If we are willing to say that God can call whomever God chooses and our task is to affirm God’s call, how do we do that. Since God has a habit of calling people we do not expect, how do we know if a person has indeed received a call from God. This is an important question that all church bodies must answer.
Some churches are part of a hierarchy that makes that decision and others make it at the level of the congregation. In all cases, they are attempting to discern the truth of the call as it takes place in the human heart. As is made clear in 1 Samuel 16, “the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” (16:7). The problem, of course, is it is extremely difficult to measure the heart of another person.
As far back as the late 70s when the Presbyterian Church was first wrestling with this issue with respect to gay individuals, their study group recommended a procedure that was clearly in line with both the tradition of the Presbyterian Church and the limits of human discernment. For a call to be recognized, first the person has to attest to the call in their own heart. It is important that they believe that they have been called by God.
Next, they have to receive the support of the church body that knows them best. They must receive the support of the governing board of their local church; in the Presbyterian case, this is the session. With the sessions approval, they go under care of the presbytery or regional body of the churches. They must also engage in appropriate education and training in a recognized seminary. In the case of Presbyterians, they must also learn Hebrew and Greek. Some believe that this is a major test of the sincereity of the call.
If they have received the proper education (now including passing of ordination exams) and convinced both their local congregation and the presbytery of the sincerity of their call and their appropriate character and preparation, the final step is to find a congregation or appropriate body to issue them a call to the ministry. Only when all those steps have been taken, is a person recognize as having received a call to serve God in ordained ministry.
History would suggest that such a set of criteria are hardly fool proof. Many have been approved for ordination who should not have been so ordained. That happens regardless and it is only discerned over time in their practice of ministry. It is only a human procedure but does engage the prayerful interaction of a number of human beings and church bodies. The church has survived the mistakes and flourished under some excellent leadership. Often they have been surprised at who demonstrates the best gifts for ministry.
The truth is, we need procedures that help to guide us in our decision making and then we need to trust that God can work effectively even when we make mistakes. The concern is that we not block from the practice of ministry in our churches the person God wishes to call.
