Monday, August 07, 2006
Advice For Those Seeking Vocational Ministry
Last week, Milt Stanley looked at a Mere Comments piece about preparing for ministry by being educating in something else. I am going to use the same pull quote Milt did:
That the conflict of conscience the author mentions arises is undoubted, but there are deeper, and also more practical issues at play in this discussion. Needless to say, I have spent coutless hours reflecting on this, so I thought I'd share some of that.
Let's start with the practical stuff. Simply far fewer people are equipped with the genuine tools for vocational ministry than think they are so equipped. My father knew me better than I knew myself, which when one is 18-22 is not surprising, despite the extreme confidence to the contrary born of that youthfulness on my part. Another friend of mine, years in ministry, put it somewhat more succinctly as I joined Young Life staff. "John," he said, "nobody than can get straght f*^$in' A's in chemistry is cut out for this work." After I left Young Life, it took me a while to work up the guts to talk to that friend.
I blame the church for this phenomena. We do not present people seeking genuine maturity in their walk with the Lord a vision for that maturity other than seminary and vocational ministry. The iMonk hints at this problem in a post ont he culture wars when he says
Let's move a little deeper. Vocational ministry appeals to the insecure soul. It appears to grant one a sense of self-worth by virtue of position and granted authority. Even if your self-worth is good, it often contains the appearance of being one of the "in-crowd," of joining the club. When one finally reaches "the inside" one often discovers that such is not the case - that sense of security is not really present, for that is something we must cultivate for ourselves, apart from our vocation or location. Upon that discovery, one's perceived "calling" often fades. What a shame to have prepared yourself for a life that does not offer you what it is you actually sought. As my father said, "Save the ministry prep for graduate school."
I think the self discovery discussed in the preceding paragraph is often the source of the dillusionment described in the initiating post. You see, the church is a human institution - composed of sinners like myself - flawed, scarred, poorly motivated, SINFUL. She can be nothing else.
I think it important to remember that ministry, vocational or otherwise, is not a call to what I want, it is a call to what Christ wants. That means we will be at war with our own natures - fighting our own need for security, acceptance, authority, and at the same time fighting the great battle against sin in the world, carrying forth the power of Christ. Think about it, Christ put the call to ministry this way
Related Tags: ministry, vocational ministry, service to the church, disillusionment, calling, security
If a young man were to ask me how he should prepare for pastoral ministry, close to the top of my list of advice would be, "Get and maintain--especially if you plan to marry and have children, and are not of independent means--a skill for which there is a ready market, for which you could leave the pastorate and quickly begin to support your family." I am deadly serious about this.My father gave me the very same advice, albeit for different reasons, as I entered college. Maybe that is being kind - he enforced that advice as a consequence of his payment for my undergraduate education, and with the benefit of some 30 years hindsight, he has been proven a truly wise man in this regard.
I say this because I am convinced that doing the right thing in a great many churches will place one in a struggle where one's livelihood is in immediate jeopardy, and that the normal result of the confrontation is the pastor's capitulation to some wickedness or foolishness to save his job and feed his family. The conscience is thereby defiled, and the compromised pastor becomes a dressing for some ecclesial disease-clean white gauze on its outside, the inside absorbing the suppurations of a festering sore which will not heal because it refuses to receive the treatment it needs. Such dressings are frequently, of necessity, torn off and thrown away.
That the conflict of conscience the author mentions arises is undoubted, but there are deeper, and also more practical issues at play in this discussion. Needless to say, I have spent coutless hours reflecting on this, so I thought I'd share some of that.
Let's start with the practical stuff. Simply far fewer people are equipped with the genuine tools for vocational ministry than think they are so equipped. My father knew me better than I knew myself, which when one is 18-22 is not surprising, despite the extreme confidence to the contrary born of that youthfulness on my part. Another friend of mine, years in ministry, put it somewhat more succinctly as I joined Young Life staff. "John," he said, "nobody than can get straght f*^$in' A's in chemistry is cut out for this work." After I left Young Life, it took me a while to work up the guts to talk to that friend.
I blame the church for this phenomena. We do not present people seeking genuine maturity in their walk with the Lord a vision for that maturity other than seminary and vocational ministry. The iMonk hints at this problem in a post ont he culture wars when he says
This situation doesn't happen because evangelicals know how to spiritually form disciples. It happens because we are largely unable to decide what it means to be spiritually formed or even how to get there. (HT: Sheep's Crib)In my own case I wanted genuine spirtual formation, which includes ministry of some form, and vocational ministry was the only path I could see. It is also fair to say that the path I have taken since has been one that I have had to blaze through a nearly uncharted wilderness.
Let's move a little deeper. Vocational ministry appeals to the insecure soul. It appears to grant one a sense of self-worth by virtue of position and granted authority. Even if your self-worth is good, it often contains the appearance of being one of the "in-crowd," of joining the club. When one finally reaches "the inside" one often discovers that such is not the case - that sense of security is not really present, for that is something we must cultivate for ourselves, apart from our vocation or location. Upon that discovery, one's perceived "calling" often fades. What a shame to have prepared yourself for a life that does not offer you what it is you actually sought. As my father said, "Save the ministry prep for graduate school."
I think the self discovery discussed in the preceding paragraph is often the source of the dillusionment described in the initiating post. You see, the church is a human institution - composed of sinners like myself - flawed, scarred, poorly motivated, SINFUL. She can be nothing else.
I think it important to remember that ministry, vocational or otherwise, is not a call to what I want, it is a call to what Christ wants. That means we will be at war with our own natures - fighting our own need for security, acceptance, authority, and at the same time fighting the great battle against sin in the world, carrying forth the power of Christ. Think about it, Christ put the call to ministry this way
Matt 16:24 - Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.Sounds like a pretty unpleasant experience to me, one that will leave us bloody, scarred, even dead.
Related Tags: ministry, vocational ministry, service to the church, disillusionment, calling, security
