Should I Accept That Church’s Call?

In non-denominational and baptistic traditions, many ask, “What percentage should I require of a congregation to accept a call?” There are lots of things to think about when answering that question. Do I have the leadership capacity and chemistry for this church culture? Do I have an adequate metric of their church health? On a practical level, will they take care of my family and respect our decisions? But how do you assess these things when applying from a distance?

Percentage may not always be the best gauge but it may provide you with leverage to properly interview the congregation. For example, John Piper’s call was not unanimous, nor was John MacArthur’s elder team fully on side. None should rule out a low percentage call.

But how low? There may be a variety of reasons why one might not receive an unanimous vote outside of the usual likability. How should one proceed?

1. Be sure to read your cultural moment well

Usually, there are cultural considerations at play. When people are skittish and distrusting of leadership in general, pastoral transitions may be rough and tumble but not impossible.

People are the same in every generation. People, like flocks, become disquieted when predatory animals are in the wind. Our era is quite a bit like the post-“neutral period” which occurred after the first great awakening up to the American Revolution. As Stephen Wolfe notes, Christianity was widely accepted during this “neutral period,” but not so much now. Coalitions for the gospel prior to the Awakening were easy to form and there was a general good-will among Reformed-minded Christians. Not so much now (2023) or then (1750-60s).

There is now a strong polarization between Elite and Rural in America. But we have been here before. Consider two calls to ministry that occurred amidst cultural anxiety and change in the lead up to the Revolution.

Periods of transition

1730s New England was an easy period of idyllic, good-will and cooperation among Reformed Christians (“neutral period”). In those days, everyone adhered to the Westminster Confession, except for a few enthusiast Quakers who wandered up from Pennsylvania. It was the Great Awakening in the 1740s that divided the Reformed brethren along social-economic and generational lines. Why? The Awakenings threatened the power-structures .

The younger ministers (New Lights) tended to favor the Awakening. The older men (Old Lights) did not because it questioned their legitimacy. These ministers typically had influence in colonial government, while the younger did not. The older used their influence to weaponize government to suppress itinerate preaching. This evoked a response from Elisha Williams in his The Essential Rights and Liberties of Protestants (1744).1

By 1750 Jonathan Mayhew preached a memorial sermon in Boston titled A Discourse concerning Unlimited Submission and Non-Resistance to the Higher Powers.2 Mayhew, and Old Light, was an unlikely partner for the repressed New Light movement in New England; however, his published sermon was read by many during this period. 3  The republican ideas contained therein were read and discussed leading up to the French and Indian War (1754–1763).

Predictable Volatility

Cultural mood can be pervasive and directly impact how the sheep will respond to their future minister. If there is a general distrust in governmental leadership, it may carry over into the congregational life. The Intolerable Acts aimed at the Colonies enflamed distrust. This rising distrust of civil and ministerial leadership sent shock-waves through many communities in New England as Revolution began to be debated openly. It was in this volatile cultural moment that that two New Light Ministers applied for pulpits in prominent New England cities in the late 1760s. Jonathan Edwards Jr. applied in New Haven, CT and Samuel Hopkins applied in Newport, RI.


2. Assess Church Health and Your Related Experience

Jonathan Edwards Jr. (1745-1801)

In 1766 Edwards Jr. graduated from Princeton and spent a winter and summer with Joseph Bellamy and Samuel Hopkins. Both of these men had been mentored by his more famous father. After Edwards Jr. was licensed to preach in 1767, he returned to Princeton for a year to teach junior students while he filled pulpits. In 1768 he began preaching at his esteemed uncle’s church, the White Haven Church in New Haven, CT. He was only 23 years old and single when he began preaching there. Furthermore, he was dependent upon the recommendations of more seasoned men to assess his compatibility in the congregation.

Jonathan Edwards Jr (1745-1801)

He sought guidance from Joseph Bellamy regarding his salary. He also took advice from the president of Yale, a local pastor, and Roger Sherman-a leading member in regard to baptismal standards. In this situation, it appears Edwards Jr. was a pawn. A controlling faction was using him to serve their own purposes.4 Thus, his coming did not produce the unity desired, and the church split within 9 months of his January 1769 installation as sixty-eight left to form their own society.

Politics

In this church a division had been growing for at least eight years under the surface. Unfortunately, name recognition is not enough to bring a divided congregation together. Young men tend to think that they can do what many older men can do better, which is a trap. Edwards Jr. definitely grew in his capacity to lead the church once the embittered faction left. Yet, he lacked skills to win over older congregational members. The doctrinal differences were not unimportant; however, he lacked the gravitas to garner respect. To be fair, there was poor church health at the White Haven. Prior to his candidacy, the deacons had created a general atmosphere of distrust to match the cultural mood of the day.

