THE  MENNONITE  BRETHREN  PRACTICE  OF  DISCERNING  A  “CALL  TO  MINISTRY”:  LEARNING  FROM  THE  EXPERIENCES  OF  MENNONITE  BRETHREN  WOMEN  

 M.A.  THESIS    

     BY  

KATHY  MCCAMIS            

Submitted  to  the  Faculty  of  Biblical  and  Theological  Studies  

                                 

The  Graduate  School  of  Theology  and  Ministry  at  Canadian  Mennonite  University  

Winnipeg,  Manitoba  2015  

   

   ii  

This  thesis  written  by  Kathy  McCamis  was  read  and  examined  by  the  following:    Thesis  Advisor:     Irma  Fast  Dueck    First  Reader:   Andrew  Dyck    Second  Reader:   Rodney  Reynar          The  thesis  was  successfully  defended  on  April  14,  2015.      Director  of  the  Graduate  School  of  Theology  and  Ministry:         Karl  Koop          

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CONTENTS    

Abstract     iv    Introduction   1    Chapter  One.     4    Why  Study  the  Call  Stories  of  Mennonite  Brethren  Women?    Chapter  Two.     22  Methodological  Foundations:  Practical  Theology  and  Qualitative  Research.    Chapter  Three.     32  A  Brief  Historical  Survey  of  the  Call  to  Ministry    Chapter  Four.     53  The  Call  to  Ministry:  Hearing  Women’s  Stories.    Chapter  Five.     75  Discerning  a  Call  to  Ministry  as  a  Mennonite  Brethren  Practice:  Toward  Renewed  Faithfulness.    Conclusion   96    Bibliography   100        

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ABSTRACT    

  This  thesis  examines  the  Mennonite  Brethren  practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  

ministry.  The  discernment  of  a  call  to  ministry  is  typically  described  as  having  two  parts:  an  

external  invitation  to  consider  vocational  pastoral  ministry,  and  an  inner  affirmation  of  this  

call.  However,  many  Mennonite  Brethren  women  report  that  in  their  experience  the  

external  and  internal  aspects  of  the  call  to  ministry  do  not  neatly  correspond  with  one  

another.  Therefore,  attending  to  the  experiences  of  women  can  provide  a  resource  for  a  

critical  examination  of  the  Mennonite  Brethren  practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  ministry.  

Unstructured  interviews  were  completed  with  six  Mennonite  Brethren  women  who  have  

discerned  a  call  to  ministry.  The  narratives  provided  by  these  women  were  then  examined  

in  light  of  Scripture  and  tradition.  Three  key  themes  emerged.  First,  the  discernment  of  a  

call  to  ministry  must  be  located  within  the  context  of  the  church  body,  because  it  serves  as  

a  means  of  recognizing  the  gifts  that  Christ  has  placed  within  the  church  in  order  to  build  

up  the  body  of  Christ.  Second,  the  practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  ministry  nurtures  an  

understanding  of  ministry  as  an  embodied  response  to  the  love  and  empowerment  of  God.  

Finally,  discerning  a  call  to  ministry  affirms  the  significant  role  of  leaders  within  the  body  

of  Christ  and  encourages  careful  discernment  in  selecting  those  to  whom  authority  will  be  

given.

   1  

INTRODUCTION  

   

Within  the  Mennonite  Brethren  Church,  it  is  common  to  hear  people  speaking  about  

having  a  “call  to  ministry.”  Typically,  it  is  those  in  vocational  ministry—pastors  or  

missionaries  in  particular—who  are  asked  to  describe  how  they  were  called  to  ministry.1  It  

is  often  considered  essential  that  those  who  are  placed  in  positions  of  pastoral  leadership  

be  able  to  provide  an  account  of  the  call  that  led  them  to  their  position.  Sometimes  the  call  

has  come  through  the  encouragement  of  others,  often  referred  to  as  “shoulder  tapping.”  In  

many  instances,  the  recipient  of  the  call  describes  an  initial  reluctance  to  accept  the  

leadership  he  or  she  is  being  invited  to  consider  assuming.  At  other  times,  the  call  has  come  

through  the  appointment  of  an  individual  by  the  congregation.  

My  own  questions  about  the  Mennonite  Brethren  practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  

ministry  initially  arose  out  of  my  own  experience.  As  a  woman  who  has  been  in  pastoral  

ministry  within  the  Mennonite  Brethren  church,  I  found  myself  listening  to  the  call  stories  

of  other  (mostly  male)  pastors  with  the  awareness  that  the  typical  Mennonite  Brethren  

narrative  of  the  marriage  of  an  invitation  to  consider  church  leadership  with  an  internal  

affirmation  of  this  call  was  very  different  than  my  own  call  to  ministry.  My  own  experience  

of  a  call  to  ministry  began  as  an  internal  call  nurtured  by  prayer  and  an  awareness  of  

something  inside  of  me  that  came  fully  alive  when  I  was  engaged  in  the  work  of  preaching  

and  pastoring  people.  This  internal  call  was  only  slowly  affirmed  by  the  church;  along  with  

that  affirmation  came  many  questions  from  the  church  about  whether  the  discernment  of  

                                                                                                                         1  Although  missionary  call  stories  have  also  been  a  particular  emphasis  within  the  Mennonite  Brethren  Church,  this  thesis  will  focus  on  the  experience  of  discerning  a  call  to  ministry  specifically  as  it  relates  to  those  in  pastoral  ministry  within  North  American  congregations.    

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such  a  call  by  a  woman  was  ‘biblical.’  I  found  myself  wondering  if  talking  about  a  call  to  

ministry  was  necessary  at  all,  and  if  so,  what  made  it  so?  

It  was  these  questions  that  led  me  to  ask  what  might  be  learned  by  reflecting  on  the  

Mennonite  Brethren  call  to  ministry  in  light  of  the  stories  of  other  women  who  had  also  

discerned  a  call  to  ministry.  If,  as  the  Canadian  Conference  of  Mennonite  Brethren  Churches  

has  resolved,  women  may  be  affirmed  for  positions  of  church  leadership  up  to  and  

including  that  of  lead  pastor,  might  attending  to  the  stories  of  women  who  have  themselves  

lived  with  the  practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  ministry  lead  to  insights  and  questions  that  

might  enrich  the  current  Mennonite  Brethren  understanding  of  this  practice  and  even  lead  

to  increased  faithfulness  in  its  engagement?    

This  thesis  examines  the  practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  ministry  within  English-­‐

speaking  Mennonite  Brethren  congregations  in  Canada.  By  understanding  the  call  to  

ministry  as  a  practice  of  the  church  and  by  examining  it  in  light  of  its  articulated  theology,  

its  historical  development,  and  the  experiences  of  those  who  have  engaged  with  and  given  

much  thought  to  this  practice,  this  thesis  attempts  to  articulate  how  the  practice  of  

discerning  a  call  to  ministry  bears  important  wisdom  about  the  nature  of  the  life  of  the  

church  and  about  the  nature  of  God.  Ultimately,  the  practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  ministry  

has  much  to  teach  us  about  what  it  means  to  be  the  body  of  Christ,  about  what  it  means  to  

understand  ministry  as  emerging  out  of  God’s  love  for  God’s  people,  and  about  how  

authority  and  humility  shape  the  exercise  of  power  within  the  Christian  community.  These  

themes,  in  turn,  offer  possibilities  for  the  renewal  of  the  church’s  practice  of  discerning  

those  who  are  gifted  and  called  to  exercise  leadership  in  ministry  so  that  the  whole  Body  of  

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Christ  might  more  faithfully  engage  in  the  life  to  which  Christ  has  invited  us,  to  the  glory  of  

God.  

     

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CHAPTER  ONE    

WHY  STUDY  THE  CALL  STORIES  OF  MENNONITE  BRETHREN  WOMEN?        

  At  some  point,  every  person  who  is  pastoring  in  a  Mennonite  Brethren  congregation  

is  likely  to  be  asked  to  share  his  or  her  call  story.  The  particular  experience  of  calling  plays  

a  central  role  in  the  discernment  and  evaluation  of  potential  Mennonite  Brethren  pastoral  

leaders.  For  example,  every  pastor  who  participates  in  the  Mennonite  Brethren  ministry  

credentialing  process  across  Canada  is  asked  to  describe  his  or  her  call  story  and  to  explain  

how  this  call  has  been  affirmed  or  recognized  by  others.  At  the  monthly  Mennonite  

Brethren  Biblical  Seminary  Canada  student  cohort  meetings  that  I  attend  at  Canadian  

Mennonite  University,  local  pastors  have  often  been  invited  to  join  us  as  guests  in  order  to  

share  the  stories  of  their  call  to  ministry.  Experiencing  a  call  to  ministry  is  assumed  to  be  

normative  for  individuals  wishing  to  enter  pastoral  ministry  within  Mennonite  Brethren  

congregations.2  

  Traditionally,  within  Mennonite  Brethren  circles,  as  is  often  consistent  with  the  

larger  Christian  church,  a  call  to  ministry  is  understood  as  having  two  parts.  First,  there  

should  be  “a  ‘sense’  or  ‘heart  impression’  or  ‘inward  desire’  felt  by  the  person  called,  

causing  him/her  to  want  to  serve  people  by  guiding  them  toward  a  deeper  relationship  

with  the  Lord  of  the  church.”3  Second,  there  ought  to  be  “the  clear,  confident  confirmation  

of  the  call  by  persons  in  the  church  who  know  the  one  being  called  and  have  witnessed  the                                                                                                                            2  In  this  thesis,  unless  otherwise  stated,  the  term  “ministry”  is  used  to  speak  broadly  of  the  ministry  of  the  church;  when  it  is  used  specifically  in  reference  to  pastoral  or  vocational  ministry,  this  will  be  explicitly  stated.  However,  the  specific  term  “call  to  ministry”  among  Mennonite  Brethren  has  been  used  primarily  to  imply  a  call  to  pastoral  or  vocational  ministry,  rather  than  other  forms  of  Christian  ministry.  This  usage  of  “call  to  ministry”  will  be  retained.            3  Doug  Schulz  and  Michael  Dick,  eds.,  Following  the  Call:  A  Leadership  Manual  for  Mennonite  Brethren  Churches  (Winnipeg:  Kindred  Productions,  1998),  2.  

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giftedness  of  that  person  for  ministry.”4  While  these  two  elements  should  work  in  harmony  

in  order  for  a  person’s  call  to  be  valid,  Mennonite  Brethren  have  sometimes  placed  greater  

emphasis  on  the  call  of  the  church  than  on  the  experience  of  an  inner  call  in  their  

articulated  theology.5  For  example,  the  leadership  manual  produced  by  the  General  

Conference  Board  of  Faith  and  Life  in  1998  noted,  “The  ‘feeling’  kind  of  call…is  not  

mentioned  prominently  in  the  New  Testament.”6  Instead,  it  emphasized  the  role  of  the  

church  in  calling  people  to  church  leadership  positions:  “The  clear  teaching  of  Scripture  is  

that  the  Holy  Spirit  helped  the  church  discern  gifted  persons  to  serve  God  in  the  

congregations.  Indeed,  it  is  the  congregation’s  responsibility  to  discern  gifted  servants  from  

within  its  own  fellowship  (Acts  6:1-­‐7;  13:1-­‐3)  to  assist  on  a  local  basis,  or  to  be  encouraged  

to  take  training  for  more  formal  or  fulltime  roles  of  ministry.”7  

  This  traditional  way  of  narrating  the  experience  of  a  call  to  ministry  can  be  

problematic.  The  experiences  of  Mennonite  Brethren  women  provide  a  powerful  

illustration  of  the  fact  that  in  practice  the  inner  call  experienced  by  the  individual  and  the  

outer  call  of  the  church  do  not  always  fit  together  as  neatly  as  Mennonite  Brethren  

theological  statements  have  suggested  that  they  should.  Mennonite  Brethren  scholar  John  

E.  Toews  wrote,  “Many  women  are  crying  out  for  healing  from  the  pain  of  rejection  and  

exclusion  from  ministry.  They  are  profoundly  aware  of  their  spiritual  giftedness.  They  

report  clear  calls  to  church  ministry.  They  hear  a  ‘yes’  from  God,  but  a  ‘no’  from  the  church.  

                                                                                                                         4  Ibid.            5  One  might  well  ask  whether  this  articulated  emphasis  is  consistent  with  how  the  discernment  of  a  call  to  ministry  was  practiced  in  Mennonite  Brethren  congregations,  or  whether  it  instead  represents  a  counter-­‐response  to  an  emphasis  upon  the  inner  call  in  practice.  This  question  is  beyond  the  scope  of  this  thesis.            6  Ibid.              7  Ibid.  

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The  contradiction  between  their  experiences  with  God  and  their  experience  in  the  church  is  

intense.  More  and  more  women  are  speaking  of  their  pain  and  anger.”8  

  Mennonite  Brethren  women  have  themselves  written  about  what  it  is  like  to  live  

with  the  tension  between  experiencing  the  inner  call  of  God  and  longing  for  the  outer  

recognition  of  this  call  by  the  church.  For  example,  in  her  autobiography,  entitled  The  Hell  

of  God’s  Call,  Adelheid  E.  Koop,  a  Mennonite  Brethren  woman  who  studied  at  Associated  

Mennonite  Biblical  Seminaries  between  1975  and  1978,  gave  voice  to  the  pain  she  

experienced  and  the  impact  it  had  on  all  areas  of  her  life:  

The  phrase  “God’s  call”  is  frequently  interpreted  to  mean  a  call  to  a  specific  task,  career,  or  profession,  as  a  call  to  medicine,  teaching,  church  ministry.  My  interpretation  is  a  broader,  more  inclusive  one.  Though  it  may  include  such  specifics,  my  definition  of  God’s  call  encompasses  the  development  of  my  potential,  the  process  of  putting  my  faith  into  action  in  every  area  of  life.  Therefore,  God’s  call  includes  purpose  and  meaning  of  life  together  with  personal  fulfillment.  Hence  all  of  life  impacted  on  my  commitment  to  and  uncommitment  from  church  ministry,  and  therefore  I  draw  heavily  on  preceding  and  parallel  experiences  which  affected  my  professional  pilgrimage,  as  well  as  the  consequent  experiences  such  as  health  breakdown.9    Mennonite  Brethren  writer  Katie  Funk  Wiebe  also  wrote  about  her  own  difficulty  

discerning  God’s  call  as  a  young  woman  with  an  interest  in  church  ministry  applying  to  

study  at  Mennonite  Brethren  Bible  College  in  1945:  

I  had  blithely  written  on  the  college  application  that  I  was  preparing  for  children’s  ministries,  something  far  from  my  goals.  I  knew  that  would  be  an  acceptable  answer.  I  didn’t  know  what  else  to  write.            The  highest  calling  for  women  aspiring  to  church  work  was  overseas  missionary  work,  not  in  my  list  of  ‘future  things  to  do’  either.  While  I  enjoyed  ‘foreign’  missions  reports,  as  they  were  called  then,  I  didn’t  see  myself  in  a  pith  helmet,  khaki  skirt,  and  heavy  boots  stumbling  around  in  the  jungle.  Church  musician?  Hardly.  I  played  the  piano  enough  to  satisfy  my  own  need,  but  that  was  all.  

                                                                                                                         8  John.  E.  Toews,  “Why  This  Book?,”  in  Your  Daughters  Shall  Prophesy:  Women  in  Ministry  in  the  Church,  edited  by  John  E.  Toews,  Valerie  Rempel,  and  Katie  Funk  Wiebe  (Winnipeg:  Kindred  Press,  1992),  8.              9  Adelheid  E.  Koop,  The  Hell  of  God’s  Call:  One  Woman’s  Pilgrimage  from  ‘Commitment  to’  to  ‘Uncommitment  from’  Church  Ministry  (n.p.:  Spitzli  Publications,  1997),  preface.  

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         I  wanted  a  ministry  in  the  church  with  adults  but  couldn’t  describe  what  I  wanted.  How  could  I  admit  to  a  vague  longing  for  something  I  couldn’t  identify  to  myself?  It  was  a  call  to  something  holy,  I  knew.  Without  a  husband,  church  ministry  opportunities  were  limited.  All  I  could  think  of  that  might  lead  me  to  my  nebulous  goal  was  to  become  a  pastor’s  wife.  From  my  reading  and  experience  I  knew  this  sometimes  entitled  her  to  become  a  sort  of  “little  pastor,”  who  stood  by  her  man  or  rather,  behind  him.10    These  experiences  of  Mennonite  Brethren  women  illustrate  that  the  present  

Mennonite  Brethren  espoused  theology  of  a  call  to  ministry  does  not  fully  capture  the  

range  of  ways  in  which  church  members  have  worked  at  the  practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  

ministry.  In  practice,  individuals’  experiences  of  discerning  a  call  to  ministry  are  often  more  

complex  than  the  two-­‐dimensional  description  of  a  call  to  ministry  that  has  traditionally  

been  narrated  by  the  church.  This  thesis  will  examine  the  Mennonite  Brethren  theology  of  

the  call  to  ministry,  both  as  it  is  articulated  by  the  church  and  as  it  is  embodied  by  those  

who  practice  its  discernment,  asking  the  question:  How  might  paying  attention  to  women’s  

experiences  in  discerning  and  living  with  a  call  to  ministry  help  to  clarify  an  understanding  

of  the  Mennonite  Brethren  practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  ministry?  

 

The  Call  to  Ministry  

Frederick  Buechner  wrote,  “The  place  God  calls  you  to  is  the  place  where  your  deep  

gladness  and  the  world’s  deep  hunger  meet.”11  The  most  basic  call  for  all  Christians  can  be  

described  as  the  call  to  respond  to  God’s  love.  All  other  callings,  including  the  call  to  

ministry  as  a  particular  type  of  call,  can  be  understood  in  light  of  this  fundamental  call.  

Thus,  Basil  Pennington  wrote,  “This  is  the  ultimate  question  in  vocation  discernment:  in  

                                                                                                                         10  Katie  Funk  Wiebe,  You  Never  Gave  Me  a  Name:  One  Mennonite  Woman’s  Story  (Telford,  PA:  Cascadia  Publishing  House,  2009),  21-­‐22.            11  Frederick  Buechner,  Wishful  Thinking:  A  Seeker’s  ABC,  rev.  ed.  (San  Francisco:  Harper  Collins,  1993),  119.  

   8  

what  way  can  this  person  best  grow  in  love;  what  way  will  best  facilitate  and  support  the  

growth  of  love  in  this  man  or  this  woman  given  who  they  are,  their  psychological  makeup  

and  the  graced  insight  and  determination  they  have.”12    

Gordon  Smith  related  the  call  to  ministry  or  to  a  particular  vocation  to  the  universal  

call  to  respond  faithfully  to  God’s  love  in  this  way:  “A  calling  is  always  a  demonstration  of  

the  love  of  God  and  the  initiative  of  God;  but  more,  it  is  through  vocation  that  we  come  to  

an  appreciation  that  God  takes  us  seriously.”13  The  word  vocation  is  derived  from  the  Latin  

word  vox,  from  which  we  get  the  English  word  voice.  Even  the  word’s  basic  etymology,  

then,  points  to  the  fact  that  the  discernment  of  vocation,  for  Christians,  is  rooted  in  

listening  for  and  discerning  the  voice  of  God.  Our  desire  to  discern  our  vocation—the  

specific  work  to  which  God  is  calling  us—is  rooted  in  a  desire  to  know  that  how  we  spend  

our  life  matters  to  God.    

North  American  Mennonite  Brethren  have  historically  identified  as  both  Anabaptist-­‐

Mennonite  and  Protestant-­‐Evangelical  Christians.  At  times,  Mennonite  Brethren  self-­‐

understanding  has  been  divided  by  these  two  influences:  

The  issue  of  American  evangelicalism  roughly  has  divided  Mennonite  Brethren  into  two  camps.  One  group  would  want  to  be  known  as  Anabaptist-­‐Mennonites  because  they  emphasize  doctrines  going  back  to  the  radical  reformers  of  the  sixteenth  century,  namely  the  believers’  church,  discipleship,  nonconformity  and  the  peace  witness.  Another  segment  of  the  Mennonite  Brethren  think  of  themselves  as  more  evangelical  than  Mennonite.  They  feel  a  stronger  affinity  with  mainstream  evangelicalism  than  with  Mennonite  groups.  They  emphasize  the  pietistic  tradition,  with  its  focus  on  individual  salvation  and  personal  devotional  life.14      

                                                                                                                         12  M.  Basil  Pennington,  Called:  New  Thinking  on  Christian  Vocation  (Minneapolis:  The  Seabury  Press,  1983),  33.            13  Gordon  T.  Smith,  Courage  and  Calling:  Embracing  Your  God-­‐Given  Potential  (Downers  Grove,  IL:  InterVarsity  Press,  1999),  9.            14  Richard  Kyle,  “The  Mennonite  Brethren  and  American  Evangelicalism:  An  Ambivalent  Relationship,”  Direction  20,  no.  1  (Spring  1991):  26-­‐27.  

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This  thesis  will  draw  primarily  upon  Anabaptist-­‐Mennonite  writings  as  conversation  

partners  for  understanding  the  Mennonite  Brethren  practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  

ministry,  following  Richard  Kyle’s  assertion  that  “because  the  roots  of  the  Mennonite  

Brethren  are  in  the  Anabaptist-­‐Mennonite  tradition,  they  have  distinctives  that  set  them  

apart  from  many  other  evangelicals.”15  This  reflects  a  broader  understanding  of  

evangelicalism,  for  “any  expansive  approach  to  evangelicalism  must  include  not  only  the  

Anabaptists  but  also  the  Mennonite  tradition.”16  Thus,  while  understanding  Mennonite  

Brethren  as  both  evangelical  and  Anabaptist-­‐Mennonite,  Anabaptist-­‐Mennonite  voices  are  

sought  as  conversation  partners  in  acknowledgment  of  the  distinctives  that  its  historical  

roots  in  Anabaptism  contribute  to  how  Mennonite  Brethren  have  come  to  understand  the  

call  to  ministry.  

Traditionally,  Anabaptist-­‐Mennonite  Christians  have  often  framed  God’s  universal  

call  using  the  language  of  discipleship.  Anabaptist-­‐Mennonite  scholar  C.  Arnold  Snyder  

claimed  that  for  early  Anabaptists  there  was  a  “necessary  connection  they  made  between  

the  inner  life  of  the  spirit  (faith,  rebirth,  regeneration)  and  the  outer  life  of  discipleship  

(obedience).”17  For  the  early  Anabaptists,  this  meant  “the  Christian  is  to  live  as  Christ  lived,  

for  Jesus’  life  is  the  highest  example  and  model  of  how  his  disciples  are  to  manifest  the  love  

of  God  and  the  love  of  neighbour.”18  To  respond  to  God’s  love,  for  many  Anabaptist-­‐

Mennonites,  is  lived  out  in  a  call  to  live  a  life  of  discipleship  or  Nachfolge,  “following  Christ.”  

                                                                                                                         15  Ibid.,  30.            16  Ibid.,  27.            17  C.  Arnold  Snyder,  Anabaptist  History  and  Theology:  An  Introduction  (Kitchener,  ON:  Pandora  Press,  1995),  88.            18  Ibid.,  335.  

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Today,  much  of  the  available  literature  on  Christian  vocation  is  not  limited  to  the  

discernment  of  a  call  to  Christian  ministry  in  particular.  Rather,  since  the  sixteenth  century,  

Protestants  in  particular  have  argued  that  all  vocations,  whether  lived  out  within  the  

church  or  in  the  world,  are  of  equal  value.  A  call  to  be  a  farmer  is  no  more  or  no  less  

valuable  than  a  call  to  be  a  preacher.  In  this  light,  Anabaptist-­‐Mennonite  pastors  Lydia  and  

Gary  Harder  wrote,  “Perhaps  the  biggest  contribution  the  church  can  make  to  each  person’s  

vocational  discernment  is  to  keep  naming  that  he  is  a  beloved  child  of  God,  and  then  to  send  

him  into  the  wilderness.  That  is,  the  church  sends  each  person  into  the  world  with  the  

knowledge  that  the  choices  that  she  will  make  in  her  vocation  are  crucial,  because  these  

choices  will  determine  how  she  will  participate  in  the  church’s  larger  vocation  to  be  a  

blessing  to  all  peoples.”19  

However,  in  spite  of  a  theology  of  vocation  that  claims  that  no  particular  vocation  is  

any  more  spiritual  than  another,  there  continues  to  be  strong  emphasis  among  churches  

and  in  the  literature  that  focuses  more  particularly  on  the  call  to  ministry.  A  strong  case  can  

be  made  that  this  is,  in  part,  because  “we  aren’t  nearly  as  good  at  calling  people  to  live  out  

God’s  blessing  in  their  secular  vocations  as  we  are  at  giving  them  a  job  to  do  in  the  

church.”20  

Others  would  argue,  however,  that  there  is  in  fact  something  unique  about  a  call  to  

ministry  and  its  place  in  the  discernment  of  church  leaders  that  merits  attention.  After  all,  

the  Bible  cites  examples  in  Acts  of  the  process  by  which  the  early  church  was  involved  in  

selecting  and  calling  individuals  to  fill  particular  leadership  roles  within  the  community  of  

                                                                                                                         19  Lydia  Neufeld  Harder  and  Gary  Harder,  “Loved,  Blessed,  and  Freed  to  Hear  God’s  Call,”  Vision:  A  Journal  for  Church  and  Theology  12,  no.  2  (Fall  2011):  33.            20  Ibid.,  29.  

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faith.  Acts  6:1-­‐6  is  an  example  from  the  early  church  of  the  selection  of  individuals  for  the  

ministry  of  pastoral  care.  The  Hellenistic  Jews  had  complained  that  the  Hebraic  Jews  were  

overlooking  their  widows  in  the  distribution  of  food  to  those  in  need,  and  the  Twelve  

concluded  that  leaders  were  needed  to  oversee  this  distribution  so  that  they  themselves  

could  focus  on  prayer  and  the  ministry  of  the  word.  So,  the  believers  were  gathered  

together  and  given  the  instruction  to  “choose  seven  men  from  among  you  who  are  known  

to  be  full  of  the  Spirit  and  wisdom”  (Acts  6:3,  NIV).21  Here  is  an  example  from  the  earliest  

days  of  the  church  where  the  congregation  was  involved  in  discerning  those  with  the  gifts  

and  character  needed  to  fill  a  particular  ministry  role  within  the  church.  Likewise,  in  Acts  

13:1-­‐3,  through  prayer  and  fasting  the  community  of  believers  identified  Barnabas  and  Saul  

as  those  whom  God  was  calling,  and  they  laid  hands  on  them  and  sent  them  out.  

Based  on  these  and  similar  texts,  churches  have  long  used  a  call  to  ministry  as  a  

means  of  identifying  those  leaders  who  ought  to  be  given  the  responsibility  for  the  

preaching  and  teaching  ministries  of  the  church.  Among  Anabaptist-­‐Mennonites,  the  

external  call  of  the  church  has  carried  significant  weight  in  discerning  those  whom  God  was  

calling.  Mennonite  Brethren  scholar  Richard  Bartlett  wrote  that  in  the  past  “the  individual’s  

occupation  did  not  matter,  for  if  the  congregational  leadership  discerned  a  man  for  

leadership,  it  was  expected  that  he  would  accept.  In  fact,  part  of  the  affirmation  for  baptism  

was  a  willingness  to  accept  ordination  for  ministry.”22  In  most  Anabaptist-­‐Mennonite  

writings,  the  primary  focus  was  upon  the  church’s  role  in  calling  individuals  to  pastoral  

roles  within  the  church.  Moreover,  the  typical  model  of  pastoral  ministry  in  most  

                                                                                                                         21  Unless  otherwise  indicated,  all  biblical  references  will  be  taken  from  the  New  International  Version  (2011).            22  Richard  Barrett  Bartlett,  “A  Seven  Strand  Cord:  Braiding  Together  Leadership  Development  for  Mid-­‐Adolescents”  (D.  Min.  diss.,  George  Fox  Evangelical  Seminary,  2006),  52-­‐53.  

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Anabaptist-­‐Mennonite  congregations  until  the  middle  of  the  twentieth  century  was  one  of  

multiple  lay  ministry,  in  which  responsibility  for  the  leadership  of  the  congregation  was  

shared  by  several  men  whom  the  congregation  had  called,  most  of  whom  balanced  their  

roles  within  the  church  with  other  work  duties.  

Contemporary  writings  about  the  call  to  ministry  give  more  attention  to  the  inner  

dimensions  of  a  call  to  ministry,  perhaps  in  part  because  the  nature  of  pastoral  ministry  in  

North  America  has  changed  as  pastoral  ministry  has  become  professionalized  and  the  

multiple  lay  ministry  model  has  given  way  to  the  paid  professional  pastor  who  leads  the  

congregation  and  who  is  often  recruited  from  outside  of  the  congregation  itself.  Now  most  

Anabaptist-­‐Mennonite  writings  acknowledge  both  the  inner  and  outer  dimensions  of  a  call  

to  ministry.  The  following  is  a  typical  example  of  how  a  call  to  ministry  is  described  by  

Anabaptist-­‐Mennonite  writers:  “The  call  to  pastoral  ministry  has  both  an  inner  and  an  

outer  dimension.  The  inner  call  is  a  person’s  sense  of  God’s  invitation  to  pursue  a  ministry  

vocation.  The  outer  call  is  the  affirmation  and  validation  of  the  community.  Usually  one  of  

these  calls  will  develop  before  the  other,  but  both  are  essential  for  the  healthy  functioning  

and  identity  of  pastors.”23    

 

A  Review  of  the  Mennonite  Brethren  Literature  

In  practice,  speaking  about  a  call  to  ministry  is  common  among  Mennonite  Brethren.  

