God’s Call and the Requisite Preparation for Performing Various Ministries, 2006

Abstract

Several biblical texts relate how God called and commissioned men and women to serve in various ministerial capacities. Scholars have generally viewed divine calls as following a discernible structural form, viz., call narrative. In his article on the call narrative, Norman Habel identified six steps characteristic of a biblical call narrative: (1) Divine confrontation: when the agent of Yahweh or Yahweh makes an initial intervention in the life of the callee. (2) The introductory word: a statement alerting the targeted person that it is Yahweh giving the word. (3) Yahweh’s commission: the callee is assigned a specific task. (4) Objection: The callee expresses an objection to the commission and cites all the strong reasons why the commission should not be accepted. (5) Divine reassurance: Yahweh allays the callee’s fears by giving reassurance. (6) Signs: at this point the callee asks for signs in order to be certain that God is talking and appointing.

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