'A Call'
As a young child in primary school I decided I wanted a job
where I could be a Christian and help people.
At 11 or 12 years old I didn’t know what that looked like. I wanted to be a youth leader and go to local
schools and connect with the students that no one liked to hang out with. I was a child who would befriend the
outcast. I found these people so
interesting. They had stories of
terrible situations, but they also thought a lot. I loved offering advice to them and sharing
my love with these friends.
By the time I was in high school I knew I was going to
dedicate my life to connecting people and drawing the lonely and fringe people
together. I started a prayer group in my
high school and spent a lot of time campaigning for a chaplain to be in the school
because I knew chaplains were the connections to the church in a secular
community.
I started a social work degree after school, but during the
first year I felt unsettled and like I needed to explore the opportunities of
ministry further rather than looking at social work. I found that social work let me help people,
but it didn’t provide a way for me to connect the unchurched to the church.
I know God has called me to a life of ministry. I love interacting with people and bringing
community together. My heart is to see
people like those I befriended all through school to come to know the love of
God because of the community they are included into. I know I am called to ministry because every
day when I wake up I have an overwhelming feeling in my heart that there is opportunity
to shine the light of Christ in the places I go. Even when I have difficult days, I keep
coming back to the knowledge that God has called me to love the people around
me for my whole life.
What does it actually mean to feel a sense of calling? Is
calling a distinctly Christian thing that involves ministry and missionary work
or can you be called to be a retail worker or business person in a secular
field?
To be called to something implies that there is someone
doing the calling. This makes the idea
of calling a distinctly Christian one because it is God who does the
calling. Does God just do the calling or
is there a purpose and vocation for each person and is that always something
God gives? Or is that all the same
thing? What does following a call to ministry look like in the Uniting Church
in Australia look like? What in the heritage and theology of the UCA has shaped
what people understand when considering their call?
The Basis of Union is a document which has helped shape and
guide the Uniting Church in Australia in its formation and the foundation of
how it operates as a church 40 years later, taking into account the heritage,
theology and polity of the uniting churches (that is the Presbyterian,
Congregational and Methodist churches).
The reformed tradition from the Presbyterian and
Congregational churches that the UCA is from had a process towards a call to
ministry which focussed around a personal conviction paired with a public
process. Many young people were training
theologically at a young age if they showed academic potential they were given
the opportunity to be selected. The
placement of a candidate focussed a lot on a call which the candidate felt to a
particular place however the sense of call was a more outward process involving
the whole church rather than the individuals call to a place. The Methodist tradition selected candidates
more on their inner sense of call, however it seemed that they encouraged you
to “resist this call as long as you can” and candidates were warned by
well-meaning members to “not let them (the process) change you”. There was an understanding in the Methodist
tradition that you were expected to go where you were sent for placement and
those placements were by appointment rather than by discerning a call of the
individual. When this reformed tradition and the Methodist tradition came
together to form the Uniting Church in Australia, it created a hybrid of
processes and values to understand and become the process of call to ministry
and ordination.
The Uniting Church believes that everyone is called to the
mission of Christ and tries to give opportunities for all people, young and old
to participate in the church as they realise and act out of their God given
calling. The Basis of Union time and
time again talks about how members express a call to the mission of God,
whether that be in lay ministry or through the process of ordination.
Paragraph 7 of the Basis of Union refers to baptism. It says that “Baptism into Christ’s body initiates people into Christ’s life and
mission in the world, so that they are united in one fellowship of love,
service, suffering and joy, in one family of the Father of all in heaven and
earth, and in the power of the one Spirit.” It is in our baptism that we are united with
Christ and with that comes the responsibility to use the gifts and skills given
to us to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ. Paragraph 8 talks about how the participation
of members in the act of Holy Communion reminds us of the inheritance we have
in the life, faith and service of the church through the gifts and power which
Christ gave to us. We, as baptised
members are encouraged to participate in our part of the mission of Christ in
the world.
Paragraph 13 in the Basis of Union is all about gifts and
ministries of every member of the church.
