When Our General Calling and Our Special Calling “Kick In”

Our General Calling begins the moment we become a Christian. When our Special Calling begins is not so easy to figure out. Someone may be aware of their Special Calling when they are very young or they may not discover it until they are much older.

God’s Special Calling forces us to leave the ranks of the volunteers, even the most motivated of volunteers, and join the ranks of the servants. And obviously God has a Special Calling for those who pursue ministries other than the ministries where people get paid. I talked to a pastor this week who said to me when asked what he was good at... "Well I am really good at all my sacerdotal tasks." But when one learns to think of ministry with a sacerdotal mindset the ministry means vocational ministry.

We Are All Created With a Special Ministry Assignment...oh but not you who volunteer

The fact that every Christian has a special ministry calling is central to unleashing ministry passion in churches. When someone pursues their special call to ministry, as we have already seen, they do as servants, not volunteers. As long as the clergy are thought of as the church’s servants and the rest of us are their volunteers we are in deep trouble.

Eph 2:10, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” The “we” in this passage does not refer to the clergy it refers to those who have been redeemed through faith in Christ. This is a powerful statement. It says that God actually prepared certain good works for each of the saints, (the Ephesian letter is addressed to the saints, 1:1).

Eph 4:1 “As a prisoner for the Lord, then I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” Every saint has received a calling and that calling has two parts. First there is the General Calling which is the same for every Christian. Then there is the Special Calling and that is different for each Christian.

“The” Ministry Versus “A” Ministry

Maybe it is just me but when we say that someone has been called to the ministry, we usually mean they have been called to become a pastor. That really bothers me because, if one understands the doctrine of The Priesthood of Believers they know two things:

1. No one has been called to the ministry, because there is no such thing as the ministry.
2. Rather, everyone has a special call to a ministry.

Yet, we routinely say so and so is going to seminary to study for the ministry, or so and so has left the ministry. Language is important and it reveals just how Roman Catholic most Protestants are when it comes to the topic of one’s “ministry calling.”

You are still a Roman Catholic...admit it!

General Calling and Special Calling

Soon after the Roman emperor, Constantine, converted to Christianity in 315 A.D. churches began to professionalize their clergy. As the clergy were professionalized the concept of a special ministry calling for lay people began to disappear. Eventually the special call to ministry became equated with a call to the priesthood. There is even a name for a religious system in which those who are called to the ministry are the priests; it’s called a sacerdotal system.

Luther challenged the sacerdotal system when he championed the doctrine of Priesthood of Believers, during the Reformation. The Priesthood of Believers has three major implications for lay people.

1.Lay people can study and interpret the Scripture for themselves.
2.Lay people can pray directly to God. That meant abandoning the sacerdotal practice of confessing sin to priests.
3.Every believer is a priest and has a special call to ministry. Unfortunately most Protestants have remained Roman Catholic in this third area.

If you work on a church staff you are still a Roman Catholic in mindset...in the 12 step program the first step in recovery is admitting you have a problem.

Each Day Counts

I have never met a greater group of young adults. I salute them and their fine service. Each day they lived for God's Glory. Well Done Class of 2011

TRAVELING WITH THE HELP OF MAP QUEST

Finding My Ministry Calling in a Calling Friendly Environment

The impact of the Wesleyans in 18th century Britain and 19th century America was the result of lay ministers. Parachurch ministry impact is largely the result of lay ministers. The church had its greatest success penetrating its culture during its first three hundred years primarily due to lay ministers. During that period the church had few resources and very few formally trained leaders. But it was full of rank and file people of passion. Probably no one has summed it up better than John Stackhouse:

“This, (the ministry impact that Christians had during the first three hundred years AD), was small time evangelism; no media campaigns, no tents, no stadiums, no choirs, no celebrity guests…scholars of the early church have concluded that the gospel spread so far, so fast, because of local initiative….

Similar stories fill volumes of church history… almost every (Christian) movement… began locally as gifted leaders and willing workers invested themselves in small but worthy projects.”

(Christianity Today April 27, 1994, pgs 34-35)

Our map quest reminds us to invest ourselves in the small,not the big. In life changing projects and people, not programs that simple fill up chairs and leave people untransformed. I am invested in less than twenty people and even then it is too many. I have seen change not from the stadiums I have spoken in, but the one on one...weekly Bible Studies and service projects.

