Having received a few questions recently about discerning a call to pastoral ministry, it’s time to curate some of the more helpful resources.
Gray Ewing (New Valley Church (PCA), Chandler, Arizona) and Eric Tonjes (Grace Central Church, Omaha, Nebraska) of Simply Faithful, have a lengthy discussion, Am I Called to Ministry? Over at Mind + Heart, a podcast by RTS, you can listen to a new (and short) interview with Michael Allen called, Called. Jonathan Leeman interviews Mark Dever at Pastor’s Talk, called On Being Called to Ministry. Those same guys then get together to interview Baptist pastor, Brad Wheeler, On Pastoral Calling. Bobby Jamieson has helpful stuff in his interview by Crossway, A Better Way to Talk About the “Call to Ministry.”
There are a myriad of articles. David Mathis, Is God Calling Me to Be a Pastor? or Am I Called to the Ministry? by David Murray. There’s How to Become a Pastor, by Bryan Stoudt. Read Discerning and Exercising Spiritual Gifts, written by Tim Keller in 2011.
After all of this, earnestly begin by reading Edmund Clowney, Called to the Ministry. This is the best book on the call to ministry that I have read.
Bobbie Jamieson, one of the pastors at Capitol Hill Baptist Church, handles the subject with a pretty critical eye. Read his short article, 5 Myths About Being Called to Ministry, and The Double Presumption of Calling to Ministry to get a sense of his perspective. Then consider reading his book, The Path to Being a Pastor: A Guide for the Aspiring. He takes a very cautious, but helpful, position on discerning a call, along the same lines of the unique and very popular book by Bruce Waltke from 2002, Finding the Will of God: A Pagan Notion?.
There are a couple of short entries worth reading. Michael Milton’s, Called?: Pastoral Guidance for the Divine Call to Gospel Ministry, has recently been revised for a UK audience (2018). Dave Harvey’s 2012, Am I Called?: The Summons to Pastoral Ministry, continues to have a popular following.
