Tuesday, December 16, 2003

7:27 AM Gordon MacDonald revives and reclaims the mostly-forgotten concept of the call to the ministry. In another generation, we challenged young people to consider the call to vocational Christian ministry. MacDonald points out (correctly, I believe) that that concept was lost in the egalitarian 60s and replaced with the notion that “all Christians are called” to serve the Lord. Unfortunately, the latter concept (while certainly true) has almost overwhelmed the view that God calls and sets apart some people to fulltime Christian service. MacDonald is right when he says we need to recapture the concept. I can testify that God called me to vocational Christian service 33 years ago in a definite way at a particular moment in time. The guidelines presented in this article are very helpful and represent the historic view of such men as Spurgeon and Lloyd-Jones. We do not have to choose between seeing all believers as called by God to serve him and believing that God sets apart some men and women to serve him in a special, particular way in his service. And may God raise up (from our young people, our young adults, our older adults, yes, from all ages) men and women who will answer the call to serve him in fulltime Christian service.