It says that the Uniting Church “acknowledges
with thanksgiving that the one Spirit has endowed the members of Christ’s
Church with a diversity of gifts, and that there is no gift without its
corresponding service: all ministries have a part in the ministry of Christ.” This
part of the Uniting Church in Australia’s founding document encourages members
to use the gifts and skills they have to serve for the ministry of Christ. I think the ministry of Christ is bigger than
a congregation; it is bigger than the hospitality roster for your Sunday
service. The ministry of Christ is a
lifestyle that needs to be revealed to all people in the world. Each member with their gifts can use what
they have to serve Christ in their part of the world, for some people that
might mean a local congregation, for others it might be a sporting club, an
office or a school yard.
Ordination and specified ministries are a particular kind of
calling. While being called to the
responsibilities of a minister, deacon, pastor or lay preacher among others, is
important the role of lay people in secular focussed roles is important for the
mission of Christ being spread in the world.
Paragraph 14 is specifically about the role of people called to
specified ministries within the church however the Basis of Union states that “The Uniting Church recognises that the type
and duration of ministries to which women and men are called vary from time to
time and place to place, and that in particular it comes into being in a period
of reconsideration of traditional forms of the ministry, and of renewed
participation of all the people of God in the preaching of the Word, the
administration of the sacraments, the building up of the fellowship in mutual
love, in commitment to Christ’s mission, and in service of the world for which
he died.” It’s in the
reconsideration of traditional forms of ministry that we see fresh ideas for
ministry and in which the Uniting Church acknowledges and encourages all people
to use the gifts they have to serve Christ in the world.
The encouragement that the Uniting Church belongs to the
people of God who are on their way is an affirmation that God is constantly
moving and using its people for a more fuller expression of worship, witness
and service for the mission of Christ in our world. This encouragement is found in Paragraph 18
and brings life to the Basis of Union as a document which was helpful 40 years
ago and is still relevant now.
One of the parts of the Basis of Union which gives me hope
and encourages me is in paragraph 11 where it says “It prays that it may be ready when the occasion demands to confess the
Lord in fresh words and deeds.” I
like it because it encourages me to be part of Church which is constantly
learning, growing and looking for new ways to engage with God and the world
around. It makes me wonder what the
“fresh words and deeds” are that I could engage with in my local community and
ministry into the future. If the
Uniting Church is serious about being a pilgrim people, always on the way, I
think it means we have to be serious about finding ways to confess the Gospel
of Jesus in fresh words and deeds. I
wonder what that means for those how are seeking to understand their sense of
call for ministry. Because I wonder if a
call to ministry is going to look different as we express the fresh words and
deeds we could hare with the world in our influence. Maybe understanding your call means less
about fitting into the process of what has always been but is more about
finding fresh expressions of the gospel and fresh opportunities to confess that
gospel to a world who so needs to hear it.
Each individual has a responsibility as a Christ follower to
use the gifts and skills they have to participate in the mission of Christ in
our world. Participating in the mission
of Christ with the gifts and skills they have is where calling comes into question. How and what each member does to participate
in the mission of Christ is what their calling is. It might not involve ministry in the church,
but that doesn’t mean your calling isn’t Christian and your calling isn’t what
God has called you too.
So as you consider your own calling some questions to ponder
are; what gifts and skills do you have to give? Where and who does your heart
beat faster for? What fresh ways can you express the gospel of Jesus Christ
into the world around you?
As you work to discern the answers for these questions, do
that in relationship with others. Having
a mentor and older, wiser people around you who can listen and discern with you
the calling you are feeling is so important as you grow and develop and discern
your calling. Take the time to reflect
and discern, don’t rush into any decision and ask others around you who know
you well to discern the decisions with you.
In the Uniting Church this could be done through a formal process known
as a Period of Discernment (PoD). Overall,
I don’t think calling is something you work out then move on in life. Calling is something that gets refined more
and more as you take the time to discern.
Calling is something that can be for a season and a place, but calling
isn’t something to take lightly. God
calls and God equips. There is hope in
the knowledge that all Christ followers are called to serve the mission of
Christ in our world and the Holy Spirit equips all people with corresponding
gifts and skills to live out that calling in their part of the world. To whatever God is calling you to now and
into the future, may you go about that calling passionately and with confidence
that God is with you wherever you go.
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