Yes, he is! God calls everyone who loves him into some kind of service.
The primary calling of all Christians is to represent Christ in the world. But
service can take many forms, so where is God calling you?
Everyone is called to an ever-deeper relationship with God and with each other.
For some people, service may mean reflecting God’s love to others—wherever they
are and whatever they do in life. For most Christians it will involve
undertaking a variety of tasks and acts of service in their local church. For
some, the calling is more particularly ‘vocational’ and involves being
authorised by the Church to minister in a public capacity.
WHAT IS A VOCATION?
Having a vocation means giving over your life to service in ministry within
the Church. For some, that vocation will be to ordained ministry as a deacon or
priest. Find out more about the sort of jobs you might
end up doing in the Church of England!
IS THIS MINISTRY FOR YOU?
A life in ordained ministry isn’t for everyone, but it could be God’s calling
for you. There’s a CALL WAITING…
magazine which will help you to think about that for yourself before you
approach anyone, and there is lots of help and support available. Why not find
out more about the sort of people we’re looking
for?
If you do feel called to ministry, you will need to allow that sense of calling
to be tested by the Church - through a discernment process. You’ll probably be
asked to meet a number of people who are experienced in discerning vocation, and
they will explore with you whether you show signs of a calling to ministry. It’s
right for the Church to test each sense of calling, and to be able to validate
and authorise people’s callings to ministry.
CALLINGS IN THE BIBLE
In the Bible, there are lots of
examples of very different people being called in very different ways. We’ve
collected together some Bible passages
which may help you reflect on your own sense of calling.
EXPLORING YOUR OWN CALLING
Before you start talking to the Church of England about ministry, you’ll need to
explore within yourself whether you really feel called. There are lots of signs,
but asking yourself four key questions will
help.
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