Called to ministry?

I am in the process of putting together a difficult post about ministry in the CofE, but there is one area that warrants a separate post, I think, and that is the issue of calling to ministry.

I should point out two pertinent facts here. Firstly, I have been through the selection process in the CofE. This has two critical implications: Firstly, I do know something about the process, from the inside, and; I have some baggage from this, I am damaged and scarred by this process.

There is a problem that the only people who have any insight into the processing of the system, from the inside, are those for whom it has worked, and those for whom it hasn't and who may therefore feel aggrieved by it. What is more, in my experience, the ones whose opinions are taken are those for whom it has been successful, which is not a good way of assessing a process.

The second issue is that I have no problems with the sense of calling. I do believe that God calls people today, and, in fact, I believe that he calls many people in many different ways. What is more, I believe that this can lead people into the CofE priesthood.

The problem I have - and this is core to an understanding of calling - is that I am not sure that God calls a person into something as specific as the CofE priesthood. I believe that he calls people to minister to certain groups of people, to certain types of people, to particular people groups. It is also the case that the CofE has restricted certain types of ministry to the priesthood, and if God is calling you to a ministry that is covered by this, the priesthood may be a natural route to choose.

I know that some people will disagree with this. What is more, I know that there is a long history of a calling to the priesthood. None of which means that it is right, or that it is wrong. The problem that I have with this is that I do not see this "calling to the priesthood" in the Bible - and so I struggle to understand how come this new sense of calling is developed.

The Old Testament does not have any sense of "calling to the priesthood" - the truth is that if you were a Levite, you were part of the priestly tribe, and if you were a descendent of Aaron, you were in line for the high priest. There was no sense of being called to this - it was about being born to it.

The New Testament is not a lot more help. There are those who are chosen to be "leaders" of congregations and groups, often chosen by the group themselves, or picked by Paul on his travels, where he is starting new groups. But these are people chosen to lead a specific group at a particular time. It is only beyond the New Testament that a concept of a priest ordained by something other than a local community. But I am not certain that this is given the sense of a "calling" - it is important, it is serious, but is it a calling?

I do believe that I am called. I am called to minister to all the people that I meet. I am, I believe, specifically called to those on the edges of the church, to those for whom the church cannot reach. But I do not do this most of the time. Most of the time, I write computer software, something that I believe is an important aspect of what I do. I do not think that I am "called" to this - rather that I am "gifted" or "talented" in doing this, and I use my talents in this. I do believe that this is something given me by God, but also something I need to continually work at and improve.

"Ah well, that is you, but others do have a calling to the priesthood" you may say. Well one thing that I have got out of Andrew Brims latest book The Narky Nazarene is that this needs to be more clearly defined. If it is to teach people, then there are places to teach the Christian message. If it is to pastor people, then there are plenty of places to pastor people, to minister to them. If it is to lead people, then there are plenty of groups and people to lead and move on to the next place.

You could conclude that I don't have a lot of time for the priesthood, for clergy. You might be right, at least in that I do think the CofE dominant focus on priesthood is very dangerous and damaging. But I don't dismiss it completely - there is a place for people to be licensed for leadership positions. But, judging from what so many clergy seem to comment on, the skills and calling for this should be the ability to manage administration, and deal with stroppy and miserable people.

In the end, I think the core problems that I have with the sense of a "calling" to priesthood are twofold. Firstly, I think it is in danger of missing other perfectly valid "callings", not the usual sinecure of a calling to a secular job. We are missing callings that have nothing to do with the church, but are all spiritual callings to ministry. By focusing firstly on the church, and then on one particular role in the church, we miss the real meaning of calling, and the importance of spiritual calling and ministry in the wider world.

Calling - I think the question may not be what you are called to, but who you are called to. Calling is about people, because God is about people. That, at heart, is why I struggle with a "calling to priesthood".