This is part two of “How to Know If You’re Called to Work for the Church.” To read part one first, click here.
Key Point #3 – Must-Have Characteristics of Church Workers
The third key point to consider if you are prayerfully discerning a call to vocational ministry is to ask and truly answer if you are willing and wanting to embrace the characteristics necessary of any man or woman who holds such a role. I do want and need to be careful with this key point because while the characteristics to follow are consistently lauded throughout the Scriptures, I will be the first to admit that there is no Biblical “spiritual checklist” that any person who desires to work for the Church must complete.
Neither is there, as was already said above, a demand for perfection in these following characteristics as a precursor to vocational ministry. One of the most humbling and challenging aspects of working for the local Church is that you are actively participating in strengthening and supporting the body of Christ alongside people who are similarly still undergoing sanctification—people who are still daily, or minute-by-minute, fighting to be more truly conformed with the image of Christ. In this vein, we will see that a conviction to fight for personal godliness and growth in each characteristic is vastly more desirable and necessary than a type of self-proclaimed perfectionism.
The four characteristics I want to focus specifically on are unity, maturity, humility, and a serious commitment to living above reproach—that is, living a life worthy of the calling that you have received.
You may look at the following characteristics and think, “Aren’t these necessary for any believer in any role or any job?” and the answer would be yes, to a degree. I believe there are specific and pointed attacks of the enemy for those who work within vocational ministry, attacks by which the enemy not only causes us to stumble but damages the reputation of our corporate and collective witness. You need only ask someone who has been hurt by the church to share their story, and you quickly begin to see the implications of our personal compromises in these characteristics spilling out into our corporate wounding of other’s hearts and souls.
While the bank, gym, or classroom suffers when believers fail to align their hearts with the Spirit, the one who sits in vocational ministry threatens to damage the perceived credibility of the entire body of Christ. Praise God that we are not the primary agents in the defense and proclamation of His glory, nor are we the sole agents of His salvation. This responsibility belongs to him and him alone. Therefore, our shortcomings are not the eternal nails in the proverbial coffin. However, I do think it is befitting for someone who is seeking a vocational position within the Church to weigh and consider their commitment to these particular characteristics.
So, for those who are discerning a call to vocational ministry, I would encourage you to ask yourself these questions:
- Am I highly committed to the unity of the saints (Eph. 4:3-7), particularly those who would be working alongside me in the scope of ministry? Am I committed to their good and their growth, not utilizing gossip or slander, but using my words to build others up, using my hands to lift others, using my mind and intellect to serve others, all for the glory of God? Am I committed to rooting out comparison, jealousy, and selfish ambition?
- Am I highly committed to maturing up into the fullness of Christ, realizing that I am no longer able to simply settle for a lower common denominator of Christianity, but that I must press on to make the resurrection my own (Phil. 3:12), seeking continuously to be transformed from one degree of glory to another (2 Cor. 3:18)?
- Am I highly committed to the humility necessary of those who seek to strengthen and support the body of Christ, knowing that I am not the head and that every part of the body has a role to play (1 Cor. 12:14-25) in growing up in love into Christ, who is the head (Eph. 4:15)?
- Am I highly committed to living my life in a manner worthy of the calling that I have received (Phil. 1:27)? Am I willing to not just meet the line of “Christian” standard or ethic, but will I joyfully and consistently go beyond what is expected in purity, accountability, and personal holiness, not to, through legalism, achieve a type of works-based righteousness, but to live in such a way that even those who criticize and condemn Christianity would be moved to reflection by your character (1 Pet. 2:12)?
These are essential characteristics of anyone who would serve and labor in the local Church for an extended period of time. If you are unwilling to grow in, or even further, are unwilling to entertain the ideas that you must be growing in these characteristics, then I would implore you not to work for the local Church. The body of Christ is not well served by divisive, immature, prideful, and ethically ambiguous men and women.
Lastly, a final characteristic that is necessary for someone who wants to work for the Church vocationally is a willingness to embrace the cost of such work. By this, I mean that it is a wild fantasy concocted by a Western world obsessed with self-power and self-image that we can choose to work for the Church and suffer no material or personal cost. We should not be tricked into believing that it is a sign of success for those who build the church to also have the West Elm living room staples; that Church work must afford the luxury of international vacations and the highest quality goods. Christ was clear in his Sermon on the Mount that for those who prioritize the kingdom of God, seeking God and his character first, that which they need would be added to them.
