Summary: In nearly all Christian churches their positions of leadership and most of those who work for them are paid for their labors. On the other hand, in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, each member is given what is referred to as a “calling,” which is an assignment or a duty they are asked to perform, yet they willingly accept these callings with no expectation of being compensated for their labors. This article explains why they do this and the blessings that come from doing so.

In the 7th chapter of the book of Moroni, we read of a sermon that Mormon “taught them (his people) in the synagogue which they had built for the place of worship.” He begins by saying, “And now I, Mormon, speak unto you, my beloved brethren; and it is by the grace of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, and his holy will, because of the gift of his calling unto me, that I am permitted to speak unto you at this time” (Moroni 7:2).

In nearly all Christian churches, there are pastors, priests, ministers, rabbis or other similar positions who serve as leaders to the people in their congregations. Since this is often their full-time vocation, they are reimbursed for their labors, not only with a salary, but usually with other amenities, such as free housing, transportation and/or other benefits.

In some of the larger churches there may be several pastors, with one being responsible for the operation of the entire church along with assistants in charge of various activities, such as the youth, the elderly, education, missionary work, music, etc. who are also paid for their services. To help the church function, there are clerical staff who are hire to work five days a week and are reimbursed for their labors with a salary. In the larger churches they may have a professional organist or others who play musical instruments who are likewise paid to perform their duties.

Some churches have a lay clergy, such as deacons who may serve on committees overseeing such things as finances, building repairs, outreach programs, hiring and firing of church employees among other duties. Although such positions usually don’t receive a salary, they do receive special privileges to compensate and reward their efforts.

In addition to all these workers, many churches also have members of their congregations who volunteer to fill such positions as Sunday School teachers, singing in the choir, helping in the kitchen or other areas in the church that need assistance. Although these people don’t get paid for their services, they are free to work wherever they want, whenever they want, and for as long as they want. When they no longer want to perform that particular duty, they simply give notice that they no longer want to serve.

By way of contrast, in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, everyone is given what is referred to as a “calling,” which is an assignment or a duty they are asked to perform. This ranges anywhere from being an usher, to cleaning the building, playing the organ, working in the library, all the way to fulfilling important leadership positions.

However, unlike other churches, these callings are extended by invitation. In other words, instead of the members themselves deciding what duties they want to perform, they are asked by someone in authority to take on a specific responsibility. Furthermore, these callings are issued after prayerful consideration, meaning that the calling is considered to be coming from God.

Those who accept these callings are not forced to do so but most usually willingly accept the assignment with no expectation of being compensated for their labors, either monetarily or in any other material way even though many times these callings require individuals to donate a considerable amount of their time, effort, and financial resources to fulfilling their duties. Even so, most members of this church gladly accept these callings.

This is no different than what God did in ancient times when he called men to declare his word to others. In Old Testament times we refer to them as prophets, and in the New Testament we refer to them as apostles. Even though their life was often fraught with grave danger for doing what God asked of them, yet they willingly did so without receiving any money or special privileges for their labors.

Then why do people freely serve the Lord?

Most members of Christ’s restored church do so out of a sense of obligation because they feel it is their duty to do whatever God asks of them. It’s part of the covenant they made with God at the time of their baptism and which they renew each week as they partake the emblems of Christ’s body and blood.

However, Momon taught his people that he was a prophet of the “Lord Jesus Christ, and his holy will, because of the gift of his calling unto me.” Mormon didn’t consider his calling to be something God required of him, but rather he viewed it as a gift from God.

I doubt that very many members of Christ’s restored church think of their callings as a gift from God, but when we look at it that way, it changes our entire perspective of why we serve God.

A gift is given with the intent of benefiting the person receiving it in some way. This is certainly true for why God gives gifts to his children, therefore, according to Mormon, the callings we receive from the Lord are meant to be a gift from God to us for our benefit, but why is a calling a divine gift? There are three reasons.

We first have to understand that a gift is a blessing, meaning that its purpose is to bless us in some way. The Lord has revealed that “when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated” (D&C 130:21).

God delights in blessing his children, but he is bound by law, which means he can only bless us as the law allows him to do so. Therefore, when we obey certain laws, we are entitled to receive the blessings that are associated with that law. For example, if we want to be healthy, we have to obey the laws of health. If our diet consists of eating mostly foods low in nutrients, we can’t expect to be blessed with long-lasting good health.

When we were baptized, we made a promise to God that we would do whatever he asked of us, therefore, when God asks us to serve in his church, regardless of where that may be, we are keeping our promise to him. In return, we are told that when we keep that promise, we are entitled to “have his Spirit [be] with us always.”

Without a doubt, the gift of the Holy Ghost is one of the greatest blessings we can have in our life, therefore, when God gives us a calling and we serve him faithfully, we are entitled to have the Holy Ghost as our constant companion to more abundantly guide us, comfort us, protect us, and strengthen us physically and spiritually.

