God's Calling, Licensure and Ordination

God Does the Calling and Appointing1 First things First. God called you, not a man or a woman-or a congregation. Therefore, you are to walk in God's calling regardless of the human responses to your calling. Your calling and commissioning or ordination is different. Your calling is preordained (God's plan of salvation and the tools of salvation (offices and gifts) were done before creation.) Just because your calling may include the process of commissioning and/or ordination does not make your calling the same thing as your commissioning and ordination. One's Calling Is Different from One's Readiness. Second, your calling and your preparation are different. Jesus called the twelve, but they were not ready to fulfill all of their duties until 3 years later after substantial training and teaching on the part of our Master. Their responsibilities were phased in--so to speak--as is the practice in medicine and in the trades with their apprenticeships. The Point: You can be called, but unprepared and ill equipped. You may have the call and may have been preordained for the call, but you also may not have acquired the skills and knowledge sufficiently to fulfill that call right now. So again, your calling and preparation for fulfilling the call can be years and decades apart. (Remember the story of David, Jeremiah and John the Baptist. Their call story and the investiture of that call were years apart. Some of us take longer to train and grow up than others.) Calling Does Not Equal Spiritual or Emotional Maturity Third, your calling does not equal spiritual maturity. We all know ministers who lack evidence of the Fruit of the Spirit articulated in Gal. 5:22-26 and the gifts of the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12-13 where the greatest gifts are listed as faith, hope and love. Nor is your maturity tied to your biological age. Your spiritual maturity is evidenced by what you demonstrate in your relational and social areas of life. You cannot be spiritual mature (showing patience, kindness, gentleness, etc.) when relationally and emotionally you demonstrate impatience, harshness, curtness, and mental or physical violence or passive aggressiveness. Another evidence of spiritual maturity is seen in your teaching. The Scripture says a mature person is able to successfully defend and teach the faith. There is also a content requirement (1 Thessalonians 4:11-2; 1 John 1:5-10; 2:15-17; 3:18-20; 4:1-5:21; Matthew 28:18-20; 2 Timothy 2:24; Titus 1:8-11; 1 Peter 3:15-16; 2 Peter 3:8-10 (Cf. Numbers 1:53); Hebrews 5:11-6:3.) Even if you can "Whoop and Holler" and get folks dancing in the pews, you still may not be ready to fulfill a faithful and God pleasing pastorate because you cannot teach others and defend both the deep and the simple truths of the faith. Just because some have fulfilled their calling while being spiritual immature and ill equipped in ages past and they evidenced God's blessings for their efforts doesn't mean that you can do likewise and presume on God's grace. The exception to God's explicit commands is still the exception and not the rule. Just because someone else jumped the gun, doesn't give us the right to do so. You may be able to preach, but fulfilling the pastoral office is larger than preaching. One must be called, but one must also be prepared, trained and skilled in several tasks and responsibilities. In addition, one must be spiritually, emotionally and relationally mature. (If you need more fleshing out on this topic, see the following resources (1) The Emotionally Healthy Church; (2) More Jesus, Less Religion: Moving from Rule to Relationship; (3) Healthy Congregations; (6) Five Signs of a Loving Family; (7) 12 Christian Beliefs That Can Drive You Crazy.) Community and Accountability This brings us to community and tradition. Not only does the fruit of the Spirit involves learning how to interact with the saints on a mature level, but it also reflects a need for a communal rather than an individualistic, egoistic and narcissistic context. A mature person who has the Fruit of the Spirit understands that he or she does not have all of the gifts of the Spirit. Those gifts are distributed to the church universal and among persons in the congregations. They are given for the uplifting of the community, not just for the uplifting of an individual. (E.g., see 1 Cor. 12 and 13 and Col. 2:16 ff.) We are all dependent upon God and we are all interdependent with one another. (This is different from being co-dependent and immature.) Mature individuals are able to bring and use their gifts within community. They are able to use faithfully and diligently their gifts--not for their glory or for their own ego needs--as Christ faithfully and diligently lived his life and fulfilled his mission for the glory of God and in service to others. Consequently, we are able to fulfill our calling and giftedness not because we are better than someone else or because we are needed, but because we seek to fulfill our calling to the glory of God. (Alternatively, as our grandparents use to say, "One monkey don't stop no show".) We must learn that competence does not equal competitiveness. If we fail to use our gifts and to fulfill our calling, God will raise up another. God chooses to use us; God does not need us. We are, therefore, humbled before God and before the community of God. That humbleness, then, allows