Ordained Ministry: Divine Calling or Career Choice? Is there Anything Distinctive About a Vocation to Ordained Ministry?

This article addresses current ambiguities and potential confusion around the language and nature of vocation to ordination, focusing specifically on the process by which that vocation is discerned by the individual and by the church. It suggests that the particular shape of ordained ministry differentiates the process of vocational discernment to ordination from career choice. Drawing on the Ordination rite of the Church of England, the distinctive Christological, pneumatological and ecclesial elements of ordained ministry are expounded and offered as a theological framework for articulating and discerning a call to ordained ministry. Although the focus of this article is on vocational discernment for ordained ministry within the Church of England, the theological framework presented will be of wider relevance as churches reflect on how they identify those whom God is calling to ordained ministry and on how this may be constructively communicated with those who are discerning this vocation.