At the end of the day - discerning a developing call
Thursday, January 24, 2008 at 7:22PM One of the blogs that I enjoy reading quite regularly is the thoughtful (and well focussed) blog of Gareth Beyers.
Today I was struck by the title of Gareth's blog - it is called The state of Gareth - it has an edit that makes the final text read The stage of Gareth... Now I'm not sure if it means 'the place where he represents himself', or if it means 'a stage in his development'... From what I read on his blog it seems like the latter of the two. It is a great blog with some exceptional content. I would highly recommend it!
What struck me as I popped onto his site today was the notion of 'stages' in one's life (see Gareth's Bio for a very good example of what I mean). I shall soon be embarking on a new phase of my own journey.
One of the things that I do within the Methodist Church of Southern Africa is travel the country between February and the end of March each year 'interviewing' persons who are 'candidates' for our Ordained ministry. The screening process is intended to be an act of discernment. The committee that gathers to hear the person who wishes to become a minister is not an interviewing committee. After all, this is not a job! Rather, this committee is entrusted with listening, praying, and discerning, whether God has called the particular person to the full time, ordained, ministry of either word and sacrament or word and service.
I have been doing this task for about 11 years now. In truth there is something of a common thread that runs through all of the testimonies and lives of those that I have screened who have successfully entered our ministry. Of course the one common strand is a real love for Jesus and for the people and world that Jesus loves. That should be a given for a Christian ministers... But, there are some other things we listen for. We listen for moments of God's divine call that are echoed in the story and growth of the persons life. If the truth be told, the call to be a minister is quite a simple thing! Simply stated it is a call to devote the whole of one's life, all of one's desires, and of course all of one's talent, time, and testimony, to doing what it is that God wants done...
It is always interesting for me to meet persons that I have 'screened' in later years and hear and see how their call has developed. I screened just about all of the 30 students who arrived at John Wesley College a week ago... Very few of them are the same as those timid and frightened candidates we saw three years ago! They seem more confident, with a deeper faith, and of course with a far greater understanding of the complexity and demands of pastoral ministry (since most of them have had at least 1 year of ministry in a cross cultural setting). It is not that they 'responded to the call' of God. Rather, they are constantly 'responding' to the call (it is a present indicative response, not a passive past tense).
Ministry is a responsive choice... I personally believe that every person is called by God (even people who do not yet know Jesus have been created by God with the potential for discovering their calling in life). The choice is a choice for obedience. It is a choice to subjugate one's own will and selfish desires and ambitions for the much greater will of God. For some that will mean doing the thing that they are already doing (e.g., being a parent, or perhaps a teacher, or maybe an office worker, an accountant, or God forbid, a lawyer). However, for others it will mean a shift from what they are doing to doing something else.
You see, at the end of the day, the things that ministers DO (pray for people, help them to discover and rediscover God, disciple and grow people, deepen their faith, support people in hardship, inspire people to live for greater significance and meaning, rebuke, correct, and a myriad of other tasks) can all be done by any person in any environment.
In fact, I have become more and more aware of how calling is so much more about intention than it is about the actions that are traditionally associated with 'ministry'. Even among those faithful and dedicated souls who remain in active pastoral ministry there is a constant need to maintain a right intention. I have often seen that the desire to maintain a right intention has in fact caused a person to change the actions that they had previously associated with their ministry. For example, the local Church minister who discovers that in order to maintain the intention to bring God's healing with integrity he will have to move from being a 'general practitioner' who preaches, leads, manages, and teaches, to becoming something of a specialist who focuses far more acutely on counseling.
This does not mean that the person is no longer called to ministry - you see the intention (which is the core of true ministry) has remained, while the actions associated with that intention have shifted to keep the intention pure and focussed.
Another interesting factor for me is that one's actions go through stages as one seeks to maintain a pure intention. I have been through a number of clear and definite stages in my 16 years of ministry. I have been a student, an associate, a senior pastor, a superintendent, a teacher, a leader. Of course I have been all of these things at some stages, and some of them at others...
The long and the short of it is that the calling remains even if the actions may change.
Thanks Gareth. You've made me think.
Together with you in Christ,
Dion
Reader Comments (4)
I agree. One of the most stimulating and engaging topics of conversation during the discernment process harks from the simple question 'but why? why ordination and not life as a lay person who still prays, still cares, still supports others?'
Wow Dion, thanks for the linklove. Your words make me blush ;) Gimme a call if your 'travelling interviews' bring you down to Ape Town. I don't have a vespa, but can take you to Olympia for coffee in Kalk Bay.
Here's to staying true through all the stages and roles that may come across your path.
(Aah.. now i see where Paddy the mystery visitor comes from.)
oh, and perhaps you could help me with my discernment re minstry questions too? (over that Olympia coffee) ;)
Barry advises the 'long way round' (ie wait a bit before ordination, be a tad irresponsible) as churches tend to quench new mininsters with responsibility. Thankfully i have a bit more breathing room with the Presbys as there isn't a bishop to dictate the stages.
Thanks for these words of insight, Dion. Since God first "blew my socks off" with a call to full-time ministry while I was attending our district Synod during 2006 as a lay delegate, I have had times when I was wondering whether this was truly a call from God, or something in the previous night's chicken that has been stirring up these strange feelings inside.
I even went through a stage where, just like the Pharisees, I kep asking God to "give me a sign". I praise God that He meets us where we are at, for He gave me not one sign, but several.
There have been some scary moments since then when I have wondered just what I am getting into - anyone who has been involved with Pastoral Commissions will know what I am referring to - and it seemed at times where I felt that our Church was rotten to its core. I even asked God the "are you sure about this" question on occasion.
God was silent on those occasions - at least in terms of a direct answer to my questioning. However, I believe that it was His divine Will that led me to Matthew 4, where Jesus was alone in the desert, having to face the devil, with nothing to hold onto but "It is written...". That's when I knew that the calling was true.
Having come through the last year, I believe that the call of God to ministry is as strongly on my life as it was in that cold Bedfordview Town Hall during May 2006. I also cannot thank Rev Kedibone Mosweu enough for inviting my family to spend a weekend with her in the Onalerona Circuit, for it was during that weekend that God was gracious to provide me with the "signs" I was asking Him for.
God has proven time and time again that He is worthy of our trust in Him. He has brought me through the first four quarters as a Local Preacher on trial, the first batch of exams, and that frightening pack of forms that had to go through to EMMU.
My prayer now is that when I appear before the screening committee in a couple of weeks time (where I hope to meet you in person, Dion), God will give me the strength and the words to convey this call to the committee members.