us to see our calling and giftedness in relation to God's community as the means for fulfilling God's will over and against our own wills and our own plans, and including our own personal call. Calling, Spiritual Maturity and Godly Preparation or Preparedness is in Direct Opposition to Meritocracy. A mature understanding of our calling and giftedness provides answers to several questions: 1. If I am not the best at something or one of the best or the best that someone or some group can get, why should anyone or that group want to use me? 2. If I am not the best at something or one of the best or the best that someone or some group can get, why should I want to discharge my giftedness and fulfill those responsibilities? Just because I am called, prepared, and skilled does not mean that I necessarily excel in those gifts and responsibility above others. I may be prepared and have the prerequisite skills and experiences, but I may also find myself to be less skilled, gifted and polished than others in my community, group or congregation. My calling and preparation doesn't mean that I am the best at what I do or that I am better than those around me. (Most of your congregation may be better equipped and gifted. But this is usually not the case.) It simply means that God has chosen to call me and use me. Think of it this way. You can be the head chief of a five star hotel with persons who are more gifted than you. Their performance is a plus to the hotel and to the whole team including you. Or you can be in command of a battalion where everyone under you are better physical specimens, are more mentally astute, and more accomplished. This is a plus when you engage the enemy if you are humble enough to take their advice. (The President and Commander-in-Chief is in the exact same predicament. If the President of the United States can be Command-in-Chief without any military experience at all, then you can be God's shepherd having only God's minimal spiritual qualifications.) Yes, God wants us to have and will ensure that we have the minimal competence, preparedness, and skill-sets to fulfill God's calling and to use God's gifts, but this doesn't mean that I have to be the best preacher, teacher, apologists, counselor, etc. to be called as pastor or minister. I just have to be competent and faithful. Sometimes God chooses the least in the eyes of the world to show forth God's glory and power. Christ is God's Power and Wisdom--1 Co 1:18-31 (Cf. Philippians 2:5-11) 18 The message about the cross doesn't make any sense to lost people. But for those of us who are being saved, it is God's power at work. 19 As God says in the Scriptures, "I will destroy the wisdom of all who claim to be wise. I will confuse those who think they know so much." 20 What happened to those wise people? What happened to those experts in the Scriptures? What happened to the ones who think they have all the answers? Didn't God show that the wisdom of this world is foolish? 21 God was wise and decided not to let the people of this world use their wisdom to learn about him. Instead, God chose to save only those who believe the foolish message we preach. 22 Jews ask for miracles, and Greeks want something that sounds wise. 23 But we preach that Christ was nailed to a cross. Most Jews have problems with this, and most Gentiles think it is foolish. 24 Our message is God's power and wisdom for the Jews and the Greeks that he has chosen. 25 Even when God is foolish, he is wiser than everyone else, and even when God is weak, he is stronger than everyone else. 26 My dear friends, remember what you were when God chose you. The people of this world didn't think that many of you were wise. Only a few of you were in places of power, and not many of you came from important families. 27 But God chose the foolish things of this world to put the wise to shame. He chose the weak things of this world to put the powerful to shame. 28 What the world thinks is worthless, useless, and nothing at all is what God has used to destroy what the world considers important. 29 God did all this to keep anyone from bragging to him. 30 You are God's children. He sent Christ Jesus to save us and to make us wise, acceptable, and holy. 31 So if you want to brag, do what the Scriptures say and brag about the Lord. (CEV) Others may be better preachers, better counselors, better teachers, better mentors, but our worth or calling is not tied to merit or talent or skills. It is tied to our calling and our faithfulness for the up building of God's church, God's people. We must learn to reject the Western attitude of meritocracy as being determinative of one's calling. Our divine calling and our faithfulness and fidelity to God and God's teaching as presented in Scripture are how we should judge our success. We don't judge our success by judging our abilities, giftedness, and skills against others in the church or congregation. We don't have to have superior skills and gifts in comparison to other mature Christians in our congregations. We don't have to be the local expert. We only have to be faithful to God and be diligent in our responsibilities. Bringing It Home: Commissioned and Ordination are Not Signs of Giftedness or Calling In summary, the short version is that your commissioning accords you all of the rights and privileges of the clergy office-period. You do not have less rights and privileges than an ordain minister, except