Seminary  students  are  frequently  asked  to  describe  the  type  of  ministry  to  which  they  

sense  God  is  calling  them.  Pastoral  candidates  are  asked  by  search  committees  to  share  

their  call  stories,  and  are  even  asked  to  share  such  stories  with  congregations  during  the                                                                                                                            23  Janeen  Bertsche  Johnson,  “Holding  Together  Inner  and  Outer  Dimensions  of  Call,”  Vision:  A  Journal  for  Church  and  Theology  12,  no.  2  (Fall  2011):  52.  

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candidating  process.  The  ministry  credentialing  process  also  involves  writing  about  one’s  

call  story.  In  light  of  these  practices,  which  assume  the  call  to  ministry  to  be  normative  for  

those  wishing  to  be  pastors,  it  is  surprising  that  more  attention  has  not  been  paid  to  the  

biblical  and  theological  foundations  for  such  a  practice.  A  brief  survey  of  the  recently  

published  writings  from  a  Mennonite  Brethren  perspective  that  pertain  to  the  call  to  the  

ministry  helps  to  sketch  out  the  current  thinking  on  the  subject.  

The  Mennonite  Brethren  leadership  manual,  Following  the  Call,  contains  a  brief  

discussion  of  the  call  to  ministry.  It  states  in  part,  “Leadership  work  in  the  church  is  a  

tremendously  challenging  task,  requiring  spiritual  giftedness  and  spiritual  strength.  Only  

the  person  who  is  certain  that  God  is  calling  him/her  to  this  task  should  seek  to  become  a  

minister.”24  This  underlines  the  strong  emphasis  that  has  been  placed  upon  receiving  a  

specific  call  to  ministry,  both  by  individuals  who  are  seeking  to  discern  whether  God  is  

leading  them  to  pursue  vocational  church  ministry,  and  by  churches  and  denominations  

who  are  seeking  to  address  pastoral  ministry  shortages  by  ensuring  that  young  people  are  

being  encouraged  to  consider  a  career  in  pastoral  ministry.  

Somewhat  surprisingly,  the  Mennonite  Brethren  Confession  of  Faith  has  only  very  

little  to  say  on  the  subject  of  a  call  to  ministry.  Article  Six  on  “The  Nature  of  the  Church”  

states,  “God  calls  people  to  equip  the  church  for  ministry.  Leaders  are  to  model  Christ  in  

their  personal,  family,  and  church  life.  The  church  is  to  discern  leaders  prayerfully,  and  to  

affirm,  support,  and  correct  them  in  a  spirit  of  love.”25  Here,  there  is  no  explicit  mention  of  

an  internal  dimension  to  such  a  call,  and  only  a  basic  instruction  that  it  is  the  role  of  the  

                                                                                                                         24  Schulz  and  Dick,  2.            25  General  Conference  of  Mennonite  Brethren  Churches,  Confession  of  Faith:  Commentary  and  Pastoral  Application  (Winnipeg:  Kindred  Productions,  2000),  67.  

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church  to  function  as  the  discerning  body  in  identifying  individuals  for  leadership  roles  

within  the  church.  Moreover,  the  language  of  call  is  not  necessarily  restricted  to  those  in  

ministry  leadership;  the  language  of  the  confession  leaves  open  the  possibility  that  God  

calls  a  variety  of  individuals  for  a  variety  of  roles,  both  in  the  church  and  in  the  world,  in  

order  to  equip  the  church  for  its  ministry.  Little  in  the  commentary  or  pastoral  application  

for  the  article  elaborates  upon  this  very  basic  statement  about  God’s  call.  

A  renewed  focus  on  calling  among  North  American  Mennonite  Brethren  was  

introduced  for  a  period  of  time  beginning  in  2002,  when  Mennonite  Brethren  Biblical  

Seminary  launched  the  program  “Hearing  the  Call.”  This  program  was  designed  to  

encourage  high  school  students  to  consider  God’s  call  on  their  lives,  particularly  whether  

God  might  be  calling  them  to  church  or  ministry  leadership  vocations.  The  fall  2003  issue  of  

Direction  journal  on  the  subject  of  “Vocation”  included  several  articles  on  the  church’s  role  

as  a  calling  body.  John  Neufeld,  who  was  serving  as  the  director  of  the  “Hearing  the  Call”  

program  at  the  time,  wrote  an  article  encouraging  churches  to  rediscover  “what  being  a  

calling  and  discerning  community  means  in  practical  terms.”26  He  exhorted  churches,  

When  we  discern  who  will  lead  us,  we  do  everything  in  our  power  to  prepare,  equip,  and  support  that  person  in  the  call  that  God  and  the  local  church  extend.  I  have  no  illusions  that  this  is  easy.  In  fact,  I  would  suggest  that  it  is  much  more  difficult  than  our  current  patterns  of  hiring  pastors  externally.  But  I  believe  it  is  by  far  preferable  to  a  hiring  process  that  has  at  its  core  a  series  of  assumptions  and  accommodations  that  defer  to  our  culture’s  addiction  to  individualism.27    

  In  the  same  issue,  Jim  Holm,  who  was  serving  as  Mennonite  Brethren  Biblical  

Seminary  President  at  the  time,  wrote  an  article  outlining  the  history  of  the  practice  of  

calling  church  leaders  among  Mennonite  Brethren.  He  encouraged  churches  to  continue  to  

                                                                                                                         26  John  Neufeld,  “Rediscovering  the  Calling  and  Sending  Church,”  Direction  32,  no.  2  (Fall  2003):  194.            27  Ibid.,  196.  

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take  seriously  their  role  in  calling  people  into  leadership.  According  to  Holm,  in  the  past  

“the  practice  of  shoulder-­‐tapping  was  practiced  intentionally,  and  young  men  who  were  so  

tapped  did  not  often  refuse  that  call.”28  Holm  cited  the  biblical  examples  of  Joshua  and  

Moses  as  models  for  how  the  church  might  develop  leaders,  and  encouraged  pastors  and  

other  church  leaders  to  take  seriously  their  role  in  discerning  and  developing  emerging  

leaders  within  their  congregations.  

  Richard  Bartlett  wrote  a  D.  Min.  dissertation  on  the  subject  of  developing  emerging  

ministry  leaders,  also  rooted  in  his  experiences  working  with  the  same  “Hearing  the  Call”  

program.  Bartlett,  too,  cited  the  example  of  Joshua  and  Moses  as  a  biblical  example  of  

leadership  development,  elaborating  on  many  of  the  same  themes  pointed  to  by  Jim  Holm’s  

article.  Bartlett  noted,  “Without  a  clear  sense  of  call  from  God  and  the  local  congregation,  a  

potential  leader  may  not  choose  to  lead.”29  

  A  thesis  written  by  David  Falk  at  Regent  College  moved  away  from  this  focus  on  

developing  a  culture  of  calling  among  young  and  emerging  leaders  at  a  congregational  level  

to  examine  a  New  Testament  theology  of  calling,  and  to  compare  this  theology  with  

contemporary  views  of  a  call  to  ministry.  Based  upon  his  study  of  the  biblical  texts,  Falk  

concluded,  “Our  study  has  demonstrated  that  the  contemporary  practice  of  a  prerequisite  

‘call  to  the  Ministry’  has  erroneously  appealed  to  the  call  language  and  phenomena.  The  

biblical  writers  prove  the  call  language  and  narratives  incongruous  with  leadership  

legitimization.”30  Falk  argued  that  an  experience  of  God’s  call  is  neither  limited  to  those  

pursuing  vocations  of  Christian  ministry,  nor  should  it  serve  as  a  pre-­‐requisite  for  such  a  

                                                                                                                           28  Jim  Holm,  “The  North  American  MB  Call  to  Pastoral  Leadership,”  Direction  32,  no.  2  (Fall  2003):  204.            29  Bartlett,  66.              30  David  John  Falk,  “A  New  Testament  Theology  of  Calling  with  Reference  to  the  ‘Call  to  the  Ministry’”  (Master  of  Christian  Studies  thesis,  Regent  College,  1990),  149.  

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vocation.  Instead,  in  the  biblical  canon,  the  phenomenon  and  language  of  calling  are  more  

appropriately  used  to  serve  soteriological  motifs;  therefore,  according  to  Falk,  our  call  is  to  

be  Christians.31  

 

Why  Study  Women’s  Call  Stories?  

It  is  clear  from  this  review  of  the  literature  that  while  a  significant  amount  of  

attention  has  been  paid  to  the  subject  of  the  call  to  ministry  among  Mennonite  Brethren  in  

recent  years,  there  is  nonetheless  room  for  additional  reflection  on  the  subject.  In  

particular,  much  of  the  contemporary  conversation  regarding  the  call  to  ministry  takes  for  

granted  the  need  to  hold  together  both  inner  and  outer  dimensions  of  the  call  to  ministry,  

which  historically  has  not  always  been  the  assumption.  Furthermore,  as  we  have  seen,  

paying  attention  to  the  voices  of  Mennonite  Brethren  women  points  to  the  fact  that,  for  

many  women  in  recent  decades,  there  has  been  a  gap  experienced  between  their  

discernment  of  an  inner  call  to  ministry  and  the  lack  of  outer  affirmation  of  that  call  from  

the  church  community.    

Certainly,  it  is  not  only  Mennonite  Brethren  women  who  experience  a  disconnect  

between  the  inner  call  of  God’s  Spirit  at  work  within  them  and  the  outer  call  as  mediated  

through  the  church.  Moreover,  not  all  Mennonite  Brethren  women  who  have  discerned  a  

call  to  ministry  would  claim  to  have  experienced  this  disconnect.  However,  in  recent  years,  

the  application  of  a  feminist  lens  within  practical  theology  has  brought  attention  to  the  

value  of  a  “commitment  to  the  primacy  of  women’s  experience  as  a  starting  point  for  

                                                                                                                         31  Ibid.,  148-­‐49.  

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reflection  and  a  criterion  for  evaluation.”32  Within  feminist  methodology,  Christian  

practices  are  taken  as  a  starting  point  for  interrogating  the  core  beliefs  and  values  

embedded  within  them.  Paying  particular  attention  to  the  experiences  of  Mennonite  

Brethren  women  who  have  worked  at  the  Christian  practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  ministry  

offers  the  hope  of  revealing  fresh  insights  regarding  the  theology  embedded  within  this  

practice.      

The  voices  of  Mennonite  Brethren  women  have  not  been  fully  heard  as  it  relates  to  

their  experience  of  pastoral  leadership,  including  their  experiences  of  discerning  a  call  to  

ministry.  In  the  past,  there  were  times  when  women’s  experiences  of  a  call  to  ministry  

were  marginalized  or  ignored  because  there  was  no  room  for  women  with  such  a  call  in  

pastoral  roles  that  were  restricted  to  male  leadership.  For  example,  Mennonite  Brethren  

pastor  Herb  Kopp  wrote  a  paper  citing  Board  of  Reference  and  Council  minutes  in  which  it  

was  stated,  “We  counsel  our  congregations  not  to  appoint  a  woman  as  the  ‘leading  pastor.’  

When  discerning  the  women  who  speak  of  being  ‘called’  to  pastoral  or  preaching  

ministries,  our  counsel  must  be  faithfully  biblical,  honest  and  wise  [emphasis  added].”33    

It  is  only  in  recent  years  that  women  have  been  free  to  serve  in  Mennonite  Brethren  

congregations  in  all  roles,  including  that  of  lead  pastor.  For  many  years,  the  roles  that  

should  be  open  to  women  in  Mennonite  Brethren  congregations  have  been  the  subject  of  

much  discussion  within  the  Canadian  church.  Thus,  for  most  of  the  history  of  the  

Mennonite  Brethren  church  in  Canada,  congregations  have  not  been  completely  free  to                                                                                                                            32  Zoe  Bennett  Moore,  Introducing  Feminist  Perspectives  on  Pastoral  Theology  (London:  Sheffield  Academic,  2002),  20,  http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=cf29da12-­‐ea87-­‐49ad-­‐bbe7-­‐2252995bf36a  @sessionmgr114&vid=0#db=nlebk&AN=378464  (accessed  January  22,  2015).            33  Herb  Kopp,  “A  Serving  People,”  71,  in  the  Centre  for  Mennonite  Brethren  Studies  Study  Conference  Papers  1956-­‐Present  Digital  Collection,  http://s3.amazonaws.com/cmbs.mbconf.ca/Theology/  Study%20Conference%20Papers/1986%20-­‐%20Oct.%2015-­‐17%20-­‐%20A%20Serving%20People%20-­‐%20Herb%20Koop%20Reduced.pdf  (accessed  January  17,  2015).  

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affirm  and  call  women  to  pastoral  ministry  in  their  midst.  Prior  to  1957,  both  single  women  

and  wives  of  missionary  couples  had  been  ordained  for  missionary  work,  with  some  of  

these  female  missionaries  freely  taking  on  the  ministry  of  preaching  on  the  mission  field  

when  the  need  arose.  In  the  1950s,  as  the  model  of  multiple  lay  ministry  was  increasingly  

replaced  by  the  professionalization  of  pastoral  ministry,  the  practice  of  ordination  was  

reexamined  by  the  Conference  and  the  act  of  blessing  women  for  mission  work  was  

deemed  to  be  ‘a  commissioning’  rather  than  ‘an  ordination.’ 34  At  that  time,  women  were  

also  officially  banned  from  holding  pastoral  offices  and  from  participating  in  the  preaching  

ministry  of  the  church.    

In  the  1980s,  the  subject  of  women  in  ministry  leadership  was  a  topic  of  much  

debate  at  Mennonite  Brethren  study  conferences.  In  1981,  a  Mennonite  Brethren  General  

Conference  resolution  allowed  for  women’s  “participation  in  local  church  and  conference  

ministries,  if  the  local  church  so  chooses,”  but  it  also  stated,  “we  do  not  believe  the  

Mennonite  Brethren  Church  should  ordain  women  to  pastoral  leadership.”35  As  Mennonite  

Brethren  scholar  Doug  Heidebrecht  noted,  “This  particular  restriction  would  prove  to  be  

rather  vague  in  the  years  to  come  because  it  was  unclear  whether  the  prohibition  was  

intended  to  restrict  women  from  ordination,  or  pastoral  ministry,  or  even  church  

leadership.”36    

                                                                                                                         34  Canadian  Conference  of  Mennonite  Brethren  Churches,  “BFL  Calls  for  Study  of  Women  in  Leadership,”  Centre  for  Mennonite  Brethren  Studies,  http://mbconf.ca/home/events_and_conferences/learning_together  /women_in_ministry_leadership/a_word_from_the_bfl/mb_resolutions/  (accessed  April  2,  2015).            35  Ibid.            36  Doug  Heidebrecht,  “Authoritative  Mennonite  Brethren:  The  Convergence  of  Church  Polity,  Ordination,  and  Women  in  Leadership,”  Baptistic  Theologies  3,  no.  1  (Spring  2011):  71,  http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.cmu.ca/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=15927e99-­‐efaf-­‐4292-­‐8790-­‐9ea51fa37c46%40sessionmgr115&hid=124  (accessed  April  2,  2015).  

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 By  1987  some  congregations  began  to  appoint  women  as  associate  pastors  or  to  

invite  women  to  participate  in  the  church’s  preaching  ministry,  although  the  official  

resolution  that  would  have  explicitly  affirmed  such  action  failed  to  pass.  A  revised  

resolution  was  instead  passed  that  encouraged  churches  “to  free  and  affirm  women  for  

ministries  in  the  church,  at  home  and  abroad,  in  decision-­‐making,  evangelism,  teaching,  

counseling,  encouragement,  music,  youth  visitations,  etc.”  but  that  made  no  explicit  

mention  of  pastoral  ministry  or  of  preaching.37  A  subsequent  resolution  by  the  General  

Conference  of  Mennonite  Brethren  Churches  in  1993  that  would  have  freed  local  

congregations  to  appoint  women  to  pastoral  ministry  roles  also  failed  to  pass,  but  a  

statement  from  the  Board  of  Faith  and  Life  issued  after  the  vote  clarified  that  the  1981  

resolution  should  be  understood  “to  mean  that  women  are  encouraged  to  minister  in  the  

church  in  every  function  other  than  the  senior  pastorate.”38  In  2006  a  resolution  was  

passed  by  the  Canadian  Conference  of  Mennonite  Brethren  Churches  officially  declaring  the  

issue  of  whether  or  not  women  could  serve  as  lead  pastors  to  be  ‘non-­‐confessional,’  

thereby  giving  local  congregations  the  freedom  to  appoint  women  to  any  role  including  

that  of  lead  pastor.    

Today,  in  practice,  Mennonite  Brethren  congregations  hold  a  diversity  of  convictions  

on  the  question  of  whether  women  ought  to  serve  in  lead  pastoral  roles.  The  2006  

resolution  regarding  women  in  ministry  leadership  presented  by  the  Board  of  Faith  and  

Life  and  passed  at  the  national  convention  “recommend[ed]  that  the  Conference  bless  each  

member  church  in  its  own  discernment  of  Scripture,  conviction  and  practice  to  call  and  

                                                                                                                         37  Canadian  Conference,  “BFL  Calls  for  Study  of  Women  in  Leadership.”              38  Ibid.  

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affirm  gifted  men  and  women  to  serve  in  ministry  and  pastoral  leadership.”39  Practically  

speaking,  in  spite  of  the  freedom  of  local  congregations  to  call  both  women  and  men  to  

pastoral  leadership,  women  remain  less  likely  than  men  to  receive  a  confirmation  of  their  

call  from  their  Mennonite  Brethren  congregations.  Moreover,  it  is  less  likely  that  women  

would  receive  a  call  from  the  congregation  to  consider  pastoral  ministry  prior  to  having  

any  personal  sense  of  call.  Reporting  on  a  survey  of  women  in  pastoral  ministry  in  the  

Mennonite  Church,  Renee  Sauder  wrote,  “Our  call  as  women  had  to  come  from  elsewhere,  

not  because  we  rejected  the  Bible  and  certainly  not  because  we  rejected  our  church  

tradition.  It  was  just  that  there  was  no  external  means  of  support  for  the  inner  longing  to  

say  ‘yes’  to  God’s  call  on  our  lives.”40  While  no  comparable  study  has  been  completed  to  

date  among  Mennonite  Brethren  women  in  pastoral  ministry,  anecdotal  evidence  from  

Mennonite  Brethren  women  suggests  that  they,  too,  have  often  longed  for  external  support  

to  affirm  their  inner  sense  of  call.  

Because  of  this  history,  listening  to  women’s  reflections  on  discerning  a  call  to  

ministry  can  offer  an  alternative  perspective  on  this  ecclesial  practice.  Much  of  the  current  

thinking  about  a  call  to  ministry,  particularly  in  the  Mennonite  Brethren  context,  has  been  

informed  primarily  by  the  experiences  of  men—experiences  which  arose  from  a  very  

different  set  of  circumstances  than  those  faced  by  women.  If,  however,  we  affirm  that  

women  are  equally  able  to  discern  God’s  call,  then  their  stories  also  have  value  in  forming  

our  understanding  of  how  God  calls  people  to  ministry.  

                                                                                                                         39  Canadian  Conference  of  Mennonite  Brethren  Churches,  Gifted, Called and Affirmed: A Pastoral Application and Commentary on the Women in Ministry Leadership Resolution of Gathering 2006 (Winnipeg: Christian Press, 2008), 5.            40  Renee  Sauder,  “Inner  Call/Inner  Ambivalence:  Conflicting  Messages  in  a  Fragile  Conversation,”  in  Understanding  Ministerial  Leadership:  Essays  Contributing  to  a  Developing  Theology  of  Ministry,  edited  by  John  A.  Esau  (Elkhart,  IN:  Institute  of  Mennonite  Studies,  1995),  50-­‐51.  

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Practical  theologians  believe  that  “to  understand  the  church,  we  should  view  it  as  

being  simultaneously  theological  and  social/cultural.    Added  to  this  is  the  insight  that  this  

‘understanding’  is  itself  ecclesial.  So  the  very  practice  of  understanding  is  both  theological  

and  social/cultural.”41  In  other  words,  a  proper  understanding  of  the  church  and  its  

practices  involves  both  stated  convictions,  and  those  convictions  that  are  carried  by  the  

practices  of  the  faith  community.  “Practices  are  themselves  properly  theological,  bearers  of  

an  emerging  ecclesiology…  This  voice  of  practice  must  be  heard,  for  it  is  spoken  from  the  

heart  of  the  church  itself.”42  This  being  the  case,  examining  the  experiences  of  Mennonite  

Brethren  women  who  have  engaged  in  the  practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  ministry  can  yield  

insights  that  could  inform  a  theology  of  a  call  to  ministry  and  its  proper  place  in  the  

discernment  of  pastoral  leaders.  Gaining  a  richer  understanding  of  how  God  calls  

individuals  into  ministry,  in  turn,  can  only  better  equip  the  church  as  it  seeks  to  encourage  

individuals  to  explore  their  giftedness  and  to  use  all  of  their  gifts  in  service  within  the  

church  and  will  enhance  our  ability  to  discern  leaders  for  the  church  both  today  and  in  the  

future.  

In  the  next  chapter,  attention  will  be  given  to  methodology,  and  in  particular  to  the  

use  of  qualitative  research  in  the  discipline  of  practical  theology  in  order  to  attend  to  the  

experiences  of  individuals  and  church  communities.  Such  an  approach  offers  the  

opportunity  to  bring  the  experiences  of  Mennonite  Brethren  women  who  have  worked  at  

discerning  a  call  to  ministry  into  dialogue  with  resources  arising  from  biblical  study,  church  

tradition,  and  attempts  to  develop  an  articulated  theology  of  a  call  to  ministry.  

                                                                                                                         41  Pete  Ward,  “Introduction,”  in  Perspectives  on  Ecclesiology  and  Ethnography,  edited  by  Pete  Ward  (Grand  Rapids:  William  B.  Eerdmans  Publishing  Company,  2012),  2.            42  Clare  Watkins,  “Practical  Ecclesiology:  What  Counts  as  Theology  in  Studying  the  Church?,”  in  Ward,  175-­‐76.  

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CHAPTER  TWO  

METHODOLOGICAL  FOUNDATIONS:  PRACTICAL  THEOLOGY  AND  QUALITATIVE  RESEARCH  

   

  The  previous  chapter  examined  the  Mennonite  Brethren  understanding  of  the  call  to  

ministry  and  discussed  how  giving  attention  to  the  experiences  of  Mennonite  Brethren  

women  may  raise  new  questions  that  have  the  potential  to  enrich  theological  reflection  on  

the  Mennonite  Brethren  practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  ministry.  In  this  chapter,  attention  

will  be  given  to  particular  methodological  concerns  that  emerge  in  using  qualitative  

research  methods  to  examine  the  lived  experiences  of  individuals  and  of  faith  communities.  

How  can  the  experiences  that  emerge  from  the  practices  of  Christians  in  particular  times  

and  particular  settings  inform  theological  reflection  on  these  practices?  How  do  we  honour  

the  wisdom  that  emerges  from  the  performance  of  Christian  practices  while  continuing  to  

honour  and  uphold  the  revelation  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  wisdom  of  corporately  

discerned  statements  of  belief?  It  is  to  these  and  other  such  questions  that  we  now  turn  our  

attention.  

 

Practical  Theology  and  Qualitative  Research  

In  the  past  thirty  years,  practical  theologians  have  been  drawing  increasingly  upon  

ethnographic  and  qualitative  research  methods  in  their  study  of  the  practices  of  the  church.  

According  to  Paul  S.  Fiddes,  “ethnography,  as  employed  by  social  scientists,  is  rooted  in  

observing  the  life  and  practices  of  a  specified  group  of  human  people  and  drawing  

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conclusions  ‘inductively’  from  them.”43  The  intersection  of  ecclesiology  and  ethnography  is  

based  upon  the  assumption  that  the  church  is  both  theological  and  social  in  nature.  Because  

of  this,  according  to  Pete  Ward,  “there  will  thus  be  a  constant  interaction  between  theories  

and  principles  generated  from  the  theological  tradition,  and  careful  participative  

observation  of  the  particularities  of  an  ecclesial  situation.  Theological  generalizations  or  

universals  will  be  reshaped  by  observation,  using  tools  of  social  and  cultural  inquiry,  but  

observation  is  itself  already  theological.”44  There  is  now  a  significant  body  of  literature  that  

examines  how  theologians  may  engage  in  research  that  makes  use  of  qualitative  research  

tools  and  methods  while  remaining  firmly  rooted  within  a  theological  framework,  as  

opposed  to  one  that  is  defined  by  the  social  sciences.  The  present  project  draws  upon  

insights  and  methods  taken  from  this  body  of  work.  

  Alister  E.  McGrath  wrote,  “Christian  theology  is  seen  at  its  best  and  at  its  most  

authentic  when  it  engages  and  informs  the  life  of  the  Christian  community  on  the  one  hand,  

and  is  in  turn  engaged  and  informed  by  that  life  on  the  other.  In  short:  theology  is  grounded  

in  the  life  of  a  praying,  worshipping,  and  reflecting  community,  which  seeks  to  find  the  best  

manner  of  expressing  that  faith  intellectually,  and  allows  it  to  generate  and  inform  its  best  

practices.”45  The  use  of  qualitative  research  methods  offers  theologians  a  means  of  

engaging  with  the  actual  practices  and  experiences  of  individuals  and  of  faith  communities,  

which  in  turn  helps  to  ensure  that  theology  takes  seriously  both  the  truths  of  Scripture  and  

theological  traditions,  as  well  as  the  theological  truths  that  are  rooted  within  the  actual  

practices  of  faith  communities.  Ward  wrote,  “Ecclesiology  and  ethnography  argue  that  the  

                                                                                                                           43  Paul  S.  Fiddes,  “Ecclesiology  and  Ethnography:  Two  Disciplines,  Two  Worlds?,”  in  Ward,  13.            44  Ward,  2.            45  Alister  E.  McGrath,  “The  Cultivation  of  Theological  Vision:  Theological  Attentiveness  and  the  Practice  of  Ministry,”  in  Ward,  107.  

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ethnographic  ‘voice’  demands  our  attention  because  it  has  the  potential  to  make  a  

significant  and  urgently  needed  contribution  to  the  contemporary  discussion  of  the  church.  

This  conviction  arises  from  a  growing  sense  that  there  is  often  a  disconnection  between  

what  we  say  doctrinally  about  the  church  and  the  experience  of  life  in  a  local  parish.”46  

  Similarly,  Mary  Clark  Moschella  wrote,  “When  conducted  and  shared  as  a  form  of  

pastoral  practice,  ethnography  can  enable  religious  leaders  to  hear  the  theological  wisdom  

of  the  people,  wisdom  that  is  spoken  right  in  the  midst  of  the  nitty-­‐gritty  mundane  realities  

of  group  life.”47  Moschella  argued  that  ethnographic  research  can  equip  congregations  to  

understand  the  rhyme  and  reason  behind  the  practices  that  shape  their  shared  life,  helping  

the  group  to  become  purposeful  and  conscious  of  what  they  are  doing  and  why.48    

  John  Swinton  and  Harriet  Mowat  help  to  clarify  how  qualitative  research  becomes  a  

way  of  doing  theology,  rather  than  merely  a  social  scientific  study  of  the  church.  They  

wrote,  “The  ongoing  hermeneutical  task  of  practical  theologians  will  relate  to  the  effective  

‘reading’  of  particular  situations  in  order  that  the  forms  of  practice  carried  out  within  them  

can  be  understood  and  reflected  on  critically  in  light  of  scripture  and  tradition  with  a  view  

to  enabling  faithful  practice.”49  Rather  than  merely  applying  theory  to  the  practices  of  the  

Church  by  developing  techniques  for  ministry,  Swinton  and  Mowat  advocate  for  “a  careful  

theological  exegesis  of  particular  situations  within  which  the  practices  and  experiences  

                                                                                                                         46  Ward,  4.            47  Mary  Clark  Moschella,  Ethnography  as  a  Pastoral  Practice:  An  Introduction  (Cleveland,  OH:  The  Pilgrim  Press,  2008),  4.            48  Ibid.,  16.            49  John  Swinton  and  Harriet  Mowat,  Practical  Theology  and  Qualitative  Research  (London:  SCM  Press,  2006),  12.    

