Not long after a man is born again, the question arrives — sometimes as a whisper, sometimes as a fire: am I called to preach? It is a good and honest question, and it deserves a careful answer rather than a quick yes or a crushing no. The trouble is that the Bible uses the word call on several different levels, and nearly all the confusion comes from mixing them up. Sort them out, and the question answers itself.
First: you are already “the called”
Before anyone is called to do anything, every believer is the called — “called to be saints” (Romans 1:7), “the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28), “called… out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Peter 2:9). This is the first and deepest calling, and if you are in Christ you already have it: the call to belong to Him. So the very first word to the convert burning to know “am I called?” is — you already are. Called to Christ, to holiness, to witness. That call is settled; the one you’re really asking about comes later and narrower.
Your calling — and the pulpit-vs-grocery-store lie
The Bible also calls your ordinary life and work a calling: “let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called” (1 Corinthians 7:20). And here a lie needs killing, because it wounds more young believers than almost anything: the idea that the pulpit is “real” service to God and the workplace is a lesser, worldly thing. Scripture knows no such caste. “Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord” (Colossians 3:23); “whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Every believer is a priest — “ye are a royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9). The man stocking shelves to the glory of God, witnessing to his coworkers, raising his children in the faith, is in full-time ministry — and the grocery store reaches people the pulpit never will. Paul made tents (Acts 18:3); Amos said plainly, “I was no prophet… but an herdman” (Amos 7:14); the apostles smelled of fish and Jesus of sawdust.
The specific call: the five-fold ministry
Then there is the call most converts actually mean — the call to a preaching office — and it is real, particular, and not given to everyone. “Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers?” (1 Corinthians 12:29) — the question expects the answer no. Christ gave the church five equipping gifts:
- Apostles — sent ones, foundation-layers, planters
- Prophets — those who speak forth God’s word
- Evangelists — gospel-bringers to the lost
- Pastors — shepherds of the flock
- Teachers — expounders of the truth
And read the purpose, because it corrects the whole misunderstanding: these were given “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-12). The five-fold don’t do the ministry while everyone watches — they equip the saints to do it. The ministry is the whole body’s work; the offices are the coaches. And no man hands himself the office: “No man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron” (Hebrews 5:4).
How do you know — and when?
The old preachers watched for several marks together, never just one:
- A God-given burden that will not leave — “if a man desire the office… he desireth a good work” (1 Timothy 3:1).
- A gift that evidences itself — “a man’s gift maketh room for him” (Proverbs 18:16).
- Fruit when you minister, and faithfulness in small things first — “faithful in that which is least” (Luke 16:10).
- The confirmation of the church — God’s called are recognized and set apart by mature leadership, not self-appointed (Acts 13:2-3).
And above all, His timing. God does the calling in His own time, and the call usually comes with a long apprenticeship. Moses waited forty years on the back of the desert; David was anointed as a boy and crowned much later; Paul had hidden years before Antioch; even Jesus worked a trade for thirty years before thirty months of ministry. So do not run ahead, and do not covet the platform for its own sake — “be not many masters [teachers], knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation” (James 3:1). The pulpit is a weight, not a trophy. Prove faithful where you are, and let God do the promoting.
The high calling — the upward call that reorders it all
And now the verse that puts the whole question in its place. Paul wrote, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14). That phrase — “high calling” — is in the Greek the upward calling, the call from above. It is not “high” as in a higher rank — a pulpit above a pew. It is “high” as in direction — God calling you up, homeward, and you running toward Him. See what that does to the convert’s question. You asked whether there is a higher calling — and Paul lifts your eyes off the horizontal ladder of ministry ranks entirely and fixes them on the finish line: the prize is not a position, the prize is Christ. Every runner in the race — the apostle and the herdsman, the pulpit and the aisle — is pressing toward the very same mark, answering the very same upward call. That is the picture above you: Elijah caught up in the chariot of fire — the upward call made visible — and Elisha below, reaching for the mantle as the calling is handed on. Whatever your calling turns out to be, it is only ever meant to point you, and the people around you, up.
So rest, and press on
If God has not called you to the pulpit, you are not second-class — your work, your home, your corner of the world is holy ground, and you are a priest upon it. If He is calling you, you need not force it, manufacture it, or envy those already in it; He will make it unmistakable, open the doors Himself, and confirm it through His people, in His time — “the gifts and calling of God are without repentance” (Romans 11:29). Either way, the race is the same and the mark is the same. And the upward call begins for everyone at the same door: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38). Get on the track; then press toward the mark.