My Call Story

My heart was broken when I listened to the story of a man, and how he was abused physically by his father when he was a child and became fearful to face his adult life. That is the kind of case I always face in my career of counseling. In this paper, I will talk about how God called me, my experience in my ministry, and the importance of the training in my mission as referring to the Learning Pastoral Imagination Research.[1]

I am very concerned with the matter of family relationship. Since my conversion,[2] the response to the proclamation of the work of Jesus in my life, I value my Christian life and intimacy with God above all things, and having a quiet time to receive his love and listen to his voice to discern his will[3] is crucial for me. I felt God called me to minister in the family through the confirmation from his words and high motivation to help broken families. God wants to give peace in healing them.[4] Jesus is coming to the world to heal and restore the brokenhearted (Isa. 61:1-2 NRSV). I am so thankful for the healing and restoration I received from Jesus. As a Christian public leader, I should follow Jesus and trust in him,[5] and in hearing God’s voice, I learned to obey him in the different situations. God’s presence in my life in answering my prayers, providing for my need, and caring for my well-being through the spiritual disciplines[6] empowered me to take a step to risk in my call. Later, I founded a ministry that is focusing on the restoration of the family. As I moved forward, when I faced difficulties, I came back to his promises, and I tried to remember his faithfulness and great deeds to me and to the people I ministered to. God calls us for life every day that with our faith, we have unlimited possibility in him.[7] In the struggle with loss, I may encounter in myself or the ministry I know that there is a hope for the future; after the end, there is a beginning for new things.

Listening to people is very important in my work of counseling. I learned to be patient to build trust and good relationship with them.[8] I realized that if someone has trust in you, he would receive easily the value that you give or share. That is a joy for me.

However, I have encountered hard times and painful situations that made me struggle in my mission. Once, I was teaching in a seminar for couples and talking about domestic violence, which is very high in my country. One part of my teaching exposed the bad attitude of men toward their wives. One man felt bad and told me that was a teaching of a woman, but if my husband was teaching there, he would appreciate men who are always good. In that very conservative place, I prefer not to minister to avoid hurt from rejecting the leadership of women. I saw the difficulty of my work because of the complication with the intersection of the social and personal forces of injustice.[9] Fortunately, in my constant relationship with God, the Holy Spirit reminds me that I am precious, loved, and unique in my call because Jesus died for me on the cross, and that is my identity in Christ (Galatians 6:14).

Although I have faced difficulty in my mission, I really enjoyed my work and I was longing to see more happy families in the church. Theologians and pastors are the most trusted and credible to teach about Christian values in my country, so my access in the church was limited as lay people. My study at Luther Seminary answers this frustration that I encountered in my ministry. The different courses equip me with more knowledge of God about his love for me and others and how to bring the salvation to the world. I have a good opportunity to practice in the context and receive feed-back from the mentors,[10] which I really need for my confidence as a leader according to the research done in Learning Pastoral Imagination.

Therefore, my ministry is the testimony of my faith and my life, how God loves me in Jesus as I am redeemed, healed, and transformed by grace, and still learning to know more about God and who I am in him, growing with hope through the surroundings as a disciple of Jesus. The love of God and his salvation are also for my neighbors and the world without distinction. Then, I am called to reach them to practice the mercy of God, specifically in restoring the broken people, and make the nations Jesus’ disciples (Matthew 28:19-20). The Christian Public Leader courses make me more confident, joyful and bold in practicing my call.    

Bibliography

Barton, Ruth Haley. Strengthening the Soul of your Leadership: Seeking God in the Crucible

Ministry. Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2018.

Calhoun, Adele Ahlberg. Spiritual Discipline Handbook: Practices that Transforms Us.

Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2015.

Elton, Terri. Christian Public Leader (Lecture, Luther Seminary, Minnesota, September 7,

2017).

The HarperCollins Study Bible, Revised Edition. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 2006.

Lund, Sarah Griffith. Blessed are the Crazy: Breaking the Silence about Mental Illness, Family

and Church. St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2014.

Moltmann, Jurgen. In the End—the Beginning: The Life of Hope. Minneapolis: First Fortress

Press, 2004.

Scharen, Christian A. B., and Eileen R. Campbell-Reed, Learning Pastoral Imagination: A Five-

Year Report On How New Ministers Learn in Practice. https://auburnseminary.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/ Learning-Pastoral-imagination.pdf

Smith, K. A. James. How (Not) to be Secular. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014.

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[1] Christian A. B. Scharen and Eileen R. Campbell-Reed, Learning Pastoral Imagination: A Five-Year Report On How New Ministers Learn in Practice. https://auburnseminary.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/ Learning-Pastoral-imagination.pdf

[2] James K. A. Smith, How (Not) to be Secular (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014), 134.

[3] Ruth Haley Barton, Strengthening the Soul of your Leadership: Seeking God in the Crucible Ministry. (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2018), 17.

[4] Sarah Griffith Lund, Blessed Are the Crazy: Breaking the Silence about Mental Illness, Family and Church. (St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2014), 100.

[5] Terri Elton, “Chistian Public Leader”(Lecture, Luther Seminary, Minnesota, September7, 2017).

[6] Adele Ahlberg Calhoun, Spiritual Discipline Handbook: Practices that Transforms Us. (Downers Grove Il: IVP, 2015).

[7] Jurgen Moltmann, In the End- the Beginning: The Life of Hope. (Minneapolis: First Fortress Press, 2004), 67. 

[8] Scharen and Campbell-Reed, Learning Pastoral Imagination.

[9] Ibid.

[10] Ibid.