02-13-22 The call of God or indigestion!

Scripture      Ephesians 4:11-16

   So, Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors, and teachers, ¹² to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

¹⁴ Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. ¹⁵ Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. ¹⁶ From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

          This is a stunning idea. A description of the leadership of the church, the members of the church and the maturity of the church. It is stunning because it is not describing a single local church, it is describing how Paul saw the church growing throughout space and time. Over more than 2000 years and reaching nearly every inch of the globe. How could any organization fulfill that? It can’t! But the church is not an organization, it is a living dynamic organism, just as our bodies are. And it dramatically changes over time. Is your body the same as it was 20 years ago? Some are better, some are worse. So too, some parts of the body of Christ are better than they were 2000 years ago, and some parts are worse.
          Because Kim and my children have dedicated most of our lives to my call (our call) to full-time vocational ministry, and because of alarming statistics combined with what I have observed among clergy colleagues, and because of my new work of assisting other churches find pastoral leadership, I want to speak to that part of this text that talks about called vocational leadership in the church and what that means for you.
          Let’s state the problem. Let’s look at some solutions. Let’s hear from several people in full-time ministry. And finally, let’s see what this means for all of us.

 

From the time I was in seminary in the early 80’s I have seen people struggle with the call to ministry. Kim and I were astounded at how many young married men in seminary dropped out or found themselves in a constant debate between ministry and family as so many wives wanted little to nothing to do with their husbands seeking full time ministry. I have seen that struggle often since seminary as well.  Unless you are single, a call to full-time vocational ministry is never for one person in a marital relationship. I was called to pastoral ministry and Kim was called to be a pastor’s wife. They were individual calls that had to parallel one another if that call was to be fully realized. The spouse of a pastor (husband if the pastor is the wife) does not have the same calling but must have their own sense of call from God or they will be a miserable person indeed.
The reason I said young married men is because I do not remember any of the females in seminary who were married at the time. I saw call struggles their as well. I struggled to see the women I went to seminary with actually pastoring a church because most seemed to carry a huge chip on their shoulders feeling they had to prove something more – in their position I would have likely felt the same way. The problem was that caused a conflict with a call to ministry. Once out of seminary I worked with several female pastors who did not have that chip on their shoulder and were as confident in their call as any man and they didn’t have to prove anything because they walked in a humble confidence that God had called them into ministry.
There are several things that can cause a struggle for a clear call to ministry. Financially, pastors are paid less than their educational equals. The former minimum education requirement was 7 years of college with a bachelor’s degree followed by a Master’s of divinity degree followed by an arduous ordination process. Then and only then could you have been considered for a full time ministry position. Anyone have a clue as to how much 7 years of full time college costs while you are working as a part time youth pastor or a restaurant server?
There are other struggles with a call to ministry like each persons own moral failures. There are pastors who would like you to think they are squeaky clean but we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
Some people believe they are called to ministry when in reality they are trying to escape working in a secular job or are fulfilling expectations because my dad and grandpa were preachers. Many are not theologically or practically prepared for ministry. One 30-something pastor said it this way: “I had this idea that I would have all this free time and short work weeks. Ministry seemed like a piece of cake compared to the world I was coming from. I couldn’t have been more wrong. It is unbelievably demanding. I am on call 24-hours a day whether I admit it or not.”
Pastoral and other forms of vocational ministry can be the most rewarding of any job in the world. When you see lives changed for the better, your church being a positive influence in the community, people destined for hell finding forgiveness of sins and eternal life in Jesus Christ can’t be compared to any other vocation. In our church we have 3 former pastors (Gary, Merry, Pete) and families with pastors in them (Camick’s Harris’s). They understand first hand the struggles and many joys of vocational ministry. The reality is, many pastors don’t experience those things enough compared to the negatives.
Newly Revised Statistics

• 84% of pastors feel they are on call 24/7.

• 80% believe pastoral ministry has negatively affected their families. Many pastor's children do not attend church now because of what the church has done to their parents.

• 65% of pastors feel their family lives in a "glass house" and fear they are not good enough to meet expectations.

