Podcast Episode #490
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A call to ministry is intensely personal, but for many pastors the call shares a few common themes. Today, we discuss six of those themes.
Some highlights from today’s episode include:
- Those in ministry often (and almost always) feel called to make a difference.
- A passion to reach the community is being realized by revitalization pastors and church planters.
- The primary call to pastor is to shepherd His people.
- Sometimes God gives a subtle call to ministry. For others, it can be a jarring call.
The six factors we discuss are:
- Desire to preach
- Desire to make a difference
- Passion to reach a community
- Heart to shepherd people
- A traumatic event
- Affirmation by people
Resources mentioned in today’s podcast
Rainer on Leadership is a member of the LifeWay Leadership Podcast Network
Episode Sponsors
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Feedback
If you have a question you would like answered on the show, fill out the form on the podcast page here at ThomRainer.com. If we use your question, you’ll receive a free copy of Scrappy Church.
I wonder how it became normal to think of a specific call to pastoral ministry, when the New Testament doesn’t mention it?
i agree with you, but looking at it another way . . .
it actually does in rare cases mention such a call (implicitly), but not in the way the modern-day myth of a call to ministry means it.
as far as i can determine in Scripture when there is such a specific call to ministry, it always involves the supernatural intervention of God in space-time, e.g., Moses and the burning bush, Paul the herald/apostle of Christ to the Gentiles in Acts9 on the Damascus road, or in Acts 16:9-10 where the call to minister the Gospel in Europe was received, not by a burning in the busom, not by some inner urging, but by a supernatural vision from God.
If a case in Scripture can be cited for which the mechanism of the so-called ‘call’ is not explicitly mentioned, then we can assume any means, whether natural or supernatural—doing so would be a fallacious argumentum ex silencio, and going beyond what is explicitly written in Scripture.
in another sense, i believe that our so-called call to ministry is based upon our gifting by the sovereign determination of the Holy Spirit as He wills (1 Cor. 12:11). He decides how we are to function in the local church based upon His sovereign gifting of each member of the Body of Christ.
It was a period of over a year God dealt with my heart about serving Him and I ran like Jonah of old. But, when God had broken my will and I submitted to His calling on my life it was the overwhelming desire to make a difference and it was a desire to bring glory to God what He had done for me in saving and transforming me.
I definitely feel that there is a specific Calling that comes
directly from God that you will know without a doubt. A person
should make sure that it is from God and not of themself or they wilI fail miserably, in other words it won’t work. You won’t have a sense of confidence and assurance that you will need because God not only prepares you but also provides what you will need to fulfill your calling and task he has set before you. Also hope and pray that you don’t miss it or it may never come around again in your lifetime.