What Is My Calling?

A Biblical and Theological Exploration of Christian Identity

Klein, William W., Steiner, Daniel J.

• Publisher: Baker Academic
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781493434862
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Ministry

Many people are confused about God's call on their lives. What does it mean to have a calling? Is everyone called to something? This book clears up the confusion and articulates a whole-life vision for calling. Our calling is not a mystery waiting to be discovered but applies to a range of experiences and challenges: we are called to faithfulness in Christ in every dimension of our lives. The authors defend a thoroughly biblical and theological understanding of calling, empowering Christians to live faithfully as God's people in whatever circumstances they find themselves.

1
The Landscape of Calling

Words shape culture, and culture shapes our words. Ten years ago, the word “selfie” was not a mainstay in our vocabulary. Perhaps someone somewhere uttered it by accident, but today it has reached such heights as being added to the list of acceptable words by Scrabble in 2014 and such lows as being the cause of over 250 deaths between 2011 and 2017.1 A tangible example of “selfie-impact” on our culture can be seen in how taking a picture of oneself by oneself has revolutionized technology. One of us two authors got his first cell phone in 2001 while a college student. Then a cell phone was simply a device for making phone calls—no apps, games, music, or camera. Now our cell phones are “smart phones,” containing all these features and much more. In fact, they contain two cameras: one on the front and one on the back. The camera on the opposite side of the screen is understandable, but why would a phone need a front-facing camera? Selfies, of course! From coffee-table books to the power of cultural influence through social media, we probably do not yet know to what extent selfies have shaped us as people and how we relate to others and the world around us. This is not a rant about the narcissistic tendencies of our current historical moment. “Selfie” simply illustrates our point: words shape culture, and culture shapes our words.

As “selfie” is to our broader culture at large, “calling” is to our Christian subculture (and beyond). The notion of calling has shaped much of how Christians think about what it means to be a Christian and how to live the Christian faith in the world. That is, how this word has been adopted and used within the Christian world has shaped our understanding of its meaning and informed our very understanding of how to live faithfully as God’s people. Consider, for example, the titles of a few articles from The Babylon Bee, a satirical news site that pokes fun at popular tendencies within Christian culture: “Man Mistakes Indigestion for Pastoral Call”; “Man Called to Mission Trip in Remote ‘World of Warcraft’ Jungle”; “Local Christian Just Not Feeling Called to Christian Virtue of Charity”; “Worship Leader Called by God to Be Famous, Wealthy.” Satire is an effective form of criticism because it is based in truth and exposes the weaknesses and faults of its subject. What is The Babylon Bee revealing about our collective, functional understanding of calling? In the popular sense, “calling” is individual and subjective; it primarily relates to a job, task, or role (often a ministry one); and it can be used to justify personally motivated decisions. While this does not capture the full scope of “calling” in popular usage, it is functionally what the term means to many people. And most Christians have no reason to question this.

In this chapter we will illustrate, unmask, and question this very functional theology of calling. First, we will consider the shadow side of this popular use of calling terminology. Personal accounts are one of the strongest supports for how and why calling terminology is used. Many of these accounts paint calling in an affirmative and desirable light. This is not always the case, though, and these sorts of calling stories may actually be in the minority in the collective experience of God’s people. Second, we will present a survey of how calling terminology is used in resources produced in the past twenty years. Based on this survey, we will devise a taxonomy of the popular uses of calling language, which in later chapters will be placed in conversation with biblical and theological studies of calling. Third, we will summarize the biblical support of the popular calling conversation, identifying primary hermeneutical strategies apparently employed within these recent resources. Finally, we will present some observations from the current landscape of calling, which will frame what is to come in the following chapters in this book.

The Shadow Side of Calling

Personal accounts are valuable for showing how the Christian community understands calling. These narratives tell how individuals have discovered a deeper sense of purpose and meaning in life, attached in some way to an alleged divine invitation or revelation. While these accounts sometimes contain painful and tragic circumstances that catalyze people’s discovery of their calling, those who read and hear these accounts are left with the impression that finding one’s calling ends with fulfillment, joy, and contentment. As one of our friends said with great passion, “Finally I’ve found the calling that I’ve been looking for all my life. This is what I was meant to do.” Who would not want to arrive at this position in life? Although this may be the popular portrayal of calling, a shadow side needs to be acknowledged and considered. Three examples will illustrate what we mean.

