On Calling

I have to get this off my chest. It’s something that has been weighing on my heart and mind for a couple weeks. I’ve wrestled, I’ve prayed, I’ve pondered. I love the Church. I love it with everything that I have. It is beautiful and messy and ugly and wonderful.

The thing that I love most about the Church is that those who lead, do so as a result of calling. True Christian leadership is not about prestige or power. It’s not about getting paid. It is about being called. There is an inward call and an outward call.

The inward call is the Spirit of God working inside the person drawing them into leadership. The outward call is the people of God confirming the inward working of the Spirit. This is the beauty of leadership within the Church it is individual and communal. It is a both/and. Leadership is a calling.

Yesterday I wrote this,

If your calling is dependent on your comfort, it isn’t your calling.

— Daniel Rose (@danielmrose) February 10, 2015

Sadly, I’m beginning to see many in the Church think about leadership in a secular way. There is a sense that to get “talent” you need to sell people on something. You need to “recruit” them.

This is not how Christian leadership works.

It is supposed to be about calling. It is supposed to be the individual hearing from the Spirit and having that calling confirmed by the larger church.

When we feel the necessity to “compete” for leaders by trying to create a context or environment or “benefits” for them, we are moving away from calling to something else. Leaders in the Church are not to be wooed like Max Scherzer.

We are missing the boat when we begin to think like CEO’s within the Church. We are supposed to be better than that. Beyond that, when we start thinking this way we are no longer thinking Christianly, but as CS Lewis would say, “sub-Christian”.

Leadership within the Church is anything but comfortable. Following Jesus at all, is anything but comfortable. If we are promising comfort to potential leaders we are not inviting them into Gospel leadership. We are inviting them into something else, something less.

No, leadership within the Church is supposed to be something more. It’s supposed to be a self-sacrificial act. Too many today think otherwise and it breaks my heart. Careerism is not calling. Climbing the organizational ladder is not calling. Giving all of who you are for the cause of Jesus for the sake of his Church, that’s calling. When you’re truly called it doesn’t matter where, when, or how, you just go. You go with faith your eyes and trust that this Jesus you follow will provide, care, and support you. You trust that the Church will get your back.

If you’re in it for anything else, then you’re not called. If you’re not called, it’s best if you walk away from leadership within the Church. If you’re not called then you’ll make decisions out of a desire for comfort, power, or prestige. All things that are antithetical to the call of Jesus.

I’ll close with Jesus’ pitch to would be disciples,

“Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:27 ESV)”

“So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.(Luke 14:33 ESV)”

“As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:57-62 ESV)

The post On Calling appeared first on The Journal by Daniel M. Rose.

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