Samuel Hopkins (1721-1803)

Samuel Hopkins on the other hand, left a congregation in 1768 without a call to a new ministry. Traveling East from Great Barrington, MA, he went to Boston with the purpose of networking. While in Boston he became a candidate at the Old South Church; however, there were not enough supporters to receive a call. To his credit, he permitted himself to supply pulpits in Maine. As he was about to leave Maine for home, he received a request from the First Congregational Church in Newport, RI to be a candidate.

Samuel Hopkins (1721-1803)

In July 1769 he arrived in this seaport community to preach for “a social and cultural world totally removed from the rural, small town society so familiar and comfortable to him.”5 This seaport was the fifth largest city in the colonies having larger pockets of diversity than most other cities-including approximately 1200 enslaved and free African Americans.6 By comparison, the back waters of the Berkshires made Newport appear as Babylon.

Prayer

To the surprise of Hopkins, the church seemed ready to respond to his theological idiosyncrasies on communion and baptism. Yet, after a month with them, rumors began to circulate from outside of the church that turned the positive sentiment against him. After he left Newport to return home, he received correspondence from supporters. Two women, Sarah Osborn and Susanna Anthony, held weekly prayer meetings seeking to regain Hopkins for the church.

He returned to preach on probation for the fall and winter. By the following spring, to the shock of the Old Lights who were opposed to his installation, he was settled. Hopkins moved his family to Newport in 1770 to begin a successful career. He would have been even more successful had the War not occurred shortly thereafter. It was in this church that the seeds of the abolition movement began to sprout. He, with others, petitioned the Continental Congress to suspend the slave trade.

According to Conforti,

“When at afternoon teas, Hopkins found himself the center of attention and the solicitous women willing to do anything in their power to aid their minister, he was reassured that he had found one of the few churches in New England where a clergyman still commended respect and deference.”7


How to Assess a Number

For a young person entering ministry, great care ought to be taken to assess one’s personal experience. Edwards Jr. appeared to have enough local supporters but not enough to properly bring unity to the body. Furthermore, the political ends of factions in the church ought to have been a clear signal not to accept the call. Political gamesmanship is not the work of grace.

Samuel Hopkins, on the other hand, had sufficient age to build credibility with a new congregation. What appeared to be a closed door became an open door by the work of spiritual people. The women who prayed won the day and provided a pathway for good success in ministry. Numbers in a congregation can change so that what is a low percentage initially becomes unanimous in the end.

Prayerfully assess numbers. If you receive a low number, don’t worry. This is an opportunity to interview the congregation. For example, if you have an 80% vote and the constitution permits it, don’t say no immediately. Evaluate the the cultural moment you are in. Ask questions to clarify. Are there spiritually minded people present in the congregation? Perhaps through conversation misunderstandings may be cleared up. Like Samuel Hopkins, you might be able to prolong the process, request time and prayer, and by the end find that you have a unified church to lead.

  1. Elisha Williams, The Essential Rights and Liberties of Protestants: A Seasonable Plea for The Liberty of Conscience, and The Right of Private Judgment, in Matters of Religion, Without any Controul [sic] from Human Authority […] (Boston: S. Kneeland and T. Green, 1744). ↩︎
  2. Full title: A Discourse concerning Unlimited Submission and Non-Resistance to the Higher Powers. With some Reflections on the Resistance made to King Charles I. And on the Anniversary of his Death: In which the Mysterious Doctrine of that Prince’s Saintship and Martyrdom is Unriddled, January 30, 1749/50 (Boston: D. Fowle, 1750). ↩︎
  3. According to John Adams who was a member of his church, this sermon was read by everyone. John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Letters 1811-1825, vol. 10 Indexes (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1854), 288. Jonathan Edwards Jr. preached a similar sermon during the war years from the same text.  ↩︎
  4. Jonathan Edwards Jr., “Letter to Joseph Bellamy, Nov. 31, 1768, Jonathan Edwards Papers, Series V Edwards Family Correspondence, Jonathan Edwards 1745-1801 Outgoing Papers, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (Box 26, Folder 1414). ↩︎
  5. Joseph A. Conforti, Samuel Hopkins & The New Divinity Movement (Grand Rapids: Wm B. Eerdmans, 1981), 98. ↩︎
  6. Conforti, Samuel Hopkins, 98. ↩︎
  7. Conforti, Samuel Hopkins, 108 ↩︎