Examining ‘the call’

Two one-day Conferences for Pastors, Students and all concerned Christians

London Theological Seminary - 20 February 2006.
Malpas Road Evangelical Church - 27 February 2006.

Programme

A Biblical Theology - Mark Johnston, Minister, Grove Chapel, Camberwell, London
An Historical Perspective - Andrew Davies, Minister, Kensit Evangelical Church, London
The Man and His Church - Stuart Olyott, Pastoral Director, Evangelical Movement of Wales
The Role of Other Churches and Theological Education - Christopher Ash, Director, Cornhill Training Course

Questions

- What does the Bible say about ‘the call’ to gospel ministry and, in particular, to the role of pastor/teacher?
- Are all who are suitably gifted ‘called’ - or does ‘the call’ always involve a strong sense of inner compulsion?
- Do Free Church and Anglican evangelicals differ in their understanding at this point?
How we answer such questions must have a profound effect on the recruitment and training of future church leaders.

This conference was arranged in an attempt to clarify the issues and reach a biblical consensus.

Examining the Call - Report of this Conference

What on earth is ‘a call to the ministry’? It seems that fogginess on this issue is now one of the main barriers preventing men coming forward for the ministry. Evangelicals cover a wide spectrum on this issue. At one extreme, some demand a powerfully subjective and almost mystical personal calling. At the other, there is the very pragmatic approach of pushing a man forward into full-time ministry as long as he seems to have the right gifts.

The confusion over ‘the call’ has been highlighted by ‘Generation Next’, a major survey of young men conducted under Affinity’s auspices and whose initial results have just been published in ‘Table Talk’, the product of Affinity’s theological team. Among other striking findings, nearly a third of the 400 respondents said they were confused over what constitutes a ‘call’. Obviously this is a pressing issue for British churches.

Against this background, Affinity organised a pair of identical day conferences – one in London, one in South Wales – on the subject ‘Examining the Call’. Good numbers gathered (nearly 100 in London) to hear papers tackling the subject from biblical (Mark Johnston), historical (Andrew Davies) and practical (Stuart Olyott) directions. Stuart Olyott wisely enlivened the post-lunch slot with the tale of ‘John Jones of Ordinary Evangelical Church’ and his progress to the pastorate of ‘Average Chapel’, challenging elders in particular to take a very proactive and hands-on approach to identifying, encouraging, deterring, preparing, training, commissioning and passing on men who may be called to pastoral ministry.

Christopher Ash, director of the Cornhill Training Course, closed the day by rejecting both the extreme approaches to the ‘call’ and arguing from the basis of the parable of the talents: if we have gifts, we must use them. However, this does not imply throwing every possible candidate into full-time ministry because we have to take a long and serious approach to recognising and testing their apparent gifts. We can be glad that there are now many more routes open to testing a sense of call – including, obviously, the Cornhill course!

If something was missing from these conferences, it was a more explicit Anglican perspective. There needs to be more dialogue between the free churches and our Anglican friends, for whom at least one of the sessions would have been alien to their culture. What these conferences have successfully done is to raise the issue and present some clear and systematic thinking, especially on the free church side. The final results of the ‘Generation Next’ survey are likely to focus attention on the differences in perception between Anglicans and free churches. We have a long way to go to achieving a common understanding on these matters.

Copies of Table Talk 16, with the initial results of the survey referred to above, together with CDs or tapes of the four sessions are available from Affinity by contacting .

Steve Wilmshurst

Last update on 12 May 2006
Published by Affinity Admin.


(1) Comments