Sacred Calling and Protestant Ethics
“What is your calling?” This is a normal question to college and seminary students. As they are in the process of education toward a degree, they are also in a space of vocational discernment. Ideally their discernment includes internships where they glean experience to enliven their education through practical scenarios to taste and see whether they are a true fit for their chosen career path and what particular aspects they should pursue. The internal compass for finding meaningful work is guided by gifting, personality and the Spirit, often with the support of mentors and their community.
Calling is typically a term associated with religion as it assumes a higher being has summoned one to their lot in life. In this way calling creates meaning, and in service to God, can become a life path transcending particular jobs while creating a vocational pathway such as engineer, pastor or chef.
Max Weber in his text, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, introduces Martin Luther as the father of the modern form of calling in his quotation of Sirach 11:20-22 which says,
“Stand by your duty and stick to it; grow old at your work. Don’t be jealous of what sinners achieve; just stick to your own work, and trust the Lord. It is very easy for the Lord to make a poor person suddenly rich. Devout people will receive the Lord’s blessing as their reward, and that blessing can be given in a moment.”[1]
Weber is interested in the effects of Luther’s popularization, as it becomes part of his hypothesis in exploring why Protestants flourish financially above and beyond the Catholics of his time. Recognizing a correlation between Protestants and business, Weber sought to determine the source(s) for their evident prosperity.
Writing over a century ago, “Weber regards the Reformation as emerging independently of economic factors but examines the ways that ideas from the Reformation are connected with the capitalistic spirit.”[2] Weber digs into the further effects on the market by the practical implications of the theology of Calvinist, Pietist, Methodist and Baptist movements.
Weber majored on the perspective of Calvinists in his writing, tying economics to theology as a way of justifying their election. “The only way of living acceptably to God was not to surpass worldly morality in monastic asceticism, but solely through the fulfillment of the obligations imposed upon the individual by his position in the world. That was his calling.”[3]
While Luther did endorse the idea of calling he did not promote the capitalist spirit as an economic force but was a proponent of a more traditional economy as he opposed capital and profit-making while encouraging acceptance of one’s occupation “as a divine ordinance, to which he must adapt himself.”[4] This seems contradictory to Benedict Anderson’s notation of Luther as the first popular writer due to the innovation of the printing press. Perhaps he did not benefit financially from his distribution but one wonders if there was a potential contradiction between his own theology and practice.
For Weber the irony of “calling” is that it drives one to pursue great things for God in a secular workspace but then relieves them of the values they first held in relation to their religion once economic success is obtained. Thus, their values shift toward personal economic gain while appeasing the need for confidence in their salvation.
Dr. Erica Ramirez, sociologist and professor of religion at Portland Seminary remarks that, “Weber is a helpful critique of the vulnerability of the Protestant concept of calling to the pressures of capitalism.”[5] While Ramirez recognizes work as a necessary function of the modern world, she asserts that calling can be misguided by the need for economic gain. Continuing her critique, she notes that some may be called into positions not in their best economic interest, in particular those who are called to the church as pastors.
As much as Weber argues for the connection of the Protestant ethic to the capitalist spirit, those who teach the doctrines of the church, pastors, would have not enjoyed the fulfillment of the connection themselves, unless they also strongly encouraged a trickle down system of tithe into the church from their church members. Although pastors may have received their own salvific assurance from their divine service, what would prompt them to promote calling as a means for business savvy?
In today’s culture of ministry and calling of both Protestant church leaders and their lay disciples capitalism is endlessly interwoven as the system upon which the state (and by default those who are residents of the state) operates. Thus, the church does not have to promote capitalism as an economic engine for one’s salvation as much as it is a probability that participants in the church will participate in and benefit from their production in a capitalist society.
In my experience with the church, the majority of pastors are the ones who benefit the least from their calling financially. Their calling is divinely mandated and, as such, is worth doing with little financial benefit in return. Do ministers want to make a living? Of course they do. But more than this, they are not looking to secure their election but to call people into a life of abundance in the Spirit, which requires them to be willing to give up everything to follow Jesus. Disciple-making in this way is a hard sell to the capitalist spirit of today as it demands death of the inner money making machine to find real life and worth in God. The benefit of eternity with the Lord and a life lived in service to the King of kings while supporting a community through one’s time and talents is a worthy calling and ethic for any Protestant.
[1] Weber, Max. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Charles Scribner’s Sons: New York, 1958. 85.
[2] Gingrich, Paul. “Sociology 318: Classical Social Theory.” University of Regina. http://uregina.ca/~gingrich/318n1302.htm (March 8, 2018)
[3] Weber, 80.
[4] Weber, 85.