Happy Easter and pass the authority.

Okay it is Easter and Christ died for you and me. He also died for the church. That means every person. How do we do that? Give everyone a platform.

The key to recognizing a Target Group ministry is (Creating an environment where people can own the ministry they lead, that they are looked at as lay staff) identifying a (Who that) Contact Person for that ministry. A Contact Person is normally a servant who would love to see their church recognize their ministry and are willing to:

1. Have their name listed in a church brochure as the person that anyone in the church can contact for more information about the ministry.
2. Post a Ministry Profile on both the church’s website and
3. Include their email address on both websites so that others can contact them for more information about their ministry.
4. To be the one responsible to church leadership in case there are moral or doctrinal questions concerning their ministry.
5. To represent their ministry at any Ministry Recognition Event at the church.
6. To generally cheerlead and represent their ministry in their church.

Identify the Target Group Contact Persons

Once the rank and file has been introduced to Target Groups Ministry, i.e. the new dimension of ministry that the church is recognizing, the first step is to identify how many people are already involved with Target Groups. Once they are identified the second step is to find out how many of them are willing to be a Contact Person for their ministry as discussed above. Here are 10 ideas to accomplish this important step. This is not an exhaustive list; you can come up with some more ideas. When you add to the list please email us and let us know what you are doing.

The following list describes a church “support system for all Church Recognized Dimension Two Ministries.

1. Print a Target Group brochure (include a sample)
2. Post a listing of Target Group Ministries on the church’s website
3. Posting the Target Group ministries.
4. Make a portable Target Group Ministry Map. Many churches have posted world maps that show where the church supported missionaries are. A Target Group Ministry Map would be similar. It is a map of the church’s city or town with numbers at points of ministry, e.g. jails, a number 1, or a Crisis Pregnancy Center, a number 2, etc. Then alongside the map put pictures of the Contact Persons that correspond to the numbers identifying their ministries.
5. Set aside one special Target Group Ministry Celebration Sunday annually.
6. Schedule different Target Group Ministries to set up ministry booths in the church foyer throughout the year.
7. Schedule different Target Group Ministry leaders to share their ministry with different Sunday School classes and/or Small Groups throughout the year.
8. Have a Target Group “Ministry Moment” in the worship services once a month or once a quarter.
9. Occasionally include newspaper articles referring to various potential Target Groups in the church bulletin and/or newsletter. If the local paper runs a story on refugees or the unemployed, put a salient point from the article in whatever church media you have.
10. Hold a Target Group Contact Person’s event each year. It could be a breakfast, a half day retreat or a week end retreat at a resort. If possible have the event paid for out of the church budget as a “thank you” to the Contact Persons. The primary purpose of the event is for the Contact Persons to get to know each other through their ministries. One idea is simply to have each Target Group leader share (1) their personal faith story, (2) and their personal ministry story. You will be surprised at the dynamic and encouragement that these two stories will create

Rules of Engagement for Target Group Contact Persons

Churches will want to keep their Rules of Engagement for Target Group Ministries as few and simple as possible. We suggest three such rules, you may want to add more or not use one of our three. Whatever your Rules of Engagement are they should fit your church, you need to be comfortable with them.


One of the realities for Target Group Ministries is that they cannot expect the same attention from church leadership that Home Base Ministries receive. Church leaders already have their plates full. If most church staffs or boards think they will have to be involved in managing the Target Group Ministries, there will be very few Target Group Ministries.

Nor can Target Group leaders expect the church to fund their ministry. It is important to appreciate that the church budget is a “limited pie.” It is made up of the gifts from a limited number of people, i.e. those who attend the church. And since very few members even come close to tithing their incomes, church budgets are typically strained. Target Groups must find ways to tap into “Community Money.” You can’t ask someone in your office to donate to your church’s budget. But you can ask them to donate to your “Shoes for the Homeless.” ministry.

While those involved in Target Group Ministries should not expect church leaders to help them run their ministry or fund the ministry, they should expect to be held accountable if necessary. If moral or doctrinal issues arise because of their ministry, they need to be accountable to the church’s leadership. The need to hold someone accountable will be extremely rare, but it needs to be clear that it possible. If a ministry has “poker” night as a fund raiser and the church has a clear stand against gambling; the church leaders should feel free to don the mantle of the bishop and say, “thus saith the Lord!”

