Make Sure You’re Supposed to Be Here

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Sounding the Call

Part Four

The Calling to Ministry Self-Assessment (pdf)

And as a bonus:

Is “Calling” a Biblical Idea?

(Video not working? try here)

This is a pretty important distinction. In particular, I’ve seen people go into youth ministry because they love working with youth. Then they become full-time ministers and realize that the administration and equipping tasks are something they’re not cut out for.

Thanks to pastor James for good wisdom on this!

HT: Harvest Blog

Here’s the question:

Where does this concept of a “call” come from in Scripture? I mean, some of the great men of the faith were audibly and explicitly told by God what they were to do, but how do you know that this is normal and expected for Christian ministry? In what sense are there things that we are “supposed” to do or places we are “supposed” to be beyond the precepts of God’s moral will as revealed in the Bible? I must be missing something…

It’s a good question, and a fair one.

To answer that, I think we have to look at how God has acted in history relative to those who were leaders of his people. In the Old Testament, most of those we have sufficient biographical information about have an experience of a specific calling from God, to a task, which was often enveloped in a relationship or identity. Moses for instance, was called to lead Israel out of Egypt, which included a task (lead them out) and a position (as their leader).

Others that stand out to me: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph (via dream), Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Samuel, David, Solomon, Elisha, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. In the New Testament, the 12 apostles were summoned to leadership by direct invitation of Christ, or in Paul’s case, by a vision. Timothy, the most visible second generation leader, was called out and set apart for his task by the laying on of hands by the apostolic leadership—and was instructed to call out / recognize new leaders the same way.

So while the Scriptures don’t address calling in a formulaic way, it appears that either an internal or external call or both seems to be in play for God’s leaders throughout the Bible. The implication of normativity comes from this pattern.

I also wonder what the alternative would be. If leadership in the church doesn’t arise at God’s initiative and calling, then from whom? From us? God doesn’t care who leads and we pick who we like? Or, from the perspective of those going into ministry, do we pick it as a career just like nursing or engineering or teaching? That notion seems kind of Deist to me. I think God is more involved in our lives than that, and has plans and directions and purposes that are specific, both for us and for the congregations and ministries we lead. I guess I’m enough of a predestinarian to believe in a destiny, at least in the broader sense of the term.

Others, like John Ortberg, disagree with me about the experiential call.

What do you think? Is the notion of calling to ministry really legit or not? It’s an important question.

I have been a pastor for a long time now. When I was ordained in the Baptist church, one of the questions I knew was coming was, “Tell us about your ‘call.’” In our tradition, if you became a pastor, you had to have a “call”: a mystical, vivid, (but non-charismatic) experience in which you have an inner sense/compulsion/Voice (but never quite audible) that tells you to become a preacher.

I come from a long line of pastors. My great-grandfather, Robert Bennet Hall, got his call working in a small grocery store more than a century ago. He had run away from the orphanage where he grew up and married a grocer’s daughter. He was sweeping out the storeroom when he got the call. My brother-in-law got the call when he was working in a grocery store in our old hometown of Rockford, Illinois….

…I never got that kind of call.

It’s an honest, confessional exploration of his lack of a strong inner sense of calling to ministry, despite how much others thought he needed it. In some ways, Ortberg goes against what we’ve said about the inner sense of calling, but I respect him and find value in his discussion of it.

Full article here

I recommend printing the pdf of this, and working it out on paper.

Calling to Ministry Assessment

Part One: Self-Assessment

1. Write out your sense of calling to ministry. Include as much detail as possible. When and how did you become aware that God was calling you to ministry? What, specifically, is God calling you to? How do you know?

2. If you weren’t pursuing ministry, what would you do? Could you be happy doing anything other than ministry? (Don’t answer this too quickly.)

3. How is seminary necessary to fulfill your calling?

4. How strong is your internal sense of God’s calling? Rate the strength of your sense of calling on a scale of 1 to 10. (1= completely uncertain; 10= completely certain).

5. What do you think will be your greatest strength in ministry? Your greatest weakness?

Part Two: Group Assessment

Find three people who know you well and who know God well, and who love you enough to be perfectly honest with you. It will help to have older and experienced people as part of this.

Share your responses to Part One (above) with them, and then ask them to respond to the following questions, either orally or in writing. If possible, get all three of them together at once for this conversation.

1. Do you detect a divine call of God on my life to serve in ministry?

2. What makes you think God has called me?

3. What strengths and weaknesses do you see in me?

4. Do you have any uncertainties or misgivings about my going into ministry? Is there anything you fear, for me or for the church, by my going into ministry?

5. What would you say my “blind spots” are? What things about myself am I unaware of?

6. Do I have an evident walk with Christ? Does my life make following Jesus attractive?

7. Would you want to follow me a spiritual leader? Why or why not?

Make Sure You’re Supposed to Be Here,
Part one
Part two
Part three

I greatly benefited from the counsel of a group like this when I was trying to find a church right out of seminary. I had interviewed with a church in Chicago that I really liked, but when I prayed about it, I felt strongly I was not to go. I was upset with God, but I obeyed. Months later, I was in view of a call at a church in Alabama. On Saturday night before my big trial Sunday, I sat up in bed I the middle of the night with this church from Chicago on my mind. The next day, the Alabama church voted to extend a call to me, but with a substantial minority of “no” votes. I went home confused. I gathered a group of people who knew me well and knew God well, to pray and talk it through. So we started by praying together, and then they started asking me questions. Penetrating questions. At the end of our time together, it was clear that I was to tell the Alabama church no, and then re-contact the church in Chicago, tell them what happened, and trust God with the outcome.

