Rev. Adam Hamilton from Church of the Resurrection has posted about exploring God’s call during his church’s confirmation this year. He also stated a goal that over the next 20 years, 200 will be called and ordained. I have a few thoughts:
- I love CoR’s strong focus on confirmation. We’ve been working to make this more a focus for the life of the entire church, too.
- Rev. Hamilton has done a powerful thing in creating a culture that listens to God’s call on their lives. He is partly right in saying: “But what I find is that many young people are not hearing a call to the pastorate because no one is asking.”
- To mince words (which is what we do, right my hermeneutic friends?): “because no one is asking?” I agree 100% that people will not recognize a call to ordained ministry because the environment is not there. Asking people about their calling will definitely affirm a call. However, I have trouble with asking as the way that people hear the call to ordained ministry which comes from God alone.
- UPDATE (for clarification): I hope that this asking is followed up by a discernment process so that people who aren’t called to ordained ministry won’t be caught in the glory of responding to a profound question. Hamilton has made a profound statement: we as members of the local church have a deep responsibility in the calling lives of our members. If a call is felt early, it is best affirmed early before it is squashed early (which is very probable). So, keep asking even beyond the 7th grade. How can we all ask all the time?
- 200 in 20 years. This tells me a few things:
- CoR has a heart for the people of God and their interaction with Him
- CoR has a heart for the United Methodist Church and it’s future (which is also evidenced in servants such as Andrew Conard).
- CoR has a heart for deeply involving their laity in God-ordained ministry of all types.
It also makes me wonder:
- What happens to things when we place numbers on them? Both positive and negative things to be sure. I am concerned about this.
- Will this cause people to pursue ministry though they are not called? Is this even an issue with the way our candidacy system is?
- Will CoR make use of and build on the process for approving candidates for ministry so that they don’t waste time in a system they may not pass?
- And my favorite question of all: How in the world are you going to find that many candidacy mentors in your annual conference:?!?
All in all, though, I applaud CoR for this commitment to a culture of Call and investing so deeply in their young people. May God continue to give you the vision, the folks to serve, and the heart to abide in the vine.
*note: Updated to clarify my thoughts on “asking” about someone’s call.