• 78% of pastors report having their vacation and personal time interrupted with ministry duties or expectations.

• 28% of pastors report having feelings of guilt for taking personal time off and not telling the church.

• 66% of church members expect a minister and family to live at a higher moral standard than themselves.

• 90% of pastors report the ministry was completely different than what they thought it would be like before they entered the ministry.

• 85% of pastors report the use of the internet and other resources have improved their study time compared to when they first started their ministry.

• 50% of pastors state they spend 1 hour in prayer each day.

• 57% of pastors believe they do not receive a livable wage.

• 75% of pastors report significant stress-related crisis at least once in their ministry.

• 54% of pastors find the role of a pastor overwhelming.

• 40% report serious conflict with a parishioner at least once in the last year.

• 80% of pastors expect conflict within their church.

• 35% of pastors battle depression or fear of inadequacy.

• 28% of pastors report they are spiritually undernourished.

• Over 50% of pastors state the biggest challenge is to recruit volunteers and encourage their members to change (living closer to God's Word).

• 70% of pastors report they have a lower self-image now than when they first started.

• 57% of pastors feel fulfilled but yet discouraged, stressed, and fatigued. 

• Over 50% of pastors are unhealthy, overweight, and do not exercise.

• The profession of “Pastor” is near the bottom of a survey of the most-respected professions, just above “car salesman”.

• Many denominations are reporting an "Empty Pulpit Crisis".

• Only 1 out of every 10 pastors will actually retire as a pastor. 

      Improvements:

• 250 pastor’s a month leave the pastorate, many without giving a cause. That number is much lower than it was 10 years ago, but there are now a lower % of pastors currently in the vocation.

• 73% of churches are treating their pastors better.  This statistic has improved due to the advent of clergy appreciation, better education on the role of the pastor, and denominational awareness to better supporting their pastors.

• 77% of pastors, especially millennials are spending 20 or more hours with their families each week.

• 90% of pastors feel they are called and in the place where God has called them.

Having said all this, why would we want to encourage anyone to consider full-time vocational ministry? Simple – Jesus and his church are still God’s answer for the world’s struggles, and the church needs qualified called leadership now and in the future.
Let’s hear from a few people who have been called into vocational ministry – our former pastor followed by some other local church and ministry leaders.
VIDEO: “Call to Ministry”
 

           What does this have to do with you? Let’s look at the first part of the text again:
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 
apostles,      Person sent to share the message of Christ.
prophets,    Person inspired by the Holy Spirit to reveal God’s Word to others.
evangelists, Person intentionally sharing the gospel for the outcome of salvation.
pastors,       Person who shepherds – cares for – a local congregation.
teachers,     Person who accurately handles the word of truth and imparts it to others.
          Today, all five of those are functions of the local church pastor. That does not mean the pastor is the only one who does those things but is the one person who is responsible for all those things which means the church needs to pray for their pastor A LOT because that is a heavy burden and you want your pastor to be invigorated by the Spirit of God in all 5 areas of ministry. Why? So that your pastor can:
¹² equip God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
           My call is to elevate Christ and His word. Your call is to receive that and elevate the body of Christ to unity in faith, knowledge of Jesus, and become mature attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.  That’s all! So simple! We share in the highest calling on earth. To be all that God designed us to be from the moment of creation. Therefore we mutually build each other up to honor God by becoming all He has designed us to be.
 

           We must pray for our day and the future of the church that young men and women will hear and respond to God’s call to full-time vocational ministry. What if no one had been praying when Adoniram Judson received His call form God? You will hear much more about him during this year because he epitomizes our new theme.

When Adoniram Judson graduated from college and seminary, he received a call from a fashionable church in Boston to become its assistant pastor. Everyone congratulated him. His mother and sister rejoiced that he could live at home with them and do his life work, but Judson shook his head. “My work is not here,” he said. “God is calling me beyond the seas. To stay here, even to serve God in His ministry, I feel would be only partial obedience, and I could not be happy in that.” Although it cost him a great struggle, he left mother and sister to follow the heavenly call.
Judson’s churches in Burma have had fifty thousand converts, and the influence of his consecrated life is felt around the world.