Likewise, embracing the cost of working for the church vocationally means that you put to death any desire that seeks to implant in your heart for fame, recognition, and societal praise and notoriety. There are many careers through which a person could seek to reach a certain level of prestige and cultural awareness. The Church should not be one of those callings. Throughout the Scriptures, the call inherent to all believers is to prioritize being last, lowest, and in most ways, hidden in Christ. That does not mean that those in other professions who excel and are well-known are sinning. But it does mean that within the context of the vocational Church, there is no room for ambition that aims at celebrity, fame, or worldly recognition. There is a reason that one of the three temptations the devil put before Christ in the wilderness was the fame and “rule” of the kingdoms of the world.
In light of this “costliness” here and now, those who desire to work for the Church should be confident and compelled in their assurance of a coming, future reward. Paul often wrote of how he was looking forward to the coming reward, the crown of righteousness (and Paul didn’t technically work for the Church vocationally, or at the very least, he was bi-vocational). A deep confidence in the coming treasure of Christ will help embolden the Church worker to pass over the lesser trinkets of this world in favor of that great and coming glory.
Next Steps and Encouragement
My goal in writing these points is not to severely discourage the spirit of someone wrestling with a calling to Ministry, but I hope to share a glimpse into the gravity of the calling to build the Church. Too often, men and women accept a vocational role within the Church out of naive excitement, out of a desire to find Christian community, or out of a compulsion to do “holy” work. None of these are intrinsically wrong—working for the Church should be exciting, it should be a place of rich and fruitful community, and the work should be sanctified unto the Lord as your hands are daily and often directly serving those who are finding or growing in salvation. But left alone, these reasons are too shallow to support a call into vocational ministry.
The call to work for the Church should ring deep and true in your Spirit. It’s been said by many church leaders that “if you can see yourself doing anything else other than working for the Church, go and do that.” I think this is a bit too obtuse and limiting; many talented Church workers could apply their skills to a wide variety of different avenues. However, there is some truth beneath the words in that being called to the Church vocationally should be distinctive and marking. There will come a time when you will be faced with the reality of your decision to build the Church, and instead of fleeing from those temptations, you must be so convinced of your calling that you double down and stay.
So, these words are meant to communicate some of this gravity and weightiness, lest you step too quickly into this. And yet, with all things discovered, there will always be a journey to navigate, and some will start further ahead than others. Exploring and evaluating the realities of working for the Church is not sinful, nor should you be shamed if you think you are meant to work for the Church and then later come to find out that God has you moving in a different direction. There is a reason that the Scripture says in James 4:13-15, “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
This is the posture each of us should seek to emulate. Ultimately, how can you know if you are called to work for the Church? Walk with Jesus. Stay in step with the Spirit. Ask the Father for wisdom and guidance, and believe that he will show up and lead you where he would have you go.
Practically, start serving in your local Church. It doesn’t matter what ministry, but pick one and get involved. Show up regularly. Get to know the people in your orbit and give yourself to the Christian Community. If the harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few, the best hire a Church can make is to bring someone on who is already laboring for the sake of the Gospel in the seams of the day-to-day rhythms of the Church. No Church needs to hire people that they then have to convince to be laborers. So if you’re feeling stuck in the wrestling, start serving. If you are serving, keep serving, and look for opportunities to talk with the leaders of your ministry or to take on more responsibilities with joy and excellence.
Ultimately, trust God with the timing. There is no model life for the Church worker to follow and emulate outside of Christ. You don’t have to start when you’re twenty-two, and you don’t have to end when you’re sixty-five. You don’t have to have gone to seminary, although seminary is, in my opinion, extremely helpful when done with wisdom. You don’t have to be single. You don’t have to be married. Remember 1 Corinthians 1 as quoted above—God calls the foolish, the weak, and the low and despised. He calls you and me, even when we had no merit of our own, to support and strengthen his body. But that is his grace in motion, and it’s the gift known to those who devote a portion or all of their lives to building the Church vocationally.
Scripture References
