CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? HEARING AND HEEDING THE GOSPEL CALL TO MINISTRY
What is a calling? Is a professional occupation a calling? Is there something distinctive about the call to ministry? How do I know that God is calling me to a particular work for sure? These are all healthy questions to consider. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (ESV). Colossians 3:17 similarly says, “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” For the Christian, work is an act of worship. A person’s vocation is a type of calling. The Latin root word for vocation is vocare, which means to call.
Next, there’s a general call to all believers (Eph. 4:1). For example, all believers are called to salvation (1 Tim. 2:4), to surrender (Luke 14:33), to follow (Matt. 10:38), and to serve (1 Peter 4:10).
There is something different about the personal call to ministry. In the Bible, we read about many people called by God for a specific purpose. We read about God’s particular purpose for Noah, Abraham, Jeremiah, and Amos. We read about the disciples, Saul, Barnabas, Silas, and Stephen. These men were chosen and set aside for God’s particular purposes. Many heard from God or an angel through an audible voice. Today, when God speaks by inaudible means, how can we hear, discern, and obey God’s call for our lives? Volumes have been written on this subject, but I will attempt to condense the topic to a brief essay.
In a recent panel discussion led by Dr. Greg Matthias at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, one of the panelists boiled the Gospel call down to an internal compulsion and an external affirmation.
The internal compulsion includes a desire to grow in the knowledge of Spiritual things. People often recall hunger and thirst for God’s Word, His Church, and its ministry (Matthew 5:6). The desire for Spiritual growth is accompanied by a drive to do something. The person is discontent with discontent as a passive observer and desires to be actively involved. 2 Cor. 5:14 says, “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died.” These impressions are accompanied by a sense of calling in which a person feels they cannot disobey God’s call.
The internal compulsion is always accompanied by an external affirmation. Circumstances can arise which alert a person to God’s work in one’s life. Often people in the church will affirm a call with comments like “You’re a good teacher,” or “I can really see God at work in your life, and I believe He is going to use you to do great things.” Ultimately the responsibility of affirming a call to ministry is that of the local church. In Acts 14:23, we read, “And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.” I have highlighted several significant influences in a call to ministry, but they do not always follow the same sequence.
Many of these themes occurred in my personal call to Christian ministry. I was a young band director who was involved in the worship ministry of Rose Hill Baptist Church in Texarkana, Texas. I was eager to grow in my walk with the Lord when I was a new Christian. I was discipled by a deacon using Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby and Claude V. King. I had a desire to know God more. A circumstance would arise which God would use to speak to me about His plans for my life. I was selected to serve on a music search committee. As I poured over dozens of resumes, I noticed several applicants had similar qualifications as I. They had previously been public school music teachers. I thought, “I wonder if I could be a music minister someday!” My wife taught a January Bible study to children in a nearby church six months later. I accompanied her to help her in any way I could. During a break, the pastor of the church asked me, “Eric, have you ever considered pairing your love for the Lord with your music training?” I then told him that the idea had crossed my mind recently. Another circumstance a month later changed my life. The music minister of the church in which my wife grew up resigned. “Well, this must be it,” I thought! My wife’s parents lived next door to the church parsonage. I now know it was unconventional, but I walked up to the front door of the parsonage. When the pastor answered the doorbell, I said, “Brother Ed, I think God wants me to be your next music minister!” After an informal interview, I was hired as the interim music minister. The church voted me in within two months as their bi-vocational music minister. I worked both as a band director and music minister for five years. That church would later license and ordain me in the ministry, and I served an additional six years in a full-time capacity.
The selection of ministers in New Testament churches usually followed a mentorship model and involved setting people apart for ministry. For example, Paul needed to find his own successor. He met Timothy while visiting Lystra (Acts 16:1–3) and learned of his excellent reputation. A mentor relationship quickly developed between the pair. Paul equipped Timothy for the gospel ministry. Timothy accompanied Paul on his second missionary journey and was sent by Paul to serve in Athens, Thessalonica, Corinth, Ephesus, and Philippi. New Testament ministers were selected by the Holy Spirit and set apart and sent by the local church. For example, the Church at Antioch followed the Spirit’s command to set apart Barnabas and Saul for a particular work (Acts 13:2). After fasting and praying, the church leaders laid hands on them and sent them on mission (Acts. 16:3).
Although the New Testament approach to selecting ministers is ideal, it is certainly not the norm today. Most Baptist churches use a different system. The typical pattern begins with a person sensing a call to the ministry. He may make the call public during an altar call (invitation) at a church camp or church worship service. Training often follows through a Christian college and then through a seminary. Hiring practices usually resemble those in the business world. The prospective minister posts his resume on a church staffing website, while churches advertise ministerial vacancies through similar platforms. Resumes are screened by a personnel committee or by a search committee formed by the church. The search committee will select a date to visit the candidate’s church to hear them preach or lead worship. If the committee votes to extend a call to the candidate, the candidate will come “in view of a call” if he agrees. In view of a call is a weekend set aside for the church to meet the candidate and his family and hear him preach or lead worship. The church votes following the service, and the candidate usually the call.
I would encourage anyone sensing a call to ministry to test it. You want to make sure this is not just an idea but that the Holy Spirit is at work. It is healthy to wrestle with the call for a time. You need to know for sure that God is calling you. Ministry is tough and can be depressing. There will be difficult times when the only thing that allows you to persevere is the call.
