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
5
Kinds of Calls
Through
all of history God has called men and women to stand in the gap to represent
the people to God and God to the people.
He still calls men and women to do this today. The way God calls though has been varied through
history and has been different from person to person. There are at least five different ways a call
commonly comes to people today. Or
perhaps we might say five ways one recognizes
their call.
1. The
This
sort of call is certainly the most dramatic and impressive, even though most
called ministers today did not experience this kind of call.
The Apostle Paul’s call
The
Which
makes sense. After all, he believed the
Christians were a dangerous sect that ought to be stamped out as quickly as
possible. People like this seldom come
to a call gradually!
Isaiah’s call
There
is another Bible story like Paul’s—Isaiah’s call (Isaiah 6). He was in the temple when he had a vision of
God’s presence including seraphs, earthquake-like shaking, coals from the
altar, and smoke. He heard the voice of
God asking, “Whom shall I send?” Isaiah
responded by volunteering: “Here am I Lord, send me.” God answered with, “Go and tell this
people.” Vision of God? Foundations shaking? Seraphs? Smoke? The voice of God? This is certainly a “
Charles Finney
One
of the most famous
Have you had a
The
Why doesn’t God call all of
us this way?
Most
of us would prefer a
A caution for the non-Damascus
Road called.
Which
brings up a word of caution. Those of us
who have a less dramatic call often ask God to make it clearer by speaking to
us in an audible voice or giving us an obvious sign. This is okay as long as we do not “tempt” God
by forcing His hand to prove something to us.
Like casting dice or “putting out a fleece” like Gideon did it can be a
risky way to discover God’s will. As we shall see, God usually confirms His
call with a clear and certain “voice;” but, this voice is often an inner
inaudible voice, not an external audible voice from God. Literal audible voices accompanied by lights,
smoke, earthquakes, seraphs, or blindness are not God’s usual mode of
operation. God alone will choose when
and how He will give you certain confirmation—it is not for you to demand.
Someone
who has experienced a Damascus Road Call was simply headed from point A to
point D and BAM! They get called! A person who does not experience and Damascus
Road Call often goes from point A to B to C to D…until they end up at the place
where they realize for certain God’s call on their life. Why is this beneficial? Although the road they took might have been a
little longer, they have picked up a lot of experience and learning along the
way. The journey is part of the
training. And the biggest lesson is
often constant listening to God’s voice and continued reliance on His guidance
at every stage.
2. The Progressive Call
The
progressive call does not come as a thunderbolt but more gradually with a
growing certainty until I become absolutely sure God has called me into the
ministry. It is probably the most common
call today.
Like the dawning of day
This
call comes like the dawn—gradually and progressively until finally it is no
longer night but day. Long before the sun rises the night gets “less
dark.” Then the eastern sky becomes a
dark gray, light gray, almost-light, and finally the sun rises over the
horizon. A progressive call is like this
dawn. A person might sense a “precursor”
to the call long before he or she is certain.
Gradually, the call gets more certain until finally the “sun rises” and
there is a bright certainty that God has indeed called me to the ministry. Sometimes
the progressive call begins when a person discovers God has gifted them with
ministry gifts, then they see the need for their inner gifts in the church,
then they start to serve then as they serve their call gets more sure. However it starts the progressive call
eventually comes to surety.
Or like falling in love
Many
fall in love and get married this way—progressively. Sure, there are some people who walk across a
college campus, spy a guy and WOW! they know immediately that this is The
One—they will marry that fellow for sure.
But most folk do not have such a “
Progressive calling and
questioning
Those
with the progressive call often go through several phases of questioning or
even doubting their call. Some people
even get cold feet the night before they are to be married. Likewise women and men with a progressive
call may even have some uncertainty even the day before they are ordained. When
people with a progressive call hear stories of other ministers who tell about
hearing God’s voice or seeing a sign in the sky, they yearn for similar
certainty and clarity of calling.
Does God know what He’s
doing?
Certainly
we have to believe God knows what He is doing.
He works with each person according to our needs and His own will for
us. So who are we to dictate to God how
He will do His calling? If you have a
progressive call, focus on God’s continual and increasing inner voice—is it
getting stronger? Who knows, perhaps if
you had a “
3. The call from birth
There
are a few ministers who cannot recall a time when they weren’t called. They were
either called at birth or before. These
ministers came early to realize and accept their call—in fact some came to
accept it so early in life they can’t even remember a time when they weren’t
called. While it has existed in every
era of history it is very rare.
Jeremiah
Jeremiah
(Jeremiah 1) tells us he was set apart and appointed to be a prophet before he
was formed in the womb. It was his
destiny before he was even born. Thus
for Jeremiah it was not so much hearing God’s call, but realizing the call already on his life.
You
could argue that Samuel was prayed into the ministry. Before his mother had even conceived, she
prayed, “O Lord Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant’s misery
and…give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his
life” (I Samuel 1:11). Before Samuel
could even move inside his mother’s womb, he may have been set apart for God’s
service.
“Discovering” my call
If
you have “never known a time when you weren’t called, you may have a “call from
birth.” Some ministers argue that all
calls fit into this category. That is
God has already determined who He will call—God’s plan for your life—and the
called person does not so much “hear” the call as “discover” it—discovering the
vocation God has already set you apart for.