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that  emerge  from  these  situations  are  explored,  understood,  evaluated,  critiqued  and  

reconsidered.”50  

  The  use  of  qualitative  research  methods  to  foster  exploration  of  the  lived  

experiences  of  Mennonite  Brethren  women  who  have  engaged  in  the  practice  of  discerning  

a  call  to  ministry  offers  a  means  of  accessing  the  theological  wisdom  that  is  rooted  within  

this  ecclesial  practice.  Since  theological  wisdom  is  borne  not  only  in  words,  but  also  in  the  

practices  of  the  faith  community,  attending  to  women’s  experiences  can  deepen  the  

understanding  of  the  call  to  ministry  as  the  insights  that  emerge  from  qualitative  study  are  

brought  into  dialogue  with  the  insights  of  the  Mennonite  Brethren  theological  tradition.    

This  deeper  understanding  of  the  theological  roots  of  the  practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  

ministry  in  turn  offers  possibilities  for  reforming  the  practice  in  ways  that  are  increasingly  

consistent  with  faithful  Christian  discipleship.  

   

A  Model  for  Integrating  Practical  Theological  Reflection  and  Qualitative  Research  

  In  their  book,  Practical  Theology  and  Qualitative  Research,  Swinton  and  Mowat  

offered  a  model  for  practical  theological  reflection  based  upon  three  core  values:  

hospitality,  conversion,  and  critical  faithfulness.  With  this  model,  Swinton  and  Mowat  

sought  to  address  the  key  question,  “How  can  practical  theology  and  qualitative  research  

be  brought  together  in  a  way  that  is  both  mutually  enhancing  and  faithful?”51  While  

building  upon  the  methods  of  mutual  critical  correlation,  which  finds  its  roots  in  the  work  

of  Paul  Tillich,  they  suggested,  “Practical  theology  can  utilize  qualitative  research  methods  

                                                                                                                         50  Ibid.            51  Ibid.,  74.  

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to  aid  in  this  process  of  ensuring  that  Christian  practice  is  in  correspondence  to  the  event  of  

God’s  self-­‐communication.”52  

  Swinton  and  Mowat  argued  that  faithfully  bringing  together  practical  theology,  

particular  situations,  and  qualitative  research  requires  three  things:  hospitality,  

conversion,  and  critical  faithfulness.  By  hospitality,  Swinton  and  Mowat  were  referring  to  

the  creation  of  “a  context  wherein  the  voice  of  qualitative  research  can  be  heard,  respected,  

and  taken  seriously,  but  with  no  a-­‐priori  assumption  that  theology  needs  to  merge,  follow,  

or  fully  accept  the  perspective  on  the  world  that  is  offered  to  it  by  qualitative  research.”53    

Conversion  is  used  to  mean  that  “God  ‘converts’  the  field  of  intellectual  enquiry  outside  

theology,  in  this  case  qualitative  research,  and  uses  it  in  the  service  of  making  God’s  self  

known  within  the  Church  and  from  there  on  into  the  world.”54  This  means  that  the  critique  

offered  to  theology  by  qualitative  research  methods  can  be  offered  from  within  the  

tradition  and  not  apart  from  it.  Finally,  critical  faithfulness  refers  to  the  need  to  assume  a  

stance  that  “acknowledges  the  divine  givenness  of  Scripture  and  the  genuine  working  of  the  

Holy  Spirit  in  the  interpretation  of  what  is  given,  while  at  the  same  time  taking  seriously  

the  interpretative  dimensions  of  the  process  of  understanding  revelation  and  ensuring  the  

faithful  practices  of  individuals  and  communities.”55  

  Swinton  and  Mowat  proposed  a  process  for  incorporating  qualitative  research  

methods  into  theological  reflection  that  consisted  of  four  steps.  In  the  initial  phase,  a  

practice  that  is  in  need  of  critical  reflection  is  identified.  In  the  case  of  this  thesis,  this  is  the  

Mennonite  Brethren  practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  ministry.  This  practice  is  examined  

                                                                                                                         52  Ibid.,  90-­‐91.            53  Ibid.,  91.            54  Ibid.,  92.            55  Ibid.,  93.  

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intuitively  at  this  phase  in  order  to  assess  what  appears  to  be  going  on,  as  has  already  been  

demonstrated  in  the  first  chapter  of  this  thesis.    

In  the  second  stage,  the  practical  theologian  begins  to  examine  the  practice  more  

critically  in  order  to  gain  a  deep  and  rich  understanding  of  the  situation.  It  is  at  this  stage  

that  qualitative  research  methods  are  helpful:  “By  engaging  with  the  complexities  of  the  

hermeneutical  dimensions  of  the  situation  new  insights  about  its  nature  and  structure  

begin  to  emerge.  Some  of  these  will  confirm  our  initial  intuitive  reflections,  but  others  will  

challenge  and  enhance  that  which  we  thought  we  knew.”56  By  studying  how  the  call  to  

ministry  has  been  discussed  among  Mennonite  Brethren  in  the  past,  and  by  interviewing  

Mennonite  Brethren  women  who  have  discerned  a  call  to  ministry,  a  rich  description  will  

be  created  of  how  the  practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  ministry  is  currently  functioning  

among  Mennonite  Brethren  in  Canada.    

In  the  third  step,  the  implicit  and  explicit  theological  dimensions  of  the  situation  are  

drawn  out  from  the  rich  description  of  the  practice  developed  in  stage  two.  Once  the  

practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  ministry  has  been  described,  it  is  possible  to  reflect  

theologically  on  the  principles  that  are  operating  within  and  behind  this  practice.    

Finally,  in  the  fourth  stage,  “we  draw  together  the  cultural/contextual  analysis  with  

the  theological  reflection  and  combine  these  two  dimensions  with  our  original  reflections  

on  the  situation.  In  this  way  the  conversation  functions  dialectically  to  produce  new  and  

challenging  forms  of  practice  that  enable  the  initial  situation  to  be  transformed  into  ways  

which  are  authentic  and  faithful.”57  Ultimately,  it  is  hoped  that  by  closely  examining  the  

practice  of  the  call  to  ministry  among  Mennonite  Brethren  and  reflecting  theologically  on                                                                                                                            56  Ibid.,  96.            57  Ibid.,  96-­‐97.  

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current  practice,  it  will  be  possible  to  shape  this  practice  in  ways  that  are  an  increasingly  

faithful  reflection  of  life  as  the  people  of  God.    

  Swinton  and  Mowat’s  model  for  incorporating  qualitative  research  methods  within  

the  larger  work  of  practical  theology  will  provide  the  methodological  framework  for  this  

study  of  the  Mennonite  Brethren  practice  of  discerning  of  a  call  to  ministry.  The  framework  

offered  by  Swinton  and  Mowat  provides  a  helpful  model  for  incorporating  the  wisdom  

offered  by  qualitative  research  into  theological  reflection  in  a  way  that  both  honours  the  

primacy  of  the  theological  voice  and  upholds  its  openness  to  learn  from  dialogue  partners  

drawing  from  other  sources  of  knowledge,  particularly  those  offered  by  the  social  sciences.  

By  using  data  from  interviews  with  Mennonite  Brethren  women,  as  well  as  from  an  

examination  of  the  historical  and  theological  foundations  for  the  current  practice  of  calling  

individuals  to  ministry  roles  within  the  church,  this  thesis  seeks  to  develop  a  rich  

understanding  of  the  current  practice  of  the  call  to  ministry  among  the  Mennonite  

Brethren,  which  might  then  be  subject  to  theological  reflection  in  the  hopes  of  contributing  

in  some  way  to  the  renewal  of  the  practice.  

 

Research  Design  

  The  research  design  for  the  qualitative  research  component  of  this  study  is  rooted  in  

the  method  of  hermeneutic  phenomenology.  As  defined  by  Swinton  and  Mowat,  

“Phenomenology  is  a  philosophy  of  experience  that  attempts  to  understand  the  ways  in  

which  meaning  is  constructed  in  and  through  human  experience.  This  perspective  views  a  

person’s  lived  experience  (the  thing  in  itself)  of  and  within  the  world  as  the  foundation  of  

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meaning.”58  Hermeneutics  acknowledges  that  all  meaning  and  understanding  is  a  matter  of  

interpretation.  Thus,  hermeneutic  phenomenology  attempts  “to  provide  a  rich  description  

of  the  experience  and  a  necessary  interpretative  perspective  on  lived  experience.”59  It  

therefore  functions  both  descriptively  and  interpretatively.    

  In  this  study,  interviews  were  conducted  with  six  women  in  order  to  seek  to  

understand  their  lived  experiences  of  having  discerned  a  call  to  ministry.  Each  of  the  

women  is  currently  a  member  of  a  Mennonite  Brethren  congregation  and  is  currently  

serving  in  a  pastoral  role  in  a  Mennonite  Brethren  ministry  setting.  The  ages  of  the  

interviewees  ranged  from  mid-­‐twenties  to  early  sixties.  Some  of  the  women  were  in  their  

first  five  years  of  pastoral  ministry,  while  others  were  nearing  retirement  and  had  served  

in  pastoral  ministry  for  many  years,  and  still  others  fell  in  between  these  extremes.  At  the  

time  of  the  interviews,  the  women  served  in  a  variety  of  pastoral  roles,  in  both  traditional  

and  non-­‐traditional  ministry  settings;  some  of  the  women  served  in  the  capacity  of  lead  

pastor  of  a  Mennonite  Brethren  congregation,  while  others  served  in  other  types  of  

pastoral  roles.  All  of  the  women  lived  in  the  Canadian  prairie  provinces  at  the  time  of  the  

interview.  All  of  the  women  who  were  interviewed  were  married.  

Participants  were  selected  using  a  combination  of  convenience  sampling  and  

criterion  sampling.  In  order  to  allow  all  interviews  to  be  conducted  face-­‐to-­‐face  in  a  

relatively  short  timeframe,  participants  were  limited  to  women  from  the  Canadian  prairie  

provinces.  In  addition  to  this  limitation,  all  participants  had  to  be  active  members  in  a  

Mennonite  Brethren  church,  over  the  age  of  eighteen,  and  employed  in  a  leadership  

capacity  in  a  Mennonite  Brethren  church  or  ministry  setting.  Women  were  identified  who                                                                                                                            58  Ibid.,  106.            59  Ibid.,  109.  

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met  all  of  these  criteria.  Within  this  group,  an  effort  was  made  to  select  participants  so  that  

the  resulting  group  of  women  would  be  diverse  in  their  ages,  years  of  ministry  experience,  

and  the  types  of  ministry  roles  in  which  they  served.  

Each  of  the  interviews  was  conducted  face-­‐to-­‐face  at  a  location  selected  by  the  

interviewee,  and  lasted  between  an  hour  and  an  hour  and  a  half  in  length.  Initially,  the  

intention  was  to  use  a  semi-­‐structured  interview  format.  A  broad  framework  of  questions  

was  created  based  upon  a  literature  review.  However,  it  quickly  became  apparent  once  the  

interviews  were  underway  that  the  ways  in  which  women  described  their  experience  of  

discerning  a  call  to  ministry  were  significantly  different  than  the  way  in  which  a  call  to  

ministry  has  traditionally  been  narrated  in  the  literature.  As  a  result,  an  unstructured  

interview  format  was  adopted  in  order  to  allow  the  conversation  to  be  guided  primarily  by  

the  women’s  own  descriptions  of  their  experiences  of  discerning  and  living  with  a  call  to  

ministry,  rather  than  by  questions  shaped  by  the  researcher’s  interpretation  of  what  such  a  

call  might  entail.    

Informed  consent  was  obtained  from  all  participants,  and  participant’s  names  and  

other  identifying  information  have  been  changed  in  an  effort  to  ensure  confidentiality.  

However,  it  is  recognized  that  there  are  relatively  few  women  in  Mennonite  Brethren  

congregations  serving  in  pastoral  roles,  and,  therefore,  it  may  be  possible  for  participants  

to  be  recognized  in  spite  of  these  precautions  being  taken.  All  participants  were  aware  of  

this  possibility  as  part  of  the  process  of  obtaining  informed  consent.  

  Data  was  analyzed  using  thematic  analysis.  All  interviews  were  audio  recorded  and  

were  transcribed  verbatim  by  the  researcher.  Codes  were  then  developed  inductively  from  

the  transcribed  data,  and  refined  through  subsequent  examinations  of  the  data.  The  

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computer  assisted  qualitative  data  analysis  software  (CAQDAS)  package,  ATLAS.tiTM  was  

used  to  aid  in  the  process  of  analyzing  the  interview  data.  Relationships  between  codes  

were  graphically  mapped  and  themes  were  developed  based  upon  the  coded  data  which  

reflected  and  summarized  the  data  found  in  the  transcripts.  The  resulting  themes  are  

further  described  in  chapter  four  of  this  thesis.  

  All  research  conformed  to  Canadian  Mennonite  University’s  “Policy  on  Ethical  

Review  of  Research  with  Human  Participants,”  as  well  as  its  “Policy  and  Procedures  on  

Integrity  in  Research  and  Scholarship.”  The  research  also  conformed  to  the  Tri-­‐Council  

Policy  Statement  regarding  qualitative  research.60  

  Having  laid  out  these  theoretical  and  methodological  foundations  for  the  work  that  

follows,  our  attention  now  turns  to  a  survey  of  the  call  to  ministry  as  it  has  been  described  

at  different  stages  in  church  history,  paying  particular  attention  to  how  the  call  to  ministry  

has  been  discussed  among  Mennonite  Brethren  in  recent  history.  In  doing  so,  a  thick  

description  of  the  call  to  ministry  will  be  developed  that  expands  upon  the  basic  

description  of  the  inner  and  outer  dimensions  of  the  call  and  begins  to  examine  how  the  

call  to  ministry  functions  within  the  Mennonite  Brethren  understanding  of  the  nature  of  

church  leadership.  This,  in  turn,  will  provide  a  context  for  understanding  the  experiences  of  

Mennonite  Brethren  women  who  have  worked  at  the  practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  

ministry  in  their  own  particular  contexts.  

     

   

                                                                                                                         60  Canadian  Institutes  of  Health  Research,  Natural  Sciences  and  Engineering  Research  Council  of  Canada,  and  Social  Sciences  and  Humanities  Research  Council  of  Canada,  Tri-­‐Council  Policy  Statement:  Ethical  Conduct  for  Research  Involving  Humans  (December  2010),  http://www.ethics.gc.ca/pdf/eng/tcps/TCPS_2_  FINAL_Web.pdf  (accessed  April  21,  2014).  

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CHAPTER  THREE  

A  BRIEF  HISTORICAL  SURVEY  OF  THE  CALL  TO  MINISTRY      

  The  practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  ministry  is  not  a  new  one.  From  the  very  

beginnings  of  the  biblical  narrative,  when  God  began  to  set  aside  a  people  to  be  God’s  own  

people  among  the  nations,  we  read  the  stories  of  individuals  whom  God  called,  in  a  variety  

of  ways,  to  play  specific  roles  in  this  endeavor.  Thus,  in  the  Old  Testament,  the  call  stories  

of  key  figures  including  Abraham,  Moses,  Samuel,  David,  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  and  others  are  

told.  In  the  New  Testament,  Jesus  called  his  disciples,  and  later  Saul  had  a  dramatic  

encounter  with  the  risen  Christ  along  the  road  to  Damascus.  In  the  first  chapter  of  the  book  

of  Acts,  the  gathered  believers  selected  someone  to  join  the  eleven  apostles,  thereby  filling  

the  seat  formerly  held  by  Judas.  Throughout  the  history  of  the  church,  up  to  the  present  

day,  the  question  of  how  to  discern  and  select  leaders  for  key  roles  within  the  body  of  

believers  has  been  a  constant.    

For  Anabaptist-­‐Mennonites,  and  for  Mennonite  Brethren  more  specifically,  call  

stories  have  often  played  an  important  role  in  the  process  of  discerning  pastoral  leaders.  

From  the  concerns  of  the  early  Anabaptists  about  how  to  distinguish  true  prophets  and  

teachers  from  false  ones,  to  discussions  among  twentieth-­‐century  Mennonite  Brethren  

regarding  the  role  of  the  church  in  identifying  and  calling  people  to  pastoral  ministry  in  

light  of  concerns  about  clergy  shortages,  the  call  to  ministry  has  been  a  subject  of  

discussion  throughout  this  history.    By  surveying  how  the  call  to  ministry  has  been  

understood  at  various  points  in  the  history  of  the  church,  we  will  be  equipped  to  

understand  more  clearly  how  this  tradition  continues  to  inform  thinking  and  practice  in  the  

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discernment  of  individuals  for  pastoral  leadership  in  ministries  and  congregations  among  

Mennonite  Brethren  in  Canada  today.  

 

Call  Stories  in  Scripture  

  A  number  of  call  narratives  are  recorded  in  the  Bible,  in  both  the  Old  and  New  

Testaments.  Abraham’s  call  in  Genesis  12:1-­‐9  records  Yahweh’s  covenant  with  Abraham,  

given  along  with  the  command  to  Abraham  to  “go  from  your  country,  your  people,  and  your  

father’s  household  to  the  land  I  will  show  you”  (Gen.  12:1).  The  call  of  Moses  in  Exodus  3  

and  4  involved  the  famous  encounter  with  the  burning  bush,  out  of  which  Yahweh’s  voice  

told  Moses,  “So  now,  go.  I  am  sending  you  to  Pharaoh  to  bring  my  people  the  Israelites  out  

of  Egypt”  (Exod.  3:10).  In  Isaiah  6,  Isaiah  responded  to  a  theophanic  appearance  of  the  Lord  

in  the  temple  by  answering  Yahweh’s  question,  “Whom  shall  I  send?  And  who  will  go  for  

us?”  with  the  words,  “Here  am  I.  Send  me!”  (Isaiah  6:8).  Similar  stories  are  told  of  Gideon  

(Judges  6:11-­‐24),  Samuel  (1  Samuel  3:1-­‐4:1),  Elisha  (1  Kings  19:19-­‐21),  Jeremiah  (Jeremiah  

1),  Ezekiel  (Ezekiel  1-­‐3),  and  Amos  (Amos  7:10-­‐17).  Biblical  scholars,  including  Norman  

Habel,  have  attempted  to  identify  a  common  literary  structure  shared  by  the  call  narratives  

as  a  biblical  genre,  suggesting  that  these  narratives  share  the  common  elements  of  divine  

confrontation,  introductory  word,  commission,  objection,  reassurance,  and  sign.61  

However,  it  is  obvious  in  reading  these  narratives  that  in  spite  of  their  commonalities,  each  

has  unique  elements  as  well.  

                                                                                                                         61  Norman  C.  Habel,  “The  Form  and  Significance  of  the  Call  Narratives,”  Zeitschrift  für  die  Alttestamentliche  Wissenschaft  77,  no.  3  (January  1965):  297-­‐363,  http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/  pdfviewer?vid=7&sid=5c9de116-­‐dcd8-­‐4f68-­‐8616-­‐4ddb92db6ed6%40sessionmgr113&hid=102  (accessed  January  20,  2015).  

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  The  New  Testament  uses  call  language  frequently.  However,  the  language  of  calling  

in  the  New  Testament  shifts  to  take  on  a  more  universal  quality.  Jesus  called  disciples  to  

follow  him.  Acts  9  recorded  how  Paul  was  stopped  in  his  tracks  on  the  road  to  Damascus  

when  he  was  blinded  by  a  light  from  heaven  and  heard  the  voice  of  Jesus,  calling  him  to  “get  

up  and  go  into  the  city,  and  you  will  be  told  what  you  must  do”  (Acts  9:6).  In  these  

instances,  the  call  was  associated  not  so  much  with  a  call  to  a  particular  leadership  role,  but  

rather  with  the  call  to  become  a  follower  of  Jesus,  and  to  set  all  else  aside  in  order  to  do  so.    

 

Christian  Vocations  Prior  to  the  Sixteenth  Century  

  In  the  first  centuries  of  the  church’s  existence,  Christianity  was  one  religion  among  

many  in  the  Roman  Empire.  The  call  to  follow  Christ  came  with  a  price,  whether  that  was  

living  by  ethical  standards  that  set  the  Christian  apart  from  his  or  her  neighbours,  or  facing  

rejection  by  his  or  her  family,  or  even  living  with  the  constant  threat  of  persecution.  In  

these  early  days,  “the  fundamental  vocational  questions  for  Christians  or  potential  

Christians  were  initially,  first,  should  I  be  a  Christian?,  and  second,  how  public  should  I  be  

about  my  Christian  faith.”62  To  be  called  was  primarily  understood  within  the  framework  of  

a  universal  call  to  follow  Christ.  

  Christian  monasticism  arose  around  the  same  time  as  Constantine  converted  to  

Christianity  and  made  Christianity  the  official  religion  of  the  Roman  Empire.  William  

Placher  noted  that  “just  about  the  time  when  it  grew  easier  to  be  an  ‘ordinary’  Christian,  

Christians  in  large  numbers  began  to  go  off  to  the  desert  to  pursue  a  more  rigorous  

                                                                                                                         62  William  C.  Placher,  ed.,  Callings:  Twenty  Centuries  of  Christian  Wisdom  on  Vocation  (Grand  Rapids:  William  B.  Eerdmans  Publishing  Company,  2005),  6.  

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Christian  life.  They  found  a  more  demanding  vocation.”63  This  marked  the  beginning  of  a  

division  between  the  universal  call  of  Christians  to  follow  Christ,  and  a  particular,  more  

rigorous  call  claimed  only  by  some.  

  The  Christian  church  grew  rapidly  in  the  years  that  followed,  both  in  size  and  in  

power.  Vocations  came  to  be  increasingly  associated  with  the  roles  held  by  priests,  nuns,  

and  monks.  Many  people  in  monastic  orders  were  set  apart  for  such  a  life  by  their  parents  

when  they  were  only  children,  while  others  joined  as  adults  at  the  invitation  of  friends  or  

family  members  who  belonged  to  one  of  the  orders.64  By  the  time  of  the  medieval  church,  

“to  have  a  vocatio  meant  to  be  on  the  way  to  becoming  a  monk,  nun,  friar,  or  priest.  Even  

parish  priests  (often  ill-­‐educated)  were  generally  thought  to  have  failed  to  go  all  the  way  to  

the  heights  of  monastic  life.”65  The  central  vocational  question  for  most  Christians  at  this  

time  was  therefore  not  which  career  path  to  pursue,  but  instead  whether  or  not  one  was  

called  to  a  particular  religious  vocation.  

 

The  Reformation  and  the  Priesthood  of  All  Believers  

  By  the  early  sixteenth  century,  the  church  had  enjoyed  being  at  the  center  of  power  

in  the  western  world  for  many  centuries.  Amidst  sentiments  that  the  papacy  had  become  

decadent  and  corrupt,  anticlericalism  became  one  of  the  prominent  themes  of  the  church  

reforms  that  were  emerging.  It  should  be  noted  that  the  reformers’  critiques  of  the  papacy  

and  the  priesthood  did  not  necessarily  imply  that  priests  and  church  leaders  should  be  

abolished  entirely.  As  Karl  Koop  noted,  “To  be  sure,  by  the  time  of  the  Reformation  the  

                                                                                                                         63  Ibid.,  31.            64  Ibid.,  109.            65  Ibid.,  112  

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sacerdotal  office,  with  its  mediating  qualities,  was  repudiated  by  many  reformers.  But  at  

that  time  could  they  have  conceived  of  church  life  in  fully  democratic  or  egalitarian  terms,  

absent  of  real  leadership,  as  has  sometimes  been  contemplated  in  modern  times?”66  Such  

an  idea  would  have  been  unimaginable  in  the  sixteenth  century.    

  Rather  than  abolishing  the  clergy,  reformers  sought  to  eliminate  the  difference  in  

spiritual  status  between  clergy  and  laity.  Martin  Luther  argued  that  all  Christians  have  a  

calling,  not  only  those  called  to  vocational  ministry.  For  Luther,  every  vocation,  whether  

within  the  Church  or  otherwise,  represented  a  faithful  response  to  God’s  leading,  and  no  

call  came  with  any  special  spiritual  status.  While  this  represented  a  dramatic  change  from  

the  medieval  world,  in  which  having  a  vocation  was  directly  linked  to  belonging  to  a  

religious  order  or  to  the  priesthood,  nonetheless  “even  though  Luther  in  his  early  years  

accentuated  the  priesthood  of  all  believers  and  a  more  spiritualistic  view  of  the  church  

against  Rome,  he  never  lost  the  point  of  a  special  ministry  in  the  church…Luther  was—as  a  

man  of  the  late  medieval  era—deeply  convinced  that  the  church  has  its  own  order  which  

had  to  be  followed.”67  

For  Luther,  the  highest  authority  in  the  church  rested  not  with  the  clergy  or  with  the  

papacy,  but  with  the  community  of  believers;  therefore,  it  was  the  role  of  the  local  parish  to  

call  its  ministers  for  preaching,  teaching,  pastoral  care,  and  other  leadership  roles.68  

Moreover,  Luther  maintained  that  a  minister’s  position  was  tied  to  his  practice  of  the  

ministry.  Critiquing  priests  who  held  clerical  offices  without  carrying  out  an  associated                                                                                                                            66  Karl  Koop,  “Worldly  Preachers  and  True  Shepherds:  Anabaptist  Anticlericalism  in  the  Lower  Rhine,”  in  The  Heart  of  the  Matter:  Pastoral  Ministry  in  Anabaptist  Perspective,  ed.  Erick  Sawatzky  (Scottdale:  Herald  Press,  2004),  28.            67  Markus  Wriedt,  “Luther  on  Call  and  Ordination:  A  Look  at  Luther  and  the  Ministry,”  Concordia  Journal  28,  no.  3  (July  2002):  261,  http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=9edc41ee-­‐fb77-­‐4d9d-­‐8f80-­‐cd6d9c74074e%40sessionmgr4002&vid=5&hid=4112  (accessed  January  17,  2015).            68  Ibid.,  265.  

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ministry,  Luther  maintained  “if  a  preacher  refuses  to  preach  he  gives  up  being  a  

preacher.”69  Thus,  while  highlighting  the  need  for  clerical  reform,  Luther  nonetheless  

acknowledged  the  call  of  certain  individuals  for  particular  leadership  and  teaching  roles  

within  the  church,  and,  moreover,  placed  the  responsibility  for  calling  individuals  to  these  

roles  squarely  in  the  hands  of  the  believers  who  made  up  the  local  congregation.  At  

ordination,  this  call  was  to  be  acknowledged  by  an  ecclesiastical  authority—but  it  was  first  

to  emerge  from  within  the  local  congregation  itself.70  

  Among  the  early  Anabaptists,  the  need  to  discern  which  believers  were  called  to  

hold  particular  offices  within  the  church  was  also  identified.  Like  Luther,  the  early  

Anabaptists  believed  that  being  called  to  a  ministerial  vocation  within  the  church  came  

with  no  special  spiritual  status.  Nonetheless,  early  Anabaptist  writings  provide  evidence  

that  they,  too,  were  concerned  with  how  to  properly  identify  those  individuals  who  had  

been  called  to  the  preaching  ministry  within  the  church.  Menno  Simons’  Foundation  of  

Christian  Doctrine,  written  in  1539,  contains  a  lengthy  section  on  “The  Vocation  

[Commission]  of  the  Preachers.”  It  reads,  “According  to  the  Scripture  the  mission  and  

vocation  of  Christian  preachers  takes  place  in  two  ways.  Some  are  called  by  God  alone  

without  any  human  agent  as  was  the  case  with  the  prophets  and  apostles.  Others  are  called  

by  means  of  the  pious  as  may  be  seen  from  Acts  1:23-­‐26.”71  Simons  concluded,  “All  who  

rightly  preach  Christ  and  His  Word,  and  with  it  bring  forth  children  to  the  Lord,  must  have  

been  called  by  one  of  the  afore-­‐mentioned  methods.  They  must  have  been  urged  into  the  

                                                                                                                         69  Norman  Nagel,  “Luther  and  the  Priesthood  of  all  Believers,”  Concordia  Theological  Quarterly  61,  no.  4  (October  1997):  288,  http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=9edc41ee-­‐fb77-­‐4d9d-­‐8f80-­‐cd6d9c74074e%40sessionmgr4002&vid=22&hid=4112  (accessed  January  17,  2015).            70  Wreidt,  265.            71  Menno  Simons,  “Foundation  of  Christian  Doctrine,”  in  The  Complete  Writings  of  Menno  Simons,  c.1496-­‐1561,  ed.  J.C.  Wenger,  trans.  Leonard  Verdun  (Scottdale,  PA:  Herald  Press,  1956),  159.  

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vineyard  of  the  Lord  by  the  true  and  unfeigned  love  of  God  and  their  neighbour,  and  

through  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.”72  A  particular  concern  that  seems  to  lie  behind  this  

text  is  that  the  church  might  be  able  to  discern  between  those  who  are  rightly  called,  and  

those  who  are  motivated  by  a  desire  to  obtain  the  favour  of  others  or  other  forms  of  

profit—such  individuals  were  strongly  condemned  as  “thieves  and  robbers,”  and  Simons  

wrote  that  they  are  called  “not  of  God  and  His  Word  but  of  Antichrist,  the  dragon,  and  the  

beast.”73  Instead,  those  who  are  rightly  called  to  preach  Christ  are  sent  by  God,  sometimes  

through  the  agency  of  the  church—but  in  order  to  be  legitimate  such  a  call  must  always  

come  from  “a  church  without  fault,  believing  and  Christian.”74  

  Dirk  Philips  wrote  The  Enchiridion  in  1564,  several  years  after  Menno  Simons’  

death.  It  was  a  handbook  intended  to  present  a  systematic  approach  to  the  Christian  faith.  

