A pastor friend tells the story of a dear old soul he visited often in the nursing home. She would make ringing noises (BBBBrrrring! BBBBrrrring!), then turn her head and yell, “Somebody get the phone!”
Our conversation with Maxie Dunnam brought that story to mind. Often in ministry, we meet those who struggle with the concept of the call. They may not be certain whether they hear a call from God or if they’re concocting the call themselves. And we wonder whether we should help them answer it.
During his lifetime of ministry, as pastor, denominational leader, and currently president of Asbury Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, Dunnam has helped many a prospective minister discern the call of God.
What do you say to someone who says, “I think I may be called to ministry”?
I say, “God bless you!”
The church as a whole and the academic community in particular aren’t always friendly to the message that God intervenes directly in our lives, that he makes himself known by speaking to us. So I try to affirm what they’re experiencing and that God does call and lead.
Then I try to put the specific call into a larger context. I talk about the fact that the first call upon our lives is the call to accept God’s justifying grace. That’s the first calling we all receive. Once we become Christians, there is a second calling, a deeper calling to be a committed follower, to take seriously being a disciple of Christ.
The third calling some receive is to “representative” ministry, the professional or ordained ministry wherein we “represent” Christ.
While I try to affirm the person’s call, I also try to clarify his or her notion of calling. A calling from God is part of his work in all of us, not just in those who would be pastors.
What’s the first step in discerning if a person’s call is to pastoral ministry?
I try to uncover what models people have had. Who have they been involved with and who has inspired them? Our experiences bear on determining a life’s vocation.
It’s important, especially for young men and women exploring a call, not to nail down a specific expression of ministry too quickly. There are sets of gifts that accompany different ministries, and they need to deal with those gifts and graces, and taste involvement in the ministries to which they feel called, before determining just where the call is leading.
We had a banker who came to seminary five years ago. He had come to a much deeper Christian experience in the Emmaus Walk movement and felt God was calling him to ministry. But his only vision of vocational ministry at that point was pastoring.
He came to seminary intending to become a pastor. But in the course of his three years here, it became clear that God was calling him to use his gifts, graces, and his experiences elsewhere. God used his experience in finance to move him into a ministry at the denominational level that involves financial management.
Today he counsels pastors on money matters and church budgeting.
What do you do when someone’s “call” doesn’t ring true to you?
One of the greatest weakness of the church in terms of leadership is precisely at that point. What we need to do is put the call in the context of the community of faith, not strictly as an individualistic thing.
The calling to representational (pastoral) ministry requires a congregation to affirm that call. It requires the input of the church community.
How does the church test a person’s call?
In the beginning of my ministry I made the mistake of sharing my negative discernments too early. I learned that it was better to put people who felt called into support groups, or discernment teams, for several months, so that others in the church could help them explore their giftedness or lack thereof.
I give them books on exploring a call, the nature of ministry, and leadership of the church.
The discernment team can give people trial leadership opportunities and observe them in leadership relationships. It’s a mentoring process that has discernment about the future of the called person at its heart.
It may be that the called person’s future is in fulltime ministry. But discernment can determine whether that’s counseling, youth work, teaching, or the pastorate.
Have you ever been surprised by someone whose call you doubted?
Yes. About 15 years ago a man came to me, and I didn’t feel he could do it. He was having family and financial difficulties, he had been through a divorce, and had too many things going on in his life. I didn’t think he could make it. But I was thinking too much in terms of pastoral ministry.
The man surprised me by becoming the leader of a flourishing evangelism ministry. In fact, I financially support his ministry today.
Some churches seem to produce many ministers. Why?
The pastors in those churches are enthusiastic and passionate about ministry. They see reproducing themselves in terms of ministerial leadership and Christian vocation as their own sub-calling. They affirm, mentor, and challenge young people to be explicit in their responses to a felt calling.
At the seminary, the students in whom I see the most potential and clarity of calling usually tell me the story of their relationship with a clergy mentor.
In addition, the church can create an environment where the called are encouraged. Churches that produce vocational ministers usually support, financially and emotionally, those who consider a calling. They provide scholarships for further education, send people to camps and spiritual growth conferences, and so on.
What do you tell people when they ask about your calling?
A hundred years ago (chuckles) I didn’t know how to categorize what was going on, but now I do, and I tell people my story.
I struggled with the first call, the call to be a Christian. I didn’t come to the faith easily or quickly. But I finally said yes to Christ.
Immediately I began to wrestle with the second calling, to deeper discipleship. I grew aware that my faith was going to be more than what I was seeing in many of the people I went to church with. But I didn’t know if that meant a different life, a different commitment, or a different vocation. For three years I wrestled.
I also wrestled with the third calling. I saw in my pastor what God was calling me to, and I shared with him what I felt was happening. He mentored and encouraged me. He gave me books to read. A few months later I told him I was answering God’s call to full-time ministry. With the encouragement of my pastor, I announced it to the congregation.
That’s when something good happened. When we verbalize our call, it becomes more concrete. It’s like a man asking a woman, “Will you marry me?” There’s a confirmation of love and commitment that doesn’t come until you say the words, “I am called.”
Throughout my ministry, and more so in recent decades, I have tried to do the same for young people under my ministry.
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