One of the questions from the Live Question and Answer Night on Sunday was:
How can a person know if they are called to full time ministry?
Here is a link to an article by Albert Mohler, the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary that addresses that question:
Has God Called You? Discerning the Call to Preach
I appreciate this article. My question, however, is how one can know if they are called to full time ministry in roles other than as preacher/pastor/minister.
ReplyDeleteKiersten,
ReplyDeleteYou are asking a very good question – one that I wish was easy to answer. I do not believe I can just refer to you a passage of Scripture that gives a precise answer. The issue you are raising is one that requires wisdom and discernment. Given that I thought it might be wise for me to share with you for the wisdom that has been shared with me by others.
The first offer of wisdom is the in the form of a book. If you are wondering about full time ministry in terms of missions I would suggest that you try and read David Sills’ book The Missionary Call. I have been told this book is very helpful in discerning God’s leading for missionaries.
The second offer comes from words a number of older pastors shared with me as I sought to discern God’s leading. The wisdom was really briefly summarized in a short expression – If you can do something else other than ministry, go and do that. The idea behind that was probably two-fold. First, if God does not give you the freedom to do something else, then that may be part of God’s confirmation that He is leading you to ministry. Before I went to seminary I had a job that potentially could have become a career. I did feel the freedom to stay engaged in that kind of work.
Second, every type of job is tough, and I do not want to suggest that ministry is the hardest thing any person could do, but ministry does bring with it challenges. There are times that being in ministry is very hard and other things can look attractive for a number of reasons. Having a sense of confirmation from God can serve as an anchor through those difficult times.
Please note, there are a couple of other issues that also need to be considered. Issues of personal character and maturity are a big deal. From the qualifications given in 1 Timothy 3 for overseers and deacons, we can see that God is very concerned about character. God may be calling me to ministry, but without deepening character, I will not be qualified to serve. Also, there are times when we feel called to ministry, but because of other life situations or simply because of God’s working in my life, I may not be serving in a full time manner. Those are difficult times. I may have to take on work that does not seem to fit what I desire. Moses spend forty years watching sheep. Yet even in that time, there is work God does in us to render us more useful to God and His purposes.