The Call of God

He fills and empowers us to work with him to bring his life and hope and transforming power to people in every field and community - Chris Cartwright

Pentecostals have always placed a strong emphasis on the call of God. Our Pentecostal pioneers came into an experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which saw ordinary people being filled and empowered by the Spirit to serve Jesus in their everyday lives, communities and workplaces.

At the heart of that experience was a deep conviction, preached from the pulpits and shared in local church life and fellowship, that Jesus called people, personally, to serve him for the rest of their lives as worshippers, witnesses and workers.

The call of God, they believed, was not just for a special few but for the many coming to faith in Jesus.

They found in Jesus’ words of Acts 1:8 and Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost evidence that the Spirit would come upon men and women, old and young, Gentile and Jew, in a fresh outpouring, in order to equip them for works of service. They also saw the gifts of the Spirit as Jesus’ promise that he would be with them as they move forward, trusting in his call.

It’s no wonder they were gripped by the many stories of God calling all sorts of people in the Old Testament: Moses as deliverer, David as king, Isaiah as prophet, Deborah to judge and lead Israel, Samson as the Lord’s warrior.

In the Gospels, they found faith in the very ordinary recognisable disciple characters receiving their personal call. Peter in his boat, Matthew a tax collector, Mary and Martha in their home in Bethany.

The call of God is an integral part of the gospel message and the great commission mandate for every Christian. Often over church history, it has been refined and relegated to a hierarchical system or a professional career path.

Yet, as the emerging church began to experience in the first few decades after Jesus’ resurrection, Christ was calling the many, not just the few, in radical prophetic fulfilment.

Growing up in Elim, my own experience gave me direct evidence of the importance of the call of God. Attending Elim’s Isle of Wight camp as a teenager, I was moved to respond to an appeal given at the end of an evening camp meeting. The preacher gave an appeal for young people to give their lives to serve God.

I went forward and felt that night the confirmation of Christ’s call to me to follow him all the days of my life. I felt it was a call to some kind of ministry, but didn’t know much more than that.

Returning home to Cheltenham Elim, I spoke with my pastor, Lionel Currie. With hindsight I wonder what Lionel was thinking with this 17-year-old struggling to explain what had happened at camp.

Amazingly, Pastor Lionel didn’t only encourage me to follow that call, he booked me to preach at an upcoming Sunday- night service led by the youth and gave me opportunity to take a first, terrifying step. Years later, recalling that, I wonder if I would have had the insight, courage and pastoral care to trust a raw 17-year-old in such a way. In the following years, in a great church, with support of youth leaders and church members, I and a whole bunch of young people were nurtured, discipled and enabled to pursue the call of God on our lives. I particularly remember reading and re-reading Paul’s letters to Timothy as he urged his young son in the faith to stay true to his calling and root his life deeply in Christ.

I heard that evangelist Reinhard Bonnke was once asked, “Why don’t we see more people called to the mission field and ministry as in previous times?” Bonnke replied, “God hasn’t stopped calling, he loves to call; it’s us that have stopped listening and responding.”

The call of Jesus is primarily to be ‘with him’. As we come to him, he fills and empowers us to work with him to bring his life and hope and transforming power to people in every field and community.

In a year where we are seeking God for a fresh awakening, we are praying for a wave of callings across our churches. We are praying that real people, in real places, going through real things, will be freshly awakened to the call of Jesus.

That call comes in the midst of all the challenges of our circumstances and culture. It’s a call for everyone to fresh adventures of faith and obedience. And it’s a call to follow him wherever he leads – to win children and young people, to reach cities and nations, in the marketplace, in politics, education, business and the arts, believing that he who calls is also the one who opens doors and empowers and equips his people.

This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.

Enjoy this article? Don't forget to share