Three Suggested Rules of Engagement Guidelines For Target Group Ministries

1. If you want to be a church recognized Contact Person for a Community Ministry
You must run the ministry in its entirety, (take FULL responsibility). You must decide how the ministry will work, do the recruiting, and implement the activities. Do not expect church leadership to get involved in your ministry or to assume responsibility for the success of your ministry.
2. You must get approval from church leadership for any fund raising activities that involve church people.
3. You must accept the responsibility for the moral and doctrinal issues involved in
your ministry, and agree that you are accountable to church leadership.

Potential Target Group leaders need to know the above guidelines, along with any other guidelines that church leadership adds. Plus they should know who to contact if they have a Target Group ministry that they want the church to recognize. That information should be in the brochure, in the Target Group listings on the church’s website, and anywhere else the Target Group ministries are listed.

If Your Church Uses an Equipping Program Be Sure the People In the Program Understand the Difference Between a Volunteer and a Servant

Calling friendly church infrastructures are rare, but they are beginning to emerge. Today a lot of churches help people discern their S.H.A.P.E. When one gets to “forth base” or to “401” in a S.H.A.P.E. program, it’s time for them to identify what ministry they want to pursue. Many times people are presented with a list of Base of Operation ministry options. In a truly calling friendly church, people will be given lists of both the Base of Operation Ministries and the church’s recognized Target Group Ministries. Plus they will be told the guideline for starting new church recognized Target Group Ministries.

People will also understand the difference between a volunteer and a servant. Everyone needs to be assured that it is OK if they are not ready to be a servant. If they are ready to be a servant they will be motivated by internal want to. They will know where God has called them to serve, remember one discovers their special ministry when God is ready.

Volunteers Often Become Servants

A typical way for someone to discover their special call to ministry is to get involved in a ministry first as just a volunteer. For example someone might sign up for the church’s Night at the Rescue Mission and get hooked once they both see and feel the ministry. Once they are hooked they will be doing much more than going to the mission one night a month.

He is Risen!

One of the most Important Mission Questions Is

When we work with a church the first question we ask the leadership is, (Who in your church is willing to own a community ministry and are you as a church willing to partner with them as your lay staff) “Who, in your congregation is involved in a community ministry and would be willing to be on the ministry staff representing that ministry?” Most pastors are not real sure what to do with lay pastors.

Dimension One: Base of Operation Ministries And Dimension Two: Target Group Ministries Compared and Contrasted

When you think about how to create a ministry friendly environment think of the contrast between base ministries and target ministries. The consumer church turns target ministries into base and it quickly begins to limit it's ministry and effectiveness.

There are just two comparisons:

Both are part of the same church. They are interdependent parts of the larger whole.
Both have leaders are accountable to church leadership if moral or doctrinal issues arise in their ministries.

Here are ten contrasts:

1. The ministries in the Base of Operation are determined by the staff and are staff led, (or led by someone recruited by the staff).
Target Groups are determined by the ministry passions of the lay people and are lay led.
2. The Base of Operation is more organizational, if a Home Base leader leaves the
church will replace him or her.
Target Groups are organic, if a Target Group leader leaves and no takes their
place, the ministry will be allowed to die.
3. The Base of Operation is the church’s “place to stand”
Target Groups are the church’s place to “move the world”
4. The ministries at the Base of Operation have a lot less freedom to fail
Failure in the Target Groups is not a problem, (in fact it should be celebrated).
5. The number of Base of Operation ministries is limited by the number of people a
church is willing to hire and/or recruit.
The number of Target Group ministries has no limits; there are Target Group
possibilities with both Need Groups and Affinity Groups, (there over a 100
groups potential Need and Affinity Groups see unleashingthechurch.com)
6. The Base of Operation is largely tied to the church’s facilities
Target Groups may or may not use the church’s facilities
7. The Base of Operation is financed out of the church’s budget
Target Groups are positioned to tap into funds that normally go to community
charities. Target Group should not expect funding through their church budget.
8. The Base of Operation is legally tied to the church’s corporation papers.
Target Groups may or may not have additional non-profit corporations.
9. The ministry at the Base of Operation is determined by the expectations that
Americans have when attending a church, it is designed for consumers.
Target Group ministries are determined by the “ministry callings” of the church’s
pew people, and is focused on both Need and Affinity Groups
10. The Base of Operation is much more stable and predictable
Target Groups are both flexible and potentially volatile.

