Prompt:
After reading Allen’s treatment ofDiscerning Your Call to Ministry, define
his main argument and analyze his assessment. How has your call to
ministry been similar to what Allen promotes? How has it differed? What
were the objectives and subjective elements to your call? Is it okay to
question God’s call on your life for ministry? Why or why not?
Main Argument and Assessment
If, as Jason K. Allen advises, preaching is properly defined as being
“able to explain God’s Word with skill,” and which he personally defines as
“teaching with passion,” then his insistence upon possessing a persistent,
undeniable, longing so to do necessarily accompanies it.[1]This particular
insistence, upon the irresistibility of one’s call, quickly becomes the center
of most of this portion of the text. Indeed, Allen examines this essential
characteristic of the calling in various ways (various modes of verification
of one’s call, for example).[2]Thus, it is evident that the text intends the
reader to understand that a calling is not to be taken lightly, is by the
intentional hand of God, must be affirmed, and should be understood as a
lifelong commitment (given that “commitment” is thoroughly and
accurately taken).[3]
Similarities and Differences
To be sure, my ministerial situation is not at all like Allen’s. He is
called to the traditional pulpit. Conversely, while it is increasingly clear
that I possess an inherent skill for exposition of biblical texts, I feel little to
no interest in conventional pastorship. (Clearly, God intends something
different for me though it is not yet fully revealed.) What is shared here,
on the other hand, is an absolute passion for expounding upon the Gospel
in the interest of saving souls and spiritually enhancing lives by the same.
Of this, there is no doubt.
Objective Versus Subjective
Objectively, I share with Allen the understanding of the
universality of evangelism and discipleship as the proper response to the
Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20).[4]Moreover, we both appear to have
no appreciation for play-it-by-ear church operations nor “preaching that
yearns to respond to itching ears (cf. 2 Tim. 4:3).[5]This was likely the
most obvious to me.
Subjectively, my calling concerns a deep need to teach—whether
through preaching or otherwise. For some time now, I have had an intense
longing to help people “get it” when it comes to matters of Christian
orthodoxy. In fact, it is not uncommon for people to express that they
never quite understood an element of Scripture before they heard the way
I explain it. That appears to drive me all the more. The persistent nature
of this experience is what convinces me of my calling to this particular
vein of ministry.
Okay to Question?
Absolutely! If one has questions of the Lord and does not ask, then
one is, as my father puts it, “living a lie” anyway. In my understanding,
God is, first, not the least bit threatened or offended by any of our
questions. Second, I believe He intends questions to be an indication as to
where there may be gaps in one’s collection of knowledge or reasoning.
Further, I understand God’s response to our questioning is encouraged (at
least in part) in Matthew’s “ask...seek...find” (cf. Matt. 7:7). Finally, the
idea of sacrilege or faithlessness connected to questioning something as
serious as a call to ministry is an outdated congregational notion which
should never have survived in the first place. It seems to me that one is in
more danger of mistaking a calling when one doesnotdoubt somewhat as
opposed to when one does. In any case, where else does one expect to
render and relieve doubt if not before the Lord?
Bibliography
Allen, Jason K.Discerning Your Call to Ministry: How to Know For Sure and
What to Do About It.Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2016.
[1]Jason K. Allen,Discerning Your Call to Ministry: How to Know For Sure
and What to Do About It(Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2016), 61-2.
[2]Allen, 72-82.
[3]Ibid. Chs. 4-10.
[4]Allen, Ch. 7.
[5]Allen, Chs. 7-10.
