WHAT IS A CALL TO MINISTRY?
By Jake Thurston
One of the greatest (and hardest) questions you face in high school isn’t where you want to go to college, or what you want to do for a living. The greatest question you will face—potentially for the rest of your life—is, “What am I called to do?” And as a student considering full-time ministry or religious studies as a career path, you’ve probably heard at some point the phrase, “Called to ministry.”
But what exactly is a call to ministry? In fact, what’s a “calling” in general? A calling is different from a job, a career, or a vocation, but it often gets confused with the three. So let’s break this down a bit:
A job is what you do to make a living. Plain and simple. One person may get a job as a barista at a coffee shop just to pay the bills, but they don’t want to make lattes and brewing coffee their career. Not everyone who has a job feels like they have a career, let alone doing what they’re called to do.
A career is a long-term commitment to a particular type of work for 5, 10, even 20 years or more. There’s a lifelong history attached to what you do in a career. Going back to the barista example: Perhaps someone actually loves working at a coffee shop, and decides to make it a career. They begin as a barista, become a shift manager, and later start their own coffee shop that’s still running 15 years later. They have a longterm career in coffee…. But it still might not be what they’re called to do.
A vocation goes deeper than a job or a career. A vocation is a type of work you’re particularly fit for with a clear reason for why you do it. You’re passionate for the work, you believe in the mission behind what you do, and are even willing to dedicate your whole life to it. Someone may have a career in running a coffee shop, but their vocation is creating a community for people to gather. However, even a purpose-filled vocation isn’t a calling.
So what’s a calling?
A calling is what God wants you to do with your life to carry out his mission. There are general callings God places on every believer’s life, like making disciples and worshiping him. But God also gives more specific callings that align with each individual’s uniqueness and giftings. A coffee shop CEO may love creating community for customers, but her true calling from God may be working with foster children.
So what does it mean if God has called you to ministry?
Everyone assumes that the sweet spot is to find a job, career, and a vocation that fit within someone’s calling. And there are certainly a ton of jobs out there that could fit within a call to ministry: solo pastoring, children’s pastoring, youth pastoring, worship leading, church planting, missionary work, amongst many, many others.
But the call to ministry goes deeper than working at a church or developing a pastoral career. Author and pastor Keith Drury defined the call to ministry this way:
“The call to ministry is an inner conviction from God, confirmed by the church, that I am commissioned to lifelong, vocational service as an equipping minister for the people of God.”
You’re about to go to college for the sole purpose to figure out what you want to do with your life—and if you’re honest, you might not even have an idea what you want to do with your call to ministry.
And that is perfectly, 100% okay!
But if you know God has called you to ministry, then what’s most important is your conviction to equip God’s people. How that plays out through jobs and careers will change throughout your entire lifetime. But if you know God has called you to it, then you can trust God will see you through it. He’ll place you exactly where you need to be.
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If you’re still uncertain about what your call to ministry looks like, considering attending Examen. Examen is a 2-week summer program held on Indiana Wesleyan University’s campus for high school students to explore their call to ministry, take a 3-credit hour Bible/theology class, make friends with other called students, all free of charge.
If you’re interested in discovering your call while getting free college credit, head over to www.exameniwu.org for more information and to apply!
