Book Review
Calling And Character
by William Willimon

How many pastors do you know who have succumbed to the manifold temptations peculiar to the pastorate and have thus disgraced themselves, their families, their churches and, most profoundly and significantly, God and His gospel? There are, among others, temptations to arrogance, plagiarism, laziness, sexual infidelity, and accommodation to worldly definitions of success. How should we as pastors think about and approach these ethical issues pertaining to the pastorate?

The starting point for many is the ethical issues themselves. Yet William Willimon, in Calling And Character, rightly reminds us that we should begin with the basic question, “Who ought clergy to be?” and only then by implication, “What ought clergy to do?” Identity and ethics are, thus, inseparable. Willimon examines the nature of pastoral identity and then draws out the implications for the ethical challenges we face. As a pastor writing to pastors, he aims to persuade us “that while God has called us clergy to a work that is difficult, it is not impossible, and that we ought not to waste the grace of God by shirking our high calling.”

How often do we hear of pastors who “burn out” and leave the ministry? Willimon contends that the “great ethical danger for the clergy is not that we might ‘burn out,’ [but] that we might ‘black out,’ that is lose consciousness of why we are here and who we are called to be for Christ and his church.” It is here that we must be clear about the nature of our vocation. The knowledge and conviction of our high calling as pastors to nurture, lead, and equip God’s people for the work of the ministry to the praise of God’s glory should be the foundation for our perseverance in faithfulness to Christ. Pastoral ethics, then, are not simply a matter of what we do, but an outworking of our vocation as leaders in Christ’s church.

Willimon examines the issue of pastoral character through three interrelated categories. They are community, cross, and new creation. Christian ethics cannot be isolated from the community of Christ, but rather find their expression within it. As leaders of the church, we should make ourselves accountable to the Christian community for our conduct, recognizing that the spiritual health of our churches is directly affected by our own purity and faithfulness.

The cross of Christ as the “primary ethical trajectory of the New Testament” teaches us that our lives and ministries, if we are faithful, will inevitably be marked by sacrifice, suffering, and conflict, for the reason that “as a preacher and pastor . . . I must be tethered to something more significant than peace and harmony if I am to be faithful to my vocation.” Cross-bearing for the sake of the gospel was a pattern set by Jesus and the apostles and is, therefore, the one we must follow. In light of the many trials and burdens of the pastorate (dealing with difficult people, the weekly and wearisome labor of faithful study and preaching), we must cultivate the clerical virtue of constancy—that quality of character that commits to faithfully ministering in the face of hardship, even if we don’t feel like doing so at the moment. How does this recognition of the burdensome life of the faithful pastor square with Jesus’ teaching that His burden is light? The burden is light, Willimon writes, “when we find our burdensome lives caught up, elevated, borne aloft by something greater than our lives.” It is Christ’s triumph in the cross and resurrection that enables us to continue taking up our crosses daily.

“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Co. 5:17). Willimon states that this is the basis for Christian ethics. We who are new creations in Christ “are those who are called to be none other than the very embodiment of the righteousness of God in the world.” We must not give in to despair, however, for our confidence is not in ourselves, but in the God who raised Jesus Christ from the dead and who has made us new creations in him.

As ministers of the gospel, we have received a high calling. With this calling there are high ethical standards imposed upon us by our unique vocation—not merely an agreed upon list of ethical rules but conduct that is to be the result of the faithful cultivation of Christ-like character. Willimon calls us to understand that effectiveness in our vocation is tightly bound to our character. We are called to be faithful to Christ and to remain tethered to His gospel above all else. Being convinced of and committed to this we may, with praise and thankfulness, join God in His great work of redemption.

Tom Regan is a Master of Divinity student at Western Seminary
in Portland, OR and Pastor of Community Life at Calvary Chapel,
Salem.