Calling

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October 11, 2008

Leadership

I often wonder how different my own ministry would have been had someone introduced me early to a dynamic sense of call. My call at age 13 was sudden and powerful, and it thrust me on a trajectory that would shape much of my future. During my mid-forties, however, I began to lose momentum. Pastoring became a dreaded duty, and I soon insulated myself from my congregants’ needs and support. I eventually exited church ministry.

I now realize that what failed me was the very catalyst that had propelled me into ministry in the first place—my call. My childhood church had affirmed and even celebrated my call, but they didn’t know they also could have helped me put an ongoing vitality into my call.

Aiming to support a young person who announces a call to ministry, most congregations offer enthusiastic congratulations and affirmation. At The Pastors Institute, however, we are learning that a congregation’s most vital role may be in helping to shape the call. How a person understands a “call” in its most formative stages could determine its long term value.

In our work, we have listened to many former pastors tell their stories, stories that were accounts of their chronic struggles with their call. Many have told of chronic guilt feelings over not being able to successfully complete their divine mission. We were able to expand our insight into this phenomenon by comparing six studies on why men and women exit pastoral ministry. Individual attrition studies named predictable causes. Unmanaged conflict, a lack of self-care, chronic feelings of isolation and the loss of a personal identity were recurring themes.

Only after we overlaid the six studies did we discover a root source of pastoral attrition. One of the major factors contributing to pastors exiting career ministry is, ironically, also the catalyst for entering pastoral ministry in the first place—their call.

Our final report to the Louisville Institute, who funded our study, gave collective voice to many of the thousands of former pastors who had participated:

“This may be the most important thing we need to tell you, but it also is the most difficult. Our ministry began with a call—for some mystical, for others an awareness formed by time and circumstances. We felt we were affirmed, encouraged, educated and empowered by the church and its institutions. However, we were not led into times of evaluating and understanding our call. We did not realize that our call should not only be validated and reaffirmed but also continually redefined. It was what it was, a trophy on the shelf, and that seemed good enough for us, our families and the church.

Our imagination was cradled in naiveté and disproportionate zeal. Our call was absent of a setting and a future that would reconstruct it. Our imagination was not reality, and we became confused about our role.”

The metaphor, “trophy on the shelf,” opened our imagination and we began to ask new questions. Within a few months, we embarked on a new project in which we invited men and women currently in ministry to describe their call. The results of the personal interviews, questionnaires and focus groups clearly showed that a call to pastoral ministry often takes one of at least two forms: static or dynamic.

Many of the participating pastors described their call as a past event. Whether the awareness of their call had been a sudden revelation or a growing process, their call was the force that had put them on a trajectory toward a ministry career.

Following ordination, however, their call became static and lost much of its value. It became a trophy on the shelf, a silent reminder of a driving force that had thrust them into pastoral ministry, a thrust that for many was losing momentum. Further, their self worth was largely determined by the degree they felt their congregations valued their efforts and proficiencies. Because their call was a personal experience, these pastors drew clear distinctions between themselves and the laity. Many of these pastors seemed lonely, competitive and sometimes combative.

Others, however, described their call as a narrative still being written. It had its birth moment, but its focus was on the present and, even more so, the future. These pastors could more easily imagine what the church could become. Their dynamic calls were more than anything else like an ongoing romance with ministry. Being a pastor was an adventure.

Equally important, the focus of ministry for many of these was empowering laity to discover their own calling and enabling them to have purpose in their homes and workplaces. They realized both the value of a “pastoral-presence” and the importance of modeling the Christian graces. They spoke of ministry in relational terms, and they felt a strong connection with their church.

The value of their call had not diminished. It had, in fact, evolved into becoming a renewable source of energy. Their call was dynamic, continuously being re-shaped by the context of the church and community they served.

The results of this study, I think, stand as an invitation to congregations in their work of cultivating calls to pastoral ministry. Our experience at the Pastors Institute and my own hard-won experience in ministry leads me to describe dynamic call in this way:

1. The dynamic call speaks from the future. It is not a push in the back. It is an alluring mystery, an unconsumed burning bush calling to be explored. In contrast, the static call is a template into which ministry must be fitted.
2. A dynamic call fits itself into the current contexts of the pastor and the congregation. It speaks in relevant terms.
3. The dynamic call is born in community. Just as romantic love evolves out of the experiences of dating, sharing values and ideas, and learning the other’s past, so the call to ministry develops often unnoticed out of congregational experiences.
4. The dynamic call is a call to serve the church. It yearns to migrate back to its birth place and to “feed the sheep.”
5. The dynamic call is character based. Pastoral ministry requires certain skills, but their effectiveness is largely determined by the pastor’s character. An appetite for the practices of spiritual formation is embedded in the dynamic call. A dynamic call generates a readiness to extend grace and a willingness to be present when needed.
6. The dynamic call is sustained by an imagination. Pastors must nurture their call with an ongoing vision of a transformed congregation discovering effective ways of bringing justice and compassion to their communities.

Congregants committed to guiding their future pastors into the discovery of a dynamic call must themselves intentionally develop and model genuine vitality. The hallmarks of churches with a “culture of call” reflect adaptability, dynamism and hospitality to the emerging generation. That vitality emerges, in part, from a leader’s encouragement of the vocation of everyone in the congregation—encouragement that includes an insight into the gifts of older adults, especially where they interact with young people in the congregation.

This way of nurturing call is infectious. The young men and women entering pastoral ministry who have discovered and developed a dynamic call will empower their laity to experience new life through a collective vision for the church. As their congregations realize their place in the Body of Christ, they will form a climate in which dynamic calls to ministry are born and nourished.