Required reading
Discussions (Vol 2) by Robert L. Dabney (Available from Amazon or free here) - Read 'What is a call to the ministry'.
My summary
This week Dabney defends the call to the ministry, which he defines as an expression of the divine will that a man should preach the gospel.
He teaches us that the call:
(i) is uttered to the preacher's brethren as well as the preacher;
(ii) involves complete self-consecration;
(iii) is known through outward circumstances and qualifications;
(iv) is qualified with piety, holiness, character, experience and aptness to teach;
(v) considers supply and demand;
(vi) is reasonable and spiritual;
(vii) involves prayer.
What grabbed me
I liked this point: 'First, then, a call to preach is not complete until the Holy Spirit has uttered it, not only in the Christian judgment of the candidate himself, but in that of his brethren also. Their minds, taught of the Holy Ghost, and inspired by him with spiritual principles and affections, recognize in the candidate a "brother beloyed," fitted by his spiritual gifts for the ministry, and their utterance of this judgment is a part of his yocation. Sometimes, as in the case of Knox, the brethren anticipate the candidate's own conclusion in uttering this call ; usually they follow it by uttering it after he has acted so far on the probable evidence of a call found in his own Christian judgment as to prepare himself to preach. And it is manifest that the candidate must necessarily, in common cases, proceed so far as his preparation on the incomplete eyidence he finds in himself greatly confirmed, indeed, by the advice of individual brethren, because the church cannot usually judge his probable call until he prepares himself. '
If other mature Christians do not perceive any giftedness for the ministry in you, then you should be very cautious about entering into it.
Next week's reading
Read 'Memorial on theological education'.
Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
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