Even if you have another type of call, this notion is worth considering,
for it is a shift of mindset in thinking about your call. However, it could also be that God is more
fluid than this—that He watches the battle rage and calls up soldiers and
officers for his army as the war progresses.
People
with a call-from-birth sometimes struggle with doubt because they wonder if
they “caught their call” from their parents or relatives. They wonder if their call is simply a result
of environmental influences not from God’s plan. Since they “never considered anything else,”
they sometimes explore several alternatives when they get to college before
coming to certainty. But if they were
indeed set apart from birth, they almost always return to their original calling
more certain than ever. If you have a
“call from birth,” thank God that you were so sensitive as a child that you
heard His inner voice early in life.
4. The
set-apart-by-the-church call
How
does God speak? Through His Bible most
of all—but everyone who reads the Bible is not automatically called. He speaks personally to an individual by a
prompting or inner voice (sometimes while reading the Bible) and thus God can
speak directly to an individual. But God
also speaks through other people—especially the collective “body of Christ”
gathered as His church. Occasionally God
calls people to the ministry through His church, and they set apart an
individual who may not sense the call personally yet.
Barnabas
Perhaps
Barnabas fits this category. He is a
solid Christian when he first appears, selling a piece of land and giving the
proceeds to the apostles (Acts
The corporate element in all
calls
When
we think of a set-apart-by-the-church call we are focusing on the kind of call
that comes when God speaks through the body of Christ—his church on earth. Sooner or later the recipient of such a call
would want to come to a personal certainty about their call. We shall see later
that all kinds of calls have a corporate element—the church confirms a call,
even if it is received completely privately and personally.
Is your call a
set-apart-by-the-church call?
Sometimes
a person can’t hear God’s voice as well as others can. Perhaps a saint who has walked with God for
50 years can sense what He is saying better than you can. God will sometimes
use that person or group of people as a mouthpiece. If you have had a minister
or dear saint in your church urge you to consider the call, you might be
hearing a “set-apart-by-the-church” calling.
Perhaps God is speaking through the body of Christ to call you. But just because people think you ought to go
into the ministry won’t be enough for you.
You’ll have to join their affirmation with your own personal
conviction—the set-apart-by-the-church call is often just one way we start to
hear God speak.
5. The open door call.
An
“open door” call is when a person who has ministry gifts comes to an “open
door” of ministry. They walk through it
and their ministry leads to yet more ministry until they (in the experience of
ministering) come to sense God is calling them to do this very work for the
rest of their life.
Missions trips
This
often happens to young people on missions trips. They experience a high water mark of ministry
in their life, and while they are seeing fruit multiply, they sense that this
is exactly what they are being called to do for the rest of their life. It is not so much that the situation called
them, but while they are in the situation (by walking through an open door)
they come to hear God call.
Close association with a
pastor.
This
sort of call also happens to people who come to be closely associated with a
pastor or other local church ministers, particularly “preacher’s kids.” Such young people get extra opportunities to
see what “ministry really is like.”
They get early opportunities to serve, lead, and speak. They see the remarkable fruit of
ministry—changed lives, a loving sense of community, and people helped in their
growth toward Christ likeness. While
they are in the midst of such an atmosphere, they sense God speaking to
them—“This is what you should do with your life.” While this call is often combined with other
kinds of calls, it is a very common experience for many young people who are
closely associated to the actual ministry.
An open door alone does not make a call—but when we step through it God
sometimes speaks to our heart convincing us that indeed He is calling us.
A Combination of several
kinds
If
you ask a hundred ministers about their call you’ll discover that most can’t
fit the story of their call into just one of the above categories. They will say their call was a combination of
several “kinds of calls.” God is a God
of infinite variety, and His call comes to people in a variety of ways. For a few it may come as an audible voice or
sign. For others it may come
progressively as a growing inner conviction.
For still others it may come first from other people in the church or
even through an open door of ministry experience and then later as an inner
conviction. But for most it comes as a
combination of several of these avenues.
The call to ministry is an inner conviction from God confirmed by the
church that I am commissioned to lifelong vocational service ad an equipping
minister for the people of God.
Certainty of a call.
The
call may come in a variety of ways, but eventually the called person must be
able to say with certainty: “God has
called me.” There may be times of
equivocation or doubt. At times the call
may be stronger or weaker, but over time, if you are truly called, the inner
conviction will become a certainty. By
the time you are ready to be ordained it will be a lifetime certainty—you will
know this is what God has prepared for you.
Follow up study and
application
To Share:
1. If you are sensing a
call to ministry tell your own story related to one or another of the kinds of
call.
2. Do you know anyone else’s story of their call to ministry—if so
share that story.
To Discuss:
3. Does God change the way he calls people according to the
culture and expectations of the day? That is, when the culture expects more
dramatic calls does God accommodate to that expectation?
4. This chapters outlined
several kinds of calls, but it might have termed them several kind of ways we hear God’s call. That is, perhaps there is only one kind of
call—an inner certainty of God’s commissioning and the “kinds” of calls are
really ways we hear the call. If so, what other ways can a person begin to
hear God’s call besides those listed in this chapter?
To Do
5. Interview an active or retired pastor and get the story of how
they became sure of their call—be able to tell their story to others.
6. Make a drawing or chart gathering together on one sheet in a
visual way all the content of this chapter—including the kinds of calls and
other insights.
[1] I am
indebted for the basic paradigm of these kinds of calls to the work of Dr. Lee
M. Haines and Dr.