Living In The 3rd Culture: Are You Called to be a Pastor?

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, God has graciously called you to Himself through the finished work of His Son. Theologically, this is our primary calling. This call is primary because it not only changes who we are, but effects what we do. Because we as a people have been called to Him, what we do is also His – every corner of your life belongs to Him. Therefore, we are all secondarily called to live out our lives in ministry for His glory. That means that whether you are a student, homemaker, physician, landscaper, missionary or pastor, everyone is called to ministry in the place that God has put you. This is what we term our secondary call.

Within the category of secondary call, God selects men to serve the Church as pastors. Paul communicated to young Timothy that those who desire to be a pastor, “desire a noble task” (1 Tim. 3:1, ESV). The question we are asking today is, “How does one know if they are called to be a Pastor”? In the tradition of the reformers John Newton summed it up this way. First there must be “a warm and earnest desire to be employed in this service". Second, this is accompanied by “some competent sufficiency as to the gifts, knowledge, and utterance”. And Third, a call is confirmed by “a correspondent opening in Providence, by a gradual train of circumstances pointing out the time, the place, of actually entering into the work”. Let’s take a few minutes and look more closely at these three areas.

Internal Call: “A warm and earnest desire”. This is an internal work of the Holy Spirit where we have a growing compulsion to preach, teach the Scriptures and shepherd the people of God. Charles Spurgeon described it this as “an intense all-absorbing desire for the work”, or like the prophet Jeremiah wrote “fire in my bones” (20:17). Often it may come at a time that does not make sense to the average person around us, as it may take us away from prestigious or lucrative jobs. I like how the reformer Martin Luther describes it as “God’s voice heard by faith”. An internal call to the pastorate will always lead you to high commitment and involvement in a local church, even if there is not one in your community that is a theological match. If you believe that you have an internal call to be a pastor, yet are not involved and serving in a local church, you may not be called.

External Call: “Some competent sufficiency as to gifts, knowledge and utterance”. The local church is the place where your internal call is confirmed. As you serve and live within the body of Christ, those around you will see your heart and gifts and encourage you in them. Because many of us have poor self-awareness it is crucial that our internal call be confirmed by those who see you serving and know you the best. This is not a subjective compliment from an endearing friend, but recognition from mature believers that the gifts and qualifications listed in 1Timothy and Titus are evident in your everyday life. Simply having good people and public speaking skills are not evidence of a call unless they are rooted in the qualifications for leadership given in Scripture. The call to ministry as a pastor is far more than the ability to communicate well. It is a calling to live out what we preach as a public display of the Gospel.

I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to have Godly people who will be truly honest with you in this regard. Sadly, many are given flattery when they need to hear the “truth spoken in love.” You must have those who can speak into your spiritual maturity and gifting in respect to how that works out in a church community. In my own denomination, the first step in pursuing training in ministry is to place oneself under the care of group of pastors in a given region called a presbytery. You cannot come under care unless you are recommended by the elders of the church where you are a member (Note well the requirement of church membership). Their recommendation is based on seeing your internal call worked out through your gifting, character and service. My encouragement is that you do not consider seminary until you have both an internal call and external call. Seminary can refine gifts and provide knowledge, but it cannot build on what is not already present.

A Place to Practice the Call: A correspondent opening in Providence, by gradual train of circumstances pointing out the means, the time, the place, of actually entering upon the work”. The last step in confirming a call to the pastorate is when God actually provides a place for you to serve, a church. In other words, God in His providence will provide a place for you to exercise your gifts. At times one may sense an internal call, be encouraged by others to pursue it, only to find that God does not provide a specific call where you can serve. It is not uncommon for men to go through seminary having felt the call, assuming that seminary would automatically result in finding a place to preach, only to discover that God does not open a church for them to serve. If God is not providing you a church to serve as a pastor, He may be calling to serve in another area of service, at least for a season.

As I close, let me take it full circle. If you are one who has gone through seminary convinced that God was calling you to serve as a pastor, yet He has not provided you an opportunity, please see this as God graciously redirecting you. Remember every Christian is called to ministry and there is no hierarchy! Though it is common within the Christian community to place the pastor on a pedestal, the only reason he serves in that position is because God has called him to do so. Every Christian’s goal should be to have an effective ministry that points others to Jesus, regardless of how God provides our income. If you went to seminary and are disappointed because you have not been given the opportunity to preach, don’t be discouraged because your training can and will be used by God as you faithfully serve in the work that God has given.

Third Culture Defined

The term “Third Culture” has been used in various ways. One “Third Culture” group “consists of those scientists and other thinkers in the empirical world who, through their work and expository writing, are taking the place of the traditional intellectuals in rendering visible the deeper meanings of our lives, redefining who and what we are.”Another common use of “Third Culture” in fact describes my personal experience. The term was first coined by sociologist Ruth Hill Useem, professor emeritus of sociology and education at Michigan State University. She used the term to describe children growing up outside their citizenship countries because of a parent’s work abroad. A “TCK or Third Culture Kid has since been defined as, “someone who as a child has spent a significant period of time in one or more culture(s) other than his or her own, thus integrating elements of those cultures and their own birth culture, into a third culture" Though I am a TCK, it is my desire to use the term in referring to the people who make up the true Christian Church (Theologically defined as the “Invisible Church”). In other words, the Church is a Third Culture. Scripture teaches us that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law and the punishment of Hell, and through faith in Him we become citizens of His Kingdom, receiving not only the full benefits of citizenship in His Kingdom, but indeed the right to become sons and daughters of God. The moment, we step into this Kingdome we experience a new and different culture. We are no longer in the kingdom of darkness, but now live in the kingdom of light and that changes everything! At the same time we never went anywhere physically as we continue to work, live, and play with the same people as before, we see the world differently, we no longer truly fit – we are “in the world, but not of it” -- we have a new culture. For most of us this life changing experience occurs within our birth culture and our Christian experience is saturated by those influences. For those who grew up in non-Hispanic White North America, Christianity is uniquely different than those who grew up in an African American context. Our birth culture effects how we live out our faith in the Kingdom of Christ. Yet the Kingdom of Christ requires one more cultural shift and that is away from birth culture and into a culture made up of people of every ethnic and cultural group that has ever existed on the face of the earth. This Kingdom is no more North American than it is Tanzanian or Tibetan. It is a unique or shall we say a “Third Culture” that integrates elements of all cultures into one new and better one, where there is no Jew or Greek, slave nor free, male nor female“You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Gal 3:26-298). In fact Revelation 7:9-10 gives us a description what this will look like one day:“After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." A Third Culture Perspective is one that understands and appreciates that God gathers people from every ethnic and cultural group and brings them into the new culture of His Son Jesus Christ. It is a perspective where birth cultures are appreciated and respected as coming from God, but none are superior. It seeks to have a deeper understanding of the Gospel, pays attention to culture, our own as well as others, and then attempts to bring them together. It is a perspective that “seeks first His Kingdom and His Righteousness” and lovingly and passionately enjoys and glorifies God in all we do. It is a perspective that welcomes immigrants….

Are You Called to be a Pastor?

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