Three ways I keep finding my path in ministry

you feel called to ministry? maybe it will help you too

At the beginning of the year, I had coffee with friend from the neighborhood. We sat at the bakery around the corner and she shared what God was doing in her life and I talked a little about my own journey through seminary.¹ Somehow I attract women curious about or called to ministry. These conversations are part of my fuel to keep going in confusing seasons. It’s not just about me.²

Most of the women I know willing to say they are called to ministry have struggled to name that call. They find few models. Plenty of people are opposed. Churches have differing opinions on what women are “allowed” to do. It is simpler to do something else honestly. Once they can name their call it is still hard to know what to do next. There seem to be few options, few people to talk to, few pathways to follow.

I have come a long way down this journey. From digging through the Bible and scholarship to come to my best conclusions on what Scripture says about women³ to volunteering for all the things at a church⁴ to attending seminary to working at a church to changing denominations.⁵ It’s not a clearly-laid path. It has been one step after another, hopefully following the Spirit’s lead, with no fixed destination visible.

In the past, I have followed women in ministry on Instagram to have role models.⁶ I have both overextended myself and not shown up fully. I have wondered where my life is going and come up with a list of reasons that perhaps I should not do ministry. Somehow, by God’s grace, I have never been able to escape Jesus’ beckoning.

Just last week, I started to write in my journal that I did not know what God wanted from me. I got a few words into the sentence and realized that wasn’t actually a true statement. For all that I don’t know, I do know what God wants from me today. I do know a few things even for this next season. Sometimes that has to be enough even though I also carry questions. Faithfulness today lays the groundwork for faithfulness tomorrow. That sentence has guided my life, and especially my ministry journey, for over a decade.

I’d love to say that I have all the answers, for myself or for others.⁷ That would be fun. Unfortunately, I don’t. However, I do have a few pieces of advice that I have been trying to follow myself and maybe they will be helpful for someone else.⁸

1. Do what’s available.

Put in the reps. Gain experience. Learn all you can. Right now, that’s doing some coordination work for our District Board of Ministerial Development, writing this substack,⁹ serving on our church’s sermon writing and preaching teams. At other times that has been teaching Sunday school, serving with the youth, working on staff, leading book clubs. Do not scorn the work that comes without title or position or notice. It is serving someone and it is forming you.

2. Practice prayerful work.

I have no idea where, but once I read about this person who did not take on any new work that they did not have time to pray over. That has stuck with me. It is so easy to see some work, to be capable of doing it, and just go at it never praying. I have practiced a lot of functional atheism in my own life, but I have been slowly and consistently growing out of that.¹⁰ In ministry, people don’t just need my capabilities; they need me to be walking with the Spirit. They need me to pray for and with them.

3. Meet people.

Go to conferences even if you are not quite sure that you “qualify” to be there. Introduce yourself to people who are doing what you would like to do. Learn to talk about your work well even if it’s informal.¹¹ Do the best work you can and learn from the people around you. Meet the people around you.

A long time ago, I decided that I might not ever be a pastor. I didn’t decide that because I didn’t believe God was capable or I didn’t believe I was called. I decided that because I knew where I lived and I knew what churches were available and I was very aware of the limits of the world. But I also decided that I wanted to be a person who could be a pastor. A person who lived up to the name and the work regardless of title or position. I could partner with the Spirit in that work regardless of what anyone else believed or did.

I intend, by the grace of God, to stand by that commitment for the rest of my life.

I’m going to write a (long) footnote for this post for paid subscribers on Friday about a tension I’m currently feeling in this area of my life. No pressure to upgrade your subscription (unless you want to of course), I just wanted you to know in case this post made it feel as if I’ve arrived somewhere and have things figured out.

1. This EP from Andy Squyres.

2. It’s spring which means I am in my backyard garden, expanding, dreaming, and getting bitten by ticks? Most of it is wonderful.

   

   3. IVP has a new podcast Hear Women and so far it has been delightful and thoughtful. If you are in ministry or are interested, woman or man, you should listen!

1. I ended up in seminary because I hit a wall in what I was able to learn on my own and because a friend said “I wish you would go to seminary and get credit for your reading.” It ended up being the obvious next right thing. I was also very aware that women need qualifications, not just experience.

2. I have always felt a deep call to make a way for other women as well, not just find something for myself.

3. This was work I had to do before I could justify seminary. I don’t think that’s true for everyone but it was for me. I had to know if I could ground my call in Scripture. I didn’t just want to “do ministry,” I wanted to pastor.

4. Which, honestly, I don’t advise. The pandemic put a stop to it and after a month or two I realized I would go back differently. We ended up moving instead.

5. You may need to change denominations. I hate to say it but it’s true.

6. This is still a wonderful idea. We need to see others to know what we could become. We become in community, not in isolation.

7. God still refuses to send me that five-year plan in an email like I have asked him to do.

8. There are others, of course. These just stand out recently. Like a little reminder for myself.

9. You know the whole archive is here, right? If you only get emails, you might not!

10. Functional atheism is when you say you are a Christian but then act like you can do it yourself, as if God does not even exist.

11. Frankly, I suck at this. My husband is always pointing this out. Just this week I needed to send a bio to the PTO (apparently I’ll be the middle school PTO secretary next year) and I had Justin write it and then I edited it. That way it included my professional qualifications as well. I still felt sick as I sent it in.