A Culture of Call Is a Culture of Discipleship

"The reason it’s the same five people who do everything is that it’s the same five people we ask."

Missouri pastor Rev. Paul Klepees names a familiar challenge for many congregations: When a ministry needs a leader, we tend to turn to people we know will say yes. It is efficient. It is also limiting.

"Bringing someone new into ministry is time-consuming, but it’s effective," Klepees said.

What looks like a volunteer problem may actually be a discipleship problem. Rather than asking, "Who can fill this position?" a culture of call asks, "What is God doing in the lives of the people around us, and how can the church help them respond?"

A culture of call is not primarily a clergy recruitment strategy. It is a way of making disciples.

In 2013, Bishop Janice Riggle Huie encouraged United Methodist leaders to exchange the image of a clergy "pipeline" for an "ecosystem," a set of relationships in which every element affects the others. Her metaphor offers a helpful way to think about a culture of call, too, and the Missouri Conference has embraced the image wholeheartedly. Disciples do not move along an assembly line. They grow within communities that notice, nurture, challenge, and release them.

Call belongs to all of us

In the Missouri Conference, our culture of call work begins with the conviction that all Christians participate in the ministry of all believers. Calling is not limited to ordained ministry or church employment. God calls people into lives of purpose and service in classrooms and boardrooms, hospitals and homes, neighborhoods and nonprofits, congregations and communities.

Calling is personal, but it is rarely discovered alone. Missouri’s Culture of Call teaching series describes vocation as an ongoing journey of discovering one’s gifts and limitations while learning to recognize God’s voice amid many competing voices. It helps believers find meaning, purpose, and belonging as they respond to God.

Volunteer recruitment begins with an empty position. A culture of call begins with a person. A healthy ecosystem of call requires three movements: discernment, exploration, and integration.

Discernment: See and name

Healthy ecosystems depend on attention to what is already growing. The same is true in discipleship. What comes naturally to us can seem so ordinary that we fail to recognize it as a gift. That is why Christian community matters.

Missouri Bishop Bob Farr remembers a pastor who saw gifts in him long before he could see them in himself. She invited him to become involved in the wider church. One invitation led to another. Farr suggests that people often begin recognizing their call because someone else has been paying attention.

At Pleasant Grove United Methodist Church in Hatton, Missouri, Klepees helped develop an approach called ICNU ("I See in You"). The practice involves noticing another person's gifts and skills, naming them, and inviting the person to consider how God might use them. This requires more than generic encouragement like, "You’d be good at that." It sounds more like:

"I notice the way people trust you with difficult questions."

"You have a gift for helping children feel included."

"Have you ever considered how God might use that ability?"

That is discipleship: helping another person interpret their life through the lenses of grace, giftedness, and God’s purposes.

Exploration: Invite and make room

Naming a gift is only the beginning. People need opportunities to explore what that gift might mean.

One helpful approach is the apprenticeship model:

I do; you watch.
I do; you help.
You do; I help.
You do; I watch.

And eventually: You do; someone else watches.

That final movement matters. Healthy ecosystems reproduce. The person who was learning becomes someone who can develop another disciple. Churches can also invite someone to shadow an experienced leader, offer an internship, ask them to lead one project, or connect them with a mentor. Help them explore how their calling might be expressed through their profession, community, or public service.

Exploration also requires room to get things wrong. Discernment can include uncertainty and questions about belonging. Faithful exploration may take us beyond what is familiar, so people need trusted companions who can listen, ask good questions, and walk alongside them without controlling the outcome.

Integration: Equip, support, and release

An ecosystem becomes sustainable when its parts work together. Churches can unknowingly invite new people to lead without ever permitting them to lead.

In churches that embrace a culture of call, lay ministry leaders are treated as ministry colleagues. They participate in goal setting and evaluation, receive ongoing support, and are trusted with real authority. The goal is to "release" people to do the ministry to which they are called.

Invitation without formation can leave people overwhelmed. Formation without trust can leave them frustrated. A culture of call requires both accompaniment and release.

Integration also means helping people understand that answering God’s call does not guarantee an obstacle-free path. Calling can include doubt, closed doors, and wilderness seasons. It includes accountability to God and community. Missouri’s culture of call materials use Moses’ story to remind us that resistance may not mean we misunderstood God’s invitation.

Disciples learn not simply to identify a call but to continue discerning how to live it faithfully.

Try the "I See in You" challenge

A culture of call does not require a new committee or elaborate program. It can begin with attention.

Over the next month, prayerfully identify three people whose gifts may not yet be fully recognized. Tell each person what you see. Ask, "Where do you sense God inviting you to grow or serve?" Offer a supported opportunity to explore that possibility. Then follow up; not to secure a yes but to continue the discernment.

And ask your congregation two questions: Are we inviting people into ministry because a position is vacant or because we see God at work in them? Once they say yes, do we simply give them a job, or do we equip, accompany, and release them to lead?

A culture of call changes how we see the people sitting beside us. They are not consumers of ministry or potential occupants of vacant positions. They are disciples in whom the Holy Spirit is already at work. Our task is to tend to the ecosystem: pay attention, name what we see, create room for growth, and walk alongside one another as we respond.

Reflection questions and resources

• What is God doing in the lives of the people around us, and how can the church help them respond?
• When have you felt a stirring in your heart, mind, or body? Where did you sense that it may be God?
• How do you understand God’s call in your life as a disciple? How does it affect how you understand others who have a call of some sort?

Check out these resources suggested by Kim and Brian:

• The Missouri Conference Culture of Call Teaching Seriesincludes sermon materials and discussion guides designed to help all ages explore meaning, purpose, and belonging within God’s call.
• NextGen Conversations: Chatting About Culture of Call with Brian Valentine (45 min)
• Bishop Janice Riggle Huie, A New Paradigm for Clergy Leadership: Cultivating an Ecosystem of Excellence (Texas Methodist Foundation, 2013).
• 5 Cups of Coffee Toolkit
• Mentoring Toolkit, including how to have an I-C-N-U conversation

About the Authors

Rev. Kim Jenne is an ordained elder in The United Methodist Church who serves as Director of Connectional Ministries and Assistant to the Bishop for the Missouri Annual Conference. Her work includes conference leadership, communications, boundaries education, governance, and ministries of mission, service, and justice.

Brian Valentine serves as Recruitment Specialist for the Missouri Conference. Drawing on a background in nonprofit leadership, community health, and leadership development, he works closely with churches, colleges, seminaries, and Next Generation Ministries to cultivate a culture of call through teaching, coaching, and intentional vocational conversations.