Throughout much of church history only “religious workers” had callings. Ordinary people simply had jobs. But Scripture tells us that all believers are, in fact, “servants of the Lord” (Ps. 113:1). Gospel ministry is but one of countless opportunities to live out the office of believer.

Still, there must be pastors and teachers “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:12). The ministry isn’t better than other vocations. But for some, becoming a minister is the best work because God has called them to it.

Just how God calls men to the ministry is too often needlessly unclear. As a result, men give little thought to the possibility of gospel service, and believers fail to help them find their calling. If God calls ordinary Christian men to become pastors, we should know how he does it.

How Are Men Called to the Ministry?

Put simply, qualified men are sent by the church to speak for Christ(Rom. 10:14–15). That sending process will be different for every man. But the pattern is less like the dramatic call of the Old Testament prophets, and more like Timothy’s pathway to ministry.[i] Timothy was raised in a godly home (2 Tim. 1:5), was converted to Christ as a young man, and developed a good reputation in the church (Acts 16:1–2). When Paul met him, he “wanted Timothy to accompany him” (v. 3). So “the council of elders laid their hands” on him to set him apart for the ministry (1 Tim. 4:14; see 2 Tim. 1:6). Even Timothy’s story isn’t programmatic. But it can help demystify the calling process. He had no “Damascus road experience.” He was a faithful and gifted man taken from another calling to serve the church.

So how do men like Timothy enter the ministry today?

Prayer

Jesus once appointed seventy-two men to preach the gospel. But because the harvest is great and the workers few many more are needed. It is not uncommon for denominations and church networks today to have pastoral vacancy rates of 10 to 20 percent. And even churches that aren’t vacant would benefit from more pastors, evangelists, and church planters. So “pray earnestly to the Lord for the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Luke 10:2). Pray for pastors who reflect God’s heart for the church (Jer. 3:15), to “plant, water, and harvest a people for [his] name.”[ii] If you are wondering if you might be called to the ministry, pray that the Lord would help you be faithful in your present responsibilities and humbly respond to the possibility of a life of gospel ministry.

Encouragement

Pastors and elders should seek and equip faithful men whom God might use to shepherd the flock (2 Tim. 2:2), testing potential future pastors long before they go to seminary. Parents also have an important role. William Perkins wrote that “Every Christian parent, by virtue of his general calling, is to dedicate some of his male children (as much as possible) to the service of the ministry, if they have gifts and inclination of nature for that calling.”[iii] Perkins might sound overly ambitious. But his intention is exactly right. Without encouragement, perhaps even yours, many young men might simply shrug off as far-fetched thoughts of a pastoral calling.

Ordination

Ultimately no one knows if he is called to the ministry until achurch officially calls him to pastor their congregation and charges him to take heed to the flock that the Holy Spirit has called him to help oversee (Acts 20:28). The internal call that a man might sense must be confirmed by a literal external call and the laying on of hands. But along the way there will likely be indicators of a man’s calling to the ministry.

What Are Possible Signs to a Call to the Ministry?

In addition to understanding the calling process, a man considering the ministry—and his church—should evaluate his qualifications. John Newton identified three signs of a ministerial call: desire, competency, and ordination.[iv]

The Sign of Desire

Paul’s first word on pastoral qualification commends a man’s desireto be a pastor (1 Tim. 3:1). This desire is not a “naturalistic sense of attraction”: a desire to be heard, a craving for reputation, power, or wealth.[v] But a called man will want to be a pastor. A friend in pastoral ministry explains that “you must feel that burden, that tug of the heart, that nagging, piercing prod from the Lord that he,” at least perhaps, is calling you “to this holy task.”[vi] The internal call might not begin as strongly as that. But unlike many other vocations, the ministry requires a genuine passion for the work.

The Sign of Competency

A man who may be called to the ministry must meet the biblical qualifications of an overseer (1 Tim. 3:2–7; Titus 1:6–9). He must have a high view of Scripture and an eagerness to obey it. He must be wise and kind, courageous and loving, convictional and sympathetic. He should possess a great capacity for discouragement and a willingness to receive both just and unjust criticism, knowing his weaknesses. He should be self-disciplined and self-controlled. He must have sufficient intellect and communication skills to rightly handle the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15). He may not be “a recent convert” (1 Tim. 3:6; see 1 Tim. 5:22) but have a proven track record of Christian service. A good pastoral candidate will be generally competent, likely to succeed in any field but especially equipped for pastoral work.

The congregation and her leaders should help affirm, or possibly deny, a man’s sense of calling, considering among other things his performance in a good seminary.

The Sign of Ordination

Ministers must be sent by the church. Today, all it takes to becomea “pastor” is to say it is so. But as Charles Spurgeon wrote, “An ambassador unsent would be a laughing-stock.”[vii] A man truly called by God to the gospel ministry will be noticed, affirmed, equipped, supported, examined, authorized, and commissioned by the church of Jesus Christ.

Puritan John Arrowsmith simplified the requirements for a “lawful calling” into the gospel ministry: “ability, inclination, and separation (ordination).”[viii] A man who is called by God to the ministry will be faithfully carrying out the vocation in which God in his providence has placed him (1 Cor. 7:17). He will be inwardly constrained to pastor God’s people. And his gifts will be recognized by the church, which will ratify his inward call.

That calling, like all others, is great. No man is sufficient for these things. But God is “our sufficiency” (2 Cor. 3:5). After all, gospel ministry is God’s ministry. People plant and water. But God provides the growth (1 Cor. 3:6). God allows people, including ministers, to assist in the transformation of lives. But he is the Lord of the harvest. Ministers are just men through whom the merciful God cares for his people. Knowing that, we should want him to raise up men for the job. So we pray and work, trusting that he’ll do it.

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[i] “An extraordinary, divine declaration is not an element of this internal commission…The external calling is also not extraordinary in nature.” Wilhelmus á Brakel, The Christian’s Reasonable Service, ed. Joel R. Beeke, trans. Bartel Elshout (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 1993), 2:121, 122.

[ii] “Pastoral Prayer (Long)—1,” in Liturgical Forms and Prayers of the URCNA, https://formsandprayers.com/prayers-meditations/#...

[iii] Perkins, “A Treatise on Vocations,” in The Works of William Perkins, vol. 10, ed. Joseph A. Pipa and J. Stephen Yuille (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2020) 51–52.

[iv] Cited in Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1954), 33–35.

[v] Joel Nederhood, “The Minister’s Call,” in The Preacher and Preaching: Reviving the Art, ed. Samuel T. Logan, Jr. (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 1986), 35.

[vi] Jason Helopoulos, The New Pastor’s Handbook: Help and Encouragement for the First Years of Ministry (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2015), 29.

[vii] Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, 24.

[viii] Quoted in Chad Van Dixhoorn, God’s Ambassadors: The Westminster Assembly and the Reformation of the English Pulpit, 1643–1653,Studies on the Westminster Assembly (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2017), 109.