[5] Ramirez, Erica. Interviewed by Trisha Welstad. Personal Interview. Cleveland, TN, March 8, 2018.
About the Author
Trisha Welstad
Trisha is passionate about investing in leaders to see them become all God has created them to be. As an ordained Free Methodist elder, Trisha has served with churches in LA and Oregon, leading as a pastor of youth and spiritual formation, a church planter, and as a co-pastor of a church restart. Trisha currently serves as leadership development pastor at Northside Community Church in Newberg, OR. Over the last five years Trisha has directed the Leadership Center, partnering with George Fox and the Free Methodist and Wesleyan Holiness churches. The Leadership Center is a network facilitating the development of new and current Wesleyan leaders, churches and disciples through internships, equipping, mentoring and scholarship. In collaboration with the Leadership Center, Trisha serves as the director of the Institute for Pastoral Thriving at Portland Seminary and with Theologia: George Fox Summer Theology Institute. She is also adjunct faculty at George Fox University. Trisha enjoys throwing parties, growing food, listening to the latest musical creations by Troy Welstad and laughing with her two children.16 responses to “Sacred Calling and Protestant Ethics”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Great connection. Capitalism and the need for pastors and missionaries to be able to make a living in their vocation. I also see capitalistic expansion in church hiring. Often time church hiring is split into things that will ADD or MINUS from the overall fund from the church. For example, a youth pastor will ADD to the church because it will attract young families. While a book-keeper of a missions pastor will MINUS funds as they will not attract new people in and they cost money to employ. This is uncomfortable business thinking in the church. It makes me want all pastors to by bivocational. But then of course less would get done for the Kingdom.
I have had many conversations with youth people as I visited universities in the states about calling and true vocation. I have found the financial question comes up and seems to be the deciding factor. How can I survive making that little? How can I raise enough funds to do…. There seems to be a large question of where we lay our trust with those that have just graduated. I have had similar thoughts that bi-vocational pastors would understand the people and communities better. I do wonder if less would get done for the kingdom or if less busy work and more relevant work would be done.
Pastors in France tend to be either bi-vocational or financially supported by a spouse. (This is because the average church is about 80 people (30-40 families) and they can barely afford to buy ink for a printer and keep the lights on, much less give a full-time salary to a Pastor.) And I think this is a really good model. The ideal ouctome would be that while less might ge done by the Pastor him/herself, the body of Christ takes up the slack. Preaching is shared by elders, everyone is evangelizing and making disciples, members visit each other in the hospital, etc. There is a limitation to how much the paid staff can do, and that creates a healthy leadership vacuum that invites others to put their gifts to use.
I appreciated your positive sense of what most pastors are looking for in their vocations. This has been true for me. I’m not convinced that this should not also be true for Christians working in a secular context. If all work is done unto the glory of God, why would financial gain be more or less of a motivator for Christian business people than for pastors? I think it’s important that we help Christians in secular professions discern job opportunities in the same way pastors do. Money is part of it, but only one slice of the pie. That should be the case for every Christian. I’m guessing you agree with this?
Thanks Chris. Yes, this has been true for me as well. I do agree with you as well but did not make the case for Christians working in the secular context as most Christian teaching (especially historically) has come from the church/church pastors and would be a guide for their parishioners. Also, I was thinking in context of my project and how we leaders lead and disciple others.
Trisha
Great response to the reading, as a youth minister I had many discussions with high schoolers and college students about “calling” and if it was from God or personal drive. My response was always, we are called to be Christ followers no matter what our vocation, some to the church some in the secular world. The most important thing I would always encourage the students with was seek God no matter what you did, and also to work at any vocation as if for God. Interestingly enough, the kids who found a calling instead of a job have always seemed the most content, and most of the time it was never about the money. Have you seen the same results in your position?
Jason
I agree with you Jason that those who have listened to their call and walked in it rather than the pursuit of a career, finance or success have often not made it about money and have found fulfillment in their work. Generally, the work coming out of our calling provides more meaning and depth. It is hard when we are pursuing our call and things don’t work out how we expected or we have a financial crisis that puts us beyond our means while still struggling to pursue our call.
Great post Trisha. I cannot help but wonder if the threat of unemployment is capable of making many ministers buckle under pressure. I know that I have had members in my past that thought they could threaten my “job” as a means of trying to get me to side with them. I also had an elder from a church that I was the new youth minister for, give me $3000 for “moving expenses”, only to meet me in my office my first week on the job and try to get me to unite with him against the other elders. He was the same man to get me fired a year later because I never would.
Your post touched on the calling of ministers though, and the very fact (at least as I see it) a minister who feels truly called, would not surrender that calling out of material goods. No threat would work because they are motivated by God’s calling, not someone else’s.