Examples of the Shadow Side of Calling

The first example comes from our current political and church landscape. When she was the press secretary early in President Trump’s administration, Sarah Sanders commented in an interview, “I think God calls all of us to fill different roles at different times, and I think that He wanted Donald Trump to become president, and that’s why he’s there.”2 We do not bring this up to make a political statement one way or the other. Rather, we point out her assumption that God works in a normative way with all (or at least some) people regarding their jobs and roles in life. What if Hillary Clinton had won the election in 2016? Would Sanders express the same sentiment, that God had called her to be president, or would Sanders avoid the use of calling language? And what about the results of the 2020 presidential election? Has God now called Joe Biden to that role? Again, would Sanders agree?

We often look to examples in the OT such as Moses when endorsing those whom we want to affirm as appointed by God. At the same time that God appointed Moses, God also hardened Pharaoh’s heart and appointed him for something completely different. Are these “appointments” God’s call for Moses’s and Pharaoh’s lives? Many Christians think so. But is this how calling works for God’s people today? Is this in any way normative?

This is far more than just a squabble about semantics and definitions. Remember, words shape culture. It is laudable to empower people to find something in life that gives them passion and fulfillment, to pursue a formal ministry job, or to identify a life theme that expands beyond a job or career. Yet this has created a culture in which people may claim a calling that none can question. In 2018, the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News conducted extensive research into sexual abuse of over seven hundred victims in Southern Baptist churches by pastors and church leaders over the course of twenty years.3 Consider the following observations, first by the article’s authors and then by one of the abuse victims:

SBC churches and organizations share resources and materials, and together they fund missionary trips and seminaries. Most pastors are ordained locally after they’ve convinced a small group of church elders that they’ve been called to service by God. There is no central database that tracks ordinations, or sexual abuse convictions or allegations. All of that makes Southern Baptist churches highly susceptible to predators, says Christa Brown, an activist who wrote a book about being molested as a child by a pastor at her SBC church in Farmers Branch, a Dallas suburb. “It’s a perfect profession for a con artist, because all he has to do is talk a good talk and convince people that he’s been called by God, and bingo, he gets to be a Southern Baptist minister,” said Brown, who lives in Colorado. “Then he can infiltrate the entirety of the SBC, move from church to church, from state to state, go to bigger churches and more prominent churches where he has more influence and power, and it all starts in some small church.”4

Here’s the shadow side to “calling.” The functional use of calling language has created a culture in which narcissists, predators, and abusers can beat the system, so to speak, and take leadership positions in our churches by claiming a divine calling. We contend that this is not the biblical meaning of calling, no matter how convincing one’s claim to it may be or how popular this use of the label is. Is claiming to have God’s call sufficient? How can we know if God calls someone to a specific job, task, or role? And if God does, is this sort of divine directive the exception rather than the norm? Unreflective Christians far too often and far too quickly trust someone’s personal account of their “call to ministry.” As authors, we do not want to diminish or deny when God clearly appoints a person for a particular job, task, or role. But rather than talk about this in terms of calling, we will see that Scripture gives us other language to use to detect and discern how God is working to direct people’s lives in response to his calling.

As a second example of calling’s shadow side, consider how many people entertain unrealistic expectations of how God works in their lives. Because of the way that calling language has dominated Christian discourse, people are encouraged to expect God to work in particular ways in their lives. But when they do not experience God in these specific ways, they are easily left confused, discouraged, and frustrated. With an understanding that God calls people to specific jobs, tasks, and roles, both the church’s laity and those pursuing occupational church work feel this uncertainty in unique ways. As seminary professors, we have sat with countless students who exhibit this shadow side of calling. They have confessed that they lied on scholarship applications requiring them to give an account of their call to ministry. Our exchanges have followed these lines:

Student: “So, I need to confess to you that I lied on my scholarship application. I don’t have a calling to ministry, so I just made something up. Is it okay that I want to be a pastor and want to be equipped in seminary for this work? Others have affirmed my gifting and desire; that is why I am here. What do I do now since I lied?”

Professor: “You do have a calling. It is to Christ, and it applies to the whole of your life. Gifting and desire are not the same as calling. Let’s talk about how you can live out your calling to Christ in the whole of your life as you also discern and develop your gifting and desire for pastoral ministry.”5

We have visibly seen the weight taken off many shoulders as they are freed from undue pressure to find the correct connection between some mystical sense of calling and a job or formal ministry position.

Unnecessary expectations are also exacerbated by the realities of the church job market. Put simply, a seminary degree does not guarantee a fu...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Endorsements
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Contents
• Preface
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• 1. The Landscape of Calling
• 2. Looking in the Rearview Mirror
• 3. Calling in the Bible
• 4. Cross-Examining the Uses of Calling Language
• 5. Constructing a Theological Map for Calling
• 6. The Road Ahead
• Bibliography
• Scripture Index
• Author Index
• Subject Index
• Back Cover