When the Spirit Calls

When the Spirit Calls: Engaging the Challenges of Ministry

paperback $14.95; ebook $9.95 - select a format

Join FGC's Spiritual Deepening Program for book discussion with Jay Marshal. Click here for more information.

This book is a useful resource for any who are looking for a companion as they explore how it is the Spirit invites them into deeper reflection about faithfulness, witness, and service. Unpacking and interpreting an individual's leading or call at the outset is merely the first step in what becomes an iterative spiral for a life that intends to remain true and aligned with the impulses of the Spirit. This book works its way through various elements related to the process of call and discernment as they relate to seekers' efforts to achieve clarity and focus as faith and life are integrated in meaningful ways. This is a practical, conversational book that embraces the idea that call is a natural and inevitable part of a faith perspective that views ministry as universal.

If your meeting book discussion group plans to read When the Spirit Calls, author Jay Marshall is available to talk with your book group via Zoom for an hour one evening after everyone’s read the book. For more information and to set up your meeting’s AuthorEvent!, email Jay Marshall at  quakerleader@gmail.com

Read Ellen Michaud's sparkling review, here.

More Praise for When the Spirit Calls

Most centrally, this is a book about call and discernment, but Jay Marshall offers more, grounding these in an understanding of universal ministry and sacramental living, and inviting readers into a practice of honest openness that leads to clarity, interior freedom, and courage to embrace new and unexpected forms of ministry.
-- Michael Birkel, Professor of Christian Spirituality, Earlham School of Religion

When the Spirit Calls offers insight well beyond expectation. Jay extends his sense of God's calling to everyone, in the every day experience.The acknowledgment of trepidation and weight of a calling gives way to the meaning and purpose of God's accompaniment -- one that is rejuvenating and attuned to sacramental living. A classic that affirms the best of Quaker thought.
-- Gretchen Castle, General Secretary, Friends World Committee for Consultation

Another book on call and discernment? How good for all of us that Jay Marshall said "yes" to this holy nudge! He astutely reflects on the unrelenting call to ministry in every seeker's life. Thoughtful queries fill the book, and Marshall makes compelling use of his own story to wake the reader up to joy and challenge of a her or his own lifelong journey of discernment. I left refreshed and renewed in my own vocation!
-- Stephanie Ford, Minister of Christian Formation, Binkley Baptist Church

Jay Marshall presents the rich tradition of Quaker spirituality in the vernacular of the twenty-first century with personal narratives from his own faith journey. A bridge-building book written with the graciousness of spirit of classic Quaker writers, Thomas Kelly and Douglas Steere. This is destined to become a new Quaker classic with its depths of insight on call and discernment.
-- Carole Dale Spencer, Portland Seminary of George Fox University

Jay Marshall is a seasoned seeker who has written an uplifting, well conceived book, that wrestles with issues concerning the art of discernment. He asks succinct questions while refraining from offering facile answers. I was so inspired that I began no less than 36 psalms during my reading.
-- Dwight L. Wilson, Ann Arbor Monthly Meeting

Jay Marshall's twenty years of leadership at Earlham School of Religion left us increasingly grateful for his commitment to providing training for ministry that reflects a uniquely Quaker expression of Christ's Gospel. Reading When the Spirit Calls has reminded us why.
-- Pam and Ron Ferguson, co-pastors, Winchester (IN) Friends Meeting