If you have ever wrestled with the question, “Is God calling me to work for the Church?” you’re not alone. From the birth of the Church and throughout every century since, people, young and old, who have felt the tug of ministry on their hearts have struggled to find clarity in discerning this assignment. So, while this is not a unique tension to today, there are distinctive characteristics of our Western culture and Church structure that tend to muddy the process of determining a call to ministry. This article, therefore, aims to speak to these unique characteristics while providing a clear and simple framework for approaching and eventually making this weighty decision.
It will be said repeatedly throughout this article, but, to my knowledge, there are no silver bullets for determining a call to ministry. This framework is not the script for an infomercial promising a guaranteed solution. Because the assignment of vocationally building the Church is ignited and sustained via the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit is God and is both intimate and unsearchable, a level of holy mystery accompanies this decision, similar to anything related to walking with God. Because of that, this article should be treated less like a GPS giving you turn-by-turn instructions and more like a survival guide, which outlines key equipment, addresses critical tensions, and points you to key resources.
For some, this framework will help bring confidence, as it will help even further illuminate the stirring of the Spirit in your heart to build Christ’s Church vocationally. For others, this might begin the process of finding further clarity, but the answers you are looking for may still be a good distance coming. This isn’t a loss. From the Scripture, we see that, while a teenager, David was anointed as the future King of Israel. Yet, it took years and a whole host of complicated, discouraging, and difficult circumstances until he stepped into that position. Wrestling with and waiting on God is never wasted; He is always doing something in us that He will later bring out and bear through us.
Lastly, for some others, this article may help shed light on the reality that working vocationally for the Church is not the next step in your professional journey. That is also not a loss. We have all been given different measures of grace and gifts for building up the body of Christ, some of which some of us will use in a professional, vocational context. However, the Scripture does not equate faithful service to Jesus with a particular vocation or calling. Consider that Jesus called some fishermen to follow him as his disciples and left others on their boats. He invited some tax collectors to leave their stations but left others to collect revenue for Rome. He brought in one zealot but not all the zealots; this is still his pattern today. The Spirit will draw some to carry that same mantle of the early Church builders in providing a communal space for worship, edification, community, and prayer. Others, just as equally important, will be invited to stay or step into all spheres of work and life carrying the mantle of the Christian commission to go and make disciples of all nations.
So, I pray this is helpful to you wherever you land and that through these words, the God who searches hearts and knows what is the mind of the Spirit would intercede on your behalf in accordance with the will of God. When done properly, it is a a true honor to participate in such a weighty and joyous wrestling.
Key Point #1 – Understanding the Nature of Calling
In attempting to discern and wrestle with this question of being called to work for the Church, it is important first to take a step back and look at the idea of calling. The Scriptures provide us with numerous examples of someone being called by God, some more dramatic and vivid than others. We’ve already referenced the way that Jesus called many of his disciples. Andrew and Simon, known as Peter, were fishermen and were actively tending their nets when Jesus walked by and invited them to become fishers of men. Moses was a runaway, exiled prince of Egypt who had a face-to-face encounter with the presence of God in a bush that burned but was not consumed. As discussed earlier, David was brought in from tending his father’s sheep in a field to be anointed as the future king of Israel. Paul had a revelation of seeing Jesus on the road to Damascus. Joshua was commissioned by Moses, Elisha was commissioned by Elijah, and Timothy was commissioned by Paul.
Many of these leaders had a direct, God-initiated moment of calling into the work of ministry. Yet few of these people actually exclusively worked in a vocation of ministry, and even fewer still worked for what we now call the “local Church.”
So, we must first be careful to separate and distinguish the very real differences between the general calling of all believers to follow Jesus and the vocational calling for some to work within a local church context. This first and more general calling for all believers includes our mandate to make disciples, love the body of Christ, and grow up in maturity and sanctification, becoming more conformed to the image of Jesus as we begin to look more like him and less like this world. There should be no Christian on Earth who releases their responsibility for these Scriptural markers of the faith simply because they do not work professionally for a local church.
In fact, Paul would write to the Colossians in chapter 3, “Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” It is quite possible that the will of God for your life can be boiled down to that one word, “whatever,” and that, for many, it is not a particular vocation that underlines God’s path but the invitation to abide and reside in the root of Christ.
If you find yourself waiting to practice the responsibilities of your general calling of believing in Christ until you are effectually working in a spiritually vocational setting, you are likely diluting the effectiveness of the ministry of the Church you work at. This can lead to a dangerous struggle of misplacing your identity in your vocation rather than your secured and established position in Christ—as a son or daughter of God.
For those who know Christ, deepen your pursuit of your general calling to love him with your whole heart, mind, soul, and strength and to love others as yourself first. The Church doesn’t need more hard workers looking to build their identities. It needs more healthy followers of Jesus looking to lay their lives down for the advancement and deepening of the Gospel.
