Why did you go into the ministry?

 In the late 1970s my pastor and I were driving to a conference in Kentucky when he asked me a question that has changed my life. He asked if I had ever felt God was calling me into the ministry? I admitted that I had felt that call many times in my life but had never pursued it. For the remainder of our journey we discussed that calling. He later came to our home to talk to me and my wife about the ministry, but it wasn't until he had left our church and another pastor came that I requested the church license me into the ministry. Since then I have served as a church pastor, a denominational minister, and now, in retirement, as a Transitional Pastor. The past 40 years of my life has been spent in the ministry because someone challenged to consider that God might be calling me to ministry.

Back then it was not uncommon to hear pastors issue four challenges in an invitation. One was to receive Christ as Lord and Savior. A second was to recommit one's life to Him. The third was to join the church, and the fourth was to commit oneself to Christian ministry. In many churches you will still hear the first three challenges, but you seldom hear the fourth one. Perhaps this is why we see the current shortage of pastors for our churches.

I have talked with many leaders of various denominations over the years and have never heard one say their denomination had too many people wanting to serve as pastors. In fact, it has been just the opposite. Many churches today, especially smaller and mid-size churches, struggle to find pastors. I worked with many pastor search teams during my time as a denominational minister and told everyone of them that the pool wasn't very big and wasn't very deep. It's not uncommon for a church to spend 18-24 months to find a new pastor, and sometimes it's even longer.

Most persons serving in ministry with whom I've spoken told a story similar to mine. Someone they respected asked them to consider if God might be calling them into the ministry. Quite often their experience was like mine. They had felt such a call on their lives but had never pursued it. Perhaps they weren't certain of the call. Maybe the call frightened them. In some cases they weren't sure how to pursue that calling. Often, they just needed someone they respected to challenge them before they were ready to move forward.

It's important to remember that none of us can call anyone into the ministry. This is God's job. However, we can ask people in whom we see certain pastoral gifts if they have ever felt led to enter the ministry. In fact, I believe this is an important task of every current minister. We need to be passing the baton on to the next generation. I'm convinced that the shortage of pastors we see today isn't because God isn't calling persons to that role; it's that these individuals are not being challenged to consider that they might have such a call on their lives. It is up to those currently in ministry to issue such challenges.