Base of Operation and Target Ministry: A New Way of Looking at Churches

A church’s Base of Operation is what we have traditionally thought of as the whole church. It is a group of people with similar Christian beliefs who purchase a facility and meet regularly. There are typically eight to ten basic ministries that churches naturally start in order to be recognizable as a church: preaching, music, youth, children, nurseries, women and men. Plus there is a Missions program which translates into primarily a Missions Budget. There are two kinds of staff, ministry staff who oversee the Base of Operation ministries and the support staff, maintenance people, who also are focused on the Base of Operation.

If a church is able to hire a multiple staff, the first person hired is usually a senior pastor. Next, they hire an associate who can work with either music or youth or both. A normal staff is filled out when someone is paid to oversee the basic ministry categories. If a church isn’t able to afford a paid staff to oversee all the basic ministry areas, they typically recruit volunteers to oversee them.

As churches grow, their staffs become more sophisticated, e.g. paying a Nursery Coordinator, or a Pastor for this or that. And the single secretary becomes a bunch secretary’s. There are variations but the basics of the Base of Operation have remained remarkably the same for several decades.

Churches have thought of themselves in the context described above for a long time. It won’t be easy to expand our basic understanding of what a church looks like. We need not reduce the eight or ten ministries that churches are expected to do. All the basic ministries are important. But if churches are going to become places where everyone’s ministry calling can be recognized and valued, a Second Dimension, i.e. Target Group Ministries must be added to the mix.

Target Group Ministries are very different than Base of Operation Ministries. While the Base of Operation is made up of ministries and services that the culture expects in a church, there are no such expectations for the Target Groups. I am pulling for the second dimension not to be drowned out by the desk jockeys.

Servants verses Local Church Volunteers

When it comes to mission, churches tend to think primarily in terms of volunteers, i.e. “we need volunteers to fix dinner at the Rescue Mission this month.” While Parachurch organizations are always looking for volunteers as well, they often attract people who are compelled, i.e. the servants. Out of the ten people who volunteer to fix dinner at the Rescue Mission one or two go to the mission on a regular basis because they feel that God has called them to minister to the homeless. I have a friend I met with recently who feels called and he and his wife go because they want to be there, God has called them to this ministry, and they are compelled.

When a church commits to “a night at the Rescue Mission,” it is required to recruit volunteers. So the church’s night at the Rescue Mission is a “church thing” and is built on volunteers. But when some of the church’s people pursue their commitment to Rescue Mission with passion and get involved on nights other than their church’s night to fix dinner, we think of them as doing the Rescue Mission’s ministry.

Unfortunately, churches take ownership of projects that need volunteers, but they rarely take ownership of the ongoing community ministries of its servants. As a result the church is stuck with the weary job of recruiting volunteers and it misses out on celebrating the passion that only servants can create. Once people actually want to pursue a community ministry, their church doesn’t know how to “claim” them or to celebrate their ministry with them. The challenge is to change our thinking about those who pursue ministry at the Rescue Mission as servants. We have to figure out how to claim and celebrate their ministries first, as ministries of our church, and, secondarily, as a ministry of the Rescue Mission.

To reclaim a church’s “Parachurch” servants by recognizing them as the Church’s servants, churches will have to create a “new dimension of church recognized ministry.”

Compliance and Commitment

In the January 14th blog I ended with the statement, “volunteers operate at just one level of commitment.” So the opposite of commitment for volunteers is compliance.

Most of the time, when we begin our recruit wars, what we really are asking of volunteers is to come and comply. We want them to do what we want them to do, not what God has called them to do. If we really wanted them to do what God wanted them to do we would ask a very different question, “If you could do anything this year for God what would it be?” Then I believe we would set out to equip them to do just that! So what does compliance look like?

Five Possible Levels of Compliance When Responding to a Vision

1.Genuine Compliance: Sees the benefits of the vision. Does everything expected and more. Follows the “letter of the law.” Good Soldiers.
2.Formal Compliance: On the whole sees the benefits of the vision. Does what is expected and more. Pretty good soldiers.
3.Grudging Compliance: Does not see the benefits of the vision. But, does not want to lose job. Does enough of what’s expected but lets it be known that he is really not on board.
4.Noncompliance: Does not see the benefits of the vision and will not do what is expected. “I won’t do it, and you can’t make me.”
5. Apathy: Neither for or against the vision, no interest, no energy, “Is it five
o'clock yet?”

