Discerning Call

The first time I meet new potential candidates my question tends to be the same one, “Can you tell me about your call to ministry of Word and sacrament?” In doing so I was expecting clear testimony about God’s call on the person’s life. Admittedly, I was impatient with those who could not provide a clear account of their “call.”

After reading John Ortberg’s article in Leadership Journal entitled “God’s Call Waiting: What do you do when ‘the call’ to ministry isn’t clear?” I realized that the question I ask might not be the best one, and most certainly, my impatience was wrong altogether. Ortberg writes:

“But I never got marching orders [a clear call from God]. Partly , I think, it may have been because God knows that I will grow much more as a person if I have to figure things out and exercise judgment and make a decision and accept responsibility than if I just got a postcard and followed directions.” (Leadership, Spring 2008, pg. 20)

Ortberg suggests that it may be OK if an individual can’t give testimony to a clear “call” on their life and that it may be helpful to the individual and the church to discover God’s purpose in community as together, people identify gifts and God’s purpose for their ministry. This may well mean that individuals have to move out of their comfort zone and not equate a sense of call with a sense of fulfillment. Many candidates have told me that they discerned their call by whether or not they were happy and fulfilled in what they were doing… the restlessness for them was gone and therefore they interpreted this as being called to the new idea or what they were doing at that time. This notion could be a romanticized and altruistic concept of “call” and may well be different from what God has in mind.

“For a calling is very different than a quest for fulfillment. A calling, though we glamorize it, is not glamorous. It is a response to a summons. It is a kind of surrender. It is a willingness to die to the past and move into the future. … The future—even if it’s hard—is better than nostalgia.” (Pg. 21)

Ortberg’s article, though brief, is one of the best discussions I have read about “call.” He doesn’t pretend to know what call is, and yet, is able to warn about pitfalls that could camouflage our call. He gives permission to those struggling with their call, to be content with the ambiguity and suggests we might just have to work our way into it, or as he says, “?sail our way there”?. Almost to the point where we have to accept that we may fall into our purposed call unbeknownst to us but clearly orchestrated by the hand of God. To read the article in its entirety get a copy of the spring Leadership Journal or request a copy from the MFCA office.

Cor