The Call

When I was ordained back in 1973, it was to serve within the bounds of the South Georgia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.  As I recall there were ten or twelve who were a part of the ordination class that year.  Getting a picture from the past is the only way to be accurate, but memory reminds me it was a good group.  I am told at the past session of this same Annual Conference that none were ordained.  None.  It makes me sad to think that there are no new clergy entering our church to serve as pastors and preachers.

 

I cannot help but think one word.  "Why?"  Why were none ordained?  Has God quit calling people to preach and to serve the church?  Is the famine of the Word being proclaimed really so pronounced? (Amos 8:11) Are young people not listening anymore?  Are preachers who fill the pulpit failing to speak words which enable people to hear God calling?  Are the potential preachers and pastors hearing a call to a more lucrative and easier life style?  Is the church becoming so irrelevant that no one wants to invest their lives serving the Christ through its ministry?  What is happening?  Is the empty altar of ordination temporary, or does it point to a trend? 

 

I must confess.  I am better at asking questions than providing answers.  I have my own thoughts which somehow originate in the way the church and its preachers have lost a sense of urgency about the message of the gospel.  Too many times the message being proclaimed is weakened down by attempts to be attractive and acceptable instead of convicting and invitational.  Too many times the call of God to preach and pastor is weakened by presenting it in an either or fashion.  Maybe we have become afraid to sound the Word of God in these day.  I am convinced God still desires to call young men and women to ministry within the church, but the medium for the message has become too confused.