Do you believe it is possible to keep capitalism from interfering with the ministry today…by this, I mean the integrity of the messages and the messengers that carry that ministry?
Wow Shawn, those were really unhealthy experiences you had. I hope pastors have a sense of calling and identity (as you obviously did) that goes beyond the pressures and fear mongering of their disciples in the church. I know it is hard though and that’s why we need to continually be turned toward Jesus.
To answer your question, I do think it is possible to keep capitalism from interfering with the messages and messengers of the ministry. Again, I think it has to do with our own rootedness in Christ and our courage in the face of fear/pressures that are not of God.
Trisha,
Challenging young people (and their parents) regarding calling into something other than a means to secure financial security and independence is tough. We must also remember that those in ministry (and even those of us in Christian higher ed institutions) are completely dependent on the generosity of Christians in the secular work environment for our sustenance. Mark’s post highlighting utilitarianism in the Protestant church underlines some of this issue. It’s tough to disciple students into understanding their calling, particularly if we think they have ability to be in ministry, knowing that they will be forever dependent on the calling of others to a good ethic of stewardship. That goes against the protestant ethic of individualism and independence. I encourage my students toward bi-vocational ministry. Work to put food on the table, pursue your calling in ministry to fulfill ones calling. How do you help students navigate this challenge?
Dan, I think you offer wisdom to your students in your teaching. I try to help my students be rooted in a vocational credo so that they see their call as more transcendent than a very particular job such as pastor or youth pastor or worship leader (or any other very specific vocation for that matter). Once they have a vocational credo I have them determine at least three different jobs they could do that fit their calling. This way they can see that their call is not inextricably linked to the job and so they will not feel like a failure when they graduate and do not get their dream job immediately or later in life when they realize shifts are necessary. I use the book “Your Vocational Credo” by Deborah Koehn Loyd. It’s newer and an excellent workbook style read.
This is an interesting thread where the theme of bivocationality is coming up a few times. When we look at pastoral ministry, we tend to immediately assume that this is a full-time, paid role where it could be easily bivocational, or even volunteer. As ministry is professionalized, it is a temptation to only view it as a career rather than a calling.
Trisha,
Thanks for this post and your exploration of calling. I think you are right on in broadening the use of “calling” and noting that pastors are often ones who are least financially rewarded for living out their calling, and yet, do it nonetheless. Preach!
I think these are the ways we think about all of this in “church world”, I wonder if Weber were writing today, whether he would still identify “Protestants” as those with this work ethic tied to a sense of calling, or, whether the modern “information worker” (of various backgrounds and belief systems) would overtake that pole position.
Trisha,
I love how you closed your blog – calling out that the ministry vocation is a denial of society’s push towards capitalism. Imagine if our country existed in a way that all people put ministry and others’ needs in front of accumulation of money and things. However, the struggle is real in that churches rely on their members giving to support the ministry! I appreciate the bi-vocational conversation happening in the responses…
Thanks Jean. I think if our country did what you advocate for (put ministry and others’ needs in front of accumulation of money and things) you wouldn’t have a doctoral topic because that would meet the needs in our current refugee crisis. 🙂 Lord, may it be so.
All, I really value the conversation on bi-vocational pastoring. From my take within the church and university setting, I think we are headed toward more and more pastors being bi-vocational as the norm. Dan, I appreciate you encouraging students to be bi-vocational. I loved Aaron’s pecha kucha in Cape Town on multi-vocational pastors and believe we can actually get more done for the kindgom as Greg said rather than less as Kyle asserted. In part I realized this when I became a parent, now that I have less time to do whatever I want I have to be intentional with the time I do have and sometimes creative with the time I don’t so that I can care for my family, make a living and live into my calling well. I see many people doing bi-vocational well but it does take more work and teamwork which might actually make the church more effective as we don’t expect one person to do it all for us and it keeps pastors fresh as we are also with those who need Jesus instead of teaching from the inside only. There are arguments on both sides (I have been on both sides and see benefits each way).
I had a revelation this weekend as I was with a bunch of Pentacostal scholars/professors and writing this post in Nashville that people going into ministry today have to connect themselves financially to something/someone (spouse, inheritance, the academy, another job, higher levels of church administration) that will make them money unless they are in a denomination that has a lot of money (this is a dying trend), a large church, or are very entrepreneurial. The cost of living is not the same as it was even ten years ago and with the loss of many parsonages, the pastoral housing allowance soon and many churches shrinking across America. It seems a shift in thinking and action is required…maybe even a capitalist spirit? I am not sure about that but I am aware of the growing changes for the young leaders around me pursuing a call to ministry.