When Sir Ernest Shackleton set out to find a crew for what turned out to be his ill-fated voyage to Antarctica in 1915, he placed an ad in the Times of London which read: “Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success. Ernest Shackleton.” Amazingly, more than 5,000 men applied.

The call to youth ministry—its own journey of adventure, risk and discovery—is likewise a calling unsuited to the faint of heart. Yet, despite the challenges, despite the likelihood of low honor and recognition, despite the small wages and occasional seasons of darkness and discouragement, we sign on, eager to see where God might lead us. And it’s an amazing adventure!

How do we know if we’re called to this journey? How do we discern God’s calling? How do we know if we’re called to ministry as servants of the servants? Who in his or he right mind would want to face the hassles and hazards of ministry without some fairly certain sense that this is the will of God?

The great theologian H. Richard Niebuhr wrote of four different calls that come to those set apart for pastoral ministry: (1) the call to be a Christian, (2) the secret call, (3) the providential call, and (4) the ecclesiastical call. First and foremost, we must understand that the call of God moves from the inside out. It’s an adventure that begins in the heartland.

I. The Call to Be a Christian
Niebuhr reminds us of this basic fact: before we’re called to serve God, we’re called to be in relationship with God.

Jesus told His disciples, “I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing” (John 15:5, The Message). It’s significant in Mark 3:14 that Jesus “…appointed twelve—designating them apostles—that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach.” Note the order: first, “that they might be with him,” and then, second, “that he might send them out…”

II. The Secret Call
Ben Patterson writes, “There is always a sense of compulsion, at times even a sense of violence, about God’s call.” Jeremiah described it “…like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot” (Jeremiah 20:9). The Apostle Paul avowed, “…woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:16). These are those deep inner nudges of God’s secret call to ministry.

Sometimes it cajoles us; sometimes it prods us; sometimes it reassures us; sometimes it pesters us—this intangible, inexplicable sense that God is calling us into pastoral work and a growing sense of holy discontent with anything other than the pastoral vocation. In fact, Charles Spurgeon, who saw this holy discontent as an important sign of a pastoral calling, encouraged his students not to pursue pastoral ministry if they felt they could be content doing anything else.

It’s probably sound advice, but as many of us know that doesn’t make it any easier to explain. Because I travel so much, US Airways, in a gesture of sincere gratitude, regularly upgrades me to a first-class seat where I often find myself sitting next to some hard-charging businessman who invariably wants to know what I do for a living. That’s when it turns fascinating. I explain to him I’m a youth worker—that my calling is to work with teenagers. It’s as if I’ve just told him, “Oh yeah, my job is to follow the elephants in the parade!” It usually takes them a minute to regain their footing: “Well, that’s important work…”

We’ve all had these conversations. Sometimes we even have them with the people to whom we’re married. That’s also fascinating.

At this stage of the call, the key is to be attentive. In fact, that’s one of the important differences between a career and a calling. The English word career comes from the French carriere, meaning “a road” or “a highway.” Think of someone setting out on a road, map in hand, goal in mind, with stops marked along the way for food, lodging and fuel. No wonder we often hear the word career coupled with the words track and ladder. Both images suggest a well-marked course, a set itinerary, an expected schedule of travel. The traveler’s choices are left solely to the dictates of the map.

A vocation or calling is different. Derived from the Latin word voco, it points neither to a map nor a guidebook, but to the ultimate guide. The emphasis isn’t on following a course but on responding to a voice—no schedule, no itinerary, no well-laid plans. This is walking by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). The whole enterprise depends on listening (John 6:28-29).

If the nudge is persistent—dare I say nagging—keep moving forward. Don’t wait for the road map; start moving and let God lead. Just as it’s easier to steer a moving vehicle than a parked one, guidance comes more often to those on their feet than those on their seats. Waiting on the Lord is fine; but don’t make God wait on you.

I usually have at least two groups of guys (some of my students at Eastern University) with whom I meet semi-weekly for breakfast in an ongoing mentor relationship. In the spring of each year, it’s like clockwork, one of the guys will ask, “How did you know that Maggie was the woman you were supposed to marry?” You can tell from the emphasis on know that they’re looking for confirmation: “five-steps-to-certainty” or “six-signs-of-engagement-readiness.”

They want to know how and when they should respond to that inner indefinable, undeniable gut-feeling that “this could be her.” That’s when I have to give them the bad news—that I didn’t ever know like that, that you can’t honestly know like that.