This  document  too  included  a  lengthy  section  addressing  “The  Sending  of  Preachers  or  

Teachers.”  The  particular  concern  for  Philips,  as  was  also  the  case  in  Menno’s  Foundation  of  

Christian  Doctrine,  was  “that  you  may  know  how  to  distinguish  true  prophets,  teachers,  and  

Christians  from  false  ones.”75  Like  Menno,  Philips  identified  two  distinct  kinds  of  calling—

one  that  comes  from  God  alone,  the  other  which  comes  from  God  through  the  congregation  

of  believers.  Philips,  however,  seems  to  place  a  particular  emphasis  upon  the  internal  

dimension  of  such  a  calling:  “No  one  will  be  sent  by  the  Lord  nor  correctly  chosen  by  the  

congregation,  except  through  the  Holy  Spirit  who  must  touch  his  heart,  make  him  fiery  with  

love,  in  order  thus  to  voluntarily  feed,  lead,  and  send  out  the  congregation  of  God.”76  

                                                                                                                         72  Ibid.,  160.            73  Ibid.,  163.            74  Ibid.,  161.            75  Dirk  Philips,  “The  Enchiridion,”  in  The  Writings  of  Dirk  Philips,  1504-­‐1568,  trans.  and  ed.  Cornelius  J.  Dyck,  William  E.  Keeney,  and  Alvin  J.  Beachy  (Scottdale,  PA:  Herald  Press,  1992),  198-­‐99.            76  Ibid.,  203.  

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  Many  of  the  earliest  Anabaptist-­‐Mennonite  confessions  of  faith  also  include  articles  

addressing  ministry  and,  in  particular,  the  call  of  preachers  and  ministers  within  the  

church.  The  Kempen  Confession,  written  in  1545,  emerged  among  North  German  

Anabaptists  who  had  been  influenced  by  Anabaptist  leaders  including  both  Menno  Simons  

and  Dirk  Philips.  Of  its  six  articles,  the  longest  one  addressed  the  ministry.  As  Koop  noted,  

in  this  confession  “the  Anabaptists  are  concerned  to  redefine  the  identity  of  the  true  

shepherd,  the  authentic  pastor  who  leads  his  flock  according  to  the  teachings  of  Christ.”77  

For  these  Anabaptists,  writing  in  the  aftermath  of  the  fall  of  the  Kingdom  of  Münster,  “true  

reform  is  possible  only  when  faithful  and  authentic  leadership  is  in  place.”78  It  was  

essential,  therefore,  that  those  rightly  called  could  be  distinguished  from  worldly  

shepherds  whose  efforts  could  not  produce  genuine  reform.  Thus,  the  Kempen  Confession  

stated  that  true  teachers  “are  sent  by  God  and  remain  in  the  written  word,  teaching,  and  

order  of  Christ.”79  Likewise,  “these  teachers  are  sent  from  Christ  and  his  beloved  father  

throughout  all  time  and  commissioned  to  work  in  his  vineyard,  as  he  says,  ‘See  I  sent  you  

like  sheep  among  wolves.”80  

  The  confessions  of  the  early  Dutch  Anabaptists  also  provide  evidence  of  a  concern  

for  identifying  leaders  for  the  preaching  ministry  of  the  church.  Many  of  these  confessions  

placed  emphasis  upon  the  role  of  the  congregation  in  commissioning  people  for  the  offices  

of  preaching  and  pastoral  ministry.  For  example,  the  Wismar  Articles,  written  in  1554,  read  

in  part,  “Ninth,  no  one  is  to  undertake  to  preach  or  teach  in  the  congregations  of  his  own  

                                                                                                                         77  Koop,  “Worldly  Preachers  and  True  Shepherds,”  30.            78  Ibid.,  33.            79  Karl  Koop,  trans.,  “Kempen  Confession  (1545),”  in  Confessions  of  Faith  in  the  Anabaptist  Tradition,  1527-­‐1660,  ed.  Karl  Koop  (Kitchener,  ON:  Pandora  Press,  2006),  102.            80  Ibid.  

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accord,  but  only  if  he  is  ordained  or  commissioned  for  this  task  by  a  congregation  or  the  

elders.”81  Likewise,  the  Waterlander  Confession  stated  that  “in  times  of  need  the  

congregation  shall  prepare  itself  before  God  with  fasting  and  prayer,  calling  upon  him  for  

help—for  he  alone  can  send  the  right  servants  into  the  harvest—that  our  heavenly  Father  

may  prepare  the  right  messengers  among  the  congregations  to  the  glory  of  his  name.”82  

The  Short  Confession,  written  in  1610,  stated,  “The  calling  or  electing  of  servants  to  these  

offices  takes  place  through  the  ministers  of  the  church  together  with  the  congregation  (Acts  

1:21,  14:23).  They  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord,  for  he  alone  knows  the  human  heart,  he  

is  in  the  midst  of  the  believers  gathered  in  his  holy  name,  guiding  them  by  his  Holy  Spirit.”83  

It  is  clear  from  these  confessional  statements  that  the  congregation  played  a  significant  role  

in  the  identification  and  calling  of  preachers  and  ministers  among  early  Dutch  Anabaptists.  

  The  Prussian  Confession,  written  in  1660,  was  perhaps  the  most  dominant  

confession  among  Prussian  and  Russian  Mennonites.  This  first  confession  in  Polish  and  

Prussian  territories  stated  that  “when  the  church  requires  such  persons  to  be  servants  of  

the  Word,  they  together  pray  earnestly  to  God—for  this  matter  is  beyond  their  own  

power…And  they  humbly  pray  to  God,  that  he,  who  knows  every  heart,  will  show  through  a  

united  voice,  whom  he  has  chosen  for  such  a  service  and  office.”84  Like  the  Dutch  

Anabaptists,  the  confession  set  out  a  process  by  which  the  congregation  may  prayerfully  

                                                                                                                         81  Cornelius  J.  Dyck,  trans.,  “The  Wismar  Articles,  1554,”  in  Confessions  of  Faith  in  the  Anabaptist  Tradition,  1527-­‐1660,  ed.  Karl  Koop  (Kitchener,  ON:  Pandora  Press,  2006),  113.            82  Cornelius  J.  Dyck,  trans.,  “The  First  Waterlander  Confession  of  Faith,  Alkmaar,  September  22,  1577,”  in  Confessions  of  Faith  in  the  Anabaptist  Tradition,  1527-­‐1660,  ed.  Karl  Koop  (Kitchener,  ON:  Pandora  Press,  2006),  131.            83  Cornelius  J.  Dyck,  trans.,  “Short  Confession  of  Faith  and  the  Essential  Elements  of  Christian  Doctrine  (1610),”  in  Confessions  of  Faith  in  the  Anabaptist  Tradition,  1527-­‐1660,  ed.  Karl  Koop  (Kitchener,  ON:  Pandora  Press,  2006),  150.            84  John  Rempel  and  Karl  Koop,  trans.,  “Prussian  Confession  (1660),”  in  Confessions  of  Faith  in  the  Anabaptist  Tradition,  1527-­‐1660,  ed.  Karl  Koop  (Kitchener,  ON:  Pandora  Press,  2006),  317-­‐18.  

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seek  to  identify  those  whom  God  has  called  to  teaching  and  diaconal  roles  within  the  

church.  

  For  both  Luther  and  the  early  Anabaptists,  then,  the  elimination  of  the  special  

spiritual  status  accorded  to  clergy  did  not  mean  a  complete  elimination  of  the  roles  of  

preachers  and  ministers.  Rather,  with  these  reforms  came  an  increased  emphasis  on  the  

role  of  the  congregation  of  believers  in  identifying,  with  God’s  help,  those  who  had  been  

called  by  God  to  such  roles  within  the  congregation.  Whether  or  not  the  experience  of  an  

inner  call  was  also  thought  to  be  normative,  as  was  so  strongly  suggested  in  the  writings  of  

Dirk  Phillips,  is  not  altogether  clear.  Nonetheless,  what  is  clear  is  that  God’s  call  was  to  be  

mediated  through  God’s  people,  the  church.  

 

Mennonite  Brethren  Origins  

  A  strong  belief  in  the  priesthood  of  all  believers  was  one  of  the  issues  that  lay  behind  

the  founding  of  the  Mennonite  Brethren  Church.  According  to  Hans  Kasdorf:  

The  genesis  of  the  Anabaptists  and  the  Mennonite  Brethren  is  deeply  rooted  in  the  spirit  of  the  priesthood  of  all  believers,  the  equality  of  all  saints  with  their  diversity  of  spiritual  gifts.  The  Brethren  of  1860  also  broke  away  from  a  structured  authoritarian  hierarchy  in  which  an  elite  class  of  clergy  was  in  charge  of  all  administrative  and  ceremonial  functions  pertaining  to  the  work  of  the  Church.  The  Brethren  could  not  reconcile  the  existing  structures  with  their  understanding  of  the  New  Testament  Church  and  were  looking  for  a  form  in  which  all  members  would  be  allowed  freedom  and  spontaneity  of  worship  and  participation  in  service  and  ministry.  What  they  looked  for  was  a  Spirit-­‐directed  Brotherhood  that  would  express  itself  in  a  gift-­‐oriented  rather  than  status-­‐oriented  community.85  

   Within  this  context,  the  question  of  how  ministers  ought  to  be  called  was  of  

sufficient  importance  that  it  was  one  of  several  issues  addressed  in  the  1860  Mennonite  

                                                                                                                         85  Hans  Kasdorf,  “Reflections  on  the  Church  Concept  of  the  Mennonite  Brethren,”  Direction  Journal  4,  no.  3  (July  1975),  under  “The  Principle  of  a  Lay  Ministry  vs.  an  Elite  Ministry,”  http://www.directionjournal.org/  4/3/reflections-­‐on-­‐church-­‐concept-­‐of.html  (accessed  January  17,  2015).  

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Brethren  Document  of  Secession,  a  letter  addressed  to  the  Molotschna  Mennonite  Church  

by  eighteen  men  who  sought  to  dissociate  themselves  from  its  membership.  Following  the  

writings  of  Menno  Simons,  the  document  affirmed  that  “ministers  may  be  called  in  two  

Scriptural  ways:  Some  are  chosen  by  God  alone,  without  human  assistance,  and  sent  out  by  

His  Spirit,  as  were  the  prophets  and  apostles,  and  also  the  house  of  Stephen  was  self-­‐

appointed  to  the  ministry  of  the  saints…Others  are  called  through  the  instrumentality  of  

true  believers,  as  recorded  in  Acts  1.”86  Thus,  according  to  the  first  Mennonite  Brethren,  

ministers  were  to  be  identified  not  simply  by  their  association  with  a  particular  social  

group  in  the  community,  but  through  a  careful  process  of  discerning  those  whom  God  was  

calling,  according  to  the  teachings  of  Scripture.  

  By  the  time  the  first  official  Mennonite  Brethren  Confession  of  Faith  was  written  in  

1902,  the  tone  had  shifted  to  place  more  emphasis  upon  the  role  of  the  church  in  

commissioning  ministers  or  servants  of  the  word,  as  well  as  deacons  for  service  within  the  

congregation.  Thus,  the  confession  stated,  “The  commission  to  such  office  (service)  is  

accomplished  according  to  the  method  of  the  apostolic  church  through  the  servants  of  the  

Church,  who  in  fervent  prayer  call  upon  the  name  of  God,  fully  trusting  that  Christ,  as  head  

of  the  church,  through  His  Holy  Spirit  will  reveal  those  who  shall  be  useful  in  service.”87  It  

did  retain  some  emphasis  upon  the  inner  call,  citing  Menno  Simons:  “Some  without  the  aid  

of  men  are  called  out  by  the  Lord  and  sent  by  His  Spirit…”88  This  was  noted  in  a  footnote  to  

the  article,  rather  than  in  the  text  of  the  article  itself.  

                                                                                                                         86  Mennonite  Brethren  Church,  “Document  of  Secession  (Mennonite  Brethren  Church,  1860),”  Global  Anabaptist  Mennonite  Encyclopedia  Online,  http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Document_of_Secession_  (Mennonite_Brethren_Church,_1860)  (accessed  January  17,  2015).            87  Howard  John  Loewen,  One  Lord,  One  Church,  One  Hope,  and  One  God:  Mennonite  Confessions  of  Faith  in  North  America:  an  Introduction  (Elkhart,  IN:  Institute  of  Mennonite  Studies,  1985),  167.            88  Ibid.  

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The  subsequent  1975  Mennonite  Brethren  Confession  of  Faith  stated,  “Some  

members  of  the  church  have  received  special  gifts  for  leadership,  pastoral,  preaching,  

teaching,  evangelistic,  diaconal  ministries.  The  church  prayerfully  recognizes  these  gifts  

and  calls  these  persons…A  congregation,  under  the  Holy  Spirit’s  guidance,  may  commission  

or  ordain  such  servants.”89  While  emphasizing  the  role  of  the  church  as  a  calling  body,  the  

1975  Confession  also  focused  less  on  the  office  of  the  pastor  in  particular,  instead  locating  

leadership  ministries  in  the  context  of  the  gifts  given  to  the  larger  congregation,  so  that  

“each  member  lovingly  ministers  to  the  other  until  all  are  built  up  to  the  maturity  of  

Christ.”90  

   

Contemporary  Mennonite  Brethren  Conversations  About  Calling  

Among  North  American  Mennonite  Brethren,  there  has  been  a  significant  amount  of  

conversation  about  the  call  to  ministry  at  study  conferences  and  in  denominational  

publications  in  recent  decades.  Beginning  with  study  conferences  in  the  late  1950s,  

mention  was  made  in  study  conference  papers  of  the  challenges  facing  the  church  as  

salaried  pastors  became  increasingly  common.  With  the  emergence  of  salaried  pastors,  

Mennonite  Brethren  who  had  long  held  an  antihierarchical  emphasis  that  encouraged  lay  

participation  in  ministry  faced  questions  about  whether  salaried  ministry  fit  within  its  

conception  of  church,  and,  if  so,  how  such  ministers  ought  to  relate  to  existing  lay  ministers.  

Thus,  for  example,  Waldo  Hiebert  wrote  the  following  in  a  paper  for  the  July  1958  study  

conference:    

                                                                                                                         89  Ibid.,  177.            90  Ibid.,  176-­‐77.  

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Since  our  Mennonite  Brethren  Churches  are  now  going  into  the  pastoral  system  of  Church  leadership  we  need  to  sound  a  note  of  caution.  Too  readily  the  minister  is  considered  purely  a  professional  leader,  rather  than  a  servant  of  the  congregation  leading  others  into  service  (Eph.  4:11-­‐12).  Too  readily  the  minister  is  expected  to  do  the  work  while  fewer  and  fewer  laymen  are  drawn  into  participation  of  church  work  as  well  as  into  the  teaching  and  preaching  ministry.91    

    The  1970  study  conference  once  again  noted  the  steady  growth  in  a  single,  salaried,  

professionally-­‐trained  model  of  pastoral  leadership  in  both  Canada  and  the  United  States,  

which  had  essentially  replaced  the  multiple  lay  ministry  of  previous  decades.  This  led  to  a  

concern  that  the  local  congregation  no  longer  felt  the  responsibility  for  identifying  and  

calling  individuals  to  preaching  and  pastoral  roles  within  the  church.  Hiebert  argued  that  as  

churches  began  looking  outside  of  themselves  for  pastoral  leaders,  this  resulted  in  a  

shortage  of  Mennonite  Brethren  leaders  entering  into  ministry,  in  part  due  to  confusion  

about  the  call  to  ministry.  According  to  Hiebert,  “As  is  vividly  portrayed  in  Acts  13:1-­‐3,  

these  special  functionaries  received  an  inner  and  an  outer  call.  The  inner  call  through  the  

Holy  Spirit  upon  the  individual  conscience,  and  the  outer  call  by  the  church  substantiating  

the  personal  call.  It  is  incumbent  upon  volunteers  and  church  alike  to  articulate  and  

identify  the  divine  call  to  special  ministries.”92  He  concluded,  “It  is  not  important  to  argue  

as  to  which  is,  or  which  comes  first,  the  inner  call,  or  the  tap  on  the  shoulder.  But  it  is  

                                                                                                                         91  Waldo  D.  Hiebert,  “The  Scriptural  Definition  of  the  Nature  of  the  Church,”  6,  in  the  Centre  for  Mennonite  Brethren  Studies  Study  Conference  Papers  1956-­‐Present  Digital  Collection,  http://s3.amazonaws.com/cmbs.mbconf.ca/Theology/Study%20Conference%20Papers/1958%20-­‐%20Jul.%2012-­‐16%20-­‐%20The%20Scriptural%20Definition%20of%20the%20Nature%20of%20the%  20Church%20-­‐%20Waldo%20D.%20Hiebert.PDF  (accessed  January  17,  2015).            92  Waldo  D.  Hiebert,  “Recruitment  of  Servants  in  the  Church,”  10,  in  the  Centre  for  Mennonite  Brethren  Studies  Study  Conference  Papers  1956-­‐Present  Digital  Collection,  http://s3.amazonaws.com/  cmbs.mbconf.ca/Theology/Study%20Conference%20Papers/1970%20-­‐%20March%205-­‐6%20-­‐%20Recruitment%20of%20Servants%20in%20the%20Church%20-­‐%20Waldo%20D.%20Hiebert%  20Reduced.pdf  (accessed  January  17,  2015).  

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significant  to  note  that  God  works  through  His  church  in  providing  workers  and  leaders.  

The  inner  call  needs  the  substantiation  encouragement  and  support  of  the  local  church.”93  

  At  the  same  1970  study  conference,  Orlando  Wiebe  wrote  a  paper  concerning  how  

servants  within  the  church  receive  authorization  for  their  ministries.  Wiebe  wrote:  

It  appears  clearly  that  the  commissioning  of  certain  men  calls  for  the  following  necessary  ingredients:  a  saving  faith  on  the  part  of  the  servant;  a  quality  of  life,  belief,  and  ability,  and  fullness  of  the  Spirit  as  indispensable  for  the  task  to  be  performed;  a  selection  of  such  a  man  by  some  approved  and  visible  method;  the  designation  of  the  man,  and  the  authorization  for  a  specific  task  to  be  performed  in  a  given  area;  the  prayer  for  and  upon  such  a  man  in  all  seriousness  (fasting),  with  a  commending  of  him  to  the  Lord.94    

Wiebe  therefore  argued  that  ordination  was  the  appropriate  practice  whereby  the  church  

could  officially  recognize  and  authorize  individuals  for  the  teaching  and  preaching  

ministries.  For  Wiebe,  ordination  “seals  the  internal  call  of  the  candidate  from  God  to  the  

ministry…Furthermore,  the  external  call  of  the  church  to  the  man  is  sealed.  No  man  can  

take  a  ministry  to  himself.  It  is  a  public  ratification  of  the  call  and  the  election.  Only  when  

there  is  a  basic  conviction  in  the  hearts  of  both  church  and  candidate,  shall  the  rite  of  

ordination  be  performed.”95  The  General  Conference  of  Mennonite  Brethren  Churches  

responded  to  such  conversations  about  the  need  for  a  renewed  emphasis  upon  the  church’s  

role  in  identifying,  calling,  and  affirming  pastoral  leaders  with  a  resolution  in  1972  

recommending  “that  local  churches  seek  earnestly  the  gifts  of  ministry  in  their  own  ranks,  

                                                                                                                         93  Ibid.,  12.            94  Orlando  H.  Wiebe,  “The  Commissioning  of  Servants  in  the  Church,”  8-­‐9,  in  the  Centre  for  Mennonite  Brethren  Studies  Study  Conference  Papers  1956-­‐Present  Digital  Collection.  http://s3.amazonaws.com/  cmbs.mbconf.ca/Theology/Study%20Conference%20Papers/1970%20-­‐%20March%205-­‐6%20-­‐%20  The%20Comissioning%20of%20Servants%20in%20the%20Church%20-­‐%20Orlando%20H.%20Wiebe  %20Reduced.pdf  (accessed  January  17,  2015).            95  Ibid.,  16.  

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encourage  persons  possessing  the  gifts  and  offer  support  and  assistance  in  their  further  

training  and  development.”96  

  Throughout  the  1970s  and  1980s,  there  was  a  significant  amount  of  discussion  

among  Mennonite  Brethren  regarding  the  nature  of  pastoral  leadership  and  of  the  church,  

and  regarding  the  call  of  leaders  for  pastoral  ministry,  much  of  which  reflected  an  attempt  

to  understand  and  respond  to  the  transition  to  a  new  model  of  paid  pastoral  ministry  in  

Mennonite  Brethren  congregations  and  to  the  shortages  of  individuals  entering  vocational  

ministry  during  this  era.  In  1976,  Dr.  John  Regehr  articulated  this  key  question:  “Does  God  

call  some  persons  to  a  professional  administrative  pastoral  role  and  expect  them  to  move  

from  place  to  place  exercising  it?”97  

  In  response,  there  was  a  renewed  attempt  to  define  the  call  to  ministry  and  to  

articulate  how  internal  and  external  elements  to  such  a  call  ought  to  relate  to  one  another.  

Regehr  argued,  “We  must  again  come  to  see  the  call  to  the  ministry  as  a  call  to  function  

with  a  particular  gift  in  the  Christian  group  in  which  that  gift  is  recognized  and  the  service  

required.  Few  persons  who  are  committed  to  Christ  will  resist  a  call  when  they  feel  that  the  

call  is  fitting  their  specific  gifts  to  an  immediate  recognizable  need.”98  Regehr  clearly  

identified  both  internal  and  external  dimensions  to  the  call,  and  argued  that  the  church’s  

external  call  must  confirm  the  individual’s  internal  call  in  order  for  a  call  to  ministry  to  be  

truly  valid:  “It  is  in  the  congregation  that  a  person’s  gifts  for  public  instruction,  

                                                                                                                         96  A.E.  Janzen  and  Herbert  Giesbrecht,  eds.,  We  Recommend…Recommendations  and  Resolutions  of  the  General  Conference  of  Mennonite  Brethren  Churches  (Hillsboro,  KS:  Mennonite  Brethren  Publishing  House,  1978),  296.              97  John  Regehr,  “The  Call  to  the  Ministry,”  2,  in  the  Centre  for  Mennonite  Brethren  Studies  Study  Conference  Papers  1956-­‐Present  Digital  Collection,  http://s3.amazonaws.com/cmbs.mbconf.ca/Theology/  Study%20Conference%20Papers/1976%20-­‐%20July%203-­‐6%20The%20Call%20to%20the%20  Ministry_John%20Regehr.pdf  (accessed  January  17,  2015).            98  Ibid.,  11-­‐12.  

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proclamation  and/or  shepherding  are  validated.  The  hearer  must  affirm  that  God  is  getting  

his  work  done  when  the  brother  preaches.  Where  such  validation  occurs,  the  person  will  be  

affirmed  by  the  correspondence  between  the  inner  urging  and  the  church’s  reflection,  and  

he  will  not  find  it  difficult  to  follow  the  call  further  to  new  areas  or  to  full-­‐time  ministry.”99  

John  E.  Toews  echoed  this  understanding  of  the  call  to  ministry:  “The  call  to  leadership  is  

the  call  of  Jesus  that  is  legitimated  by  the  church…  The  authority  of  the  charisma  (the  gift)  

of  the  call  of  God  without  the  legitimization  of  the  call  of  the  church  fractures  what  for  the  

early  church  was  a  whole.  Because  the  source  of  the  power  for  the  authority  to  lead  is  the  

presence  of  Christ  in  the  church,  every  call  to  lead  must  be  legitimated  by  the  church.”100  

Others,  including  V.  Adrian,  recognized  the  potential  for  the  inner  call  of  the  Spirit  and  the  

church’s  legitimation  of  such  a  call  to  lack  immediate  correspondence  with  one  another,  but  

nonetheless  argued  that  the  two  must  work  in  concert:  “It  is  possible,  and  likely,  that  a  

personal  call  to  the  ministry  may  exist  long  before  the  church  recognizes  it.  If  one  continues  

in  faithfulness  in  one’s  life  and  in  whatever  opportunities  of  ministry  the  Word  may  open  

up  before  us,  the  church  will  in  due  time  acknowledge  God’s  grace  to  us.”101  

  In  the  1980s,  the  call  to  ministry  once  again  received  renewed  attention  among  

Mennonite  Brethren  with  the  emergence  of  the  question  of  how  churches  ought  to  respond  

to  women  who  reported  having  a  call  to  ministry.  Whereas  in  previous  papers  the  call  of  

                                                                                                                         99  Ibid.,  15.            100  John  E.  Toews,  “Leadership  Styles  for  Mennonite  Brethren  Churches,”  15,  in  the  Centre  for  Mennonite  Brethren  Studies  Study  Conference  Papers  1956-­‐Present  Digital  Collection,  http://s3.amazonaws.com/  cmbs.mbconf.ca/Theology/Study%20Conference%20Papers/1980%20-­‐%20May%208-­‐10%20-­‐%20  Leadership%20Styles%20for%20Mennonite%20Brethren%20Churches%20by%20John%20E.%20Toews.  pdf  (accessed  January  17,  2015).            101  V.  Adrian,  “The  Call  and  Ordination  to  the  Ministry,”  10,  in  the  Centre  for  Mennonite  Brethren  Studies  Study  Conference  Papers  1956-­‐Present  Digital  Collection,  http://s3.amazonaws.com/cmbs.mbconf.ca/  Theology/Study%20Conference%20Papers/1980%20-­‐%20May%208-­‐10%20-­‐%20The%20Call%20  and%20Ordination%20to%20the%20Ministry%20by%20V.%20Adrian.pdf  (accessed  January  17,  2015).  

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individuals  to  the  ministry  had  been  closely  associated  with  the  practice  of  ordination  as  an  

affirmation  and  a  commissioning  of  those  who  had  received  such  a  call,  Kopp  proposed  that  

“if  we  can  unwind  the  idea  that  the  laying  on  of  hands  is  to  establish  a  clergy  for  the  church,  

and  retrain  ourselves  to  think  it  to  be  a  way  of  blessing  persons  for  ministry,  then  we  can  

accept  and  bless  gifted  persons  on  the  merit  of  their  giftedness  and  integrity,  and  not  on  the  

basis  of  gender.”102  Ron  Penner,  too,  wrote  of  the  challenge  of  responding  to  women  who  

reported  a  call  to  ministry,  stating,  “It  strikes  me  that  one  of  the  direct  implications  for  our  

churches  is  to  open  our  hearts  and  associate  staff  positions  to  our  sisters.  Or,  will  our  

sisters  have  to  go  to  other  denominations  to  exercise  their  gifts  and  ministries?  That  stands  

before  us  as  a  direct  and  immediate  challenge  in  the  decades  ahead.”103    

  Without  question,  increasing  numbers  of  women  had  been  reporting  calls  to  

ministry  of  various  kinds.  In  previous  decades,  such  inner  calls  had  been  weighed  by  the  

congregation  in  part  on  the  basis  of  the  fruits  of  a  person’s  ministry.  However,  in  the  case  of  

women,  the  primary  question  was  not  one  of  giftedness  or  of  need,  but  of  biblical  

interpretation  of  the  texts  that  apparently  restrict  women’s  roles  within  the  church.  As  Tim  

Geddert  wrote,  “And  in  the  midst  of  all  the  ‘exegesis’  and  the  ‘hermeneutics,’  women  are  

being  called  into  leadership  roles.  Many  doubt  that  they  have  a  right  to  be  there.  But  many  

others  rejoice  that  finally  the  church  has  recognized  their  giftedness  and  calling.  Hardly  

anyone  doubts  that  where  they  minister,  they  frequently  do  so  with  great  effectiveness.”104  

                                                                                                                         102  Ibid.,  74.            103  Ron  Penner,  “Response  to  ‘A  Serving  People’,”  2,  in  the  Centre  for  Mennonite  Brethren  Studies  Study  Conference  Papers  1956-­‐Present  Digital  Collection,  http://s3.amazonaws.com/cmbs.mbconf.ca/Theology/  Study%20Conference%20Papers/1986%20-­‐%20Oct.%2015-­‐17%20-­‐%20Response%20to%20A%20Serving  %20People%20-­‐%20Ron%20Penner.PDF  (accessed  January  17,  2015).            104  Timothy  Geddert,  “The  Ministry  of  Women:  A  Proposal  for  MBs,”  11,  in  the  Centre  for  Mennonite  Brethren  Studies  Study  Conference  Papers  1956-­‐Present  Digital  Collection,  http://s3.amazonaws.com/  

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Thus,  emerging  questions  related  to  women  in  ministry  leadership  raised  a  new  set  of  

challenges  for  Mennonite  Brethren  in  their  efforts  to  understand  God’s  call,  as  well  as  the  

role  the  practice  of  ordination  for  ministry  ought  to  play  in  dedicating  leaders  for  ministry  

within  the  church.    

