Defining & Determining a “Call” to Pastoral Leadership

Jeremy Pace » #Mission #Preaching #Church #Leadership #Wisdom #ChurchPlanting #Calling

Growing up in a Baptist church in the South, it seemed that at least once a month someone came forward during the invitation time to “accept a call to vocational ministry.” Calling had more to do with the vocation rather than the office or role.

Often, this calling was couched as a “call to preach,” which was viewed as the highest calling a person could attain.

Unfortunately, the Christian sub-culture has perverted the “call” to pastoral leadership by emphasizing a call to a particular paid position within the church. Such an understanding of calling actually lessens and limits how Scripture speaks of calling.

In order to properly understand the biblical calling to pastoral leadership, we must clearly state that there is no vocational call to ministry in Scripture. There is scriptural evidence for paying those whom God calls to oversee the church, however, a calling to pastoral leadership is a calling to role or an office, not primarily a vocation. Church leadership and seminaries have done an injustice to calling by preparing people for careers in “ministry.”

Depending on your background, the call to ministry can have a multitude of meanings and just as many variations of intensity and weight. The objectives for this article are to:

1. Demonstrate the universal call to ministry of every believer in Christ.

2. Give a singular definition of the call to ministry in the context of pastoral leadership.

3. Provide questions that need to be answered by those who feel “called” to pastoral leadership.

4. Provide next steps in process of discerning and refining the call to pastoral leadership.

The following leans heavily on Dave Harvey’s Am I Called? Discerning the Summons to Ministry, an extensive article produced by Sovereign Grace Ministries.

The Call of Ministry to Every Believer

There are two ways in which to discuss the call of every believer. The first is the special or effectual call from God to redeem his children: “And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:30). This is the call of God from death to life (Ephesians 2:1-10), essentially this is a call to God himself. It is through this first call that we must understand every subsequent calling as being a call from God and not based on our own merits or abilities. It is a call to a person, a call to a new identity in that person, and a call that becomes the message of our ministry.

Edmund Clowney once said:

There is no call to the ministry that is not first a call to Christ. You dare not lift your hands to place God’s name in blessing on his people until you have first clasped them in penitent petition for his saving grace. Until you have done that the issue you face is not really your call to the ministry. It is your call to Christ.

A second way to discuss the call of every believer centers on the call to the ministry of reconciliation. Second Corinthians 5:14-21 outlines this call:

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come.All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

All those whom God effectually calls are to be ministers of reconciliation, ambassadors for Christ so as to participate in the mission of God to reconcile all things back unto himself through Christ Jesus (Colossians 1:20). First Peter 2:9 reminds us that every believer is a member of a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation so that they “ . . . may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

Understanding this universal call of the believer to ministry helps to combat the acculturated idea of ministry for only a select few. It will also allows one to realize that his identity is found in Christ and thus he is a minister, whether he is employed by a local church or not. For some, this is what their call is: to be a man of God who leads his home well and is a minister of reconciliation to those God has placed in his path.

“Our first call is to the Lord, our second (not sequentially but simultaneously) is our call to ministry, and for some a third call remains.”

Understanding the universal call to ministry for all those who confess Christ as Savior also helps us differentiate the call to pastoral leadership.

The Call to Pastoral Leadership

Ephesians 4:11-16 describes role differentiations within the body of Christ:

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

As 1 Timothy 3:1-13, Titus 1:5-9, and 1 Peter 5:1-4 outline the fact that there are those whom God charges to care for and lead the church, Ephesians 4 details a specific calling to lead for the purpose of helping the local church grow in ministry and maturity. The call to pastoral leadership is one not of the specially privileged, but rather a role distinction. The pastoral leader has “. . . what is required in some sense of all believers in peculiarly required of the leaders of believers. There is difference of degree.”

Therefore, we can define the call to pastoral leadership as:

A specific call placed upon those men who have been effectually chosen by God, demonstrate the character of Christ, and have been given the necessary gifts for the purpose of building, equipping, overseeing, and serving the local church.

Pastoral leadership begins with a call to Christ and thus to ministry, and by God’s grace, a man is given the character and gifts necessary to lead the church.
Questions to Answer

How does one determine if has been given this specific calling of pastoral leadership? What follows are a few questions that can help someone determine if they are called in this way.

Where does this specific call begin? First Timothy 3:1 says, “The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.” Aspiration to pastoral leadership is a necessary component of the specific calling. Aspiration is subjective, which is not negative. However, because aspiration is subjective it is not enough to confirm the calling; therefore, aspiration must be filtered through two parameters:

The call of pastoral leadership comes from a love for the bride of Christ, not a desire for one’s own glory or position. As Richard Baxter says, “Nor is man fitted to be a minister of Christ who does not have the proper public spirit towards the Church. He needs to delight in its beauty, long for its happiness, seek for its good, and rejoice in its welfare. He must be willing to spend and to be spent for the sake of the Church.”

