The Calling Of God, The Human Process & The Madness Of Ministry

Pentecost 2008 – John L. Ng © Copyright 2008

The Context

Over tea and dimsum, Roger shared with me how God had called him to professional parish ministry. He was en route to a job interview with a large company with all the anticipation of carving a name for himself in the market place. While reading his Bible in flight, he heard an inner voice challenging him to work for the church instead. Confident it was God’s voice, he took the challenge to heart but asked in earnest, “What should I do?” The inner voice replied, “You have eyes and ears, watch and listen.” Roger finished his story by sharing that since that encounter he had planted two churches and he was pastoring the second one in New York City.

As I walked back to my school office, I was deeply encouraged by Roger’s profound response to God’s call. At once I also lamented that there were so few American-born Asians who had answered the call to full time ministry. During the 2007 national summit of directors of seminary-based Asian-American Christian centers at Fuller Theological Seminary, the participants observed that there is a “crisis of leadership” in the Asian-American churches. In resent years, there is a precipitous drop in seminary enrollment among Asian-Americans. Within the past two years, I witnessed no fewer than six pastoral resignations in New York City alone. More than half of them have dropped out of parish ministry all together.

Reasons are many and individual for this crisis in leadership. Every pastor has personal reasons why parish ministry is no longer viable for vocation. However, there are two shared contextual factors that have overarched this attrition. First, there is a generational schism in the Asian-American churches. The clashes among generational congregants are evident in their differences in cultural expressions of spirituality, disparaging social tastes and life styles, different understandings of organizational commitment and conflicting philosophical directions of ministry. These differences have incensed the first generation and frustrated the next generation. Many of the next generation are discouraged from participating in Asian churches, full time or volunteer. Second, there is a leadership chasm among church leaders and pastors. These conflicts are across generational lines but not always. They center around cultural styles of leadership, hierarchal control over parish ministry and philosophical direction of ministry, and understanding of personal integrity and true spirituality. Having served in the Asian-American church community for more than three decades, I can say that the schism and chasm are real and continuous. There is nothing new here; the more things change the more they remain the same.

The Text

These issues are purposely itemized without detailed explanation because I do not want to prolong their debate needlessly. There is enough tedious whining over these concerns from both sides of the church aisle to last another generation. My endeavor is to move beyond the disparity and come to a consensual understanding of the calling of God for parish ministry. Often I say to my seminarian students, “The local church is the only game in town. If you want to serve God, you need to serve under the sacred canopy of the local church.” That is, when we think of God’s calling, we have to think of the church as the arena for full time ministry. In the next breath I likewise say to them, “If you are going to make a difference in the church, you first have to survive the madness of church ministry.” There is no getting around it. Effective parish ministry requires longevity. No leader has ever brought great changes to an organization without staying long enough make a difference. Every colleague of mine has stories to tell of war wounds, bouts with discouragement and doubts of ministry viability. As I mentioned, reasons are many why a parish pastor needs to leave. The one non-negotiable reason why a pastor needs to stay is because s/he has been called by God to that parish.

The sustaining power is the pastor’s fierce conviction that God has called that person to that particular church. The minister is convinced that there is no other place on earth but that one where God has called him/her to do pastoral work. To realize that call is to stick stubbornly to what s/he is stuck with. The sustaining power of the call is that powerful. There are several dimensions that enable a person to realize God’s calling. First, the pre-calling reality. Obviously, the person’s background and immediate setting are the environment in which the call is made. Somewhere in a person’s walk with God, there is a nagging nudge from heaven to consider full time parish work. All my heroes of faith – Paul of Tarsus, Augustine of Hippo, Martin Luther of the Reformation and Haddon Robinson of Gordon Cornwell Seminary – in no uncertain terms felt the persistent tapping of God’s finger on their shoulders. In their own unique circumstances, they responded accordingly.

I remember the initial call on my life by God during an inter-church conference. In the dark of night, while sitting by a running brook, I felt God challenging me to full time church work. At the time, I did not fully know what it all meant but my restless heart was opened to God’s possibilities. In my immaturity, I had enough good sense to tell my pastor so he could hold me accountable to what I have decided. In time, my pastor, with others, helped me slowly sort out the mix to prepare for my calling. There are as many scenarios as there are individuals whom God has called. But one constant remains – whatever are the personal circumstances, that person has to be viscerally and cognitively convinced that his/her parish vocation is the call of God.

Second, the post-calling reality. Different cultures have different processes through which a person enters for parish work. In America, some level of theological education is a crucial component. The traditional Master of Divinity degree is designed to provide a comprehensive preparation for pastoral work. However, many theological schools in resent years offer a variety of degrees to fit every interest and preference. To be sure, a local church expects a candidate for parish ministry to have an earned theological degree. Some traditional and historical ministry models may be helpful in determining the kind of educational preparation to pursue: parish priest, pastoral care, church educator, ministry manager, missional leader. Different cultures also have different processes through which a person is called by a local church. In America, there is generally a series of contacts between the candidate and the church. They may take a few weeks or months. Afterward, the church decides whether or not to extend a call to the candidate. When a call is extended, a contractual agreement between the pastor and church is worked out. To be sure, the pastor’s call to parish ministry by God can only be realized when a local church also extends the call.