The brief counter to this is that no man or woman called to work for the local Church will be perfect in their pursuit of Jesus at the time of their calling. There is no exact spiritual bar or standard that must be met to “qualify” for Church work. I’ve heard it said that if the men and women in the Scriptures submitted their resumes to a local church today, many of them would not be hired. Moses was a murderer. David was an adulterer. Paul, as Saul, was a persecutor of the Church. This is why Paul would go on to write to the Church in Corinth this encouragement:
“For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God” (1 Corinthians 1:26-29)
There is no boasting in our spiritual position (or lack thereof) before we are called. This is wonderful news because it means that the roles for working for the Church aren’t reserved for the Spiritual giants of the faith, but that everyday, ordinary people like you and me can be used by God, vocationally, to build his Church and to carry his kingdom forward.
We must first aim to live a life worthy of our general calling. Then, if and as the Spirit prompts, often through means such as Scripture, prayer, and community (we’ll discuss this further down), prayerfully consider the invitation to step into the local Church vocationally.
- Are you actively embracing the general calling of faith in your life?
- If so, do you also feel a tug in your heart towards a vocational ministry? Where and how have you most strongly felt this tug?
Key Point #2 – Indicators You’re Being Drawn to Church Work
If, after wading through key point #1, you still feel compelled to press into the possibility of working vocationally for your local church, I want to help identify a few indicators that may illuminate your metaphorical dashboard as you continue down this path.
The first is that of a deepening and lingering desire to spend your working efforts engaged in this domain. Both adverbs are intentional and should be weighed with purpose in your processing. For many who were raised in Christian or faith environments or who know a family member or close family friend who worked in a church ministry context, a type of desire by association may find root in your heart. For some, this proximity to ministry actually acts as a repellent of any such desire, but for others, there is almost an unintentional acceptance of a way of thinking that says, “This (vocational church work) is just what ‘we’ do.” There can be a particular reverence in these circles for the office of the ministry, often at the expense of the One around whom the whole ministry is meant to orbit.
And so, be guarded against such desires by association or any similar desires which have shallow roots. If you feel the Spirit guiding your heart to weigh this matter of vocational Church work, ask Him for a deepening of that desire in that it becomes more fervent, more pressing, and more vivid.
Ask that this desire also linger and not diminish with the passing of time or the opinions of others. There will very likely be some who do not understand your fascination with and eagerness to explore this avenue of vocational work; you must, with a humble unconcern, outlast their confusion. The enemy also will sense if you are seriously pondering spending your life, energy and talents to advance the mission of the Gospel through the structure of the local Church, and he will aim to derail this pursuit by putting all manner of questions before you. “Couldn’t you make more money elsewhere?” “Wouldn’t you be better off without seeing behind the curtain?” “Are you qualified to even truly consider this?” These, too, you must outlast, and you will, if the invitation to pursue ministry is truly instigated and sustained by the Spirit of God.
The second indicator of being drawn to work vocationally for the Church is the affirmation of your spiritual community. Note that I said your spiritual community because, as stated above, for those who do not follow Christ (and even some who do), a vocation of Church ministry likely seems, at best, foolish and, at worst, irresponsible. But take heed of the words spoken by Godly mentors or Godly community. Look at 2 Timothy 1 as an example of this affirmation. Paul says of Timothy in verses 5-6, “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.” Do not be afraid to ask, within the right context, for the opinions or discernment of your spiritual community if you do not feel that you are organically receiving that counsel.
Be wise and discerning in this process, however, to not put so much stock in the words of one or a few human beings when the words of God are meant to carry a far greater weight in our souls. Affirmation is beneficial as an indicator, but it is not the only indicator, nor is man’s opinion the barometer for truth.
The third indicator of being drawn to work vocationally for the Church is a wide door for effective ministry. This concept comes from Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 16:8-9, when he said, “But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.” This indicator is perhaps the most mysterious of the three as there are no real identifiers of what these wide doors are or when they open, but we do know how they open, exclusively through the power of the Spirit. We know that a “wide door” is a particular favoring by the Spirit on a particular expression or moment of gospel advancement, but this “wide door” has very little to do with numbers, converts, or attendance.
Rather, a wide door for effective ministry could be a particularly rich and fruitful small group that you lead that the Spirit’s favor is on. It could be a particular project you take on within the area of your Church where you volunteer that is aligning supernaturally well with your talents and gifts. It could be a persistent conversation with an acquaintance who continually, and almost strangely, advocates on your behalf to the local church staff. Aiming to determine the exact application of your “wide door” could be a fruitless exercise; however, it is not unproductive to ask the Spirit to help you see and then step through the unique doors He is putting in your life.
Lastly, when considering indicators that you are being drawn to vocational work within the Church, it is beneficial to summarize the categorical “types” of work that most often accompanied the local church in the early years surrounding Christ’s resurrection. These “types” of work, when compared to your respective passions and giftings, may give the most general guardrails for determining if a role in vocational ministry is your best next step. While there are likely far more than three categorical types of work, the three that I see most often represented in the Scriptures are preaching, pastoring/caring, and supporting.
Today, our local church structures have grown so much and have become so enmeshed with business ideologies that it is difficult to overlay the first-century church with the current Western Church. I do believe that while these categorical types are still present in today’s structures, there are now many more expressions of vocational ministry within the local church context. So, if you feel as if your strongest giftings are not in line with any of these three primary categories, know that that does not disqualify you from vocational ministry.
Click here to read part two of “How to Know If You’re Called to Work for the Church.”
Scripture References
