Main Argument and Assessment c c c
After reading Allen’s treatment of Discerning Your Call to Ministry, one may see
that Allen is very intentional on the process of helping someone discern God’s call
on their life, and how everyone is called to minister, but not everyone is called to
ministry.[1] His main argument revolves around supporting the Bible’s affirmations
and historical theologians on what should be in a person’s life that feels they are
called to ministry, comparing one’s own life to biblical standards to discern this,
and calling for a serious self-evaluation. His arguments revolve around ten self-
assessments that include the desire for ministry, character, an orderly household,
spiritual gifts of ministry, church affirmation, love for the people of God, passion
for the Gospel, engagement in fruitful ministry, readiness to defend the faith, c and
readiness to surrender to ministry. Not only does Allen support a self-critique, but
he supports a world critique such as how other’s view you, current ministry, and if
your church has affirmed your calling. [2]
Personal Calling
c c c c c c c c c c In my own personal calling, I feel an intense desire to know the Truth of
Christ, and to share this Truth with others. I also know that nothing else will
satisfy, until I am able to minister all the time and openly. I felt very convicted
when reading about Lloyd-Jones, a doctor that turned to wanting to heal souls
instead of bodies. "We spend most of our time rendering people fit to go back to
their sin! I want to heal souls. If a man has a diseased body and his soul is all
right, he is all right to the end; but a man with a healthy body and a distressed
soul is all right for sixty years or so and then he has to face eternity in Hell."[3] I
have practiced in medicine for nearly 12 years now, and the older I get, the more
interested, and insatiable my thoughts go to pursuing God, and helping others
pursue Him. I love the Lord more than anything else in life, and I know that my
calling (although not definite like Jonah to the Ninevites) is a call to serve with
love, and to point others to Christ. c
In desire, Allen and I agree, however there is a point in which I disagree with Allen
and that has to do with his biblical interpretation of being the husband of one
wife. “Let deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own
houses well (1 Timothy 3:12).”[4] This is hotly debated, yet the meaning of this in
its cultural context would not be misinterpreted by the early disciples of Christ who
were not living in the United States, but a Greco-Roman Jewish culture in the
Middle East. c This uses the Greek expression mias gynaikos andres, literally "one-
woman men." History has shown that polygamy and adultery was rampant all
throughout the countryside where the early churches were present. Paul even calls
out the abomination of a man sleeping with his father’s wife at one point (1
Corinthians 5). This would indicate for a husband that is dedicated to His one wife
(not plural wives). The main point of these verses was to verify a man of God to
ministry because if he could take care of His family in the home, then he could
take care of the family in the body of Christ. “For if a man does not know how to
rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God (1 Timothy 3:5)?”
Honestly there are things that happen in the world that no one can control. If a
spouse dies, should the widowed husband be excluded from ministry? If a spouse
leaves their husband are they excluded? If a husband divorces their wife on
biblical grounds are they excluded from the ministry? It is interesting that Jesus
gave specific reasons that divorce is allowed (Matt. 19), yet the traditional church
refuses to acknowledge His Lordship but insists on making more rules to protect
the traditions of the church and denying Christ. (Does this remind anyone of the
Pharisees and their additional laws?) The contextual interpretation of this verse
should be that if a husband is of literally one wife, and is managing his household
well, then there should be no one hindering him from ministry (in this aspect). One
thing I would like to add is that if someone were called into ministry and had sin
in their past that is forgiven, why should the church deny a ministry call? If past
sins (divorce/adultery) are held against a pastor even if they are not living in sin,
shouldn’t that be the same thing for every pastor that has every watched
pornography? Would this make that pastor still a one-woman man? Yet there are
studies by the Barna Group c that shows that “64 percent of Christian men and 15
percent of Christian women admitted to viewing pornography at least once a
month, compared to 65 percent of men and 30 percent of women who identified
as non-Christian and said they watched porn at the same rate.”[5] If the Bible is to
be used correctly, these Christians that are having “multiple wives” in pornography
should be excluded from ministry, not Christians that have had a divorce in the
open, repented, and have turned their lives to Christ.
Objective and Subjective Elements
c c c c c c c c c Objective element to my call includes my former pastor telling me that he
felt I may be called to personal discipleship, and that he felt that maybe the Lord
was leading me to this. My small group partner Mike has also been an affirming
encourager for me to go into ministry, especially with small group (cell-church).
Subjective elements to my own personal calling include the pull of the Holy Spirit
in my life to draw close to Him. I feel a never-ending need to go to the feet of
Jesus and be in relationship, and this love for Him and His love for me press me
to bring others to this love. I started online counseling on groundwire and I have
been able to listen to others, and tell them of Jesus. This has been a great
opportunity (especially with Covid) to be able to reach out to people that need a
Savior and tell them of His great love for them.
Questioning the Call?
c c c c c c c c c c I believe it is okay to question your calling. I do it and have done it
regularly. When my wife and I have a bad argument, I’ve sometimes even said to
myself, this isn’t how a Christian man is supposed to be with his wife, but I also
understand that we live in a fallen world, and its not perfection that Christ calls,
but to submit to His grace and mercy in Himself, in who lies the only perfection.
The only thing that will work in ministry, is to be genuine, showing others that you
have met the Savior, and that you aren’t any better than them, but that you are "as
a dying man, to dying men; as one not sure to ever preach again."[6]
References
Allen, Jason K. Discerning Your Call to Ministry. (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2016).
Murray, Iaian; Lloyd-Jones, D. Martyn. The First Forty Years. (Edinburgh: Banner of
Truth, 1982).
Somers, Meredith. More than half of Christian Men admit to watching pornography.
(Washington: The Washington Times Press, 2014). Retrieved from
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/aug/24/more-than-half-of-christian-
men-admit-to-watching-/ Links to an external site.
Welldon, J.E.C. The Difficulty of Preaching Sermons. (The Living Age, seventh
series vol 25, 1904)
[1] Jason K. Allen. Discerning Your Call to Ministry. (Chicago: Moody Publishers,
2016). 19
[2] Ibid 81
[3] Iain Murray and D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. The First Forty Years. (Edinburgh:
Banner of Truth, 1982). 80
[4] Unless otherwise noted all Scripture is form the New King James Bible, 1982
[5] Meredith Somers. More than half of Christian Men admit to watching
pornography. (Washington: The Washington Times Press, 2014). Retrieved from
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/aug/24/more-than-half-of-christian-
men-admit-to-watching-/
[6] J.E.C. Welldon. The Difficulty of Preaching Sermons. (The Living Age, seventh
series vol 25, 1904) 267
