Tag Archives: Call of God

The Call to the Ministry

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Does God call people to the ministry, or is it one of several career paths a Christian can choose? Pastors and church leaders need to be clear about this vital issue. In this article Dr. Douglas Brown of Faith Baptist Theological Seminary addresses this important question with Biblical answers. The gospel ministry is a high and noble calling. In 2 Corinthians 3:7–11 Paul proclaimed that the ministry is glorious. In 1 Timothy 3:1 Paul declared that pastoral ministry is a ”good”, or honorable, work (kalou ergou).

Lessons in Church Planting from the Apostle Paul

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Many people have a mistaken idea of missions. If you ask them, “What is a missionary?” they immediately think of someone who goes to a foreign land, learns a foreign language, and works in a foreign culture. In one sense they are right, but in another they are wrong. They are right in that many missionaries do go to foreign lands. They do learn foreign languages. They do work in foreign cultures. However, they are wrong in thinking that this is true of every missionary.

Volunteers or Draftees?

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Several times recently I have heard pastors ask for volunteers to take care of certain ministries in the church. While the impulse seems reasonable enough, it deserves some Biblical scrutiny. It is hard to find a passage in the Gospels where Jesus asked for people to come and volunteer their efforts. The accounts we have of his calling disciples come with a command and usually offer a promise, as, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” He did offer the invitation, “Come unto me, all ye that labor,” but the context offers more rest than ministry.

Hearing the Call of God

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The larger question asks, “Is there a specific and individual will of God for my life?” Equally controversial and debated is the related question which we wish to address: “Is there a specific and individual call by God to serve Him vocationally—a call to the ministry?” True, some have abused an affirmative response to these questions, but we shouldn’t dismiss or disown doctrine because of this. We need to see what God’s Word says. As we approach the Scriptures to seek an answer to these questions, two issues of major importance surface: First, is the leading of God in my life ever subjective (inward, related to my personal experience) as well as being objective (outward, related to clear instruction from God in Scripture), or is His leading only objective?