Ministerial Call

Ministerial Call a term used to denote that right or authority which a person receives to preach the Gospel. This call is considered as twofold: divine and ecclesiastical. The following things seem essential to a divine call: 1. A holy blameless life; 2. An ardent and constant inclination and zeal to do good; 3. Abilities suited to the work: such as knowledge, aptness to teach, courage, etc.; 4. An opportunity afforded in Providence to be useful. The Methodists hold that no man should seek to enter the ministerial ranks who does not feel especially called to preach the Gospel. They are quite decided on this point. An ecclesiastical call consists in the election which is made of any person to be a pastor. But here those governed by an episcopacy differ from the Presbyterians, Baptists, Congregationalists, etc.; the former believing that the choice and call of a minister rest with the superior clergy, or those who have the gift of an ecclesiastical benefice; the latter teaching that it should rest on the suffrage of the, people to whom he is to minister. See EPISCOPACY; see ORDINATION.