“For I know the plans that I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
We are all called to something, and that something is quite a calling. We are called to represent Christ Jesus as His disciples in this world and the moment we get baptized in the faith we are affirming and confirming to our community of faith that we accept this call from the Lord our God.
Let me repeat what I just said. We are ALL CALLED to REPRESENT CHRIST JESUS as HIS DISCIPLES. We are all ministers, not just some, BUT ALL. Some are called to be a minister vocationally and others are not, but the calling to be a minister for Jesus is a calling that we have been given. That is what it means to be a disciple. So I say now for us all to:
Remember your baptism and be thankful.
I have known for several years now that I am called to be in the vocation of ministry and for a time I believed and still believe that I am called to ordination, however what God has unveiled to me recently is that my calling is one that is specific and important. I honestly don’t know if I will seek out to be ordained in the United Methodist Church, what I do know without a shadow of a doubt is that I am called to be an advocate for teenagers, a youth minister.
And yet as I am committing to staying many of my counterparts will not stay in youth ministry for the long haul. Why is that? I know that some and even dare say many have felt a calling outside of youth ministry, but this happens so often that it can be perceived as a trend and this is a perception that can be very costly to the future of the Church.
We hear a lot of people being called to ordination in our churches today, but not so much of the people called to Children’s and Youth Ministry, but hey when people are called to be a pastor they definitely may start their ministry journey there, but eventually they will leave. At one point I thought I was going to leave, but not now.
Yesterday one of my graduating seniors thanked me for making this student’s last year count.
That solidified everything for me.
It gave me purpose, motivation, and affirmation.
One of my students did that for me.
I want to be a part of that kind of ministry, a ministry with students.
Youth Ministry is my calling and where I will stay.
This I pray and claim in the name of Jesus.
Amen.