  In  recent  decades,  the  role  of  ordination  in  the  calling  of  pastoral  leaders  has  

continued  to  emerge  periodically  as  an  ongoing  theological  question.  In  1994,  Tim  Geddert  

noted,  “If  we  could  move  closer  together  in  our  understanding  of  church  leadership—if  we  

could  agree  on  the  best  ways  to  discern,  select  and  affirm  leaders  and  then  hold  them  

accountable  while  still  allowing  them  to  lead—then  we  will  have  made  progress  on  issues  

much  more  central  and  important  than  narrowly  focusing  on  whether  we  should  put  a  

green  light,  a  red  light,  or  an  amber  light  in  front  of  the  question  of  ordination.”105  His  

conclusions  about  ordination  suggest  that  questions  about  the  place  of  the  practice  of  

ordination  in  the  church  are  directly  related  to  ongoing  questions  about  the  nature  of  the  

call  to  ministry:  “If  we  are  going  to  ordain,  let  us  be  clear  that  a  call  from  the  church  into  

leadership  ministry  is  at  least  as  valid  and  trustworthy  as  the  sensed  internal  call  on  the  

part  of  the  one  to  be  ordained.”106  Ten  years  later,  in  2014,  the  Canadian  Conference  of  

Mennonite  Brethren  Churches  Board  of  Faith  and  Life  report  cited  ordination  as  a  “new  and  

lively  topic,”  calling  ordination  “a  reminder  that  discernment  of  calling  takes  place  in  a  

larger  context  than  simply  the  congregation  itself.”107    

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     cmbs.mbconf.ca/Theology/Study%20Conference%20Papers/1989%20-­‐%20Aug%202-­‐4%20-­‐%20  TheMinistryofWomen-­‐AProposalforM.B.%27s-­‐TimothyGeddert.PDF  (accessed  January  17,  2015).            105  Tim  Geddert,  “Ordination,”  3,  in  the  Centre  for  Mennonite  Brethren  Studies  Study  Conference  Papers  1956-­‐Present  Digital  Collection,  http://s3.amazonaws.com/cmbs.mbconf.ca/Theology/Study%20  Conference%20Papers/1994%20-­‐%20Apr%207-­‐9%20-­‐%20Ordination-­‐TimGeddert%20Reduced.pdf  (accessed  January  17,  2015).            106  Ibid.,  16.            107  Karla  Braun,  “Board  of  Faith  and  Life  Report,”  MB  Herald,  December  2014,  17.  

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  Contemporary  conversations  about  the  call  to  ministry  among  Mennonite  Brethren  

led  to  the  creation  of  the  Ministry  Quest  program  in  2003,  under  the  banner  of  a  set  of  

programs  called  “Hearing  the  Call,”  which  were  intended  to  encourage  youth  to  consider  

vocational  ministry.  Initially  developed  at  Mennonite  Brethren  Biblical  Seminary  in  Fresno,  

with  different  Mennonite  Brethren  schools  in  Canada  and  the  United  States  continuing  to  

host  versions  of  this  program,  Ministry  Quest  sought  to  encourage  local  congregations  to  

identify  youth  who  had  gifts  for  leadership  and  ministry  and  to  provide  them  with  

opportunities  to  intentionally  explore  and  develop  these  gifts.  The  program  was  in  part  a  

response  to  concerns  that  the  individualism  that  predominates  in  North  American  culture  

had  led  churches  to  become  increasingly  uncomfortable  with  their  role  in  identifying  and  

calling  pastors  and  church  leaders,  allowing  discernment  of  a  call  to  ministry  to  become  an  

increasingly  individual  matter.  John  Neufeld,  one  of  the  program’s  directors,  described  the  

program’s  goals  this  way:  

A  call  to  vocational  ministry  has  three  elements  which  complement  each  other:  an  individual’s  inner  call/divine  awareness;  the  call  as  discovered  through  spiritual  gifts,  skills,  and  aptitudes;  and  the  call  of  a  faith  community.  While  there  may  be  exceptions  to  this  three-­‐fold  pattern,  Hearing  the  Call  initiatives  affirm  and  seek  to  strengthen  opportunities  for  participating  churches  to  engage  in  such  leadership  gift  discernment.  Youth  are  given  the  opportunity  to  explore  ministry  as  a  vocational  choice,  and  thus  to  become  sensitive  to  the  various  general  and  specific  calls/claims  God  has  made  on  their  lives.108    

  Another  example  of  a  recent  attempt  among  Mennonite  Brethren  to  create  

programs  that  support  individuals  in  discerning  a  call  to  ministry  can  be  seen  in  the  C2C  

Network  Canada,  a  national,  interdenominational  church  planting  network  that  has  its  

roots  in  the  Canadian  Conference  of  Mennonite  Brethren  Churches.  The  C2C  Network's  

                                                                                                                         108  John  Neufeld,  “Rediscovering  the  Calling  and  Sending  Church,”  Direction:  A  Mennonite  Brethren  Forum  32,  no.  2  (Fall  2003):  197.    

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assessment  centre  evaluates  potential  leaders  to  identify  those  who  meet  the  profile  of  a  

church  planter.  According  to  the  C2C  website,  “The  key  to  successful  church  planting  is  

identifying  the  right  person,  called  of  God,  with  the  right  gifts,  the  right  heart,  in  the  right  

place,  and  at  the  right  time.”109  Individuals  who  are  interested  in  becoming  church  planters  

are  invited  to  attend  an  assessment  centre,  which  is  “an  intense  four  days  that  uses  a  

variety  of  inventories,  activities,  and  evaluations  to  help  you  identify  your  call.”110  This  

approach  to  discerning  God’s  call,  while  it  echoes  earlier  concerns  to  identify  church  

leaders  who  are  genuinely  called  of  God,  uses  more  pragmatic  language  and  points  toward  

contemporary  leadership  tools,  and  is  significantly  removed  from  the  context  of  a  local  

congregation  as  the  primary  body  which  has  responsibility  for  helping  individuals  to  

discern  and  evaluate  God’s  call  to  ministry.    

 

Summary  

  The  church  has  used  language  of  calling  and  call  stories  throughout  its  history.  In  

different  eras  of  church  history,  this  language  has  carried  different  meanings  and  has  been  

associated  with  different  questions  about  the  nature  of  Christian  ministry  and  church  

leadership.  In  the  early  Church,  calling  was  understood  universally—every  Christian  was  

called  to  a  life  of  discipleship  as  a  follower  of  Christ.  As  the  church  grew  in  power,  language  

of  vocation  and  calling  was  increasingly  associated  with  the  particular  vocations  of  priests,  

monks,  and  nuns.  Then,  during  the  reformations  of  the  sixteenth  century,  with  a  renewed  

emphasis  on  the  priesthood  of  all  believers,  an  emphasis  emerged  focusing  on  the  role  of  

                                                                                                                         109  C2C  Network  Canada,  “C2C  Network  Assessment  Centre,”  https://www.c2cnetwork.ca/c2c-­‐assessment-­‐centre/  (accessed  January  14,  2015).            110  Ibid.  

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the  local  church  in  identifying  and  calling  individuals  for  leadership  roles  within  the  

church.  Identifying  those  who  were  called  to  ministry  became  a  means  of  separating  true  

teachers  from  false  ones  and  of  discerning  those  who  ought  to  be  set  aside  for  teaching  and  

leadership  roles  within  the  church.    

  Among  the  Mennonite  Brethren,  the  nature  of  the  call  to  ministry  has  been  a  subject  

of  conversation  since  the  origins  of  the  denomination,  and  discussions  about  the  call  to  

ministry  have  arisen  each  time  questions  emerged  about  the  nature  of  the  church  and  of  

church  leadership.  Thus,  with  the  professionalization  of  ministry,  with  recent  

conversations  about  women’s  roles  in  ministry  leadership,  and  with  discussions  about  

whether  or  not  the  church  ought  to  ordain  its  leaders,  the  call  to  ministry  has  emerged  as  a  

critical  component  of  these  conversations.  Most  recently,  various  programs  have  developed  

which  have  attempted  to  assist  individuals  and  churches  in  identifying  those  who  have  

been  called  to  ministry.    

  Having  examined  the  various  narratives  that  have  shaped  the  Mennonite  Brethren  

understanding  of  a  call  to  ministry,  we  now  turn  our  attention  to  the  stories  of  Mennonite  

Brethren  women  who  have  experienced  a  call  to  ministry.  Giving  careful  attention  to  these  

women’s  own  descriptions  of  how  they  have  discerned  a  call  to  ministry  will  add  depth  to  

this  examination  of  the  call  to  ministry  in  its  contemporary  context  among  Mennonite  

Brethren.  

   

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CHAPTER  FOUR  

THE  CALL  TO  MINISTRY:  HEARING  WOMEN’S  STORIES  

 

  Six  women  agreed  to  be  interviewed  about  how  they  had  discerned  their  call  to  

ministry,  and  about  how  they  have  lived  into  that  call.  Each  one  of  their  call  stories  is  

unique;  each  reflecting  their  diverse  backgrounds  and  personalities.  Each  woman  spoke  

readily  about  how  she  had  discerned  God’s  leading  in  her  life,  and  each  was  passionate  

about  the  church  and  about  the  work  that  she  has  been  called  to  do.  And  yet,  even  though  

like  snowflakes  each  of  the  call  stories  shared  by  these  women  was  uniquely  her  own,  

several  common  themes  emerged.  This  chapter  seeks  to  share  the  women’s  stories  in  their  

own  words  while  drawing  out  some  of  the  common  themes  that  surfaced  out  of  their  

experiences.  

 

The  Call  to  Ministry  is  Discerned  Within  the  Church  

Traditionally,  as  has  already  been  demonstrated,  a  call  to  ministry  within  the  

Mennonite  Brethren  tradition  has  been  described  as  having  two  components:  an  inner  

sense  of  call  on  the  part  of  the  individual,  which  is  confirmed  by  the  external  affirmation  of  

that  call  by  the  church  body.  The  stories  the  women  shared  about  their  own  calls  identified  

strong  elements  that  related  to  both  their  internal  experience  of  God’s  call  and  the  external  

influence  of  the  church.  

  In  listening  to  these  women  speak  about  the  role  that  the  church  played  in  their  

discernment  of  a  call  to  ministry,  it  very  clearly  emerged  that,  across  the  board,  the  

provision  of  opportunities  to  lead  within  the  church  was  instrumental  in  their  recognition  

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that  pastoral  ministry  was  a  possibility  for  them.  Andrea  spoke  about  “not  really  realizing  I  

had  much  leadership  potential  until  the  year  before  I  started  volunteering  in  the  youth  

ministry,  and  then  it  was  a  quick  transition  once  I  was  involved  in  the  youth  ministry  to  

being  asked  to  step  into  some  leadership,  volunteer  responsibilities  that  involved  a  lot  of  

trust  and  a  lot  of  leadership  and  exercised  different  gifts  and  grew  them  in  me.”  Faith’s  

congregation  created  a  pastoral  internship  in  an  area  of  ministry  in  which  she  had  already  

been  volunteering.  She  was  encouraged  to  apply  in  part  because  she  had  already  had  this  

experience.    

  Dayna  started  working  in  a  congregation  in  a  ministry  coordinator  role;  she  was  

hired  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  many  in  that  congregation  did  not  believe  that  women  should  

be  pastors.  Yet,  once  she  had  been  hired,  “they  kept  asking  me  to  do  stuff”  such  as  speaking  

during  the  sermon  time  on  a  Sunday  morning.  Being  given  opportunities  like  this  was  

significant  not  only  for  Dayna,  but  for  her  congregation  as  well:  “It  was  just  the  evolution  of  

being  there  and  getting  to  try  things,  and  going,  ‘Oh,  this  fits.’  And  then  having  people  go,  

‘Oh,  that  fits…Which  makes  no  sense  to  us.’”      

  Like  Dayna’s  congregation,  many  Mennonite  Brethren  congregations  are  still  

wrestling  with  what  roles  to  allow  women  to  take  on.  While  the  2006  recommendation  

passed  by  the  Canadian  Conference  of  Mennonite  Brethren  Churches  frees  congregations  to  

call  and  affirm  women  for  leadership  at  all  levels,  it  also  blesses  member  congregations  to  

discern  how  to  respond  to  questions  regarding  women  in  ministry  leadership  based  upon  

their  own  particular  ministry  contexts  and  their  own  discernment  of  Scripture.  One  

Mennonite  Brethren  woman  commented  that  “while  women’s  participation  goes  on  a-­‐pace  

in  some  congregations,  the  ethos  of  the  Mennonite  Brethren  denomination  as  such  has  not  

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changed  to  reflect  that  decision—or  ‘the  spirit,  the  direction’  it  represented,  as  one  man  

who  worked  hard  on  that  process  put  it  to  me  recently.  Perhaps  it’s  even  regressed.”111  

This  means  that  for  many  women  the  affirmation  they  receive  from  their  congregations  

comes  with  mixed  messages  that  they  must  decide  how  to  handle.  Dayna  reported  that  

after  she  would  preach,  a  common  response  was  “somebody  vigorously  shaking  my  hand,  

like  they  were  quite  upset,  but  more  like  confused  upset,  and  saying,  ‘I  don’t  believe  in  

women  preachers,  but  that  was  preaching!’”  At  the  same  time,  others  would  respond,  

“Finally!  We’ve  been  waiting  for  women  in  ministry  our  whole  life.”    

  For  other  women,  mixed  messages  in  the  affirmation  they  received  from  the  church  

came  in  the  form  of  the  types  of  roles  they  were  encouraged  to  consider.  Carrie  has  often  

been  asked  if  she  would  serve  in  the  area  of  children’s  ministry,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  she  

reports  she  is  neither  gifted  nor  excited  about  serving  in  that  area.  Faith  was  asked  to  serve  

on  a  provincial  church  board,  to  which  she  initially  responded  with  excitement  until  they  

invited  her  to  take  on  the  role  of  secretary  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  she  couldn’t  type  and  had  

previously  held  secretary  positions  on  boards  with  little  success.  She  ended  up  declining,  

and  reflected,  “So,  you  know,  it  always  seemed  that  there  was  a  bit  of  hitch  to  things.”  

Gender  stereotypes  are  often  reflected  in  the  ministry  opportunities  that  are  made  

available  to  women;  congregations  do  not  always  imagine  women  serving  in  roles  outside  

of  those  more  traditionally  held  by  women.    

  Nonetheless,  the  community’s  affirmation  of  the  call  to  ministry  is  something  that  all  

of  the  women  described  as  being  critical  for  them.  In  some  cases,  this  affirmation  came  

from  the  congregation  itself.  In  other  cases,  it  came  from  trusted  friends  or  family                                                                                                                            111  Dora  Dueck,  “Speaking  of  Women…,”  Borrowing  Bones  Blog,  entry  posted  June  28,  2012,  http://doradueck.wordpress.com/2012/06/28/speaking-­‐of-­‐women/  (accessed  January  28,  2015).  

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members.  Regardless  of  its  source,  the  affirmation  was  important.  Carrie  reflected,  “I  don’t  

want  to  be  one  of  those  people  whom  everyone  else  is  saying,  ‘Oh,  she  thinks  she’s  called  to  

ministry,  but  really…’  So  really,  the  only  way  I’ve  gotten  through  that  is  because  I’ve  had  so  

much  affirmation.”  Andrea  noted  that  during  a  critical  moment  of  conflict  early  in  her  

pastoral  ministry,  “I  was  carried  by  people,  I  was  carried  by  affirmation.”  Similarly,  Faith  

stated,  “I  don’t  have  a  whole  lot  of  inner  self-­‐confidence  and  drive  that  push  me  to  do  

things,  but  I  do  listen  to  what  other  people  say.  I  think  that’s  where  the  goodness  of  God  is,  

in  putting  people  in  place  who  would  say  the  things  that  resonated,  that  gave  me  the  

courage  to  give  it  a  whirl.”  Brenda,  too,  noted,  “I  think  the  call  to  ministry  sort  of  has  that  

beginning  piece  of  being  encouraged,  or  having  said,  ‘Brenda,  you  should  do  this.’…And  me  

saying,  sort  of,  ‘Yeah,  you’re  right.’”  In  some  way,  external  affirmation  by  others  of  their  call  

and  their  gifts  has  been  a  significant  part  of  each  of  the  women’s  stories.  For  some  women,  

this  affirmation  has  come  more  readily  than  for  others.  

 

The  Internal  Experience  of  God’s  Call  

  While  Mennonite  Brethren  theology  has  at  times  emphasized  the  role  of  the  external  

call  of  the  church  and  has  sometimes  treated  the  individual’s  inner  experience  of  call  as  

secondary,  for  the  women  interviewed  the  internal  experience  of  God’s  call  has  played  a  

strong  and  often  initiating  role  in  their  call  stories.  Perhaps  this  is  not  surprising,  in  light  of  

the  fact  that  it  is  only  in  recent  years  that  the  Canadian  Conference  of  Mennonite  Brethren  

Churches  has  freed  congregations  to  bless  and  affirm  women  for  all  pastoral  roles.  If  

anything,  the  stories  of  the  women  who  were  interviewed  for  this  study  affirm  the  

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significance  of  the  internal  dimension  of  the  call,  which  was  often  experienced  as  an  

encounter  with  God  and  became  a  significant  milestone  in  the  individual’s  life.  

  Ellen  described  the  inner  experience  of  God’s  call  to  ministry  as  “a  sense  of  not  

dragging  your  feet  and  ‘I  have  to  do  this  because  I’m  being  punished,’  but  ‘something  comes  

alive  inside  of  me  when  I  do  this.’”  She  used  an  analogy  from  the  movie  Chariots  of  Fire,  in  

which  Olympic  athlete  Eric  Liddell  states,  “When  I  run,  I  feel  God’s  pleasure.”  So,  Ellen  said,  

“What  is  that…  ‘When  I  (blank)  I  feel  God’s  pleasure’?  What  is  that  for  you?  That’s  listening  

to  the  inner  sense  of  call.”  

  For  some  of  the  women,  “feeling  God’s  pleasure”  came  in  the  form  of  a  deep  love  for  

the  work  that  they  do.  Both  Brenda  and  Faith  described  finding  a  new  energy  in  pastoral  

ministry.  Brenda  described  her  first  year  of  work  as  a  pastor  as  being  “exhilarating,”  saying,  

“It  was  just  like  this  huge,  fresh  air,  invigorating  kind  of  time,  right?  I  just,  you  know,  felt  

this  was  so  fun.  It  was  exciting.”  Faith  also  talked  about  the  early  days  of  working  as  a  

pastor:  “In  those  first  months  I  could  hardly  stay  in  bed  in  the  morning.  I  was  way  too  early  

to  work  every  day.  I  couldn’t  wait  to  get  there.  And  to  me  that  was  an  experience  of  God’s  

grace  and  affirmation.”  Dayna  started  working  with  youth  as  an  add-­‐on  to  her  main  areas  of  

responsibility,  but  discovered  that  “it  turns  out  that  I  loved,  loved  youth  ministry.  Like,  I  

really,  really  liked  it.  And  it  was  pastoral.  Like,  you  can’t  really  get  around  what  I  was  doing  

and  say  it  was  strictly  administrative.  It  was  pastoral,  and  I  was  enjoying  it.”  Andrea  talked  

about  the  fear  involved  when  she  decided  to  apply  for  her  current  job,  knowing  that  she  

was  “pursuing  something  that  was  so  closely  connected  to  my  heart.”    

  The  women  talked  about  the  joy  they  experienced  the  first  time  they  faced  taking  on  

a  new  role.  For  many,  their  first  opportunities  to  preach  stood  out  as  pivotal  moments  in  

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which  they  experienced  an  inner  confirmation  of  their  call.  Carrie  was  somewhat  uncertain  

about  her  first  invitation  to  preach,  but  discovered  that  she  “loved  the  process.”  Dayna  

reflected  on  her  first  opportunity  to  speak  on  a  Sunday  morning,  saying,  “I  went,  ‘Oh,  this  

feels  really  good  actually.  This  feels  like  something  I  could  do.’”  And  Faith,  who  had  

previously  been  very  reluctant  about  public  speaking,  said,  “I  knew  that  when  I  stood  up  

and  led  a  worship  service,  and  the  very  first  time  I  preached  a  sermon,  I  came  away  from  

that  thinking,  ‘That’s  the  thing  I  was  meant  to  do.  I  loved  every  second  of  that!”    

  For  some  of  the  women,  fairly  dramatic  experiences  contributed  to  their  recognition  

of  God’s  call.  Carrie  described  having  a  dream  about  entering  into  ministry  at  a  pivotal  

decision  point  in  her  own  life,  from  which  she  “woke  up  so  happy,”  determined  to  get  back  

into  relational  ministry  again.  Faith  described  reading  a  job  advertisement  in  a  periodical:  

“And  it  was  one  of  those  sort-­‐of  theophany  moments,  where  I  knew  I  was  supposed  to  pay  

attention  to  that.  And  I  thought  to  myself,  ‘Someone  I  know  is  supposed  to  have  this  job.’  

And  so  I  circled  it,  I  called  my  husband  and  said,  ‘Do  you  know  anybody  I  should  tell  about  

this  job?’  But  he  couldn’t  think  of  anyone  at  the  moment.  As  the  day  went  by  I  sort  of  had  

this  feeling  that  it  was  me.”  That  was  followed  by  what  Faith  described  as  “seven  to  nine  

extraordinary  moments  affirming  doing  this.”  

  But  for  other  women,  the  internal  experience  of  God’s  call  came  about  in  a  much  

more  gradual  manner.  Andrea  described  a  process  of  “mourning  this  moving  forward  in  a  

weird  way.  There  was  just  so  much  wrestling  to  it.  And  it  was  some  time  after  that  when  I  

slowly  came  around  and  started  looking  forward  to  the  possibility.”  Dayna  said,  “I  don’t  

remember  the  moment  I  would  have  gone,  ‘It’s  pastoral  ministry  no  matter  what.’  It  was  

this  gradual  process  of  going:  I  love  this.  I’m  actually  fairly  good  at  it.  This  is  what  I  want  to  

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do.”  And  even  Carrie  said,  “The  dream  and  then  the  phone  call  later,  that  was  kind  of  

dramatic.  That  was,  like,  fun  call  story,  right?  But  the  call  to  pastoral  work  in  general,  like,  I  

don’t  think  those  are  the  same  thing  necessarily.  They’re  part  of  each  other,  but  the  call  to  

be  a  pastoral  person,  and  to  be  pastoring  in  whatever  context,  that’s  the  call  I  feel,  and  

that’s  a  much  more  vague  kind  of  ‘I  think  I  can  do  this,’  starting  from  inside  me.”  

  The  same  spiritual  practices  that  women  described  as  sustaining  them  in  their  daily  

lives  were  the  practices  that  helped  them  to  pay  attention  to  God’s  call  and  to  live  into  it.  

Thus,  women  described  drawing  on  practices  of  lectio  divina  and  reflecting  on  Scripture,  

silence  and  centering  prayer,  Ignatian  exercises,  and  spiritual  direction.  Their  description  

of  how  these  practices  helped  them  to  pay  attention  to  God  and  to  God’s  call  revealed  that  

most  of  the  women  ultimately  think  about  God’s  call  in  light  of  their  universal  call  to  be  

faithful  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ.  As  Ellen  asked,  “How  can  you  separate  that  from  just  the  

practices  of  living?”  

 

Reflections  on  Mennonite  Brethren  Call  Language  

The  traditional  Mennonite  Brethren  narrative  about  a  call  to  ministry  was  not  a  

good  fit  for  all  of  the  women  who  were  interviewed,  however.  Several  of  them  spoke  about  

the  ways  in  which  it  failed  to  capture  their  experiences.  Carrie,  for  example,  discussed  the  

call  stories  she  has  encountered  from  other  pastors:  “Most  of  the  call  stories  that  I’ve  

heard…have  been  the  classic,  like,  ‘I  was  going  down  this  path  and  God  called  me  onto  this  

(different)  path  through  a  community;  people  said  I  should  do  this,  and  I  didn’t  want  to  do  

it.  I  didn’t  want  to  do  it.  I  wanted  to  be  a  whatever,  church  called  me,  dragging  my  feet  in  

the  sand.’  Well,  that  I  cannot  relate  to  at  all.”  Later  in  the  interview,  Carrie  elaborated  on  

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how  her  own  call  story  was  a  very  different  kind  of  experience  than  the  stories  she  had  

heard  of  pastors  who  were  called  in  spite  of  their  desire  not  to  go  into  vocational  ministry:    

I’m  so  happy  to  be  in  this  kind  of  work,  and  to  be  talking  about  these  kinds  of  things.  So  how  is  that  not  a  call?  Like,  to  have  that  kind  of  enthusiasm  and  passion  about  something.  If  you’re  passionate  about  something  and  you’re  good  at  something,  and  you  know  that  in  your  gut,  and  trusted  people  have  affirmed  you,  then  why  do  you  need  it  to  be  unanimous?  And  why  do  you  need  that  classic,  ‘No,  I  didn’t  want  to  go  but  God  called  me’?  You  know?    

  Several  of  the  women  discussed  the  fact  that  in  their  experience,  churches  and  

hiring  committees  expect  that  candidates  for  ministry  leadership  positions  will  use  a  

particular  kind  of  narrative  in  describing  their  call.  Brenda,  for  example,  related  an  

experience  she  had  early  in  her  career  when  she  was  applying  to  work  at  a  large  

evangelical  parachurch  organization:    

All  went  well,  until  I  met  with  the  executive  director…  He  was  a  guy  who  was  big  on  language,  I  think.  And  I  wasn’t  using  the  right  language.  So  he  wondered  about  things…  Because  his  life  was  all  about  using  the  language  of  ‘God  has  called  me  to  do  this,’  and  I  didn’t  use  those  words.        And  so  he  wondered  about  that,  and  I  was  taken  aback,  kind  of  really  took  a  step  back.  ‘I  don’t  know,’  I  said,  ‘this  is  just  what  I  do,  service  is  part  of  who  you  are  as  a  Christian.’  And  I  just  didn’t  see  why  I  needed  to  actually  say  those  words  to  him.  But  in  his  mind,  that  was  important,  to  use  the  right  words.    

Brenda  went  on  to  reflect  about  why  she  believed  call  language  has  come  to  play  such  an  

important  role  in  the  discernment  of  pastoral  candidates  in  the  Mennonite  Brethren  

tradition,  and  how  she  has  adapted  to  this  culture:  

We  want  to  be  very  sure,  it  seems  like;  we  want  to  be  very  sure  of  this  person.  We  want  to  hear  people  say  those  words:  Yes,  they  feel  strongly  God  has  called  them.  And  we  want  them  to  express  that  in  very  real,  tangible  ways.  To  say,  ‘Yes,  I  really  felt  the  call  of  God  on  my  heart,  and  I  prayed,  and  God  spoke  to  me.’  We  want  to  hear  those  words.  It’s  those  trigger  words,  that  I  didn’t  give  the  executive  director  all  those  years  ago,  right?  That  tells  them,  oh  yes,  this  person  is  in.  This  person  understands;  this  person’s  heart  is  good.  So,  yeah,  I  mean,  I  use  that  language  now  to  help  people  understand,  and  like  I  said,  depending  on  the  culture  you’re  in…  

 

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  Carrie,  too,  spoke  about  her  struggle  to  find  the  balance  between  talking  about  her  

call  in  a  way  that  honoured  her  experience,  and  her  desire  to  use  the  language  that  she  

thought  others  expected  of  her:  

If  I  ever  get  my  Master’s  degree  and  apply  for  church  work,  in  the  interview  process,  I  know  I’m  going  to  have  to  tell  this  call  story.  And  I  know  I’m  going  to  have  to  work  really  hard,  like  I  prayed  before  today’s  meeting,  ‘Help  me  to  be  really  honest,’  because  I  know  what  they  want  to  hear!  And  so,  I  know  in  that  interview  process,  if  I  say,  well  I  did  not  want  to  work  in  a  church,  which  is  true,  like  I  feel  like  I  don’t  love  the  church  enough  right  now,  at  this  point  in  my  life,  to  want  to  work  in  it.  But  I  know  I’m  going  to  end  up  there,  and  God’s  going  to  grow  the  love,  and  I’m  going  to  be  doing  it.  Like,  I  just  have  this  gut  feeling.  So,  if  I  include  that,  like,  what  part  am  I  going  to  include  in  my  call  story?  Am  I  going  to  include  the  ‘I  did  not  want  to  work  in  a  church,  I  never  thought  I’d  work  in  a  church,  but  here  I  am  and  God  has  called  me  to  the  church?’  That’s  the  normative  story  in  the  Mennonite  Brethren  world.    

  Faith  wondered  if  the  way  we  talk  about  a  call  to  ministry  “sometimes  forces  people  

into  a  story  that,  not  that  has  been  made  up,  but  that  they  then  have  to  live  into.”  She  

likened  the  experience  of  a  call  to  ministry  to  how  Mennonite  Brethren  talk  about  the  

experience  of  salvation:    

Do  we  limit  God  by  insisting  that  everyone  have  a  call  date,  a  call-­‐by  date?  Or  do  we  need  to  expand  our  understanding  of  what  that  is,  so  that  on  an  application  that  poor  sucker  doesn’t  have  to  lie,  or  invent,  or  feel  diminished?  It’s  like,  when  did  you  come  to  the  Lord?  I  recently  had  to  fill  out  an  application  for  a  young  woman,  and  that’s  what  it  said.  Write  the  date  when  such-­‐and-­‐such  came  to  the  Lord.  She’s  still  coming!    

