Main Argument and Assessment
After reading Allen’s treatment ofDiscerning 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, 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
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.
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,
rulingtheirchildren and their own houses well (1 Timothy 3:12).”[4]This
is hotly debated, yet the meaning of this in itscultural contextwould 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.
This uses the Greek expressionmias 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
isallowed(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 beno onehindering 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 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
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 ongroundwireand 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?
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
fromhttps://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/aug/24/more-than-
half-of-christian-men-admit-to-watching-/
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) 26