The One Level of Commitment:

Wants it. Will make it happen. Creates whatever “laws” (structures) are needed.

(The Fifth Discipline pgs 219,220)

Spiritual Gifts

And, believe it or not, a strong emphasis on edification does not often generate mission. Mission potential isn't dependent on how well church people:
are fed by good teaching
discover their spiritual gifts
are filled with the Spirit
are thoroughly discipled
understand their emotional temperament (What is a
TJFY, anyway?)
participate in small groups

For years I have watched lay people who minister with passion. They invest their lives in ministries relating to people in cults, in prison, unwed mothers, internationals, physically impaired, etc. They pay a price in time, money, pressure, study and numerous other areas. Sometimes they know their spiritual gift but more often that question never occurred to them. Neither do they, in most cases, spend much time pondering their temperament profile (or if they did, they couldn't remember what it was). They come from all kinds of churches, and have a wide variety of "discipleship and small group experiences," but there is just one common denominator. They possess Want To, a deep God given desire to do a special ministry. Actually what I am describing is simply lay people responding to their ministry callings.

Volunteers and Servants

Have you ever heard a church leader clarify the difference between being a volunteer and being a servant. It is not a subject that came up for me in seminary. I have heard church leaders use the words servants and volunteers as though they are synonymous, but they are not. And the difference between them is the difference between the passionate and the interested.

1. Volunteer is the language of the club

Servant is the language of the church,

Every church has a legitimate club dimension. If someone volunteers to be sure that the doors of the church building are unlocked at a certain time, they are unlikely to do the task with passion. Much of what happens in a church has the same dynamic as any other group who meets regularly. Volunteers take care of many of the necessary, but sometimes mundane, needs of the church. Servants do what they do with passion. Can an usher be a servant? Yes, but it is not likely. In most churches the staff and select few lay people function as servants providing the passion while the rank and file are recruited to do the mundane stuff, which the volunteers do.

2. Volunteers pick and choose where and when they will participate, they are willing.

Servants need to participate, they are compelled.

3. Volunteers operate on some level of compliance.

Servants operates on just one level of commitment

Passion Friendly Rules Of Engagement

In warfare Rules of Engagement are important. In military or police operations, the rules of engagement (ROE) determine when, where, and how force shall be used. Such rules are both general and specific, and there have been large variations between cultures throughout history. The rules may be made public, as in a martial law or curfew situation, but are typically only fully known to the force that intends to use them.

Paul casts the Christian life in terms of participating in cosmic warfare when he says,

“We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities” Eph 6: 12

When the coalition forces invaded Iraq in 2003 they were under orders to follow internationally accepted Rules of Engagement for warfare. In one case an Iraqi unit retreated into a cemetery for a safe haven. American forces did not fire on them because international rules of engagement forbid armies from firing on graveyard and thereby desecrating the dead. But once the Iraqi soldiers made the mistake of firing on American troops from the grave yard the next part of the rule of engagement kicked in, “don’t fire on troops in graveyard, unless they the fire at you.” If they do fire at you, the rules of engagement change.

Here is a current lesson:

Soldiers fighting in Afghanistan believe their rules of engagement are too restrictive and hand the enemy an unfair advantage, a retired US Marine Corps general says.

General Anthony Zinni, a former commander of US central command and now US head of defence company BAE Systems, said he believed concerns about restrictive rules were coalition-wide.

This is an issue touched on by an unnamed Australian soldier in an email complaining about the adequacy of support provided to troops in a major fight with insurgents on August 24 which claimed the life of one digger.

“Everyone is too scared about collateral damage,” he wrote.

General Zinni, in Australia for a strategic leadership forum, said concerns about the rules had been conveyed by coalition and US soldiers, including his own son, a marines (sic) officer in Afghanistan.

“There is a strong sense in on the ground by the company commanders and platoon commanders that the rules of engagement are too restrictive,” he told reporters.

“They result in more casualties. They don’t allow for the kind of immediate engagement. The enemy understands these rules of engagement and manipulates them.”

What parallels do you draw with the local church?

The challenge for church leaders is to do a better job at teaching their “foot soldiers” the Kingdom’s rules of engagement.