I did. The result? The church in Chicago voted unanimously to call me, and I enjoyed 6 ½ years of ministry there. The pastor of the church in Alabama left the church abruptly two weeks after I turned them down. He called me later to tell me the story and to tell me about the serious problems and un-health in the church. Finally, once I was on the field in Chicago, a dear old saint who had been praying diligently during their search told me she was convinced the first time that I was the one who was supposed to be there. She and some other prayer warriors prayed that I would return. Her assessment at the conclusion was that had I come the first time I interviewed with them, the church would not have been ready for me.

God’s speaking to me in that way was an awesome relief and encouragement. You and I need the insight of others to verify our callings, both general and specific.   Tomorrow, I’ll publish a two-page assessment you can use to help you with this.

For more on this from a source far more authoritative than I, see Richard Foster’s excellent book, Celebration of Discipline. He has an entire chapter on the discipline of guidance.

Make Sure You’re Supposed to Be Here,
Part one
Part two
Part three

2. Other believers who observe their lives will see the calling on their lives and affirm it.

I once knew a pastor who thought he was called to pastor because he had an emotional experience at a conference. But I could easily tell, and so could many others, that he should not be in ministry. He was never called by God. It was obvious. Three weeks after he started pastoring his church, his people began asking all kinds of questions. They ranged from, “Is everything all right with him?” to “How do you fire a pastor?” Three weeks.

Over the next two years, his ministry unraveled, and he was forced out of the church. It was ugly: for the church, for the staff, but especially for him and his family. As it turned out, two other churches had previously forced him out. For some reason, he never woke up and saw what was so obvious to everyone else.

Spare yourself the grief, and spare the church of God. Be certain of your calling. If you haven’t yet had occasion to do so, I would encourage you to call or meet with older friends who know God well and know you well. Pray together and sound out your calling. Even if your internal sense of calling is strong, this will reinforce it, and later, when times of doubt come—and they will come—you can go back to how the Holy Spirit spoke through the Body of Christ to affirm God’s calling on your life.

Next week, I’ll share a story of a time my calling was affirmed by others.

Part one here
Part two here

People who are genuinely called by God to ministry have two things that are true of them. Today we’ll address the first.

1. They are certain of their own calling.

There is a bit of mystery to how this works. God speaks and moves in mysterious ways. But each individual who I’ve known in ministry has a story of how they came to hear the calling of God on their lives to go into ministry.

For my friend Josh, his calling came out of studying John Piper’s Don’t Waste Your Life. He looked hard at what a meaningful life in God’s eyes really is and compared it to his own. He had a great job he loved with a fantastic salary, but in light of eternity, it didn’t seem so significant. Now he’s in seminary; he and his wife are preparing for the mission field.

For me, it was during a summer mission experience where my team served in churches for 10 weeks. Halfway through, the growing sense in my heart was that I couldn’t do anything else with my life…that ministry among God’s people was the place of eternal value for me. It was cemented in a moment of prayer and the scriptures by a poolside in Orlando. I remember it like it was yesterday…my questions and fears, and God’s assurances from his word.

Do you have a story you can tell about your own calling? How specific is it? How definite is it? I’m uneasy when I hear a story of calling that seems vague or unclear. When we encounter difficulties in ministry—and believe me, you will—many times the only things that will sustain you is your inward confidence that God has spoken, that you have heard, and that ministry is His plan for your life.

Part one here.

Not everyone is supposed to be in ministry.
Not everyone is supposed to be in seminary.

This may seem a little insulting as a starting point, but hang with me for a bit.

Your true fitness for a life of ministry will be tested. It’s inevitable. Seminary is the first of those tests. The multiple stresses of seminary function very much like an Organic Chemistry does for would-be med students. It’s a “weeding out” class. Not everyone can cut it. And many times, flunking Organic Chemistry is how they get the message.

Unfortunately, the weeding process for ministry isn’t as clear cut as a poor grade in a critical class. If only it were! The true weeding out happens gradually, and often painfully. I’ve seen people in ministry that I and others could easily tell weren’t supposed to be there, but sometimes it took them 10 or 15 years to figure it out.

For most Christians and churches, the idea of divine calling to ministry isn’t understood very well. It’s mysterious. Nebulous. Ethereal. Hard to nail down. So when someone in the church claims to have a call of God on their lives to lead in ministry, people don’t usually question it. They accept it uncritically, and assume that the called person has it right.

And admittedly, genuine calling from God is… well, supernatural. You can’t analyze it too closely.

But that does not mean it’s not important. I believe the call to ministry is a real thing, that it comes from God, and it can be rightly discerned by mature believers in Christ. I also believe it’s important. A person who wants to lead in Christian ministry ought to have a divine call on their lives that goes beyond the general call to ministry that is incumbent on every follower of Christ.

Unfortunately, there are lots of people who pursue ministry careers without a divine calling. My hunch is that most churches will recommend anyone to seminary who claims to be called, without seriously examining whether in fact they are.

Since you’re at seminary, I’m assuming that you intend to lead in Christian ministry in some capacity. (There may be some exceptions among seminary students these days; there are lots of innovative degrees aimed at laypeople.)

If you are going into ministry, it is imperative that you have a clear calling from God to do so. I say this for your sake, and for the sake of the church and the kingdom. People who get into ministry without a genuine, divine calling to it put themselves, their families, and the church in danger.

If you’re in seminary, it’s important that you make sure you’re supposed to be there.
In my next post, I’ll talk a little bit about how true divine calling can be examined and authenticated. But I’ll leave you with this question:

Has your calling to ministry been examined? When and by whom?