Vocation isn't just about ordained ministry

June 24, 2020 Emma Collins

What do you think of when you hear the word 'vocation'? Many think of routes into ordination or authorized lay ministry. Vocation is much more than that as John Pritchard explains here in this adapted extract from his new book Handbook of Christian Ministry.

The idea of a Christian vocation easily gets diverted into well-established routes such as ordination or authorized lay ministry. But vocation is in fact a much broader concept, involving a conviction about a choice or direction of travel in any person’s ministry as a Christian. Ordained ministry is only one very specific route.

Calling
For any Christian there are various calls that God may put on our lives.

The call to be fully ourselves
In Blackpool Tower there’s a room with curved mirrors that make us look ridiculously fat, thin, round or hideous. In real life we too can find that we’re accepting the distorted images of ourselves given by the curved mirrors held up to us by society, parents, friends, school or the media. We have to reclaim our true image and recover our own divine reflection, our own gifted life, made in the image of God. Our first call, then, is to inhabit fully the unique person God has made us to be. When we inhabit our true selves, we feel released, free, enlarged and at home in the world.

The call to be a disciple of Jesus
There is no better or higher calling. When Archbishop Justin Welby discovered not long ago that the person he had thought was his father, was not in fact a genetic match, he said simply but profoundly that his identity rested in Jesus Christ and nothing had changed in that respect. This life-defining call to be a dis- ciple is a challenge to follow Jesus wherever that leads and to be ‘covered in the dust of our rabbi’, just as young trainee rabbis would literally follow their distinguished leader all day, see what they did and get covered in middle-eastern dust. Following Jesus is a thrilling way to live. When we have set our compass on Jesus, everything else becomes a matter of faithful obedience.

The call to serve
As we follow Jesus more closely, it’s likely that we’ll experience a call to some form of service in the Church or the wider commu- nity. Relevant questions to ask might then be: Does this prospect excite me? Is there a real need for this or is it mostly my ego speaking? Does this fit my skillset or could I develop this skill? Am I actually fulfilling my vocation in my work role? Sometimes we feel bound to take on some responsibility because no one else will come forward and the job is vital, but if that’s the case we should take it on for a strictly limited period and make a priority of finding and training a successor.

The call to an authorized ministry
This ‘vocation within a vocation within a vocation’ is usually licensed in some way, at an appropriate level. As such, it isn’t better than being a day-to-day disciple, just more clear-cut, with a name, a job description and a line of accountability. I hope we never get over the sense of privilege that should rightly accompany such a calling. I never lead a Eucharist without a sense of awe and gratitude. I’m always disappointed when I encounter people in recognized ministry who haven’t outgrown silliness to do with status, clothing or general religiosity. We’re not here to play religious games in a pious bubble. We have serious, joyful ministry to pursue. And one of our roles now is to look for our successors. We need to be intentional about looking around prayerfully to find other people who God might be calling to focused, recognized ministries.

Growth in ministry
Having established that we have a variety of callings, we need to look at how these callings change and grow. Vocation is a moving target and we have to keep adjusting our vision. There’s an enduring task but a changing context. What is God calling me to explore now? How have my experiences so far fitted me for a new form or context of ministry? What more do I need to learn to be faithful now, in this new present time? We have to pour the liquid gold of the gospel into new moulds for new times and that calls for different priorities and skills.

I’ve written elsewhere about the central concerns of ordained ministry as the glory of God, the pain of the world and the renewal of the Church. The same is true of any Christian calling, with different emphases. It’s like three colours (gold, red and green) being deployed on the canvas of ministry in different ways. The core task remains, but the changing context is bound to ask for flexibility and reskilling in ministry.

There are many situations we find ourselves in as Christians that are difficult to handle. This warm, compassionate handbook offers an easy-to-navigate source of advice on how to respond to the needs of others. It draws on the extensive experience of a much loved bishop, whose companion volume, The Life and Work of a Priest, has become a classic.

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