” whether it is in the
church or in a factory. When we speak
of the call here we are speaking of a lifelong vocation. A call
is about spending my entire life in vocational service.
…as an equipping minister
for the people of God
The
ministry to which you are called is not just to “be a minister” to needy
people, though it includes that. The
ministry is about equipping God’s people so that they can do ministry. Equipping people means empowering people and
leading them. We often call this the “equipping ministry” to distinguish it
from the "general ministry" all Christians should be doing. What does an equipped congregation look
like? Equipped people are actively involved
in teaching Sunday school, serving on missions teams, giving financially,
serving the needy, establishing justice and mercy, evangelizing. If you are
called you are God’s gift to the church—to enable them to grow and develop. Your ministry is as both “prophet and
priest.” As a prophet you speak for God
in preaching, teaching and providing wisdom from God. As a priest you represent the people to God
in leading rituals, intercessory prayer and leading praise.
The
classic Scripture on how a professional minister relates to the people is is
from Ephesians 4:11-13
The call to ministry is a
call to work with the people of God. The
ministry is not a calling to run off as some sort of lone ranger disconnected
with God’s church; rather God calls apostles, and prophets, and evangelists,
and pastor-teachers so that they can equip God’s people. Ministers prepare their people for their own
lay ministries. They do this through teaching, advising, counseling, preaching,
and by all the other activities a minister does. Why equip the people? The called ministers equip God people to
minister to each other so that the people
of God will come to the unity of faith in the knowledge of the Son of God. Where does all this lead? That the church
will become mature, attaining to the
whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
The call is an inner
conviction from God confirmed by the church that I am commissioned to lifelong
vocational service as an equipping minister for the people of God.”
Some common misunderstandings
about the call
While
we have defined what the call is, there are still some prominent
misconceptions. While most people are
familiar with what the call is, let’s
take some time to discuss what it isn’t:
Misunderstanding
#1--"Everybody is called."
We
have discussed this repeatedly but it bears another pass here. While it is true that God calls everybody to
minister to others, God does not call everyone to the ministry as a profession
and vocation. God has always selected
men and women to serve as priests and pastors—to “represent God to the people
and the people to God.” To be God’s
prophets and priests. While everybody
should do their own work “as unto the Lord” and as a “calling from God,” He
still calls some to the lifetime vocational ministry of equipping and leading
His church. God has chosen no other plan
to accomplish His will on earth but His church.
A life in business is exciting and worthwhile, but Christ was not the
cornerstone of business, but the church. A career in
Misunderstanding
#2--"There is one type of person suitable to be called."
Some
people mistakenly assume that God only calls one type of person to the
ministry—a person who “fits the mold.”
Perhaps they have known a particular minister who is very
effective. Or they attended huge
churches all their life and assume all ministers should have personalities like
the “super church” pastors they know best.
Such folk might that your “personality doesn’t suit the ministry” or
they may scoff at your call. But they
would be wrong. They would never have approved of Moses; not only did he
stutter, he was also guilty of killing a man in a fit of anger. But God looked past Moses’ lack of
communication skills (and even his past sin) when he called him to lead the
Israelites. In fact, God seems to enjoy
using weak people; “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the
wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong” (I Corinthians
Ministry
jobs are as varied as the culture and size of a church. There are huge suburban churches that want
one type and small rural churches or inner city temples that want a totally
different kind of minister. There are
senior pastor jobs and staff pastor jobs.
There are jobs with adults in nursing homes where you dress
conservatively and ministry jobs with youth where you might paint your face
blue and wear a baseball hat backwards when you show up to preach. There are ministry jobs planting new churches
that meet in living rooms and jobs working with children’s church. There are churches who want a quiet
unassuming humble pastor and other churches that prefer an outgoing talkative
person who seems more like a salesperson than a pastor. There is no cookie-cutter that fits all
ministry types. God’s church is too varied.
When God calls a woman or man into the ministry He has a place that
person can serve, even if that person does not “fit the mold” of what others
think a minister should be like. When
God calls a person, He has an audience in mind for them. God knows what He’s doing.
Misunderstanding
#3--"The call always comes as an audible voice."
Perhaps
the most common misconception of the call is that it comes in an audible voice
or through a clear visible “sign” from God.
While God does sometimes call people this way, the average call is far
less dramatic. Most ministers have
received their call more quietly and less dramatically than an audible voice or
a sign in the sky. A lack of drama does
not mean a lack of certainty. It is important to not compare your own calling
with another person’s; likewise, it is crucial to keep from judging another on
experience of your own call. To fall in
love gradually does not make one’s love less certain than the person who falls
in love at first sight. Both can be equally certain in the end—for both
“falling in love” and “hearing God’s call” cannot be determined by a test or
sign—but must eventually become an inner
conviction that is outwardly confirmed.
Misunderstanding #4-- “The
ministry” is a human invention not God’s."
Some
Christians say there should be no distinction between a lay person and a
vocational minister at all. They say
that everyone is a minister and the role of a pastor or priest is invented by
human beings, not God. They believe
every believer should act as their own priest and the church needs no
leadership other than the Holy Spirit.
The trouble with this notion is that God has never followed these folk’s
advice. Rather, throughout history God
has repeatedly selected men and women for His service. A vocational minister today stands at the
front of a long line of called people—from the Old Testament, through the New
Testament up until today. That is what
the next chapter is about.
Follow up study
and application
To Share:
1. Share your own sense of
calling on a scale of one to ten—ten being absolutely certain and 1 being just
barely exploring a call.
2. Describe the most
effective minister you know in your life so far—what were they like? What did they do that made them effective?
To Discuss:
3. What are some other
misunderstandings about the call and the ministry that you can think of that
were not listed in this chapter?
4. The Ephesians 4 passage
says, ‘God gave” the equipping ministers to the church… this book is mostly
about Pastor-teachers. Who are the other
three categories—apostles, prophets, and evangelists? Do they still exist today—if so, how?
To Do:
5. Do a Bible study on “the call” by looking up
the term and making a chart showing the best examples of the general call to
all people, the special call for a particular task and the call to the
ministry.
6.
Turn the definition of a call from this chapter into a diagram like the
Ephesians 4 diagram—one that will make it easier to remember.