According to the 16th-century Church Reformer Martin Luther, there's a difference between your "vocation" and your "office." Your vocation has a sense of permanence. To quote Parker Palmer, it is at the "deepest level" of the person, which is why you "can't not do" it. Conversely, your office is the place of ministry wherein you fulfill your vocation. Unfortunately, the (so-called) "traditional" path of vocation is, in actuality, more like a list of offices one has had. This expected route is official in nature (in the sense of "office") and not vocational in nature.
I have been blessed with what I call a "bird's eye view" of the Church. Working in various offices has permitted me to gain this broad vision. My ministry experience includes regional ministry, local church pastorate, advocacy and community organizing, nonprofit, and now scholarship and education.
Interestingly, despite the vast differences between offices, I have noticed a common thread, with which I have woven my vocational self-understanding. And it is this: I teach. As an associate minister for youth, the youth program we developed was, I later realized, strongly education based. As a faith-based community organizer, I constantly brought liberation theology books with me to teach my ministerial colleagues on how the Christian faith undergirds our struggle toward justice. As a regional minister, I forged a close, spiritual kinship with those great theologians of the past, who also did "regional ministry" — bishops like St. Augustine of Hippo and St. Gregory of Nyssa. They, like me, were called by the Church to care for a "region" of congregations. And for them, as for me, this ministry of oversight was firstly a teaching office. While my offices have been manifold and varied, my vocation has been particular and focused. I have been teaching my way through my call.
Over 3 years ago, I realized that I was stuck vocationally. Note: I speak of vocation, not of office! At the end of my tenure in the Central Rocky Mountain Region, my hopes were still alive, and my passions still ablaze. Moreover, the "office" of regional ministry gave me life until the very last day. But vocationally, as a minster who teaches, I was stuck. This is when I felt anew the scholarly itch — an intellectual restlessness I had felt before in years past. I knew that further study, at the highest level, was the next step. I just knew. I was "unable to explain to anyone else and don't fully understand myself," but it was "nonetheless compelling." So, I again shifted offices: as a doctoral student of theology and philosophy, and as an educator and mentor to Disciples pastors in formation at Disciples Seminary Foundation. (The birth of my daughter is yet another office from which to teach — and learn! I have so much to learn here!)
You see, modern ministry needs ministers with vocational depth. For when planted in this particular depth, one can flourish, with joy and effectiveness, within various offices. Yet, this depth does require a bit of courage — a courage that breaks with "official" expectations and that risks the unexpected joys of following one's vocation.
Rev. José Morales Torres is the Director of Pastoral Formation at Disciples Seminary Foundation in Claremont, CA. He is also pursuing his PhD in Comparative Theology and Philosophy at Claremont School of Theology.