  Several  of  the  women  suggested  that  more  emphasis  should  be  placed  on  spiritual  

gifts  rather  than  on  a  particular  type  of  experience  of  a  call  to  ministry.  Both  Dayna  and  

Brenda  noted  that  discovering  their  spiritual  gifts  helped  them  to  understand  their  call  

better.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  she  herself  talks  about  having  a  strong  internal  call  to  

ministry,  Carrie  suggested  that  talking  about  spiritual  gifts  might  be  a  helpful  alternative  to  

the  way  that  many  have  come  to  talk  about  being  called  to  ministry:  

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Sometimes  I  wish  we  didn’t  have  to  talk  about  our  call,  as  exciting  as  this  is,  and  just  talk  more  in  terms  of  what  are  the  gifts  God  has  given  you.  Almost  more  like  gift  discernment  language.  Oh,  you’re  good  with  people,  you’re  a  good  listener,  you’re  actually  a  very  encouraging  person,  you’re  also  a  fantastic  public  speaker,  and  you  are  interested  in  spiritual  things  and  the  deep  things  of  God,  and  you’re  very  good  at  communicating  that.  Maybe  you  should  be  our  pastor.  Do  you  like  doing  those  things?  Yeah,  I  kind  of  do.  Why  don’t  you  be  our  pastor?  Like,  I  wish  sometimes  it  could  be  framed  that  way,  instead  of  ‘I  have  a  call.’  You  know?  

    The  use  of  spiritual  gifts  language  as  an  alternative  to  call  language  is  perhaps  one  

way  of  beginning  to  move  away  from  viewing  a  call  to  ministry  as  a  very  particular  kind  of  

call  from  God  that  fits  within  a  particular  framework.  Somewhat  surprisingly,  in  light  of  the  

fact  that  each  of  the  women  interviewed  could  describe  how  she  had  experienced  God’s  call  

in  her  own  journey  into  pastoral  ministry,  the  women  did  not  tend  to  use  their  own  call  

stories  as  a  means  of  legitimating  their  ministry.  Instead,  many  of  the  women  expressed  a  

desire  to  move  away  from  conversation  about  a  particular  call  to  ministry  in  order  to  talk  

about  experiencing  God’s  call  in  a  more  universal  way.  Brenda  said,  “I  believe  that  we’re  all  

called  to  serve.  In  whatever  timing,  whether  you  feel  like  it  or  not…  And  that  comes  to  

anybody  who’s  even  volunteering  in  anything.”  Likewise,  Carrie  said,  “I  would  love  for  the  

church  to  extend  the  word  ‘call’  to  a  way  broader  vocational  sense.  And  add  a  spiritual  

dimension  to  those  people’s  calls  too.”  Thus,  Carrie  could  speak  freely  about  a  custodian  at  

a  school  or  a  friend  entering  nursing  having  a  particular  call  from  God.  

  Dayna  preferred  to  speak  about  her  own  call  in  more  universal  terms  than  as  being  

particular  to  her  work  as  a  pastor:  

For  some  people,  it  still  very  much  is,  if  you  hear  someone  has  a  call,  then  you  know  that  person’s  like  a  pastor  or  a  missionary.  I  would  be  way  more  on  the  side  of  the  spectrum  that  says  everybody  has  a  call.  God  created  us  all  with  plan  and  purpose,  and  your  job  is  to  figure  out  how  you’re  wired  up  and  live  into  that.  So  I  like  that,  when  people  talk  more  broadly.  We  all  have  a  call,  and  no  one’s  call…priesthood  of  all  believers,  no  one’s  call  is  better  or  worse  than  anyone  else’s.  That’s  where  I  would  lean.  

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 Faith  also  leaned  on  the  Mennonite  Brethren  doctrine  of  the  priesthood  of  all  believers  in  

explaining  why  she  disliked  the  current  language  that  is  often  used  to  describe  a  call  to  

ministry:  “It’s  become  an  expression  that  gives  some  connotation  of  a  sort-­‐of  set  apart,  and  

yet  we  say  we’re  all  equal.  So  to  me  it’s  a  contradiction  in  Mennonite  Brethren  thinking,  if  

you  say  there’s  this  call  that’s  special,  and  yet  very  clearly  pastors  are  just  one  of  the  bunch  

in  the  way  we’re  expected  to  be  part  of  the  congregation.”  For  Faith,  “the  call  is  to  serve  God  

in  whatever  capacity  He  has  for  me.”  

  Dayna  suggested  that  it  is  precisely  because  of  women’s  experiences  that  they  tend  

to  reject  the  idea  of  a  call  as  being  particular  to  professional  ministry:  

I  just  think  there’s  some  people  who  will  privilege  it  as  only  pastoral.  And  the  thing  is,  I’ve  never  met  a  woman  who  feels  this  way,  and  I  think  it’s  because  we  weren’t  given  the  opportunity  to.  But  I  know  so  many  men  who  have  explored  a  call  to  ministry  and  chosen  something  else,  and  sometimes  if  you  talk  to  them  you’ll  hear  that  they  feel  like  they  copped  out,  or  they  didn’t  do  the  right  thing.  And  I  think  they  did  the  right  thing,  it’s  just  there’s  this  other  kind  of  thing  about,  the  best  way  of  serving  God  is  by  being  a  pastor.  And  even  if  you  look  at  them,  like,  you’re  not  supposed  to  be  a  pastor,  but  what  you’re  doing  is  really  cool,  they  feel  it  in  a  different  way.  Like  they  should  have,  it  would  have  been  better,  they’ve  sold  out,  or  something.  And  I’m  like,  at  least  not  for  a  long  time  is  any  woman  going  to  feel  like  that,  because  it’s  not  like  the  opportunity  will  be  given  to  her  all  the  way  to  consider  it.  Because  that  opportunity  is  not  there.  

 Dayna’s  suggestion  that  women  tend  to  understand  God’s  call  in  a  more  universal  sense  

precisely  because  they  have  not  been  given  the  opportunity  to  wholly  embrace  the  

understanding  of  God’s  call  as  being  particular  to  ministry  is  an  interesting  and  compelling  

one.  Few  women  within  the  Mennonite  Brethren  Church  are  encouraged  to  think  that  the  

best  way  for  them  to  serve  God  would  be  through  pastoral  ministry.  Even  today,  there  are  

disproportionately  fewer  women  serving  in  pastoral  roles  in  Mennonite  Brethren  churches  

than  there  are  men,  with  the  result  being  that  young  women  have  few  opportunities  to  see  

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other  women  in  pastoral  ministry  as  role  models.  As  a  result,  Dayna  noted,  “I  didn’t  even  

know  it  was  an  option,  I’d  never  seen  anybody  do  it.  Why  would  I  consider  doing  something  

I  didn’t  even  know  I  was  able  to  do?”  Carrie  also  recounted  brushing  off  early  

encouragement  from  a  teacher  that  she  should  be  a  preacher  someday:  “And  I  just  laughed,  

like  I  thought  he  was  nuts,  I  thought  he  was  just  rebellious  or  something.  Women  aren’t  

preachers.  That’s  not  even…I  never  once  even  thought  of  it.”  Even  Ellen,  a  lifelong  

Mennonite  Brethren  with  many  years  of  pastoral  ministry  experience,  was  able  to  name  

her  calling  in  terms  of  particular  tasks  she  felt  called  to  apart  from  her  calling  as  primarily  

connected  to  her  occupation,  stating,  “They  are  easiest  to  live  out  as  a  pastor,  but  it’s  not  

impossible  to  live  those  out  in  another  context.”      

 

The  Challenges  Facing  Women  in  Pastoral  Ministry  

  It  is  remarkable  that,  in  spite  of  the  significant  challenges  that  women  in  pastoral  

ministry  in  Mennonite  Brethren  churches  face,  they  continue  to  live  with  confidence  in  

God’s  call  in  their  lives,  and  yet  do  not  hold  out  the  story  of  how  God  has  called  them  as  

proof  of  their  right  to  be  in  pastoral  ministry.  Although  the  focus  of  the  interview  was  on  

the  practices  of  discerning  and  living  with  God’s  call,  nonetheless  each  of  the  women  

interviewed  named  particular  challenges  that  she  had  faced  in  discerning  God’s  call  in  her  

life.  These  challenges  were  directly  linked  to  the  fact  that  she  was  a  woman  and  not  a  man.  

Because  the  women  did  not  tend  to  associate  discerning  their  call  to  ministry  as  an  activity  

that  preceded  their  entry  into  pastoral  ministry,  but  rather  as  an  ongoing  Christian  practice  

that  continued  to  shape  their  life,  they  spoke  of  these  challenges  as  having  a  direct  impact  

on  their  discernment  of  a  call  to  ministry.  

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  A  number  of  the  women  described  experiencing  what  a  female  pastor  friend  of  mine  

once  explained  to  me  as  “the  freight  of  being  a  woman.”  Or,  as  Carrie  put  it,  “There’s  more  

pressure  on…  me,  because  I’m  a  woman  in  a  man’s  world,  to  prove  myself.”  Dayna’s  

description  of  her  first  Sunday  morning  preaching  to  her  congregation  captured  what  my  

friend  was  attempting  to  describe:  “Well,  first  of  all,  I  did  it  and  as  I  was  walking  up  to  the  

stage  that  day  I  thought  I  might  throw  up,  and  I’ve  never  been  uncomfortable  with  public  

speaking,  but  I  knew  if  I  did  a  bad  job,  then  therefore  all  women  were  bad  preachers.  As  

opposed  to  a  guy  could  get  up  and  go,  eh,  he’s  not  the  greatest.  I  felt  like  I  was  carrying  that  

weight,  which  is  a  lot  to  put  on  a  first-­‐time  person  who’s  never  taken  a  preaching  class.”  

Many  of  the  women  described  similar  experiences  in  which  they  felt  like  they  were  

carrying  an  added  weight  of  responsibility  to  prove  themselves  precisely  because  they  

were  women.  Andrea,  although  she  had  difficulty  articulating  where  it  was  coming  from,  

also  felt  this  added  burden:    

As  I  approached  the  role,  I  felt  like  I  needed  to  prove  something  more  than  I  thought  a  male  in  my  role,  my  position,  would  have  to  prove.  I  don’t  know  if  that’s  true,  I  can’t  actually  speak  to  it,  but  to  some  extent  I  felt  like  I  needed  to  prove  that  I  was  able  to  preach  confidently.  I  felt  like  I  needed  to  prove,  in  some  ways,  that  I  was  unlike  the  previous  youth  pastor,  while  still  maintaining  all  the  things  that  were  good  and  that  people  wanted,  and  I  think  that  can  drive  me  crazy…  If  kids  are  not  listening  to  me,  I  am  quick  to  associate  it  with  the  fact  that  I  am  a  female,  and  struggle  through  that  thought.  

    In  some  instances,  the  challenges  associated  with  being  a  woman  in  pastoral  

ministry  were  more  explicit  than  a  sense  of  an  added  burden  because  of  being  a  woman  as  

described  above.  Some  of  these  challenges  were  related  to  the  practical,  everyday  logistics  

of  carrying  out  their  jobs.  Dayna,  for  example,  described  the  process  of  trying  to  learn  how  

to  perform  immersion  baptisms:    

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But  I  did  ask  the  men  what  they  wore  in  the  tank.  And  some  of  them  knew  what  I  was  asking.  But  none  of  them  could  help  me  figure  out  what  to  wear  in  the  tank.  Or  how  to  put  on  a  lapel  mike  that  doesn’t  even  swivel  for  the  way  a  woman’s  shirt  buttons,  kind  of  weird  randoms.  Those  I’ve  all  had  to  figure  out.  (laughs)  No,  I  won’t  take  my  suit  jacket  off  and  have  my  shirt  that’s  underneath  it  to  do  the  baptism,  I  don’t  dress  like  that.    

  In  other  cases,  the  challenges  of  being  a  woman  in  a  pastoral  world  that  is  

dominated  by  men  are  less  lighthearted.  Dayna  related,  “I  accidentally  found  out  that  I  was  

being  paid  significantly  less  than  the  man  who  had  the  office  right  next  to  me.  They  mixed  

up  some  forms,  and  sent  that  to  me.  So,  there  was  a  lot  of  stuff  that  was  making  me  feel  like,  

I  don’t  want  to  be  here  anymore  and  I’m  tired.”  

  Women  also  identified  the  challenge  of  holding  together  the  call  to  pastoral  ministry  

with  the  call  to  parenting,  a  challenge  that  women  seem  to  experience  differently  than  men.  

In  part  this  is  because,  as  Andrea  stated,    

I  have  no  idea  what  it  looks  like  to  build  a  maternity  leave  into  this  business.  I  have  no  plans  of  that  for  the  near  future,  but  before  I  even  started,  when  I  was  still  thinking  of  applying,  I  had  no  idea  what  to  do  about  the  idea  of,  should  I  have  a  kid  one  day,  what  will  it  look  like  to  work  evenings,  to  be  really  busy,  to  do  overtime,  to  be  on  mission  trips,  like  what  will  all  of  those  things  look  like  in  light  of  having  an  individual,  a  tiny  individual,  who  I  will  want  to  be  around  and  want  to  care  for  and  do  not  want  to  be  absent  from  their  lives.  

 Brenda  reflected  that  “you  really  are  diverted  in  some  ways,  you  can’t  focus  completely  

again.  And  so,  I’ve  always  thought  in  some  ways  that  women  who  do  take  a  lot  of  time  off,  

who  do  part-­‐time  work  or  whatever  and  focus  on  their  children,  they  just  get  set  back  in  

certain  things.  And  that’s  okay.  I  don’t  regret  that.  That’s  not  a  bad  thing.  It’s  just  the  

reality.”  Although  the  challenges  of  balancing  maternity  leave  with  career  is  certainly  not  

unique  to  women  in  ministry  vocations,  the  demands  of  parenting  and  the  demands  of  

being  in  pastoral  ministry  impact  women  differently  than  their  male  counterparts,  and  by  

virtue  of  the  fact  that  these  challenges  are  different  for  women  than  for  the  men  who  have,  

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in  most  cases,  preceded  them,  these  are  challenges  that  women  in  vocational  ministry  are  

still  trying  to  navigate  in  significant  ways.  Moreover,  reconciling  the  call  to  ministry  with  

the  call  to  parenting  can  be  a  complicated  process.  

  In  listening  to  these  women  share  their  stories,  it  is  clear  that  not  all  women  

experience  the  challenges  of  being  women  in  pastoral  ministry  in  the  same  way.  Ellen  and  

Faith  both  related  their  experiences  as  women  working  as  lead  pastors  in  a  world  that  is  

heavily  dominated  by  men.  For  Ellen,  “Absolutely,  I’m  the  only  female  at  the  table,  and  it  

actually  never  enters  my  mind  that  I’m  the  only  one,  because  it  really  doesn’t  matter.  I  feel  

like  I’m  totally  accepted  for  who  I  am,  and  I  put  my  voice  out  there  just  like  the  rest  of  them.  

So  that’s  really  important  for  me.”  For  Faith,  on  the  other  hand,  “It’s  a  hard  thing,  having  

been  in  there  as  a  woman  pastor  when  women  pastors  were  not  openly—they  weren’t  

even  legally  at  that  point—accepted,  was  really  difficult,  because  it  meant  going  to  the  

pastor  and  wife  gatherings,  and  being  the  only  woman  in  a  room  full  of  men,  and  having  

conversations  about  how  to  support  your  wife.”  

  Nonetheless,  the  cumulative  weight  of  experiences  such  as  these  can  become  

significant.  Dayna  eventually  left  her  position,  stating,  “And  so  I  was  the  guinea  pig  on  

which  a  lot  of  people  were  working  out  what  they  thought.  Which  is  partly  why  I  had  to  

leave,  because  that  was  too  much…  When  you’re  also  trying  to  work  out  what  you  think,  

that’s  just  too  much  to  handle.”  Brenda,  on  the  other  hand,  found  a  different  way  to  live  

with  the  tension:  “I  don’t  know  how  everybody  feels  in  my  congregation,  even,  when  

women  preach.  I  know,  actually,  some  people  don’t  say  negative  things,  but  they’ll  say,  ‘I  

don’t  think  women  should  preach.’  And  so,  I’ll  go,  ‘okay.’  And  I’ve  heard  that,  I  mean,  

someone  I  like  and  trust  has  said  that.  And  I  go,  ‘okay.’  So  I  don’t  feel  that’s  a  negative  

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against  me.  I  don’t  feel  that’s  a  negative  against  call.  Because  it’s  not  a  world  where  all  is  

rosy.”  

  Several  of  the  women  also  went  on  to  elaborate  on  the  particular  challenges  

currently  being  faced  by  women  in  pastoral  ministry  within  the  Mennonite  Brethren  

Church.  Carrie  was  very  aware  of  the  challenges  that  would  face  her  if  she  were  to  try  to  

find  opportunities  to  engage  in  pastoral  ministry  as  a  woman  within  the  Mennonite  

Brethren  Church,  in  spite  of  the  formal  resolution  freeing  women  for  ministry  leadership.  

She  pointed  to  a  gap  between  the  articulated  beliefs  of  leaders  in  the  church  and  the  

practical  reality  she  saw  around  her:  “I  feel  a  little  bit  like,  okay  you  guys,  you  all  say  you  

want  equality,  and  you  all  say  there’s  room  for  women  in  ministry,  I’ve  heard  the  sermons,  

but  look  around!  You’re  all  men!  Like,  look  around,  and  there’s  so  many,  I  don’t  know,  

there’s  so  many  women  you  could  be  affirming.”  Carrie  reported  feeling  “tired  of,  like,  the  

hiring  practices  are  still  so  geared  toward  men.  The  recruiting  and  the  tapping.”  Looking  

around  at  emerging  leaders,  she  saw  that  “they  are  men,  they’re  young,  like  they’re  in  their  

twenties  and  thirties,  and  they’re  being  mentored  by  men  in  their  fifties,  generally,  there’s  

the  token  women,  one  or  two,  like  literally  one  or  two,  and  how  on  earth  does  that,  like  how  

can  a  woman  feel  like  there’s  a  place  for  her  in  the  Mennonite  Brethren  world?”  

  Likewise,  Dayna  also  reflected  on  the  mixed  messages  she  sensed  between  the  

theological  statements  and  the  practices  of  Mennonite  Brethren  churches:  

I  heard  somebody  say  one  time,  ‘The  tent  used  to  be  big  enough  for  all  of  us,  but  somebody’s  moved  the  tent,  and  I  don’t  even  know  where  the  tent  is  anymore.’  And  I  feel  that.  I’m  here,  I’m  allowed  to  do  this  stuff,  I’ve  been  encouraged  and  affirmed  to  do  this  stuff.  I’m  not  supposed  to  do  this  stuff?        …So  yeah,  I  feel  less  hopeful  maybe  than  I  did  a  few  years  ago  when  it  felt  like  some  of  those  things  were  opening.  And  I  don’t  know,  I  feel  like  none  of  it’s  been  done  with  very  clear,  we-­‐all-­‐sit-­‐in-­‐these-­‐meetings  and  I  know  where  things  are.  The  

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tent  got  moved,  and  I  don’t  know  who  moved  it,  and  I  don’t  know  where  it  is.  That’s  how  it  feels.  

 For  Dayna,  then,  the  perceived  lack  of  opportunities  for  women  to  take  on  ministry  

leadership  roles  within  Mennonite  Brethren  congregations  led  her  to  reflect,  “I’m  not  sure  

how  much  longer  I’m  going  to  be  welcome  here.  I’m  going  to  be  a  pastor  or  in  pastoral  work  

of  some  kind  probably  for  the  rest  of  my  life,  and  I’m  here  until  you  tell  me  I  have  to  go.  It’s  

just  feeling  more  and  more  like  I’m  being  told…it  would  be  a  lot  more  pleasant  for  everyone  

if  I  could  just  slip  away  quietly  and  stop  bothering  them.”  Likewise,  although  Carrie  would  

prefer  to  serve  within  the  Mennonite  Brethren  Church,  she  noted,  “I  grew  up  Mennonite  

Church  Canada.  I  think  I’m  going  to  end  up  back  in  the  Mennonite  Church,  simply  because  

the  Mennonite  Brethren  Church  won’t  call  me.”  

  Carrie,  though,  shared  an  alternate,  hoped-­‐for  vision  for  a  Mennonite  Brethren  

Church  in  which  women  were  welcomed  as  equal  partners  and  offered  more  opportunities  

to  serve:    

If  you  are  one  of  those  churches  in  the  MB  world  that  really  values  women  in  ministry,  and  if  you  feel  that  the  most  beautiful  vision  of  God  is  man  and  woman  together,  that’s  what  I  feel.  The  most  beautiful…  I  still  refer  to  God  with  male  pronouns,  it’s  how  I  grew  up,  and  it  just  flows  more  comfortably  for  me,  but  I  don’t  believe  God’s  male.  And  so  if  I  envision  the  closer  we  get  to  God,  we  need  men  and  women  to  get  us  there,  you  know?  Like,  how  can  you…  Anyway,  if  you  really  believe  that,  then  why  are  you  not  actively  recruiting  women  to  join  your  staff?  Like,  I  just  don’t  buy  it  that  there’s  nobody  out  there.  I  just  don’t  get  it.    

  Ellen  shared  with  me  one  of  the  ways  in  which  she  had  come  to  make  sense  of  the  

unique  dynamics  faced  by  women  in  pastoral  ministry,  based  upon  her  reflections  on  the  

story  of  Jacob  and  Esau.  Her  reflections  captured  beautifully  what  many  of  the  women  had  

to  say  about  the  challenges  and  joys  of  being  women  in  a  male-­‐dominated  vocational  

ministry  world:  

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The  story  of  Esau  just  really  became  my  story  for  a  long  time.  He  was  given  the  blessing  and  the  mandate,  whatever,  by  birth,  and  yet  he  could  not  live  into  it.  He  could  not  live  out  of  it.  And  that  whole  male-­‐female  thing,  I  felt  like,  oh,  males  are  the  Jacobs,  and  the  females  are  the  Esaus.  And,  you  know,  how  does  Esau  fit  in  the  story  of  blessing?  If  you  have  a  blessing  but  you  can’t  live  into  it?  And  so  I  did  an  awful  lot  of  thinking  about  blessing—and  I  used  blessing  more  than  calling—and  I  think  that  was  very  liberating  for  me  because  Esau  does  get  a  blessing,  it  just  has  a  lot  more  pain  attached  to  it.  

 

The  Problem  of  Initiative  

  One  surprising  theme  that  emerged  from  the  interview  sessions  was  how  women  

described  taking  initiative  for  living  into  their  call  as  both  a  necessity  and  as  something  

undesirable.  This  creates  a  nearly  impossible  situation,  in  which,  for  at  least  some  of  the  

women,  they  only  receive  the  church’s  affirmation  of  their  call  to  ministry  through  taking  

responsibility  for  actively  seeking  it  out,  only  to  find  that  taking  such  initiative  is  often  

narrated  as  something  they  ought  not  to  have  done.  They  are  then  faced  with  the  dilemma  

that  the  very  thing  that  led  them  to  the  affirmation  of  their  call  also  causes  them  to  question  

its  legitimacy.  

On  the  one  hand,  women  reported  that  without  taking  some  initiative  themselves,  

they  weren’t  sure  that  the  church  community  ever  would  have  affirmed  them  and  their  call.  

Carrie  stated,  “That’s  what  I  mean  by  it’s  come  internal  first.  I  have  said,  I  like  this  and  I  

think  I’m  good  at  it.  And  I  have  put  myself  out  there.  And  then  the  community  has  embraced  

me.”  This  was  not  always  easy,  and  at  times  required  significant  perseverance:  

I  remember  meeting  with  my  pastor  and  saying,  I  think  I  have  pastoral  gifts.  Like,  I’d  love  to  be  mentored  by  you.  And,  like,  I  think  I  can  do  this  kind  of  thing.  And  at  that  time  it  was  more  pastoral  care,  not  speaking.  And  he  just  kind  of  listened  politely  and  didn’t  follow  up  with  it  at  all  and  dropped  me.  Like,  just  did  not  pursue  it.  And  no  one  in  that  church,  in  my  church,  had  seen  me  do  anything  pastorally.  So,  it’s  fair.  Like,  he  probably  thought,  like,  who  is  this  person,  right?  But  did  not  follow  up,  did  not  do  anything,  like  totally  left  it.  

 

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  Ellen,  too,  related  an  experience  when  she  and  her  family  were  moving  to  pursue  a  

job  opportunity  for  her  husband  in  a  different  city.  So,  they  drew  up  a  list  of  the  Mennonite  

Brethren  churches  in  that  community  and  asked  themselves  which  of  those  would  be  most  

likely  to  have  a  female  pastor.  She  reported,  “I  picked  up  the  phone,  and  called  the  first  one  

on  the  list,  and  talked  to  a  part-­‐time  pastor  there  who  said,  ‘Oh  my  goodness.  I  haven’t  told  

anybody  yet,  but  I’m  planning  on  resigning.’”  Reflecting  on  that  experience,  Ellen  said,  “It  

was  taking  the  initiative  and  just  shamelessly  or  trustingly,  however  you  want  to  code  that,  

asking,  ‘I’d  like  to  be  a  pastor.  In  an  MB  church.  Would  you  have  me?’  And  God  was  part  of  

that.”  

  While  several  of  the  women  reported  situations  in  which  they  had  taken  initiative  

for  following  God’s  call  in  their  lives,  they  also  reported  that  such  initiative  is  often  seen  as  

being  undesirable,  lacking  in  humility,  or  even  being  ill-­‐advised.  Dayna  reported  the  advice  

she  had  been  given  by  a  provincial  church  leader:  “He  said  the  best  thing  I  could  do  was  not  

be  strident,  that  was  his  word,  and  not  complain.  So  not  whine  and  say,  ‘How  come  I  don’t  

get  to  preach?,’  that  kind  of  stuff,  but  whenever  I  was  asked  to  do  something,  just  do  it  to  

the  best  of  my  ability.  And  he  said,  ‘And  people  will  see  that,  and  appreciate  it,  and  you’ll  go  

far.’”  Brenda  made  the  point  of  clarifying,  “I’ve  always  been  a  very  strong  feminist…  But  I’m  

not  a  militant  feminist.  And  so  I  wouldn’t  push  it  too  much.  Just  let  it  go.”  So,  “if  I’m  learning,  

then  I’m  learning,  and  I’m  quiet,  and  I’ve  never  been  a  militant,  but  I  still  believe  in  

feminism,  and  will  say  that  quietly  or  in  different  ways,  but  I’ll  lead  in  areas  where  I’m  

gifted.”    

  Carrie  described  the  feeling  of  being  caught  between  having  to  put  herself  out  there  

in  order  to  have  God’s  call  recognized  by  her  community,  and  feeling  judged  for  doing  so:  

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I  don’t  believe  it’s  suspicious,  but  I  feel  like  they  think  it’s  suspicious  if  you  put  yourself  out  there  too  far.  Like,  how  easy  is  it  if  you’re  not  putting  yourself  out  there  too  far,  and  you’re  being  tapped  over  and  over  again,  to  be  humble.  And  come  and  say,  I  guess  the  church  is  calling  me,  right?          I  feel  arrogant,  and  I  feel…  like,  that’s  the  biggest  challenge  to  my  call…  My  biggest  challenge  in  the  call  is  my  own  sense  of,  Am  I  arrogant?  Am  I  self-­‐righteous?  Do  I  think  that  I  know  better  than  these  people?  Do  I…  Who  do  you  think  you  are?  But  that,  I  pray  in  the  shower,  and  when  the  ‘Who  do  I  think  I  am?’  thing  comes  up,  it  doesn’t  sound  like  God  to  me.  It  just  doesn’t  sound  like  God.  Um,  so  I  try  not  to  listen  to  that.  

 “It  feels  arrogant,”  Carrie  said,  “to  put  myself  out  there  and  say,  ‘I’m  called  to  ministry.’”  

And  yet,  in  many  ways,  that’s  exactly  what  she  has  found  herself  having  to  do.  But  maybe,  

she  noted,  “all  of  us  who  are  called  are  arrogant.  (laughs)  To  a  certain  extent.”  

 

Summary  

  Call  stories  are  unique  narratives  that  describe  how  an  individual  has  encountered  

God  as  he  or  she  has  sought  to  understand  how  God  has  created  him  or  her,  what  gifts  he  or  

she  has  been  entrusted  with,  and  how  he  or  she  might  best  contribute  to  the  mission  of  God  

in  the  world.  They  are  stories  of  an  encounter  with  God,  embedded  within  the  context  of  

the  shared  life  of  the  body  of  Christ.  For  the  six  women  who  were  interviewed  in  this  study,  

their  call  stories  helped  them  to  understand  themselves  as  people  who  had  received  God’s  

blessing  and  who  had  particular  gifts  which  they  sought  to  use  in  service  within  the  church.  

However,  the  women  were  just  as  quick  to  recognize  that  one  need  not  be  called  to  

vocational  ministry  in  order  to  be  called  by  God.    

