Each February and March, the Board of Ordained Ministry interviews candidates for ordination. One of the three committees of the Board is the Committee on Call and Disciplined Life. Each candidate writes a paper for the Committee describing the sense of call that has brought the candidate to this stage in preparation for ordination. Then the candidate appears before the committee to discuss that call: how the call to ministry was first received and how the candidate dealt with the implications of the call. Finally, the candidate writes and talks about how that call is playing out in the life style of the candidate. I do not think I have ever heard of a candidate whose motivation for the ministry was to gain social status. There may be some, but they have at least been clever enough to disguise that motivation. That has not always been the case.
    A factor in the drive toward separation from the Church of England among some of Wesley's ministers was the simple desire to climb the social ladder. Wesley historian John Pollock writes: “Many of Wesley's lay preachers were drawn from the ‘lower orders’ of British society. Many were deeply sincere, if ill-educated, but a few wanted to rise in the social scale by acquiring the status of ministers of religion. Since no bishop would ordain them, they would have liked to become dissenting ministers, if only Wesley would take the Methodist movement out of the Church.”
    The dissenting (nonconformist) movement was rooted in the political and religious struggles of the 17th century.  Charles and John Wesley had two grandfathers who were dissenting ministers, yet, his own father was adamantly loyal to the Church of England. 
    “To climb the social ladder,” states John Pollock.  I do not think that ambition would influence the Call and Disciplined Life Committees of the Board of Ordained Ministry.