Reposted from 2019, with permission, from DBTS Blog.
The question of a pastoral “call to ministry,” reminiscent of God’s call of biblical prophets and apostles, has long been a issue with which ordination councils have been concerned. Many operate on the assumption that no one aspiring to the ministry may proceed without such a “call.”
I concede, of course, that God’s Spirit is active in distributing gifts in his church “according to his own will” (Heb 2:4) and “as he determines” (1 Cor 12:11, cf. v. 18). It is for this reason that the Scriptures may state plainly that God has appointed the church’s teachers (1 Cor 12:28) and has sent its laborers into the harvest (Luke 10:2). Indeed, we have reason to believe that God’s providential preparation of his ministerial appointees is extensive and complex (see, in principle, Gal 1:5 and Jer 1:5). Please do not hear me saying anything less than this.
The question under consideration in this post is not whether God appoints men to the ministry (he does), but how we know it. The Personal Call Model, if I may call it this, vests primary weight in answering this question in the candidate’s own testimony. Does he have a personal desire for the ministry (so 1 Tim 3:1) and has he had one or more private experiences (even revelatory ones—otherwise, why use the word “call”?) whereby he has become existentially convinced that God wants him in the ministry? If so, then the council may proceed to examine his life and doctrine. If not, the council may not proceed.
I would suggest that the Personal Call Model is not only incorrect, but is positively contrary to the spirit of Paul’s discussion in 1 Timothy 3. Rather than agreeing with Paul that the choice of church officers is not a personal one, but an ecclesiastical one, the Personal Call Model front-loads the whole ordination process with questions about the personal experiences and desires of the candidate. Of course, it would be rather strange for someone to arrive at an ordination council without a desire to be an elder, but that’s not the issue. The council is not called to probe a candidate’s desires; it is called to examine his competencies.
By offering the church a list of qualifications for eldership, Paul is informing us that the decision to pursue eldership (or any other church function, for that matter) is emphatically not something that someone makes after he has become existentially convinced that it is his “calling” in life. You can make other decisions that way (i.e., you can personally conclude that becoming a doctor or a lawyer is your “life calling” after becoming existentially excited by the prospects of one of those careers), but you can’t choose to become a pastor on these grounds. And that’s because it’s not your decision to make. The church makes that choice (let’s call this the Ecclesiastical Call Model).
It is important to notice, I would contend, that the “desire” for the good work of the pastorate in 1 Timothy 3:1 is not one of the qualifications for ministry. The qualifications actually run from verses 2–7, and consist of an evaluation of whether the candidate’s life and doctrine validate his desire. As such, the first question of the candidate for ministry is not, “Do you desire the good work?” or “Do you feel this is your ‘calling’?” (we rather assume that this is the case—why else would he be here?), but rather, “Are you a man who is above reproach?”
The modern church is, I think, making good progress in escaping the error of revelatory calls to ministry. But the idea continues to haunt when we make the candidate’s “desire” for the good work the first (and greatest?) of the qualifications for pastoral ministry.
Discussion
NewLet another praise you, but earnestly desire the greater gifts
Somehow Proverbs 27:2 and 1 Corinthians 12:31 come to mind. On one hand, the commendation of spiritual maturity that qualifies a man for the pastorate ought to be an affirmation that comes from others, but on the flip side, those growing in Christ ought to earnestly desire those "greater gifts", where prophecy--or in today's economy, teaching & preaching--was a high priority for Paul.
So is desire one of the qualifications? As someone who's done a number of interviews on both sides of the table, I've got to affirm that one of the quickest ways to "next" is the hunch that the interviewee doesn't really desire the job, and that goes for pastoral calls, too. On the flip side, I've seen a huge amount of damage where the desire or "calling" is the primary qualification observed, and the other qualifications per 1 Timothy and Titus are downgraded.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
NewAlso relevant
To the ‘desire’ question: 1 Peter 5:2…
It doesn’t exactly say “you must want to in order to qualify,” but it’s pretty close.
I’m mostly in agreement with Dr S. that churches and individuals are better off leaning away from “revelatory calls.” But I do continue to struggle with the boundaries of what ‘revelatory’ is. I know I’m not alone in that.
If you providentially receive information, is that ‘revelatory’? It was certainly God’s doing, and so it’s ‘from God,’ and you have information you didn’t before, so… ‘revealed’? But we understand that there is a really important gap between inspired and not-inspired word from God.
“Written” matters and is authoritative in a fundamentally different way, not just a different level.
And we’re all aware, probably, of the difficulties inherent in getting a gut feeling and calling it a burden from God.
So, yes, mostly I accord w/ MS’s view here. It is the least fraught way to handle it.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
NewI wonder if we get the word …
I wonder if we get the word "ministry" and "pastorate" mixed up sometimes. I felt a call for ministry long before I ever thought I would be a pastor. Ministry is the idea of service. I wanted to serve the Lord, so I would volunteer when opportunities came up. I was excited for church work days when I could put my carpentry skills to work. I understood that to be service. Setting up or taking down tables fell into that same category. If help was asked for, I knew I could easily move tables and chairs around. Back then, I was young and strong, so such things were easy ways for me to serve.
I understood that cleaning up and setting up were ministry. I understood that running a skid steer on a church building project was ministry. These were things I could do, but I was not apt to teach at that point in my life. I fit into the category of one who was qualified to be a deacon, but not an elder. Although I was not apt to teach, I was willing and motivated to serve/minister.
As I served, others observed. Then I was approached by a retired pastor in our church and asked to teach in vacation Bible school. I was not apt to teach and had no idea how to. This pastor had already been discipling me in other ways and he told me he would help me, so I agreed. I would have never agreed if I had not already wanted to serve. With his help and then the help of others, I eventually was able to teach. Soon I was teaching Sunday School and eventually I was doing pulpit supply. I was teaching and loving it. The desire to teach came quickly, but the desire to be a pastor took much longer. Part of what primed that desire were others constantly asking me if I would consider being a pastor. I believe they kept asking because of my desire to serve even before I had a desire to be a pastor.
I share this, because once I became a pastor, rather than pressuring others to consider the pastorate or missions, I have encouraged everyone to desire to serve wherever they have an opportunity. We should all be ministers in the sense that we want to serve Christ and others. Without that desire, we should not be pastors. With that desire, we will be able to fulfill the two greatest commandments- to love God and to love others. With the desire for service will come opportunities for service and with those opportunities will come direction. Let God use you wherever you can be used and then find joy in bringing glory to the Lord wherever you serve.
NewYes
Long before I became a pastor, the use of “the ministry” as a synonym for “pastoral ministry” really bugged me. It didn’t stop bugging me when I became a pastor, nor of course, after ceasing to be one.
We are all called to ministry, as you’ve pointed out. It’s just a question of in what form and where. I am not a pastor now, but that just means the ‘what form’ changed. As did the where. A couple of times.
I’m grateful that God keeps leading me into interesting opportunities.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.