The Significance of Pastoral Call

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barclay, William. The Acts of the Apostles. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1976.

Coleman, Robert. The Master Plan of Discipleship. New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1928.

Gordon, MacDonald. God's Calling Plan: So what exactly is a "call to ministry"?. Volume XXIV, 2003.

Greim, Janny. Called, Appointed, Annointed. London: Harrison House Publishers, 1999.

Holderness, Jackie. Career and Calling. Grand Rapids: Geneva Press, 2001

Kelly, P John. Anointed for Calling. Grand Rapids: Ministryhouse Publishing, 2004

McDowell, Josh. Youth in Crisis Resource: Vocational Issues. Philadelphia: W Publishing Group, 1996.

Interview with Dunnam, Maxie. Helping Others Answer the Call. Volume XXIV, 2003.

Reed, Eric and Hansen Collin. How Pastors Rate as Leaders. Volume XXIV, 2003.

Willimon, William. Calling and Character. Illinois: Abingdon Press, 2000.

Witherington, Ben. The Acts of the Apostles: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1998.

Introduction

Over this past semester we have been discussing the significance of the pastoral call and I have found it very fascinating because it is relevant to me. The reason that I decided to choose the topic on the significance of the pastoral call is because this is a subject that interests me the most. Recently I have been battling with how to determine God's will. I have decided to approach the significance of a call as a youth pastors perspective. I have chosen this perspective because I am in the youth ministry program and work as a pastor. Along with this perspective I take a look at the life of Paul as he deals with training and sensitivity to the significance of his calling. After reading and learning from resources about knowing God's will, choosing a ministry or career, and choosing a college it is my goal and hope to apply these counseling strategies to my ministry.

Knowing God's Will

The first time I came across the problem of knowing God's will was when I was an adolescent so I turned to Josh McDowell book. He wrote a counseling guide to youth and a topic on vocational issues explains that the main reason why there is a problem with discerning God's will is because during the adolescents stage there is the most pressure of what to do in life. I do agree with the pressure that adolescents face but I also think that there are many other issues that come along with not knowing being able to discern God's will.

That is when the causes of not discerning God's will are mentioned. Realizing that God does have a will for everyone is important to understand and it is said that it starts with the parents to teach their children this at a young age. I am reminded of Deuteronomy 6:5-9 which says,

Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

I write this scripture because it is absolutely crucial for us to remember this when we teach parents. We need to be living this out every single day. This can not be emphasized enough in our churches.

McDowell writes that God does not play games with our lives and that God wants to graciously give us things yet I am reminded of the majority of the book of Job in the Bible. I know that God was not playing a game with Job but he was merely testing him. We have to understand that God chooses to give and takes away as he desires. I believe that it is important to teach adolescents that God's will for our lives is the only way and in the end it is the only thing that matters.

He goes on describing how some may only want to do a part of God's will and therefore will never really understand God's will at all. The suitable attitude is to approach God's will with open arms and accept all of God's will for ones life. Only if this attitude is obtained, God will choose to reveal his will.

In the Biblical perspective of God's will there are two sections in how God's will is. The first is God's universal will for an individual. The universal will of God is basically a set will for everyone. A specific will is of course more specific to the individual and will vary in the decisions that are made.

The next part to these categories is the problem that I have. McDowell gives a four step process to how God can specifically relate to the one who is seeking. 1) The foundation of scripture. 2) Consistently praying. 3) To seek spiritual counseling through the process. 4) Be aware of the circumstances that the person is in. Although I do not completely disagree with McDowell on this four step process (because I think these are

All important qualities to strive for when discerning God's will) my problem is that it seems to be put into a box. If one follows these four simple steps - God's will be revealed.

To be honest, in my personal opinion it is not this easy. I think we need to not be afraid to teach to adolescents that determining God's will is not going to be simple. And that if one follows the four step process it is possible that God will not reveal his will to them. Along with this we must stress that it takes patience. God may not reveal his will that day, week, month, year, or decade. I think the purpose is to wait on God.

Choosing a Ministry or Career

Some of the causes of difficulty in choosing a ministry or career listed by Gordon MacDonald who wrote a journal on a call to ministry are the family pressures, the influence of society pressures, the circumstances we face, our past performances, our personality type, interests and abilities, what we value, and even where we stand theologically.

The reason why there are all these causes for