for the right to circulate your papers nationally. Now each of those designations are based on levels of preparedness and accountability-not just preparedness or knowledge or skills alone. The operative words are accountability, i.e., community. Commissioned ministers will usually have had less accountable preparation and skill testing than Ordained. The ordained ministers will usually have more levels of accountable preparation and more levels of accountability-read formal schooling and accountability with one of our denomination's seminaries. Our system is more like that of the medical field. Once you graduate from Medical School with your M.D or D.O., you can honestly present yourself as a medical doctor. However, this does not entitle you to practice your trade. You still must receive your medical license. You must be accountable to one of the State Boards and pass the licensing exam. (You are accountable to both your Medical School [for the purpose of obtaining a degree] and your State's Licensing Board [for the purpose of obtaining its permission to practice in their state.) For national recognition, physicians must pass an additional layer of examination, his or her General Boards. This usual means adding three years of additional schooling in order to pass the General examinations for Internal Medicine, Pediatric Medicine, Family Medicine or Obstetrics and Gynecology. If you want to be a specialist, this unusually requires another round of additional internships and residencies and passing the Specialty Board's examinations. (While this is considered meritorious in the Medical field, adding additional degrees and certification does not in God's sight make you a better minister.) As a commissioned minister, you are recognized as a minister in all respect except for the right for general "search and call" and your commission is for a particular location or congregation for a particular position or ministry. Once you move to another congregation, you must be re-commissioned for that congregation. This is because you have not been in an accountable relationship for the whole church, only the local and regional manifestation. The ordination process is for those who wish to enter into an accountable relationship with the general church and to have a portable sign of one's accountability that is recognized by all in the general church. This is the essences of the distinctions for commissioning and ordination. Why Different Levels and the Change from Congregational Accountability to General Church Accountability? Historically, we were like the Baptist churches, but the tragedy that surrounded Jim Jones, the People's Temple and Jonestown in Guyana changed all of that. It caused us to review our policies. (Our denominational and local church leaders were embarrassed that Jim Jones still held ordination as a Disciples of Christ pastor with all his rights and privileges intact on the day of his death.) Our justification was that (1) since the church is more than the local congregation and (2) since ministers are seen as having rights and responsibilities beyond that of the local congregation and (3) since they demanded and wanted general church recognition and rights and privileges that extended beyond that of the local congregations, it seemed reasonable to have ministers be in an accountability relationship with and be responsibility to all three manifestations: local, regional and general. There is nothing stopping a congregation from ordaining its own minister according to Disciples of Christ polity. The regional and general manifestations do not and will not recognize local congregational ordinations and will not try to stop a congregation from exercising that right. However, the minister will not have the rights and privileges of search and call, access to denominational healthcare and insurance benefits, admission and scholarships to denominational events, schools, and seminaries, and the right to vote at our regional and general assemblies. To secure those rights and privileges, a minister must be accountable to all three manifestations. (As an aside, we often include the fourth manifestation (the universal church) at the licensure and ordination services by having an ecumenical clergy person participate.) Accountability and connectedness among all of the manifestation is that for which we were aiming when we revised our order of ministry: commissioned and ordained. Recognition and Service You should make sure that you have the appropriate investiture service at your congregation. It should be the place where you will have your official robing and presentation of your commissioning certificate, your rod of authority (the Bible), and hymnal (use as a symbol of encouragement from and praise and worship to God). I would also perform the Biblical symbol of servitude (that is, the foot-washing of representative lay members). I will of course like to attend and participate as one of the congregants giving our amen to God's amen and your amen. 1 This was originally a response in letter form to someone who looked to me for insight and mentoring on an informal basis. I share this with the wider church for the same reason I wrote my original response. (See my title above.) --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ God's Calling, Commissioning and Ordination: Getting the Big Picture Copyright (c) 2009 and 2012 by Floyd Knight. All Rights Reserved. 6