  The  women  who  shared  their  stories  of  God’s  call  were  in  agreement  that  the  

affirmation  of  the  church  is  a  necessary  component  of  discerning  of  a  call  to  ministry.  Being  

provided  with  opportunities  to  lead  within  the  church  and  having  their  gifts  affirmed  by  

their  congregations  played  instrumental  roles  in  the  women’s  discernment  of  God’s  call.  

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Equally  central  was  the  personal  conviction  that  arose  from  experiencing  a  deep  love  of  

ministry  and  an  inner  confidence  in  their  gifts;  the  inner  conviction  of  God’s  call  sustained  

women  through  many  of  the  challenges  that  they  faced  as  women  in  ministry  leadership.  

These  elements  of  inner  conviction  and  community  discernment  were  expressed  in  

different  ways  for  different  women,  and  many  of  the  women  urged  that  no  single  narrative  

about  how  a  call  ought  to  be  discerned  could  capture  the  breadth  of  ways  in  which  God  

works  in  the  lives  of  men  and  women.  A  call  to  ministry  has  its  roots  in  a  call  to  serve,  in  the  

discernment  and  exercise  of  one’s  gifts  and  abilities,  and  in  living  a  life  of  faithful  

discipleship,  and  these  elements  take  shape  differently  in  different  people’s  lives.  Yet  all  are  

to  be  valued  as  expressions  of  how  God  is  at  work  among  God’s  people  to  inaugurate  the  

Kingdom  of  God.  Moreover,  the  women’s  stories  consistently  referred  to  the  discernment  of  

a  call  to  ministry  as  inseparable  from  the  universal  call  to  discipleship.  

  Women  in  the  Mennonite  Brethren  Church  in  Canada  are  navigating  the  challenges  

of  working  in  a  context  in  which  the  question  of  which  ministry  leadership  roles  ought  to  

be  open  to  women  continues  to  be  common.  Women,  therefore,  have  to  reconcile  their  

discernment  of  God’s  call  with  uncertainty  about  whether  or  not  there  will  be  opportunities  

for  them  to  embrace  this  call  within  the  Mennonite  Brethren  Church.  They  also  have  to  

navigate  challenges  such  as  a  scarcity  of  female  role  models  and  the  perception  that  they  

need  to  prove  themselves  in  a  leadership  context  that  is  dominated  largely  by  men.    

  These  challenges  impact  how  women  think  about  and  live  into  their  calls;  they  

cannot  be  separated  from  their  call  stories.  Therefore,  women’s  stories  raise  important  

questions  that  encourage  reflecting  more  critically  on  the  theology  that  is  borne  by  the  

practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  ministry  among  Mennonite  Brethren.  For  example,  what  is  

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the  connection  between  discerning  a  call  to  ministry  and  entering  into  a  position  of  official  

(often  paid)  church  or  ministry  leadership?  Is  being  commissioned  for  such  a  role  of  

necessity  the  ultimate  confirmation  of  the  validity  of  an  individual’s  call?  What  is  the  

correspondence  between  the  universal  call  to  discipleship  and  the  particular  call  to  

pastoral  leadership  in  the  church?  And,  how  does  the  discernment  of  spiritual  gifts  relate  to  

the  discernment  of  a  call  to  ministry?  Ultimately,  the  goal  of  such  reflection  is  to  prompt  

Christians  toward  the  renewal  of  the  practice  of  discerning  those  who  are  being  called  to  

ministry,  in  order  that  the  practice  may  become  increasingly  faithful  to  a  way  of  life  that  is  

a  reflection  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.    

   

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CHAPTER  FIVE  

DISCERNING  A  CALL  TO  MINISTRY  AS  A  MENNONITE  BRETHREN  PRACTICE:    TOWARD  RENEWED  FAITHFULNESS  

   

This  thesis  has  thus  far  looked  at  the  Mennonite  Brethren  practice  of  discerning  a  

call  to  ministry  through  an  examination  of  current  literature,  through  surveying  how  this  

practice  has  developed  over  time,  and  through  attending  to  the  stories  of  six  Mennonite  

Brethren  women  who  have  themselves  discerned  a  call  to  ministry.  This  chapter  now  

brings  these  elements  of  theological  reflection,  history  and  tradition,  and  the  wisdom  

grounded  in  experience  together  to  reflect  on  discerning  a  call  to  ministry  as  a  practice  of  

the  church.  What  does  it  look  like  to  discern  a  call  to  ministry  faithfully?  What  is  meant  

when  Christians  speak  about  discerning  a  call  to  ministry?  It  is  to  these  questions  that  this  

chapter  now  turns,  in  the  hope  that  careful  theological  reflection  on  the  practice  of  the  

discernment  of  a  call  to  ministry  will  enable  Christians  to  shape  their  current  practices  

toward  renewed  faithfulness.  

 

Discerning  a  Call  to  Ministry  as  a  Christian  Practice  

  As  has  previously  been  asserted,  discerning  a  call  to  ministry  is  a  Christian  practice.  

It  can  therefore  be  described  and  evaluated  in  terms  of  how  it  fulfills  the  characteristics  

that  are  common  to  all  Christian  practices.  Much  recent  study  of  Christian  practices  draws  

upon  the  work  of  ethicist  Alasdair  MacIntyre.  According  to  MacIntyre,  practices  are  

complex  social  activities  that  pursue  goods  internal  to  the  practices  themselves  and  that  

have  standards  of  excellence.  Three  ideas  emerge  as  being  central  to  MacIntyre’s  

understanding  of  a  practice.  First,  practices  are  communal  and  corporate  in  nature,  

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belonging  not  to  individuals,  but  to  communities  of  people.  Second,  practices  possess  what  

MacIntyre  calls  “internal  goods”  that  can  only  be  achieved  through  participation  in  the  

practice  in  question,  and  not  through  any  other  means.  Third,  practices  have  their  own  

standards  for  excellence  and  rules  for  participation.112  

  McIntyre’s  threefold  criteria  help  us  to  begin  to  get  at  the  heart  of  the  practice  of  

discerning  a  call  to  ministry.  First,  as  a  Christian  practice,  the  practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  

ministry  is  located  within  the  context  of  the  community  of  faith.  This  means  that  not  only  is  

the  practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  ministry  properly  located  in  the  context  of  the  shared  life  

of  particular  faith  communities,  but  that  it  is  also  rooted  within  and  consistent  with  the  

larger  Christian  tradition.  One  of  the  criteria  for  reflecting  theologically  upon  the  call  to  

ministry,  therefore,  is  considering  how  the  call  to  ministry  intersects  with  the  shared  life  of  

the  faith  community  and  how  it  demonstrates  continuity  with  the  Christian  story.    

  Second,  the  practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  ministry  has  what  MacIntyre  described  as  

“internal  goods”—that  is,  goods  that  are  independent  of  the  outcome  of  engaging  in  the  

practice  and  that  are  gained  through  participation  in  the  practice  itself.  In  the  case  of  

discerning  a  call  to  ministry,  this  means  that  the  practice  has  goods  that  are  independent  of  

the  outcome  of  the  discernment  process—the  goods  of  this  practice  are  greater  than  

achieving  employment  as  a  pastor  in  a  congregation,  for  example,  but  are  particular  to  the  

practice  of  discernment  in  and  of  itself.  One  of  the  questions  that  must  be  kept  in  mind  in  

reflecting  theologically  about  the  current  Mennonite  Brethren  practice  of  discerning  a  call  

to  ministry  is  how  the  internal  goods  that  comprise  this  practice  might  be  described.    

                                                                                                                         112  Alasdair  MacIntyre,  After  Virtue:  A  Study  in  Moral  Theology,  2nd  ed.  (Notre  Dame:  University  of  Notre  Dame  Press,  1984),  187.    

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  Third,  all  Christian  practices  have  standards  of  excellence—they  can  be  performed  

well,  or  they  can  be  performed  badly.  In  reflecting  on  the  Mennonite  Brethren  practice  of  

discerning  a  call  to  ministry,  we  also  bear  this  question  in  mind:  What  does  a  faithful  

practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  ministry  look  like  when  it  is  performed  with  excellence,  such  

that  it  represents  an  authentic  response  to  the  presence  and  character  of  God?  

  Dorothy  C.  Bass,  a  practical  theologian  who  has  written  extensively  about  Christian  

practices,  has  noted,  “Because  communities  engage  in  these  practices  forever  imperfectly—

faltering,  forgetting,  even  falling  into  gross  distortion—theological  discernment,  

repentance,  and  renewal  are  necessary  dimensions  of  each  practice  and  of  the  Christian  life  

as  a  whole.”113  It  is  helpful  to  frame  a  discussion  of  the  Mennonite  Brethren  practice  of  

discerning  a  call  to  ministry  by  beginning  with  these  core  characteristics  of  all  Christian  

practices  because  they  not  only  serve  as  reminders  of  what  makes  a  practice  faithful,  but  

they  also  call  attention  to  what  a  practice  is  not.  Often,  it  is  tempting  to  reflect  on  the  

discernment  of  a  call  to  ministry  in  terms  of  its  ultimate  outcome:  Does  such  discernment  

lead  to  greater  clarity  about  appropriate  career  paths?  Does  a  call  story  fit  the  pattern  of  

the  call  stories  related  by  other  pastors  and  church  leaders?  However,  as  a  practice,  the  

discernment  of  a  call  to  ministry  is  independent  of  its  outcome  and  its  performance  has  

great  value  in  contributing  to  a  faithful  way  of  living  as  God’s  people  in  the  world.  

Moreover,  it  is  appropriate,  as  with  all  of  the  practices  of  faith  communities,  to  take  a  

critical  step  back  from  the  practice  to  reflect  on  it  in  light  of  Scripture  and  in  light  of  central  

theological  beliefs.  Reflecting  on  practice  encourages  the  consideration  of  how  the  practice  

                                                                                                                         113  Dorothy  C.  Bass,  “Ways  of  Life  Abundant,”  in  For  Life  Abundant:  Practical  Theology,  Theological  Education,  and  Christian  Ministry,  edited  by  Dorothy  C.  Bass  and  Craig  Dykstra  (Grand  Rapids:  Wm.  B.  Eerdmans  Publishing  Co.,  2008),  29.  

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may  be  renewed  to  more  accurately  reflect  the  kind  of  community  God  is  inviting  his  

people  to  be  in  this  particular  time  and  place.    

 

Discerning  a  Call  to  Ministry  is  a  Practice  of  the  Church  

  As  MacIntyre’s  definition  reminds  us,  all  Christian  practices  are  complex  social  

activities  that  are  corporate  in  nature.  This  is  certainly  true  regarding  the  discernment  of  a  

call  to  ministry.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  many  of  the  women  interviewed  for  this  study  

reported  a  strong  internal  component  to  their  call  to  ministry,  they  were  unanimous  

regarding  the  necessity  for  the  church  community  to  participate  in  the  discernment  of  such  

a  call.  As  Andrea  reported,  “Having  the  congregation  say  ‘yes’  was  huge,  to  say  ‘yes,  we  

agree  with  you  that  this  is  where  you’re  supposed  to  be  and  we  want  you  here’  was  very  

significant.”  Likewise,  Brenda  stated  that  her  discernment  of  her  call  always  relied  upon  

“the  affirmation  of  others  around  me.  It  just  didn’t  make  any  sense  not  to  have  that.  That’s  

not  the  way  God’s  church  works.  I’m  not  an  individual  in  community;  I’m  part  of  the  

community.  And  there’s  the  affirmation  that  comes  from  when  you’re  in  community,  you  

need  to  listen  to  each  other  for  these  things.”  

  In  discerning  a  call  to  ministry,  it  is  essential  to  find  ways  to  hold  together  both  the  

personal  discernment  of  God’s  leading  and  the  congregation’s  affirmation  and  discernment  

of  a  person’s  gifts.  Even  when  an  individual’s  discernment  of  a  call  to  ministry  begins  

internally  and  personally,  it  must  at  some  point  draw  upon  the  collective  discernment  of  

the  body  of  Christ.    

  Mennonite  Brethren  have  long  recognized  that  the  church  has  an  essential  role  to  

play  in  calling  people  to  ministry.  Over  the  past  fifty  years,  one  of  the  challenges  to  this  

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practice  has  been  the  changing  nature  of  pastoral  ministry.  Churches  have  largely  moved  

from  a  model  of  multiple  lay  ministry  to  the  professionalization  of  the  ministry,  and  more  

recently  to  the  specialization  of  ministry.  Now,  many  Mennonite  Brethren  congregations  

now  have  a  staff  of  multiple  paid  pastors,  each  of  whom  bear  responsibility  for  their  own  

distinct  area  of  ministry.  In  the  midst  of  navigating  these  significant  changes,  it  is  not  

surprising  that  Mennonite  Brethren  congregations  have  often  struggled  with  maintaining  a  

vital  practice  of  discerning  those  whom  God  was  calling  to  ministry.  One  indication  of  this  

ongoing  struggle  is  the  amount  of  time  spent  at  study  conferences  during  this  period  of  

time  in  discussion  regarding  the  call  to  ministry  and  the  nature  of  pastoral  leadership.  

   The  call  to  ministry  has  always  been  associated  with  an  invitation  to  hold  a  certain  

amount  of  power  and  authority.  The  anticlericalism  of  the  sixteenth  century  was  not  

ultimately  an  attempt  to  abolish  clergy,  but  to  deal  with  the  increasing  gap  in  spiritual  

status  between  the  clergy  and  the  laity.  Thus,  the  writings  of  the  early  Anabaptists  reflect  a  

desire  to  discern  who  are  the  individuals  that  are  rightly  called  to  participate  in  the  

teaching  ministry  of  the  church.  Both  Menno  Simons  and  Dirk  Philips  wrote  of  the  necessity  

for  such  individuals  to  be  motivated  by  love  and  for  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  be  

instrumental  in  the  discernment  of  such  leaders.    

  With  the  move  from  a  multiple  lay  ministry  model  to  the  professionalization  of  

pastoral  ministry,  churches  faced  the  temptation  to  transfer  the  power  and  authority  for  

ministry  from  the  congregation  to  the  person  being  hired.  As  Waldo  D.  Hiebert  wrote  in  a  

paper  presented  at  the  1958  Study  Conference:  

Although  the  pastoral  system  is  upon  us,  we  must  not  overlook  the  urgent  necessity  of  examining  this  system  in  light  of  the  New  Testament  Church  as  a  brotherhood  of  believers.  The  pastoral  system  need  not  rob  us  of  the  spirit  of  brotherhood,  but  it  surely  can.  A  further  warning  would  emphasize  the  danger  of  the  congregation’s  

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leaning  too  heavily  upon  the  pastor  and  upon  his  decisions,  rather  than  feeling  individual  responsibility,  sensing  the  leadership  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  congregation  and  listening  to  the  decision  making  of  the  brotherhood  as  a  body.114    

Over  time,  and  as  the  responsibility  for  decision-­‐making  came  to  rest  increasingly  with  a  

paid  pastor,  the  responsibility  for  the  discernment  of  a  call  to  ministry  also  shifted  towards  

relying  increasingly  upon  the  individual’s  own  discernment.  The  practice  of  “shoulder  

tapping”  people  to  consider  pastoral  ministry  became  less  common  in  Mennonite  Brethren  

congregations,  and  by  1976  John  Regehr  observed,  “we  have  left  the  matter  of  the  call  

almost  exclusively  with  the  individual.”115  

  The  “Hearing  the  Call”  program,  developed  in  2003  by  Mennonite  Brethren  Biblical  

Seminary,  represented  an  attempt  to  encourage  churches  to  renew  the  practice  of  

discerning  those  with  the  necessary  gifting  to  serve  in  pastoral  leadership  roles.  However,  

the  call  stories  shared  by  the  women  in  this  study  suggest  that  it  is  still  the  responsibility  of  

individuals  to  seek  the  community’s  support  in  discerning  a  call  to  ministry;  certainly  

among  the  women  interviewed,  the  call  to  ministry  was  often  initiated  by  their  own  

discernment  of  an  internal  call  to  ministry.  

  Similarly,  the  General  Conference  Mennonite  Church  published  a  statement  on  

ministerial  leadership  that  noted,  “A  person’s  call  to  ministry  occurs  within  the  body  life  of  

the  church.  Thus,  there  is  both  an  internal  and  an  external  verification  of  the  call.  The  

congregation  serves  as  the  external  validating  factor  for  a  person’s  sense  of  call  to  the  

ministry.  A  person  does  not  appoint  him/herself  to  the  ministry;  one  must  be  chosen  by  the  

                                                                                                                         114  Hiebert,  “The  Scriptural  Nature  of  the  Church,”  6.            115  Regehr,  “”The  Call  to  Ministry,”  14.  

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church.”116  This  position  is  consistent  with  Mennonite  Brethren  attempts  to  hold  together  

both  inner  and  outer  elements  of  a  call  to  ministry.  Those  with  gifts  for  leadership  within  

the  church  exercise  them  from  within  the  body  of  Christ.  As  written  in  1  Corinthians  12:27-­‐

28,  “Now  you  are  the  body  of  Christ,  and  each  one  of  you  is  a  part  of  it.  And  God  has  placed  

in  the  church  first  of  all  apostles,  second  prophets,  third  teachers,  then  miracles,  then  gifts  

of  healing,  of  helping,  of  guidance,  and  of  different  kinds  of  tongues.”  Likewise,  Ephesians  

4:11-­‐13  reads,  “So  Christ  himself  gave  the  apostles,  the  prophets,  the  evangelists,  the  

pastors  and  teachers,  to  equip  his  people  for  works  of  service,  so  that  the  body  of  Christ  

may  be  built  up  until  we  all  reach  unity  in  the  faith  and  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God  

and  become  mature,  attaining  to  the  whole  measure  of  the  fullness  of  Christ.”  In  the  Bible,  

spiritual  gifts,  including  gifts  for  leadership  within  the  church,  are  understood  as  being  

distributed  within  the  body  of  Christ,  the  church.  They  always  function  within  this  body,  

and  cannot  be  imposed  upon  the  body  from  an  external  location.  Moreover,  1  Corinthians  

12  is  clear  that  no  part  of  the  body  can  function  without  the  others,  and  that  “its  parts  

should  have  equal  concern  for  each  other”  without  any  hierarchy  of  value  based  upon  their  

function  (verse  25).  

  Even  those  gifted  for  leadership  or  teaching  roles  receive  their  gifts  in  the  context  of  

the  body  of  Christ,  with  the  intention  that  they  be  used  to  build  up  the  body  of  Christ.  It  is,  

therefore,  appropriate  that  those  who  are  called  to  carry  out  particular  leadership,  pastoral  

or  teaching  functions  within  the  community  of  faith  be  discerned  and  receive  their  

authorization  for  ministry  within  the  context  of  the  church  and  not  apart  from  it.  To  do  

otherwise,  or  to  demand  authority  based  upon  a  personally  discerned  call  to  ministry,                                                                                                                            116  Everett  J.  Thomas,  ed.,  A  Mennonite  Polity  for  Ministerial  Leadership  (Winnipeg:  Faith  and  Life  Press,  1996),  102.  

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would  be  to  impose  one’s  gifts  upon  the  body  and  to  elevate  them  above  the  setting  for  

which  they  were  intended.  

  In  some  cases,  this  presents  a  challenge  to  churches  to  rethink  how  to  take  an  active  

role  in  the  discernment  of  those  who  are  being  called  to  ministry—that  is,  called  to  

leadership  or  teaching  functions  within  the  church—in  a  contemporary  context  in  which  

much  leadership  development  happens  in  institutions  and  settings  outside  of  the  local  

congregation.  Training  of  church  planters  happens  at  specialized  clinics.  Young  leaders  are  

often  developed  in  Bible  school  programs,  in  short-­‐term  missions  programs,  or  in  camp  

ministry  settings.  Pastoral  leaders  receive  training  in  seminaries  and  schools.  Yet  the  

church  must  not  forego  taking  an  active  role  in  discerning  whom  God  has  equipped  for  

leadership  roles,  whether  the  call  is  to  paid  ministry  or  other  forms  of  ministry  leadership.  

The  church  does  so  by  providing  opportunities  for  individuals  to  lead,  to  teach,  and  in  

doing  so  to  develop  their  gifts;  as  we  observed,  for  many  of  the  women  in  this  study  such  

opportunities  were  instrumental  in  their  discernment  of  their  calling.  The  church  also  does  

so  by  taking  seriously  the  opportunity  to  pray  and  discern  with  those  who  report  sensing  

an  internal  call  to  a  ministry  of  a  particular  type.  It  does  so  by  taking  an  active  role  in  

encouraging  one  another,  in  voicing  appreciation  when  it  is  evident  that  God  is  at  work  

through  the  gifts  of  another.  In  all  of  these  ways,  large  and  small,  the  church  takes  seriously  

the  authority  it  has  received  from  Christ  himself  to  “go  and  make  disciples  of  all  nations,  

baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  teaching  

them  to  obey  everything  I  have  commanded  you”  (Matthew  28:19-­‐20).  When  the  church  

does  so,  it  is  with  the  confidence  that  it  does  not  take  on  this  work  of  discernment  alone,  

but  with  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  

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  Moreover,  it  may  be  helpful  to  remember  that  the  practice  of  discerning  those  who  

are  being  called  to  ministry  is  not  outcome  dependent.  As  MacIntyre  articulated,  the  true  

goods  of  a  practice  are  those  that  are  internal  to  the  practice  itself.  The  church  grows  in  

unity  as  a  body  of  Christ  as  it  comes  to  recognize  and  appreciate  the  gifts  that  Christ  has  

placed  within  it,  and  as  it  frees  people  to  exercise  those  gifts  in  order  to  build  up  the  body  

of  Christ.  Perhaps  by  freeing  the  practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  ministry  from  the  hiring  

practices  of  the  church  and  thinking  of  it  as  being  distinct  from  a  career  choice,  the  church  

will  be  freed  once  again  to  reclaim  its  integral  role  in  owning  the  practice  of  the  

discernment  of  gifts,  including  gifts  for  ministry  leadership.  For  wherever  these  gifts  are  

discerned  and  exercised,  the  church  is  faithful  in  living  into  the  work  for  which  Christ  has  

commissioned  it.  

 

The  Call  to  Ministry  is  a  Gift  from  a  God  Who  Loves  Us  

  Most  of  the  women  who  were  interviewed  for  this  study  associated  the  discernment  

of  their  call  to  ministry  with  the  discovery  that  using  their  gifts  to  serve  within  the  church  

was  something  they  loved  to  do,  something  that  brought  them  joy,  and  something  that  was  

closely  connected  with  who  God  had  created  them  to  be.  When  the  women  were  asked  

about  particular  biblical  texts  that  had  informed  their  understanding  of  their  call,  the  

creation  accounts  from  Genesis  were  noted  surprisingly  often,  especially  considering  that  

in  Mennonite  Brethren  circles  the  creation  accounts  have  often  been  among  the  texts  used  

to  argue  that  women  ought  not  serve  in  leadership  capacities  in  the  church.  Nonetheless,  

Dayna  explained,  “I  don’t  think  I  would  have  made  it  through  all  of  the  stuff  that  was  going  

on  to  me  at  the  church  and  figuring  out  if  I  was  called  to  pastoring  and  having  to  debate  it  if  

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I  hadn’t  managed  to  hear  that  I  was  beloved,  by  God,  just  as  I  was.  Like,  I  wouldn’t  have  

made  it.”  Carrie  likewise  noted,  “The  creation  story—I  see  that  as  a  very  supportive,  

actually,  I  know  lots  of  people  read  it  as  a  hierarchical  story,  but  I  don’t.  I  see  that  as  a  very  

egalitarian,  kind  of  like,  God  created  man  and  woman  and  they  were  awesome.  Together!”  

  Statements  such  as  these  serve  as  a  reminder  that  the  call  to  ministry  is  a  gift  we  

receive  from  the  God  who  created  us  and  who  loves  us.  Jesus’  baptism  served  as  the  

initiation  of  his  public  ministry,  and  all  three  synoptic  gospels  report  that  the  event  was  

marked  with  some  version  of  the  following  words  from  God:  “You  are  my  Son,  whom  I  love;  

with  you  I  am  well  pleased”  (Mark  1:11;  cf.  Matthew  3:17  and  Luke  3:22).  Likewise,  at  the  

pivotal  moment  of  the  Transfiguration,  God’s  voice  is  once  again  present,  saying,  “This  is  

my  Son,  whom  I  love.  Listen  to  him!”  (Mark  9:7;  cf.  Matthew  17:5  and  Luke  9:35).  Jesus’  

public  ministry  began  with  the  pronouncement  that  he  was  dearly  loved  by  God.  This  

announcement  occurred  at  a  pivotal  point  in  his  ministry  and  once  again  reminded  him  

that  his  ministry  was  grounded  in  God’s  love  for  him.    

  The  discernment  of  a  call  to  ministry  is  a  practice  that  is  closely  associated  with  

other  practices  that  teach  us  to  draw  near  to  God—with  practices  of  prayer,  of  spiritual  

direction,  and  of  silence,  among  others.  As  Ellen  noted,  the  practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  

ministry  is  not  easily  separated  from  other  practices  that  sustain  a  life  that  is  connected  to  

God.  Just  as  God’s  pronouncement  of  Jesus  as  beloved  preceded  the  beginning  of  his  public  

ministry,  the  practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  ministry  serves  as  a  reminder  that  the  God  who  

created  us  also  loves  us,  has  invited  us  to  serve  Him  using  the  gifts  He  has  given  us,  and  

invites  us  to  join  him  in  ministry,  making  disciples  of  others  and  inviting  them  to  

experience  the  kingdom  of  God  which  has  drawn  near.  This  idea  has  often  served  to  inform  

   85  

the  understanding  of  a  call  to  ministry  within  the  broader  Christian  tradition.  Thus,  Robert  

Schnase  wrote,  “The  call  to  ministry  rests  most  securely  on  genuine  love  for  God  and  the  

sincere  desire  to  serve  God  as  the  highest  good.”117  Likewise,  Basil  Pennington  asserted  

that  the  ultimate  question  in  vocational  discernment  ought  to  be  what  can  best  support  this  

person  to  grow  in  love  given  who  God  has  created  him  or  her  to  be.118  

  Traditionally,  the  Anabaptist-­‐Mennonite  emphasis  on  a  call  to  discipleship  has  

focused  less  on  the  call  to  ministry  as  an  expression  of  God’s  love  and  more  as  a  means  to  

fulfilling  the  call  to  discipleship.  However,  more  recently  Anabaptist-­‐Mennonite  scholars  

have  also  begun  to  articulate  this  theme,  which  is  rooted  in  biblical  texts  such  as  1  John  

4:19:  “We  love  because  he  first  loved  us.”  The  call  to  live  a  life  of  discipleship,  and  with  it  

the  call  to  a  particular  type  of  ministry,  emerges  out  of  the  fact  that  we  ourselves  have  been  

the  recipients  of  God’s  love.  Thus,  scholar  Mary  H.  Schertz  reminds  us  that,  within  the  

Anabaptist-­‐Mennonite  tradition,  

Perhaps  what  we  have  not  noticed  adequately  is  that  the  heart  of  the  Spirit’s  empowerment  is  nothing  less  than  the  love  of  God…The  empowerment  of  Jesus  by  the  love  of  God  in  his  baptism  is  exactly  the  point.  That  this  empowerment  and  this  love  are  immediately  and  forcefully  challenged  by  forces  representing  other  kinds  of  power  and  other  kinds  of  love  is  also  exactly  the  point.  The  central  question  for  Jesus  is  how  to  understand  and  use  the  love  and  power  he  has  received.119    

Likewise,  Lydia  Neufeld  Harder  and  Gary  Harder  wrote,  “This  naming  of  our  being  loved  

and  blessed  then  frees  us  to  hear  God’s  calling  to  love  and  serve  others.  It  frees  us  to  listen  

for  God’s  invitation  to  our  vocation.  All  ministry,  all  service,  all  calling—whether  within  the  

                                                                                                                         117  Robert  Schnase,  Testing  and  Reclaiming  Your  Call  to  Ministry  (Nashville,  TN:  Abingdon  Press,  1991),  37.            118  Pennington,  33.            119  Mary  H.  Schertz,  “Love  and  Power:  Jesus’  Baptism  and  Ours,”  Vision:  A  Journal  for  Church  and  Theology  12,  no.  2  (Fall  2011):  15.  

