Pastoral turnover and the call of preach

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Mar 2001 by Harrison, Paul V

One should not conclude from this that the selection of these leaders was by man and not by God. The early church was Spirit-led and understood her actions to be guided by Heaven. For example, Acts 15 records the discussion at the Jerusalem Council where the issue of how Gentiles were to be admitted to the churches was debated. The various speeches are recorded, and the decision arrived at is noted. All was obviously done out of concern for what God wanted for his church, but there is no mention of any special or immediate revelation from God's Spirit about what to do. Yet, when the letter detailing the decisions was drawn up, it stated: "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements" (15:28). This is probably how one should understand Paul's statement to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:28 when he charged them to keep watch over "all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers." They were probably "appointed" as at the other churches, but these appointments were understood to have been made under the leadership of God's Spirit. As Matthew Henry (1662-1714) put it, "The Holy Ghost also directed those that chose, and called, and ordained, them to this work in answer to prayer."36 Herve-Marie Legrand explained the early church's understanding of elections held by local churches: "The consent of the church in the election was regarded as a gift of the Spirit, and once the bishop had been elected and ordained, he was received by the church as one designated by the Spirit."37

As would be expected of a Biblical pattern, this approach of securing ministers from within each congregation has many advantages. The men being called know thoroughly the congregation to which they are to minister. They do not start out at ground zero. Likewise, the congregations thoroughly know the people they are calling. If a time of trial is needed, there is no uprooting of a family in the process. Of course, this approach eliminates the pastoral turnover that goes along with calling pastors from sister churches. It also strikes a blow to the ambition some entertain of climbing up the ecclesiastical ranks.

IV. POPULAR UNDERSTANDING OF BEING CALLED TO PREACH

This idea that churches should generally choose ministers from among their own membership can be accepted while still maintaining the current common understanding of what constitutes a call to preach. This theology of "the call," however, also needs reevaluation. In 1956 the prevalent thinking on this subject was described by Robert Michaelsen:

It has been generally characteristic of evangelical Protestantism in America to single out a special call as fundamental. This call has been conceived as a summons from God made known to the individual through an identifiable and distinctive personal experience.38

This personal experience has regularly been described as resulting in an "abiding conviction on the part of the candidate that he is God-called."39 With this understanding that God directly calls individuals into ministry, many individuals simply "announce" their call. "I have been called to preach," they say.40