Like everything else we do, the more we put into something, the more we get out of it. This is called the law of the harvest or the law of restitution. As Alma explained to his son Corianton, “I say unto thee, my son, that the plan of restoration is requisite with the justice of God; for it is requisite that all things should be restored to their proper order. Behold, it is requisite and just” (Alma 41:2).

The law of justice requires (is requisite) that all things be restored to their proper order, which means the more effort we put into serving the Lord in our callings, the more the law of justice requires that we be compensated for our efforts, and the way the Lord compensates us is with blessings. But that’s not the only reason why the Lord blesses us for serving in his church.

God’s work, and what brings him glory, is to bring about “the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39). As members of Christ’s restored church, we quote that verse of scriptures so glibly, as though this is something easy to do. When we consider that more than two-thirds of God’s children on earth will not qualify to live in the celestial kingdom, let alone achieve eternal life, we begin to catch a glimpse of how difficult God’s work really is.

The purpose of the church is to “perfect the saints,” and we do that by preaching the gospel, and helping its members to become united in their belief in Christ, with the intent of helping them measure up to the full stature of Christ (Ephesians 4:12,13). In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that also includes providing the ordinances necessary for those who have died so they too can receive salvation and exaltation, and this happens through doing family history and temple work.

When members of Christ’s true church faithfully and diligently fulfill their callings in the church, they are assisting our heavenly Father in his great work of saving his children. The Lord has told us that “if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father! And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me” (D&C 18:15,16).

What this scripture also implies is that if we were to help bring just one soul unto Christ, how great will be the joy of our Father in heaven. And if that is true, imagine how much more joy he would have if we helped bring many souls unto him. And if God would bless us because of our obedience in serving him in our callings, how much more would he bless us for helping him in saving his children as we labor in his church.

But there is yet another blessing we receive from our callings that is perhaps the most important.

The greatest of all the gifts of God is eternal life, and that is defined as the kind of life that God lives. Since God rules over the kingdom of heaven, that makes him a king, and the promise he gives is that we too can become kings and queens to rule over our own kingdom. But before that can happen, we need to be trained how to properly and effectively be an eternally divine ruler.

To illustrate this, suppose someone is the president of his own company and his dream is to someday have his son take over the business. Obviously, the father would have to train his son to someday be worthy and capable of assuming the responsibilities of such an important position, Therefore, the father would have his son work in each of the different departments of his company, so he learns all aspects of the business.

He would begin by having his son working in the easiest position, perhaps like in the mailroom or as a janitor, and as the son shows initiative and diligence, the father would assign him more and more responsibilities, such as working in shipping and receiving, sales, marketing, accounting, etc. As the son shows dedication and has increased his skills, the father would give him supervisory positions until he is one day capable of assuming the duties of a vice-president.

This is exactly what our Father in heaven is doing with his sons and daughters. Our Father in heaven is in the business of saving souls, and the means he uses to accomplish his work is through his church, whose sole purpose is to help perfect the saints until we can measure up to the full stature of Christ, and when we reach that point, then we are ready to preside over our own kingdom.

When we enter into our exaltation, we will be doing with our own spirit children what God does with his, therefore, to help prepare us to fulfill that tremendous weight of responsibility, God calls us to work in the various departments of his business

When we serve as ushers, we are learning how to be more attentive and friendly to people. As we serve in different teaching positions, we not only come to learn the gospel better ourselves, but we develop the talent of how to help others understand it. When we become engaged with doing missionary work, we learn how to help people understand how the gospel of Jesus Christ can improve their life. When we serve in leadership positions, we learn how to become better managers. Even administrative positions that are more focused on doing paperwork, such as keeping attendance, maintaining membership rolls, and making financial reports are all necessary and important jobs in any kingdom.

Therefore, we can think of the callings we receive in the church as on-the-job training, designed to teach us all the various things necessary to properly rule over a kingdom. In addition to this, we also learn such valuable lessons as doing the best we can, giving quality service, as well as learning to solve problems. The reason it’s necessary to learn all these skills is because these are the things our Father must do to manage his kingdom.

For example, the scriptures tell us, “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works” (Revelation 20:12).

In order for God to fairly judge us on the last day, someone had to have written our deeds in a book. Imagine how it would affect God’s judgment if those books were not properly recorded? What this illustrates is the importance every calling has in the church, even the seemingly mundane ones.

The Lord emphasized this point when he said, “Wherefore, verily I say unto you that all things unto me are spiritual, and not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal; neither any man, nor the children of men; neither Adam, your father, whom I created” (D&C 29:34). Just like every calling in the church is important, so also every calling has a spiritual purpose to it.

When we approach our calling with a slothful attitude, in reality we’re wasting a glorious opportunity to learn how to do what God does. Whether it’s passing out bulletins, working in the church library, working in the nursery, being a clerk or secretary, teaching in Sunday School, to being a bishop, stake president, area authority, or apostle, all callings are designed to help prepare us to receive eternal life.

The more effort we put into our church callings, the sooner we will be prepared to inherit our exaltation. That’s why the callings in the church are a gift to us from God.

 

Related articles can be found at The Nature of God