Awakened to a Calling: Reflections on the Vocation of Ministry

by Ann Svennungsen (Editor)

"For anyone responding to a call to the ministry, this book will be an excellent guide." --Jimmy Carter, Thirty-ninth President of the United States and Nobel Peace Prize Winner

The Fund for Theological Education (FTE) annually invites our nation's premier preachers to address a group of young adults who are considering a vocation in pastoral ministry. As part of the FTE's honoring of their outgoing president, Dr. James Waits, for his remarkable service, they have collected these superb sermons. These eight sermons on vocation offer an important resource for high school and college students making vocational decisions, for older adults considering vocational changes, and for all who teach and mentor in the area of vocational discernment and who help others sort out a commitment to professional ministry.

The purpose of the Ministry Conference, and the sermons delivered at the event, intersects well with Abingdon's mission to help form pastors who will serve the church faithfully and effectively. The preachers are highly recognizable and respected individuals who will serve as trusted and wise guides for discerning a ministry vocation. They include Fred Craddock, Walter Brueggemann, Tom Long, Barbara Brown Taylor, and Brad Braxton.

The volume includes an annotated bibliography of publications on ministry as a vocation, and a foreword by Dr. James T. Laney, former Ambassador to South Korea, President of Emory University, and Dean of Candler School of Theology. He is currently a faculty member of Emory's Center for Ethics. He chairs the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia, is a trustee of the Henry Luce Foundation, and chairs (with Andrew Young) The Faith and The City Program in Atlanta.

93 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2004

Reviews

[JD Waggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very slim collection---84 pages---made as tribute to a guy who worked for a long time and did wondrous things for the Fund for Theological Education. I have a lot of love for the FTE; I've used several of their documents in doing my seminary search, and I know some of their monies have helped friends of mine do schooling because that shit ain't cheap, yo.

So, the book. I'm not sure whether it's a good or a bad thing that I've been reading long and widely enough in Theological Things that I recognized almost every name in the Table of Contents, but man; there are some heavy hitters here. Walter Brueggemann has an essay, Barbara Brown Taylor has an essay, Fred Craddock has an essay, Thomas G. Long has an essay. Moderate bit of academic fangirling going on for me. And none of the essays (taken from sermons delievered to FTE students) are out-of-this-world mind-blowing, but all of them are reassuring and interesting. It's very cool to have people who are Doing Well in Their Field say hey, we started out falling off the bed, too.

I think this is an interesting read for everybody, but I especially love it for someone going into/doing/planning around/running the hell away from ministry, even if that's just particularly intensive lay leadership. It feeds that special place of humans where we want to know that we're not the only ones who feel like we lost our class schedules on the first day or that we were supposed to be perfect when we started but failed to be so. It's a book of encouragement, sometimes by being discouraging as all get-out, but always by being honest. That's pretty darn helpful.

[Theresa Hamilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a collection of sermons, which offers a nice variety of inspiration for men and women. The group of writers is ecumenical and you can read a short bio about each at the beginning of the book. I wasn't sure what to expect and thought the book might be a bit dry--it is not! There are certain sermons I will definitely read again. As a woman, the sermon I connected to the most was written by Ellen Echols Purdum, "Mary and Martha and the Myers-Briggs." Her insights on Mary and Martha are unique, and she points out that Jesus reminds us in Luke's gospel that "we have a choice" in how we behave.
As a member of the Disciples of Christ church I'm familiar with the work of the late Rev. Fred Craddock. His sermon, "If Only I Could Be Sure," offered encouragement to me as a later-in-life seminary student. This book is a quick read, yet one that will inspire anyone on a journey to discover their calling in ministry.

[Joey Dye · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really great collection of vocational sermons by preachers that are all connected in some way to Candler School of Theology at Emory University. That local appeal will make this worth the read for some; for others looking for strong messages about vocations to the ministry, this is a 2nd reason to read this short collection.
The only two preachers in this book I was familiar with were Barbara Brown Taylor and Walter Brueggemann. But there's a strong mix of voices from the mainline churches from Episcopal to UCC and Presbyterian. There is definitely a lot here that warrants a couple of reads.

[Ian Hastings · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sermon by Barbara Brown Taylor was incredible! Life/mind changing. Answered some questions I couldn't even begin to verbalize yet, about being an example, being perfect. she said you are not signing up to be perfect, to be Jesus. That job is already taken. You are signing up to be an example of someone who is trying!