A colleague of mine had gone through several vigorous interviews with church leaders. He was set to enter their church as its senior pastor. Convinced that it was God who had called him, he had hoped to spend many productive years there. But immediately things went badly. Within days, toward the end of his candidacy, he entered a serious disagreement with an influential elder. The following week’s end, the church board rescinded its decision to call him. Just like that, his opportunity to pastor the church was no more. While packing his belongings at that influential elder’s house where he had stayed, his thoughts scrambled to interpret what had happened. Whatever he and the elder did or didn’t do is immaterial. One thing is real. Unless the church has extended a call, the calling of God has no real fulfillment. The call to parish ministry is both by God and by the local church. Without a real place for parish work, a pastor cannot realize God’s calling. The call to ministry is always by a two-fold calling. A person is called by God in no uncertain conviction and the same person is called by a local church in no uncertain terms.

The Subtext

I also know two other colleagues whose sense of calling is diametrically different from the other. One sticks around in the same parish for more than 25 years and becomes its senior pastor. The other has come and gone in several parishes, never staying in one place more than three years. When asked, they will rehearse their own reasons for choosing to stay or leave. We may dismiss their tenure as the inevitability of God’s sovereign will. No argument here, for who is competent to argue the will of God. At least in the human dimension, I can write with unmixed confidence that for any pastor to impact a church, s/he has to stay long enough. Ultimately, every pastor has to negotiate with his/her understanding of the call. Fiercely convinced that God has called a person to that parish is crucial. But no matter how earnest a pastor might be, his short duration in several churches cannot be considered effective pastoral work.

Now let me make a few remarks about the nature of receiving the call of God. First, in all my years as parish pastor and seminary professor, I have never encouraged anyone to initiate a calling from God. God is always the previous. It is always God who first calls the person to parish work. In fact, I often cautioned those who think they might be called by God to stay out of ministry if all possible. God’s call has to be real and obvious. If there is a tinge of uncertainty, sooner or later they will not be able to survive long through the madness of ministry. The self justifying rationale to give in and get out is too overwhelming. For years to come, in good and bad times, it will be the fierce conviction of being called by God that will give courage and strength to stick around. I dare say that there has never been a week in all my ministry years when I did not think about bailing out. My stubbornness to stay the course can only be credited to an equally stubborn conviction that God has called me to stay and the choice is choiceless.

Second, since the call is everything, then how does God call a person to full time ministry? From my many years of observing how God calls and how people respond, I have come to several common factors that converge in a person when s/he is navigating through the response process. There are some personal factors. The person’s faith maturity, emotional development, cognitive understanding, education and life experience, and personal theology will determine the ways and means through which s/he realizes the call. Obviously, the more mature a person is the more sensible and sensitive is the response. The person’s immediate relationships with significant individuals, like parents, church leaders, teachers, mentors, and heroes, will influence how confident is the response. A. W. Tozer once wrote that we should always listen to those who listen to God is wise counsel when responding to a felt call.

The person’s circumstantial environment, like church polities and theological traditions, family and church support, ministry opportunities and experiences, ministry models and teaching, will frame the means in which the call is defined and understood. There is an inherit danger to making life changing choices without a supportive community to hold one accountable. The calling of God is indeed very personal, but never private. It is always more safe and sensible to make life choices with the support and counsel of others. Finally, above all, the providential leading of the Holy Spirit is sovereign. It may be illusive at times, but at all times the Holy Spirit is the slow but certain light who illuminates our path. The respondent needs to pray in earnest and with others for the Holy Spirit to guide and goad in the process.

Third, besides the personal factors, there are several converging confirmations needed to authenticate God’s calling. If the person is married, spousal support and understanding is necessary to confirm the call. By virtue of marriage, any ministry is a spousal partnership. It would take extraordinary circumstances for a person to go against the lack of spousal support. I would think twice and pray more to make such a decision. If a person is single, anticipation of or against marriage will also be an issue in the call as well. Family obligations and priorities also play a significant role in the process. Although true calling is radical, one must consider wisely the cost of the call to family, especially to parents and children. People we love and serve will definitely pay a price for our obedience to God. And then, there is the church community. I have already cautioned that one should not respond to God’s call without the involvement of a church community. In fact, the church where the person lives, moves and serves plays a powerful communal role in affirming God’s call.

It is theologically unsound and oxymoronic for a person to enter professional parish ministry but does not belong to a local parish. It is often the person’s meaningful church involvement that will play a confirmation role in his/her calling. It is the church pastors, elders and leaders who will affirm the person’s giftedness and confirm the person’s readiness for parish ministry. Likewise, it is also in the local church that the person’s ministry skills and personal formation are nurtured. I happen to believe that the local parish is not only a safe place to respond to God’s call, it is also the primary place in understanding God’s call. Finally, the person’s inner prompting by the Spirit of God is ultimately the subjective assurance that will authenticate of the call.

Every generation of pastoral work has its challenges. A good friend once cynically blurred out: you have to either be crazy or courageous to get into pastoral work. As stated above, I am convinced that church work a kind of ministry madness. It is not for the weak and faint of heart. As God said to Jeremiah: If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? (Jeremiah 12.5) To provide pastoral leadership for the next generation, this generation of pastor-leaders must learn to race with men and compete with horses. The conclusion out of Fuller has not dissipated my hope for the next generation of pastor-leaders. I meet regularly with several young leaders in and preparing for ministry. Being with them has energized my aging body and weary mind. Seeing their eagerness, hearing their stories and feeling their heart can only feed my hungry hope. They enjoy a real conviction that God has given them a life mission. God is still calling individuals to full time church work. Their personal response to God is, in part, influenced by their personal formation, communal support and parish involvement. Those of us who are in the churches ought to intentionally create a nurturing and confirming place for them to discover and respond to God’s call for ministry.