Do you feel called by God? by Michael Bennett

As a Biblical treatment of the so-described “call” to Christian ministry, Do you feel called by God? often reads more like biography than theology. Michael Bennett’s opening words, “I wrote this book from a very personal perspective” are telling. That said, he is not interested only in celebrating the work of God in his life, he is attempting to correct the language we use when it comes to Christian calling.

As the comic-book-yellow cover complete with red telephone hints, an assumption is with us from the outset: the idea of being personally “called” by God into a life of gospel service is a little bit off kilter–a tad strange. It is this language of “call” that Bennett fixes his cross-hairs upon. He suggests it is unbiblical when applied to “career” ministry and damaging to people who wait around for a subjective pull from the Holy Spirit.

At this level, the careful observer is grateful for Bennett’s concern. How many times has over-spiritualised speech caused some believers to doubt their aptitude for service? Far too often.

Bennett lays the groundwork for the theology of “calling” by telling the story of his own unexpected path into ministry. He met Christ at age 24 after enduring a messy break up and being dropped from his rugby team. “Gradually, painfully,” he writes, “I knew not how, the pile of unbelief was disappearing and faith was being born. There was no dramatic heavenly thunderclap; no band struck up; but while sitting alone in church late one night, I found myself saying, ‘I do not want to live my life any longer without Jesus’.” These are the most beautiful passages in the book.

Quickly enough Bennett’s pursuit of the Biblical data around “calling” begins. Importantly, he admits his undertaking arose out of personal discomfort. He quotes the common Christian mantra that “I feel God is calling me to…” and explains he could never understand it since he didn’t feel it applied to his situation. When he found himself studying at a Liberal Catholic theological college (before he knew what such a thing was) and later as a reformed theological college student, such language got under his skin. He was at first “troubled” and “mystified” by his peers’ use of “calling”, and then frustrated at being asked to write references for younger Christians who “felt called” to various missionary endeavours.

It is a personal issue for Bennett. And it is personal issue for any Christian with ears to hear.

Here though, I think, the biographical tone works against his aim of showing us what God is saying in his word. In weighing up the argument, I found myself wondering whether the language of “calling” is really used as universally or one-dimensionally as Bennett suggests among Christians.

Bennett seems aware of that conundrum when he analyses the example of Hudson Taylor–the great missionary and founder of the China Inland Mission–in the chapter titled ‘Did God call Hudson Taylor?’. In choosing such an undisputed hero who employed the language of “call”, Bennett is critiquing the semantics of a man who held the Bible in high regard. The conclusion? While the missionary’s strong desires were really felt Bennett concludes “the sort of language with which Hudson Taylor expressed his decision to go to China cannot be found in the Bible”.

It is here that we encounter Bennett’s main point. The New and Old Testaments never use the language of “feeling called by God”. His word searches suggest: while God does call people supernaturally at times in both testaments, this happens by an audible voice or the appearing of an angel, not by a general “feeling”. While the word “calling” describes our calling to become God’s children through the gospel of Christ, it is not found in reference to a regular believer becoming an evangelist or the like. In summary Bennett says we are first called to be Christians, and second to be holy. When it comes to someone’s path into gospel ministry, he suggests guiding factors such as: environment (family, church); conversion; gospel consequences (a heart and mind gripped by the work of Christ); compassion; action (one who acts to rectify the problems in the world); and suitability.

It is an important discussion to think through. Those of us who love the Bible should care about the language we use. We need to be aware of how our words affect or potentially belittle the experiences of those around us. We should desire to use Biblical language. On the flip side, I’m unconvinced this complex debate – which involves the place of feelings and desires, as well as prophecy and other gifts of the triune God – is wrapped up neatly in Bennett’s short treatment.

Whether a Christian in full-time gospel service can use the word “called” to describe their experience seems open to me from a verse such as 2 Timothy 1:9 (which Bennett quotes): “He has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.” As Bennett points out in a later chapter, “You were called into the sacred ministry the moment you entered the kingdom of God”. That is true of all believers.

For me, now in my first year of theological study, receiving a deeper realisation of the gospel and its implications when I was at university changed my life. It was an experience of greater conviction of sin and the power of God’s salvation. It involved feelings. And it projected me in the years that followed into wanting to use all my time for the work of evangelism and growing others by the word of God.

My calendar started filling up with those things. God called me in Christ to be his possession. And I felt the power of that. Now I desire to use my whole life in his service. Do those feelings and that calling belong in separate categories? I still don’t know. Have I ever spoken about God’s work in me in an unbiblical way that unsettles other believers? Bennett has made me think about that. For anyone wondering how to work out what God wants them to do, Psalm 37 is not a bad place to start. Verse 5: “Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart’s desires.”