Called by God - Part 2

Called by God - Part 2

As part of my seminary education I am required to do two academic years of intern placement in ministry setting. Since I plan to seek ordination and hopefully will enter into local parish ministry I have been looking at several churches as possible options for my placement. One of the questions that is asked by the pastors I am interviewing with is about my call story or why I feel called to ministry and why I want to be a pastor. It is a question that I have spent a lot of time thinking about before coming to seminary and one I still think about as I continue to discover my call.

My call story really begins in 2008 at the UMC General Conference. I was there with the Reconciling Ministries Network to be a witness to the General Conference delegates and the wider UMC about the need for full inclusion of all peoples in the life of the church. Seeing the UMC at there reminded me of why I love this church and why I am proud to call myself a United Methodist. But as the church voted on issues of inclusion, my heart broke. I had personally been hurt by my own denial of membership. When the vote on church membership occurred and went against inclusion it broke my heart to know that there would still be those denied membership to our community of faith. That though we claim to have open doors not all congregations mean it. It was in the broken heart and stream of tears that I heard my call. In that moment God spoke to me and said that I am calling you to be a leader for the next generation aiding my church in becoming the church I desire it to be. God used that moment to show me just how far we have to go as church and that it will not change on its own, but through the work of our pastors and lay people working to create a change that reflects the diversity of God's creation and the inclusive love of Christ.

My understanding of God's call becomes clearer as I learn and one of the things I am certain of is the need for the church to change. The next generation will quite possibly determine whether the UMC dies or continues to be a representative of Christ on earth. I am being called to be at the forefront of this change as a pastor that reminds the youth and young adults that the church is not a place of hate, rejection, and condemnation but is rather a place to find God's open and accepting arms waiting to pour grace on us.

I believe one of the keys to energizing and revitalizing young people will be to reverse our current policy on homosexuality. A recent study by the Barna Group stated that a majority of young Christians and young non-Christian identified individuals believe the church is anti-gay. This is a real problem because this means many young people who have peers who are LGBTQ see the church as not a place for their friends. When this occurs they are less likely to attend church as well. We need to reverse this image and show that the church welcomes all people regardless. Period. This is what I feel called to. I am called to the margins and to the neglected and pushed. I am called to show that God loves all individuals and wants all to come and that all are welcome in God's church. I am called to show that God's church is place not of hate but a place of love. A place to come and find redemption and salvation in God's loving embrace.