   86  

church  or  in  the  world—grows  out  of  being  assured  that  we  are  loved  and  that  the  Holy  

Spirit  will  empower  us  for  what  God  invites  us  to  do.”120  

  The  impact  of  understanding  ministry  to  be  a  gift  of  God,  which  is  ultimately  rooted  

in  God’s  love  for  us,  is  significant.  For  as  practical  theologian  Craig  Dykstra  pointed  out,  

When  pastors  try  to  master  ministry  on  their  own,  they  are  overwhelmed  by  the  fearfulness  of  it.  They  can  become  frightened  and  defensive,  clutch  up,  grit  their  teeth,  and  sink.  When  ministry  is  received  as  a  gift  of  God  within  a  larger  life  of  faith  shared  by  pastors  and  people,  an  entirely  different  dynamic  begins  to  take  over.  Instead  of  working  frenetically  and  compulsively  to  harness  their  own  powers  and  energies,  pastors  are  somehow  set  free  to  receive,  draw  upon,  release,  and  share  in  the  multiple  energies  and  capacities  of  the  people  in  their  congregations  and  of  the  whole  body  of  Christ.121    

  For  the  women  interviewed,  the  practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  ministry  has  

sustained  them  through  many  difficult  experiences,  whether  these  have  come  from  the  

challenges  of  navigating  congregational  conflicts  or  from  struggling  to  find  ways  to  use  

their  gifts  within  the  limitations  that  have  at  times  accompanied  the  simple  reality  of  being  

a  woman  within  the  Mennonite  Brethren  church.  At  its  best,  the  practice  of  discerning  a  call  

to  ministry  serves  as  a  reminder  that  we  are  called  into  service  by  a  God  who  created  us  

and  who  loves  us;  one  of  the  internal  goods  of  this  practice  rests  in  its  ability  to  aid  

individuals  in  drawing  near  to  God,  in  understanding  better  who  God  has  created  them  to  

be,  and  in  coming  to  understand  that  they,  too,  are  God’s  beloved  children.    

 

The  Call  to  Ministry  is  a  Call  to  Exercise  Authority  as  Jesus  Did  

  While  the  stories  shared  by  the  women  interviewed  for  this  study  invite  us  to  

reclaim  an  understanding  of  the  call  to  ministry  as  being  rooted  in  God’s  love,  they  also  

                                                                                                                         120  Lydia  Neufeld  Harder  and  Gary  Harder,  30.            121  Craig  Dykstra,  “Pastoral  and  Ecclesial  Imagination,”  in  Bass  and  Dykstra,  56.  

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serve  as  a  reminder  that  at  its  heart,  the  call  to  ministry  is  rooted  in  Christ’s  call  to  follow  

him.  This  understanding  that  all  of  the  life  of  faith  is  a  life  of  discipleship  has  long  been  a  

part  of  the  Anabaptist-­‐Mennonite  tradition.  As  C.  Arnold  Snyder  noted,  “At  the  heart  of  

Anabaptist  spiritual  life  is  a  continuous,  active  yielding  to  the  living  Spirit  of  God,  to  the  

point  that  the  divine  nature  becomes  our  nature,  according  to  the  image  of  the  Son  of  God  

in  the  measure  that  grace  provides.”122  Therefore,  in  the  Anabaptist-­‐Mennonite  tradition,  

“baptism  with  water  not  only  publicly  affirms  the  reality  of  spiritual  baptism  (dying  and  

rising  in  Christ),  it  is  at  the  same  time  a  visible  covenant  made  with  like-­‐minded  believers.  

The  commitment  made  at  baptism  is  no  less  than  a  promise  of  yieldedness  by  members  to  

one  another.”123  

  Historically,  among  Anabaptist-­‐Mennonites,  the  willingness  to  submit  to  the  practice  

of  baptism  carried  with  it  a  signal  of  one’s  openness  to  accept  ordination  for  ministry.124  

Thus,  the  discernment  of  a  call  to  ministry  is  continuous  with  a  life  of  discipleship,  not  an  

interruption  thereof.  Moreover,  it  is  rooted  in  the  commitment  to  be  accountable  to  a  

community  of  believers  that  is  made  at  one’s  baptism.  Each  Christian  is  called  to  such  a  life  

of  discipleship  within  a  community  of  believers.    

  In  some  Mennonite  Brethren  contexts,  the  practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  ministry  

has  become  closely  associated  with  choosing  a  particular  career  path;  even  programs  such  

as  “Hearing  the  Call”  were  intended  to  encourage  young  adults  to  consider  pastoral  

ministry  as  a  potential  career,  in  an  effort  to  address  anticipated  pastoral  ministry  

shortages.  The  stories  of  Mennonite  Brethren  women,  on  the  other  hand,  encourage  us  to  

                                                                                                                         122  C.  Arnold  Snyder,  “Gelassenheit  and  Power:  Some  Historical  Reflections,”  Vision:  A  Journal  for  Church  and  Theology  5,  no.  2  (Fall  2004):  11.            123  Ibid.            124  Bartlett,  52-­‐53.  

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ensure  that  our  discernment  of  the  call  to  ministry  remains  firmly  located  within  the  

context  of  a  call  to  a  life  of  discipleship.  Hence,  Carrie  stated,  “I  would  love  for  the  church  to  

extend  the  word  ‘call’  to  a  way  broader  vocational  sense.  And  to  add  a  spiritual  dimension  

to  those  people’s  calls  too.”  Likewise,  Dayna  said,  “I  would  say  I  have  a  call  but  I  would  say  

that  somebody  in  my  church  who’s  a  really  good  business  person  and  cares  for  his  staff  has  

a  call  too.  And  you  just  have  to  figure  out  what  yours  is  and  follow  it.”  

  Like  the  sixteenth  century  Reformers,  the  women  interviewed  were  not  denying  

that  they  have  discerned  a  particular  call  to  ministry  leadership,  nor  were  they  intending  to  

downplay  the  significance  of  such  a  call.  Instead,  they  invite  us  to  remember  what  

Mennonite  Brethren  have  historically  known:  a  call  to  ministry  cannot  be  understood  apart  

from  the  call  to  be  disciples  of  Jesus  who  are  members  of  a  local  community  of  believers.  

Faith,  for  example,  spoke  about  a  call  to  holy  living.  Her  call  to  ministry,  although  

“indisputable,”  is  something  that  she  understands  as  being  in  complete  continuity  with  her  

previous  call  to  be  a  teacher:  “It  wasn’t  an  end  of  that  call.  I  think  it  was  more  of  a  

continuation  in  a  different  way.”  

  In  this  way,  we  can  begin  to  explore  how  discerning  a  call  to  ministry  is  continuous  

with  the  Anabaptist-­‐Mennonite  affirmation  of  the  priesthood  of  all  believers.  Those  who  

are  discerned  to  have  a  particular  call  to  ministry  in  a  leadership,  teaching,  or  pastoral  

capacity  within  the  body  of  Christ  have  a  particular  and  important  role  to  play.  Ephesians  

4:11-­‐13  reads,  “So  Christ  himself  gave  the  apostles,  the  prophets,  the  evangelists,  the  

pastors  and  teachers,  to  equip  his  people  for  works  of  service,  so  that  the  body  of  Christ  

may  be  built  up  until  we  all  reach  unity  in  the  faith  and  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God  

and  become  mature,  attaining  to  the  whole  measure  of  the  fullness  of  Christ.”  Notice  that  

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according  to  these  verses,  those  who  are  called  to  assume  positions  of  particular  authority  

within  the  church—apostles,  evangelists,  prophets,  pastors,  teachers—are  called  to  do  so  in  

order  to  equip  the  people  of  God  for  service.    

  Anabaptist-­‐Mennonite  history  provides  the  reminder  that  the  call  to  ministry  is  not  

distinct  because  of  any  special  spiritual  status  granted  to  those  who  receive  it  within  the  

body  of  Christ.  Rather,  it  is  rooted  within  the  activity  of  the  Holy  Spirit—as  are  all  of  the  

other  gifts  given  according  to  the  grace  of  God:  “There  are  different  kinds  of  gifts,  but  the  

same  Spirit  distributes  them.  There  are  different  kinds  of  service,  but  the  same  Lord.  There  

are  different  kinds  of  working,  but  in  all  of  them  and  in  everyone  it  is  the  same  God  at  

work”  (1  Corinthians  12:4-­‐6).    

  Nonetheless,  framing  the  call  to  ministry  in  this  way,  as  being  embedded  within  a  

call  to  discipleship,  invites  reflection  on  the  reason  why  various  Christian  groups,  including  

Mennonite  Brethren,  have  understood  discerning  a  call  to  ministry  to  be  a  distinct  practice  

of  the  church.  This  practice  affirms  that  there  is  something  significant  about  the  

discernment  of  individuals  to  serve  in  roles  that  involve  exercising  leadership  in  the  

church,  whether  through  pastoral  ministry,  worship  leadership,  teaching  and  preaching,  or  

pastoral  care.  In  each  of  these  areas  of  ministry,  those  who  are  affirmed  to  serve  in  

particular  roles  are  given  a  significant  amount  of  authority  by  the  church.  The  church  

cannot  dispense  with  the  practice  of  discerning  those  who  are  being  called  to  ministry,  

because  to  do  so  would  be  to  ignore  the  significance  of  being  selective  with  regard  to  whom  

it  chooses  to  endow  with  such  power.  The  abuse  of  the  authorization  for  ministry  can  carry  

with  it  catastrophic  results.  

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  Anabaptist-­‐Mennonite  scholar  Joseph  J.  Kotova  Jr.  wrote,  “Contemporary  pastors  

have  significant  power—influence  on  others  and  the  ability  to  make  things  happen—that  

they  frequently  overlook.”125  Pastors  and  other  leaders  are  often  formally  affirmed  and  

appointed  to  their  roles  within  the  congregation,  giving  them  a  particular  kind  of  authority.  

By  virtue  of  their  roles  within  the  body  of  Christ,  they  are  also  frequently  invited  to  

function  as  symbolic  representatives  of  the  church  and  of  God,  and  are  given  access  to  

people’s  lives  at  vulnerable  moments  such  as  births,  family  crises,  and  deaths.  According  to  

Kotova,  “this  symbolic  representation  is  a  form  of  power,  and  despite  the  ambivalence  that  

Anabaptists  sometimes  feel  about  setting  pastors  apart,  the  pastor’s  role  as  symbolic  

representative  is  present  at  some  level  in  most  church-­‐related  encounters  with  most  

congregation  members.”126  Therefore,  discerning  a  call  to  ministry  not  only  involves  a  

discernment  of  giftedness,  but  also  of  character—it  involves  being  sensitive  to  those  who  

can  and  will  use  the  power  and  authority  that  they  are  being  offered  in  a  way  that  is  

consistent  with  a  life  of  Christian  discipleship.  

  Anabaptist-­‐Mennonites  affirm  that  our  ultimate  model  for  the  right  use  of  authority  

is  found  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ.  Throughout  the  New  Testament,  Jesus  is  identified  as  

one  who  has  received  authority.  Jesus  “taught  them  as  one  who  had  authority”  (Mark  1:22).  

He  “called  his  twelve  disciples  to  him  and  gave  them  authority  to  drive  out  impure  spirits  

and  to  heal  every  disease  and  sickness”  (Matthew  10:1).  He  had  the  authority  to  lay  down  

his  life,  and  to  take  it  up  again  (John  10:18).  Repeatedly,  Jesus’  words  and  deeds  revealed  

him  to  be  one  who  possessed  authority.  And  yet  “he  made  himself  nothing  by  taking  the  

                                                                                                                         125  Joseph  J.  Kotava  Jr.,  “The  Paradox  of  Pastoral  Power,”  Vision:  A  Journal  for  Church  and  Theology  5,  no.  2  (Fall  2004):  39.            126  Ibid.,  40.  

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very  nature  of  a  servant,  being  made  in  human  likeness”  (Philippians  2:7).  As  Anabaptist-­‐

Mennonite  scholar  Sally  Weaver  Glick  put  it,  “In  Jesus  we  encounter  one  who  used  power  to  

heal  and  reconcile  and  bring  transformation.  We  encounter  one  who  met  the  onslaught  of  

this  world’s  powers  and  principalities  with  vulnerability,  accepting  death  on  the  cross  

rather  than  resorting  to  the  power  of  the  sword  or  calling  in  angel  armies…  The  crucified  

and  risen  Christ  turns  our  assumptions  about  power  upside  down.”127  

  The  stories  of  women  draw  attention  to  the  questions  of  power  and  authority  that  

are  embedded  within  the  practice  of  discerning  those  who  are  being  called  to  ministry.  The  

debates  around  women  in  ministry  leadership  within  the  Mennonite  Brethren  church  

centered  upon  the  question  of  who  can  be  in  a  position  of  authority  and,  more  particularly,  

whether  women  ought  to  be  in  positions  of  authority  over  men.  If  women  should  not  be  

placed  in  positions  of  such  authority,  then  the  church  could  not  affirm  a  woman  as  having  a  

call  to  ministry,  regardless  of  whether  she  had  reported  an  internal  sense  of  such  a  call.128    

  In  their  accounts  of  their  own  call  stories,  women  tend  to  emphasize  the  universality  

of  gifts,  perhaps  out  of  sensitivity  to  the  fact  that  women  have  not  often  been  given  the  

opportunity  to  associate  a  call  to  ministry  with  a  call  to  assume  authority,  as  Dayna  

suggested.  Feminist  pastoral  theologian  Lynn  Rhodes  explained,  “It  is  crucial  to  these  

women’s  experiences  and  understandings  of  vocation  that  we  must  struggle  to  honor  the  

gifts  of  all,  to  enable  all  people  to  express  these  gifts,  and  to  change  the  conditions  that  

trivialize  them.”129  

                                                                                                                         127  Sally  Weaver  Glick,  “Power  and  Congregational  Discernment,”  Vision:  A  Journal  for  Church  and  Theology  5,  no.  2  (Fall  2004):  57.            128  Kopp,  “A  Serving  People,”  71.            129  Lynn  N.  Rhodes,  Co-­‐Creating:  A  Feminist  Vision  of  Ministry  (Philadelphia,  PA:  The  Westminster  Press,  1987),  112.  

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  On  the  other  hand,  Mennonite  Brethren  women  often  receive  messages  that  suggest  

that  their  call  to  ministry  is  best  lived  out  in  a  posture  of  listening—not  being  “strident”  or  

“militant,”  not  “arrogantly”  putting  oneself  out  there,  to  use  the  words  of  the  women  

interviewed  in  this  study.  Such  messages,  while  well  intentioned,  serve  to  subtly  reinforce  

the  traditional  norms  in  which  “listening  was  understood  to  be  more  suitable  for  women,  

while  the  active  involvement  in  the  process  was  deemed  more  suitable  for  men.”130  

  While  the  discernment  of  a  call  to  ministry  is  rooted  in  a  call  to  discipleship,  it  is  

nonetheless  also  a  call  to  assume  a  position  of  authority  within  the  body  of  Christ.  To  

accept  such  a  call  is  to  strive  to  use  this  authority  in  a  Christ-­‐like  manner,  neither  shying  

away  from  using  authority  well  nor  using  it  to  demand  status  and  submission  from  others.  

To  find  this  balance  is  a  delicate  dance,  regardless  of  gender,  one  that  requires  a  great  deal  

of  humility:  “Humility  is  likely  the  most  important  virtue  for  keeping  pastoral  power  rightly  

directed.  Proper  self-­‐understanding,  an  estimate  of  ourselves  that  is  neither  too  high  nor  

too  low,  frees  pastors  to  see  their  power  honestly  and  clearly.”131  

  The  questions  women  ask  about  the  practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  ministry  help  to  

bring  into  focus  the  necessity  for  authority  to  be  rightly  used  by  those  who  receive  such  a  

call  from  the  church.  They  serve  as  a  reminder  of  the  delicate  balance  of  exercising  

authority  and  living  out  a  call  to  ministry  with  excellence:  of  holding  power  together  with  

humility,  as  modeled  by  our  ultimate  example,  Jesus  Christ.  They  provide  the  reminder  that  

in  the  practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  ministry,  what  is  ultimately  being  discerned  is  who  

will  lead  well,  equipping  all  of  the  saints  to  use  their  gifts  in  service  in  the  body  of  Christ.  To  

                                                                                                                         130  Lydia  Neufeld  Harder,  Obedience,  Suspicion,  and  the  Gospel  of  Mark:  A  Mennonite-­‐Feminist  Exploration  of  Biblical  Authority  (Waterloo,  ON:  Wilfred  Laurier  University  Press,  1998),  49.            131  Kotova,  45.  

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practice  the  discernment  of  individuals  who  are  being  called  to  ministry  with  excellence,  

the  church  needs  to  be  aware  of  the  reality  that  questions  of  power  and  authority  are  

central  to  this  particular  practice.  Jesus  had  authority,  which  he  passed  along  to  his  

disciples  during  his  earthly  ministry,  and  which  he  later  conferred  upon  the  church.  In  

discerning  those  who  are  called  to  ministry  leadership,  the  church  must  be  conscious  that  

in  doing  so  it  is  inviting  individuals  to  take  on  authority,  following  the  example  of  Jesus,  in  

order  that  they  might  in  turn  equip  other  members  of  the  body  for  ministry.  The  church  

must,  therefore,  be  prepared  to  support  those  individuals  in  assuming  their  appointed  

authority.  To  ignore  these  questions  of  authority  is  to  fail  to  understand  the  significance  of  

this  practice  in  the  life  of  the  church.  

 

Summary  

  By  critically  reflecting  on  the  current  practice  of  discerning  those  who  are  being  

called  to  ministry  through  the  examination  of  Mennonite  Brethren  tradition  and  theological  

reflection,  and  through  listening  to  the  stories  of  Mennonite  Brethren  women,  several  key  

nuances  of  this  practice  have  been  identified.    

  First,  the  discernment  of  a  call  to  ministry  is  ultimately  a  practice  of  the  faith  

community.  While  the  internal  discernment  of  a  call  to  ministry  by  the  individual  is  often  a  

critical  part  of  this  practice  and  played  an  initiating  role  in  the  stories  of  the  majority  of  the  

women  interviewed,  nonetheless  the  church  plays  an  indispensible  role  in  discerning  and  

authorizing  individuals  for  ministry  leadership.  The  women  in  this  study  universally  

affirmed  the  necessary  role  the  church  community  played  in  helping  them  to  discern  God’s  

call.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  most  of  the  women  reported  experiencing  both  affirmation  and  

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challenge  to  their  call  from  the  church  community,  they  affirmed  that  the  discernment  of  a  

call  to  ministry  is  a  practice  that  occurs  within  the  context  of  the  church  community.  Even  

when  their  call  to  ministry  was  first  experienced  personally  and  internally,  women’s  stories  

affirm  the  necessity  of  the  external  validation  of  a  call  to  ministry  by  the  church.  

  Second,  the  practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  ministry  is  a  practice  that  invites  us  to  

draw  near  to  God,  to  come  to  know  ourselves  as  people  created  and  beloved  by  God,  and  to  

accept  God’s  invitation  to  participate  in  His  mission  in  the  world.  In  reflecting  on  the  

practices  that  nurtured  their  discernment  of  a  call  to  ministry,  women  often  pointed  out  

that  these  practices  were  the  same  practices  that  nurtured  them  as  they  drew  near  to  God  

in  all  areas  of  life,  not  only  in  their  discernment  of  God’s  call.  Moreover,  the  women  spoke  

frequently  about  God’s  call  as  something  that  brought  them  joy  and  that  involved  

discovering  how  to  serve  within  the  church  by  doing  things  they  loved  to  do.  Many  of  the  

women  equated  discerning  their  call  to  ministry  with  discovering  themselves  to  be  loved  

and  valued  by  God.  Just  as  Jesus’  public  ministry  was  preceded  by  God’s  pronouncement  of  

him  as  God’s  beloved  son,  so  the  practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  ministry  serves  as  a  

reminder  that  the  one  being  called  is  created  and  loved  by  God,  and  is  invited  to  serve  using  

the  gifts  that  God  has  given  him  or  her  in  order  to  participate  in  the  unfolding  of  the  

Kingdom  of  God  in  the  world.    

  Finally,  the  practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  ministry  necessitates  a  thoughtful  

understanding  of  the  authority  that  is  vested  in  those  who  take  on  positions  of  leadership  

within  the  body  of  Christ  in  order  that  they  might  equip  others  for  ministry.  This  requires  

understanding  and  practicing  authority  as  modeled  by  the  example  of  Jesus  Christ.  In  the  

Mennonite  Brethren  Church,  the  discernment  of  a  call  to  ministry  among  women  has  been  

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preceded  by  extensive  discussion  in  the  Canadian  Conference  of  Mennonite  Brethren  

Churches  about  whether  or  not  the  exercise  of  leadership  by  women  in  the  church  is  

consistent  with  the  witness  of  Scripture.  This  makes  clear  the  essential  connection  between  

the  discernment  of  a  call  to  ministry  and  the  invitation  to  exercise  authority  within  the  

church.  For  many  women,  discerning  how  to  use  the  power  that  is  integral  to  the  

discernment  of  a  call  to  ministry  is  a  challenge.  Many  women  tend  to  emphasize  the  

universality  of  gifts  and  of  God’s  call  out  of  sensitivity  to  the  fact  that  women  often  have  not  

been  given  the  opportunity  to  assume  the  authority  associated  with  a  call  to  ministry.  

Other  wrestle  with  their  attempts  to  exercise  leadership  being  labeled  as  “strident”  or  

“lacking  humility.”  Nonetheless,  the  call  to  ministry  is  a  call  to  exercise  leadership  as  

modeled  by  Jesus  Christ,  balancing  authority  with  humility  and  using  this  power  to  build  up  

other  people  within  the  body  of  Christ.    

  By  reflecting  on  each  of  these  themes,  the  goal  is  to  prayerfully  allow  them  to  renew  

how  churches  go  about  calling  individuals  to  ministry,  in  order  that  the  practice  of  

discerning  a  call  to  ministry  might  with  ever-­‐increasing  faithfulness  reflect  the  life  that  God  

has  called  us  to  as  his  people.    

   

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CONCLUSION  

   

The  Church  has  always  affirmed  the  importance  of  practicing  careful  discernment  

when  selecting  its  leaders—those  who  preach,  teach,  lead  worship,  or  provide  pastoral  

care.  From  the  beginning  of  the  Old  Testament,  Scripture  portrays  leaders  who  were  called  

by  God  to  serve  in  particular  roles  within  the  faith  community.  Throughout  Anabaptist-­‐

Mennonite  history,  leaders  have  been  selected  with  careful  discernment,  relying  upon  the  

guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Among  contemporary  Mennonite  Brethren,  the  call  to  ministry  

has  been  a  frequent  subject  of  attention  and  discussion.  All  of  these  things  point  to  the  fact  

that  discerning  those  who  have  been  called  to  ministry  is  an  important  Christian  practice:  

one  that  ought  to  be  performed  thoughtfully  and  that  can  be  done  with  excellence.  

But  too  often  in  recent  years,  the  call  to  ministry  has  become  intertwined  with  

questions  of  hiring  paid  pastors.  As  a  result,  the  internal  goods  of  the  practice  itself  have  

become  hidden  behind  questions  about  what  elements  a  call  story  should  contain  in  order  

to  be  considered  authentic,  or  about  whether  or  not  one  should  pursue  pastoral  ministry  as  

a  career  option.  Until  recently,  though,  pursuing  paid  pastoral  ministry  has  not  been  an  

option  except  in  rare  circumstances  for  Mennonite  Brethren  women.  They  also  lacked  role  

models  of  women  in  such  ministry  leadership  roles.  Consequently,  it  has  been  more  

common  for  women  to  experience  an  inner,  personal  call  to  ministry  than  to  receive  the  

affirmation  of  this  call  on  the  part  of  the  church.  For  this  reason,  women’s  stories  of  

discerning  a  call  to  ministry  offer  the  reminder  that  God  calls  all  of  God’s  people  to  a  life  of  

discipleship  and  to  exercise  the  gifts  that  they  have  been  given  in  service  to  the  Kingdom  of  

God—God’s  call  is  not  limited  to  those  gifted  for  leadership.  Mennonite  Brethren  have  often  

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tended  to  separate  the  discernment  of  a  call  to  ministry  from  the  need  to  discern  and  invite  

the  exercise  of  all  of  the  spiritual  gifts  that  are  given  to  the  body  of  Christ.  On  the  other  

hand,  women’s  stories  encourage  understanding  the  call  to  ministry  as  an  expression  of  the  

essential  Christian  call  to  discipleship,  and  leadership  gifts  as  just  one  of  the  many  

expressions  of  gifts  given  by  the  Holy  Spirit  to  equip  the  church  for  ministry.  They  invite  

giving  attention  to  the  practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  ministry  as  having  value  that  emerges  

in  the  engagement  in  this  discernment,  completely  apart  from  outcomes  such  as  

strategically  identifying  future  leaders,  thereby  preventing  clergy  shortages,  or  such  as  

evaluating  the  suitability  of  ministry  candidates  through  hearing  their  call  stories.    

The  practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  ministry  is  a  reflection  of  what  it  means  to  live  as  

God’s  people  in  the  world.  Rightly  practiced,  it  is  a  practice  of  the  community  of  faith  that  

emphasizes  the  fact  that  gifts  for  ministry  leadership  are  given  by  the  Holy  Spirit  in  order  

to  equip  the  saints  for  the  ministry  to  which  God  has  called  them.  It  thus  serves  as  a  

reminder  that  it  is  God  who  calls  to  ministry,  and  God  who  equips  His  people  to  live  as  His  

body  in  the  world.  God’s  call  is  neither  discerned  nor  lived  out  in  isolation,  but  rather  

within  the  body  of  Christ.  The  women  who  shared  their  experiences  of  call  affirmed  that  

their  discernment  of  God’s  call  was  not  complete  without  having  received  the  affirmation  of  

the  church.  They  related  feelings  of  pain  when  the  church  did  not  affirm  their  personal  

sense  of  call  to  ministry,  and  affirmed  the  Mennonite  Brethren  insistence  that  both  inner  

and  outer  dimensions  of  a  call  to  ministry  are  essential.  While  many  women  related  having  

to  actively  seek  out  the  church’s  assistance  in  discerning  whether  God  was  indeed  calling  

them  to  ministry,  they  universally  understood  the  discernment  of  a  call  to  ministry  to  be  a  

practice  that  is  rooted  within  the  shared  life  of  a  faith  community.      

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The  practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  ministry  is  also  an  invitation  to  draw  near  to  God,  

conveying  the  knowledge  that  the  life  of  discipleship  always  flows  out  of  the  love  that  we  

have  received  from  God,  who  created  us  and  invites  us  to  be  reconciled  to  Himself  and  to  

one  another.  While  Mennonite  Brethren  have  tended  to  place  emphasis  on  discerning  a  call  

to  ministry  as  a  practice  about  discipleship,  the  understanding  of  this  practice  will  change  

as  it  is  also  understood  as  being  a  practice  of  living  in  the  love  of  the  Creator.  In  other  

words,  the  stories  of  Mennonite  Brethren  women  invite  understanding  this  practice  as  

being  as  much  about  who  we  are  as  it  is  about  what  we  do.  Many  of  the  women  spoke  about  

their  call  to  ministry  as  being  a  source  of  joy  and  encouragement,  and  as  being  something  

that  gives  them  life.  Their  experiences  echo  the  association  in  the  Bible  between  Jesus’  

baptism  and  preparation  for  public  ministry,  and  God’s  naming  of  Jesus  as  beloved.  

Discerning  a  call  to  ministry  is  a  practice  of  drawing  near  to  God,  and,  in  the  process,  

becomes  a  tangible  reminder  that  the  one  who  is  being  called  is  a  person  who  has  been  

created  by  God,  who  has  been  gifted  by  God,  who  is  loved  by  God,  and  who  is  invited  into  

relationship  with  God  and  God’s  people.    

Finally,  the  practice  of  discerning  a  call  to  ministry  is  an  invitation  to  remember  that  

authority  in  the  church  is  derived  from  and  modeled  after  the  example  of  Jesus,  who  held  

authority  and  humility  together  as  he  healed,  taught,  served,  performed  miracles,  and  

ultimately  died  on  the  cross.  The  issue  of  whether  women  ought  to  be  able  to  exercise  

authority  in  leadership  roles  within  the  church  has  historically  been  associated  with  how  

the  Mennonite  Brethren  Church  has  responded  to  women  who  have  reported  discerning  a  

call  to  ministry.  Moreover,  even  as  the  Canadian  Conference  of  Mennonite  Brethren  

Churches  has  freed  churches  to  appoint  both  men  and  women  to  leadership  roles,  women  

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continue  to  report  facing  challenges  in  how  free  they  are  to  exercise  authority  within  the  

church.  As  a  result,  even  women  whose  calls  to  ministry  have  been  affirmed  within  the  

Mennonite  Brethren  Church  report  mixed  responses  regarding  their  freedom  to  exercise  a  

corresponding  authority  in  ministry.  In  discerning  those  whom  God  has  called  to  ministry,  

it  is  necessary  to  bear  in  mind  that  the  call  to  leadership  involves  seeking  those  who  will  

lead  by  example,  living  according  to  Christ’s  example  rather  than  according  to  the  ways  of  

the  world.  As  congregations  discern  with  those  who  are  called  to  ministry,  they  must  also  

recognize  that  to  call  individuals  to  serve  in  these  roles  is  to  support  them  in  exercising  

authority  in  a  way  that  balances  a  right  use  of  power  with  an  appropriate  degree  of  

humility.  By  becoming  conscious  of  these  themes,  it  is  possible  to  pave  the  way  for  renewed  

faithfulness  as  the  church  continues  to  discern  those  who  are  called  to  ministry  and  to  

equip  them  to  exercise  the  authority  necessary  to  serve  within  this  calling,  to  the  benefit  of  

both  those  being  called  and  the  congregations  who  call  them.  

   

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