The call of pastoral leadership is not merely a call to preach or a call to find a satisfactory role/vocation. D.A. Carson puts it this way, “As someone who has taught seminary students for more than 15 years, I worry about the rising number of seminarians who, when asked where and how they think they might best serve, respond with something like this: ‘Well, I think I would like to teach somewhere. Every time I have taught, people have told me I have done a pretty good job. I get a tremendous sense of fulfillment out of teaching the Bible. I think I could be satisfied teaching Scripture.’ How pathetic. I know pagans who fine satisfaction and fulfillment by teaching nuclear physics. In any Christian view of life, self-fulfillment must never be permitted to become the controlling issue. The issue is service, the service of real people. The question is, ‘How can I be most useful?’, not, ‘How can I feel most useful?’”

“Any aspiration to pastoral leadership must come from a love for Christ that has birthed a sincere and sacrificial love the bride of Christ and a desire to serve her selflessly.”

Do I have the character of one called to pastoral leadership? The second question comes as one begins to evaluate himself on the qualifications of pastoral leadership outlined in Scripture (1 Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-9; 1 Timothy 4:12). If a man is lacking in any of these qualifications, his future may be in pastoral leadership, but he is not temporally called to pastoral leadership.

Do I have the capabilities of one called to pastoral leadership?In line with the question of character qualifications, the third question to consider centers around whether or not one possesses the necessary abilities and skills required of a pastor. Alexander Strauch declares, “Desire alone is not enough, it must be matched by good character and spiritual capability.”

Can you teach and preach with sound doctrine?

Can you lead through applied discernment? Applied discernment is the ability to shepherd people toward maturity in Christ. Can you lead in the Spirit with the Scriptures in such a way in which people are built up into maturity?

Do I lead my home in a manner that demonstrates my calling? Leading a home (a wife and/or a family) is a key indicator of whether or not a man is called to pastoral leadership. One cannot lead the church family if he cannot lead his own family.

Has my call to pastoral ministry been confirmed? A call to pastoral leadership, while containing subjective indicators, is an objective call. It can be measured and can be confirmed. It is not enough to have a desire to be an elder. Nor is it enough to believe that you are qualified and competent.

No elder in Scripture simply proclaims himself an elder. All elders are commissioned and confirmed as being called into such a role by others who are already in that role. Before one can say he is called to pastoral leadership with certainty, confirmation is necessary. There is great freedom in this truth. Paul’s encouragement to Timothy to remember the gifts given him by the laying on of hands is an encouragement to remember that his calling and thus his work is not merely subjective. Timothy is not alone, but God in his mercy and not because of Timothy’s gifting or abilities called him to leadership and it will be God who sustains him and allows him to continue in his work.

Charles Bridges emphasizes this truth when he says, “We may sometimes trace the ministerial failure to the very threshold of the entrance into the work. Was the call to the sacred office clear in the order of the church, and according to the will of God?”

Who can confirm my call? It is good to have others (community group leaders, your spouse, family, friends, etc.) speak into if you are qualified.

Does your church leadership confirm this?

What is my ambition? We started with ambition and end with ambition. Why do you want to be an elder? Godly ambition can be defined as the desire to use one’s gifts for God’s will and unto his glory.

A few questions that can help discern one’s heart’s motivation are:

Have I made the call the driving force of my life, rather the one who has called me?

Where does my satisfactions lie, in dreams of the perfect position, or dreams of His fame and glory?

Where do I go when I think about my call?

Am I impatient?

Am I willing to submit, learn, and wait? Is it difficult for me? Why?

Do I see my life and time now as ministry? If you are not currently serving as a minister or reconciliation and serving the local body of Christ, you are not ready to embrace a call to pastoral leadership.

Next Steps

The most difficult component of determining and refining the call to pastoral leadership is the “in between” time. This is truly a product of our culture, and one of which scripture continuously opposes. Paul, for example, received a pretty clear call to ministry in Acts 9, but he still went away for three years and did not really begin his ministry until he was confirmed and commissioned by his elders (Acts 13). Joseph’s (Genesis 37-50) life is another example of a clear call that took years to come to fruition.

It is important to answer the questions above and keep this in mind: the call that you are wrestling through now, no matter where you are at in that journey, is first a call to prepare.

What are you doing to prepare for this “call”?

On this day…

• Kingdom of Heaven – 2025
• God’s Appointed Work – 2025
• Nehemiah 12 – 2024
• Nehemiah 11 – 2024
• Be spent for the sake of the Church – 2012
• You have corrupted the covenant of Levi – 2011
• For he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts – 2011
• A son honors his father and a servant his master. – 2011
• Ephesians 4:15 – 2009
• 1 Samuel 1:27 – 2009