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.