How Do I Know If God Is Calling Me into Ministry?

i would say let me give you a background first i believe every christian is called to ministry now when i say ministry that's a synonym for service so not everyone is called to a preaching ministry but every one is called to a place of service in the body of christ so at the beginning of our discussion i would say every child of god every christian every young person should be actively seeking what is my role in the church what do i contribute to the church in addition to faithful attendance and worship and giving and and what am i doing specifically that maybe someone else isn't doing am i teaching bible studies am i reaching out to win souls am i volunteering in sunday school am i singing in the choir you know am i doing an outreach for the homeless i should have some identifiable place of service in the body of christ and so a call comes out of that now what your question's focused on is what i would say is the five-fold ministry of ephesians chapter four and what we would say in our terminology those who are called to preach teach and lead and to those uh to whom the upci would give ministerial credentials i do believe there should be a definite call to the preaching ministry or the pulpit ministry as i what what the bible calls ministers of the gospel now that call can come in many different ways and it doesn't necessarily have to be dramatic when there is a dramatic intervention i usually find it's to confirm a process that's already been going on or in some cases to get our attention so that we will start a process so that we start thinking things we haven't thought before so don't just sit around waiting for god to call you that's not going to happen get involved and as you're involved i i like to say 90 of the will of god is doing what you know to do if you're not doing what you know to do don't expect god to reveal something else another illustration i use if you're sitting in the car in the parking lot the ignition is off and you say okay god give me directions show me where to go you'll sit there forever you'll never go anywhere but if you'll start the ignition you'll start rolling out of the parking lot choose a direction and start heading somewhere that you think is productive then god can very easily put his hand on the steering wheel and turn it and go a direction you wouldn't know to go or give you direction that you didn't have the point is you've got to actively be doing what you know to do when you don't know what else to do do what you know to do it's always god's will to have a prayer life it's god always god's will to witness to people and share your testimony teach a bible study or or seek to win a soul it's always god's will to be faithful to church it's always god's will to study the scriptures it's always god's will to train yourself and if you feel any potential desire called to leadership or ministry it might be a good idea to go to a bible college or urchin college or take some online classes or even a local community college take some classes that would prepare you for your future you know it's always good to prepare even if you don't know exactly what the the end result will be and and so you start from that context so the will of god is not something way out there in a fog that you stumble around for years and suddenly you find or suddenly there's a voice from heaven or a bright light really the will of god is more evolving or unfolding where you're you're already in the will of god you stay in the will of god so what am i doing this week it should be in the will of god if it's not change it what are my plans for this month it should be in the will of god what are my plans for this year am i going to college am i taking a new job am i pursuing a career well i should feel like it's god's will and so then it's a matter of the will of god unfolding or evolving it's a matter of staying in the will of god so if you really are wondering am i called specifically to preach well actually we have a couple of books one by david river so you may feel you're called to preach and another recent one by gary dornbach i forget the exact name but both of them what if you think you're called to preach those would be good books to read they're available at pentecostalpublishing.com but here's here's the way to think about ministry preaching ministry is not primarily the pulpit it should start with your personal spiritual discipline so if you're not faithful in that make sure you have a personal consistent prayer life study life church life god will speak through those means second do you have a burden for souls are you winning souls are you sharing your testimony are you contacting people inviting the church are you teaching a bible study if you're not doing any of that then you don't really understand what ministry is supposed to be about i would say get engaged in that and maybe volunteer for something a jail ministry or a nursing home ministry campus ministry a home friendship group or home bible study and even if you say well i don't i don't plan to spend the rest of my life preaching in nursing homes well well you got to start somewhere and it that process of getting involved in soul winning will help guide you as to what god is calling you to do you won't know necessarily what you're called to do in advance until you start working so get involved in outreach the third thing i would say is get involved in inreach so do you have a burden for the people who are in the church maybe the new convert the person on the fringes the person of a minority the person that doesn't seem to fit in well the person who's unfaithful are you praying with people in the altar are you always the first to leave and go get something to eat are you lingering helping someone are are you contacting people that may be struggling or or who have missed church and taking initiative give them a phone call or a text or an email or maybe even a handwritten note are you are you discipling someone maybe you brought someone to church they did receive the holy ghost are you mentoring them are you inviting people out to lunch or or after church or to coffee or to your home or for games particularly people as i said that don't seem to have friends that don't fit in or they're on the fringes or they're part of a minority are you going out of your way to break those barriers if you have those kind of burdens that's an indication that god is leading you into the pulpit ministry if you just have this burning desire to preach on sunday morning that may be more self than god but if you're drawn to a life of spiritual disciplines if you're drawn and it's not to say you don't have struggles to be consistent but you feel drawn i need to be praying i need to study god's word there's a hunger zeal if you're drawn to winning souls if you're drawn to encouraging and helping people who are already in the church those three things are all great indicators and so as you get involved in these different activities you'll feel a burden you'll feel drawn that will be a good indication that god is calling you specifically i would say when this burden gets very strong you continue to pray god reveal your will in your own way your own time let me know you can't quantify it you can't demand how god will do it you can't demand an audible voice or a dream but you you can you can pray god i'm feeling this but i need to know for sure i need confirmation and in some way of his own choosing it may be through a sermon it may be through a comment of a stranger it may be a dream or a vision it may be a prayer meeting which there's an overwhelming burden and you get up from that prayer meeting that burden saying i feel this it could be why you're ministering in some setting and and you just feel yes this is what i i long for this is what i desire at some point you need to sit down talk to your pastor share your feelings and most the time your pastor probably has a very good idea already of to say yes i do feel god has been dealing with you like this i affirmed this or he might say you know i would like to see a whole lot more of such and such and that might be a nice way and sometimes you might be blunt saying you know what i don't see that um and it might not be that you're totally wrong it might be now's not the time or it might be that you need to go through a process until your pastor can see what's going on so definitely talk to your pastor and i think you might have other spiritual mentors it might be your parents or some senior in the church that you've worked with they might also be able to give you wise counseling advice and then i would say i i have what i call the open door policy so when you're seeking god's will you're seeking confirmation you're wondering well if a good opportunity opens up just walk through it so somebody says well i want you to speak to the youth group well i'm not a preacher but you say wait a minute maybe god has given this opportunity let's try it well could you come speak to our nursing home well i don't really have a burden for nursing home but wait a minute it's an open door and so as you start walking through the open doors god will reveal his will to you and so i can't really give you a formula but i can say through prayer through active ministry through talking to your pastor focused prayer asking for direction and then walking through the doors that god opens for you i believe you can get have a definite experience and i would say you should be able to have a definite experience that you can look back on and say yes god called me to preach the gospel now it may be a different type of ministry it may not be a camp meeting preacher uh you may not be a senior pastor it may be heavily teaching or even counseling