Home Worship Planning Music Resources I Hear You Calling Me, Lord; But to What?

I Hear You Calling Me, Lord; But to What?

In the face of alarming attrition rates, contemporary clergy and academics are exploring the historic and theological roots of "call." Recent articles from a variety of sources distinguish two different "calls" into the ministry: One is the prophetic call, in which one is called by God to be a spokesperson, delivering whatever message God wants delivered to the world, or a vessel through which God works directly in the world. The other call — which I will refer to as the ministry call — is one in which the person is called to serve God by doing good works in the world in God's name.

In the United Methodist understanding of ministry, the local congregation identifies and recommends to the annual conference those individuals who have expressed a desire to enter the ordained ministry and who they believe possess the gifts and graces for such ministry. Through a process that is not consistent among the annual conferences, the conference boards of ordained ministry then verify the individual's call from God and oversee the seminary training, eventually deciding to formally ordain the person into ministry (or not), followed by an appointment in ministry.

Although many ordained clergy speak of their prophetic call, to my knowledge, The United Methodist Church does not verify a call of an individual to be a prophet in the church, nor do bishops appoint clergy to a position as prophet. In fact, Dan Dick, the Discipleship Ministries's Director of Research, in his recent work with several annual conferences, found that 71 percent of the clergy in those conferences entered the ministry in response to a prophetic call, but only 16 percent believed their current appointment honors their call. Such a disparity may partially account for some of the frustration experienced by our brothers and sisters in the ordained ministry.

But what about musicians? Many of us have also experienced the call of God upon our lives, pulling and pushing us, sometimes lovingly and gently, sometimes like the impatient and demanding jerk of a collar. Some musicians speak of God's call as a lifelong process; while others can identify a single, dramatic, emotional event or experience that they identified as God's call into music ministry. Unlike that 71 percent of clergy who experienced a prophetic call, I have never met or heard of a single musician experiencing such a call. All the musicians I have known or heard about have experienced a ministry call. I have, however, too many times seen and heard church musicians acting in such a manner that might lead someone to confuse them with a prophet. Rather than serving God and ministering to the people through God's gift of music, they feel the necessity to preach, to verbally proclaim, to offer words of judgment and proclamation. All too often, those words are harsh, narrow, and poorly informed historically, theologically, and biblically. Most musicians, called to music ministry or not, lack the study and experience in those disciplines to perform a prophetic role. Despite that, some will claim "The Lord (or Holy Spirit) has given me this word to proclaim…"

Is a ministry call any less valid, important, or worthy than a prophetic call? Of course not. The two are simply different, testimony to the variety of work to be performed in the church and to the variety of individuals God calls to accomplish that work. There is also the opportunity for the musician to appropriately take on something of a prophet or proclaimer role as an organist, choir director, choir singer, or a soloist. There are times when it is appropriate and right for us to offer a "THUS SAYS THE LORD!" piece of music to the congregation or to lead the worshipers in a similar type of hymn or act of worship. I have trouble, however, conceiving of a prophetic call to congregational music ministry.

We have no way in The United Methodist Church of verifying and putting an official "Amen" on God's call of an individual into the music ministry of the church. Religious and seminary education, as well as the training and experience received in the church's music certification program, are the closest we come; but neither ever gets at the heart of the matter. It is one more item, along with salary, benefits, duties, job descriptions, and working conditions, that we leave entirely between the local congregation and the congregation's employed music staff.

To be called by God to any task is an awesome and holy thing. To be called by God to minister to our congregations and communities through God's gift of musical abilities is both serious business and high privilege. We must find ways to hear, answer, and nurture that call and claim of God upon our lives.

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