Define his main argument and analyze his assessment.
I believe that his main argument can be surmised as being called means more than just a desire
to want to do the work of God and that all are called. His distinction is whether we are called to
ministry, called to minister, or called to the ministry. Some people like to do the work of God just
because they like that kind of work. Sometimes, people like to do the work of God and like God
but might not be saved. It could be that they have friends that are or do like where they work
because of the type of work it is. This does not mean they have been called to minister. I once
heard a man say that he was never called to preach, just that he liked talking to people about
God because he read the Bible often because he liked the stories in it. I would be inclined to
think that he preached from his own spirit instead of the Holy Spirit. That runs along the lines of
a false prophet misleading his flock because he is preaching what he thinks they need to hear
from what he thinks he should talk about from motives out of self. That is not to say that he was
not called to minister or called to minister. He just might not have been called to the ministry.
Allen did make this remark, “Martin Luther and the other Reformers reasserted the biblical
concept of vocation, which holds that God calls and gifts every person for an occupation. Calling
is not limited to the ministry; it reaches into every arena of life. In God's kind providence He
orders not only His church, but also society, gifting persons for service in each.”[1] So, from the
reading, all are called to ministry and called to minister. Few are chosen to be called to the
ministry.
How has your call to ministry been similar to what Allen promotes?
My call to ministry had been such that I was asleep one night and God woke me up at in an
audible voice that I had heard in my mind, he said “Read the Bible”. that was all he said, after
that morning, I have never been the same. I started and had a desire I had never had before. I
feel it falls along the lines of being called to the ministry instead of the other two options. This is
because he has opened the door for me to take a lot of evangelistic classed in my undergrad and
graduate programs. He has placed a name of a church in my mind that I believe will come to
fruition in the future. Allen said this, “Whatever their distinctions, these offices all share one
common charge: minister the Word. The same charge falls upon overseers. Therefore, in 1
Timothy 3:1-7, Paul lists only one skill "able to teach" alongside the many character qualities an
overseer must have. In the next chapter I will discuss why a pastor is essentially an overseer, but
my main concern here is to establish what a call to the ministry essentially is: a call to the
ministry of the Word. Stated another way, a call to preach or teach the Word is the distinguishing
mark of a call to the ministry.”[2] I was at church Wednesday night, the pastor was talking and
out of the blue he made a statement, “Just preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, Kelly). I do not
know where it came from, he just through it out there. I do know why; it could have been a
confirmation of what God wants from me and where he wants me.
How has it differed?
It has been different this way, Allen commented, “God's call begins internally, described as "God's
voice heard by faith.” Perhaps it is that internal voice, that internal yearning.”[3] Mine was not a
voice heard by faith that was internal. Mine was an actual voice in my head that woke me up in
the middle of my sleep. I was asleep when he said it and it woke me up. I even got my wife up
and told her about it. You might say it was an internal voice, too me, those are dreams that we
hear when we are asleep that are a part of the dream. Besides, after that morning, I was never
the same again. A person does not do that with dreams. After I woke up, my life has been
changed ever since. God knows I have a hard time talking to people, I would be better as an
evangelist because I can go from church to church without being seen again for a while for the
most part. I might go back to that church a little later, but I might not as well. Allen also stated,
“Anyone can choose the ministry, and many people have. Such individuals may draw a paycheck
from a church or religious entity, but they are not necessarily serving God. Only a select few
divinely set apart and summoned by God are truly ministers of the gospel.”[4]
What were the objective and subjective elements to your call?
The subjective part of my calling came from God waking me up in an audible voice and woke me
up and told me to read the Bible. It is my belief and opinion that when he woke me, he meant
what he said. The objective side of the coin is the reading the Bible like I never had before in the
past. I took it to work so I could read it. I had never taken the Bible to work with me before and I
never had read it like that before either. It was my opinion that after God said that he
empowered me to seek him, and that desire has never done in the past. I have always been an
introvert, typically, I would have worried what others would have said, not this time. I was
removed from a job that I was enjoying, God put me in another job that gave me the capability
to read the Bible because I could not associate with or talk to because they all spoke Spanish.
Therefore, I was able to read the Bible for an hour a day, five days a week. God aligned my
footsteps to a path that would have caused me to focus on him and have the time to do so, it
was training. c c
Is it okay to question God’s call on your life for ministry? Why or why not?
I absolutely believe it to be okay to question God’s call on my life for ministry. If the questioning
is not in a fashion that will tell God that you or I are having second thoughts. We might need to
question a direction that God wants us to go, and we need clarity. Afterall, we do not want miss
opportunities that God has for us, we are going to give an account for that. Romans 9:21, (E.S.V.)
states, “Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for
honorable use and another for dishonorable use?”[5] I will be honest, we can ask all day, some
stuff, I do not think God will tell us because we would run the other direction like Jonah did. A lot
of us will be afraid to step out of our comfort zone. If we want to do anything important for God,
we must step out in faith and trust and believe God for the outcome. Anytime ministry does not
get difficult to the point that God needs to intervene, we run the risk of giving ourselves the glory
for the progress the ministry has gone, and it will not grow as well as it could. c c
Bibliography
Allen, Jason K. Discerning Your Call to Ministry, How to Know for Sure and What to Do About It.
Chicago: Moody, 2016.
Footnotes
[1] Jason K. Allen, Discerning Your Call to Ministry, How to Know for Sure and What to Do About
It (Chicago: Moody, 2016), 18.
[2] Ibid., 20.
[3] Ibid., 23.
[4] Ibid., 23.
[5] Unless otherwise noted, all biblical passages referenced are in the English Standard Version
(Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2008).