I was 21 when we got engaged; she was all of 19. We didn’t know anything! I knew I liked being around her. I knew she was pretty. I knew she loved Jesus and that she seemed to like me OK. I knew I wanted to have sex with her. That’s pretty much what I knew for sure. The only way to confirm this calling to marriage was to get married—to commit myself to her for life and say that nothing is going to happen that will change this commitment. The knowing was in the going.

As God explained to Moses, sometimes the confirmation of your call only comes as you are obedient to that call—not before you obey, but as you obey. In response to Moses’ reluctant balking, “God said, ‘I will be with you. And this shall be the sign for you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain'” (Exodus 3:12). The sign he was sent came as he went.

This phase of the call also should be marked by cautious, honest self-examination. Is this really about my passion for Christ, or about my passion for youth ministry? Is this about my desire to meet the needs of students, or is it about my needs being met by being in front of students? Do I have the gifts, the temperament, the relational skills that this work might require? Am I at a place of spiritual maturity where I can be a healthy, consistent role model for students?

Two Common Misconceptions of the Secret Call
One of the biggest misconceptions in sorting out this secret, inner sense of call is that God never would call us to do something that gives us great pleasure. There’s an attitude: “God couldn’t be leading me to do this, because I like it too much.” Not only does such a notion betray the goodness of God, it also betrays God’s wisdom. Sure there are calls to sacrifice, and certainly there are times when we must do in obedience what we don’t want to do. But why wouldn’t God create us with a desire to do that which we’re called to do? It is this truth that led Buechner to observe, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” This isn’t, “You are what you do”; this is “You do what you are.”

A second misconception, perhaps less critical, is that there’s only one way to respond to a youth ministry calling, and that is to serve as a traditional local church youth pastor. The great news about youth ministry is that it’s a field with an ever-expanding range of varied opportunities— curriculum design, publishing, drama, music ministry, sports ministry, street ministry, stage production, graphic design, software design, parachurch ministry, counseling ministry, prison ministry, camping ministry, backpacking ministry.

III. The Providential Call
This is the aspect of vocation based on the combination of circumstances, experiences, talents and aptitudes. Essentially, it affirms a simple notion: God never calls us to do what we’ve not been prepared to do (1 Thessalonians 5:24). If, for example, someone is four feet tall, it would not take a whole night of prayer to discern that maybe God isn’t calling him to the NBA, except perhaps as an usher at the arena. The question to ask is a simple one: “Has God given me gifts, talents, experiences, the aptitude and the temperament for ministry?”

What makes this a little scary is that we can’t really appreciate the genius of God’s providence until long after we have responded to that call. What wasn’t visible through the windshield is clearer in the rear-view mirror.

I see this at work very clearly in my own life as I look back at different experiences I had growing up, jobs I had, opportunities I was given, relationships I shared. A family where laughter was a consistent part of life, some key adult influences inside and outside of the faith, a four-year stint in broadcast journalism, playing in a rock and roll band, extensive travel, a kindergarten teacher mom whose love for creativity made learning fun—all of these are bits and pieces that, at the time, probably looked like fragments of colored glass. Now, I look back and see that each piece had its place in the mosaic that is now my vocation.

Words of Caution for the Providential Call
Having said this, there are these cautions to be made for this phase of the call:
(1) A providential call shouldn’t be weighed solely in the light of common sense. God isn’t limited by our abilities, inabilities or circumstances. Scripture is filled with God doing the improbable through the unlikely. Common sense shouldn’t be silenced, but neither should it always have the last word.

(2) A providential call shouldn’t be assessed on the basis of stereotypes. Aspiring youth workers often appraise their suitability for ministry by the standard of a stereotypical youth ministry personality: wild and crazy, gregarious and funny—we all know the type. In fact, there’s no standard personality profile for the perfect youth minister. John Calvin described himself as “somewhat unpolished and bashful, which led always to love the shade and retirement.” Although he confessed to preferring a work in “some secluded corner where (he) might be withdrawn from the public view,” God put him in a place of very public ministry. As Charles Keating noted, “Our basic personality is a starting point, not a jail.”

(3) Remember that God is our Redeemer; no facet of one’s life and experience is wasted. That means God can use our strengths and our weaknesses, our victories and our defeats, our trophies and our scars. When God called Moses, this was made very vivid: One man’s snake on the ground is another man’s rod in the hand (Exodus 4:2-4). God can take our mistakes and mishaps and use them as the staff by which we lead trapped people out of the bondage of sin and into the promise of God. What may appear to us to be the jagged shards of bad decisions and deep regrets can be in the hands of God centerpieces of a vocational mosaic. That’s the wonder of God’s providence.

IV. The Ecclesiastical Call
Finally, in an affirmation of the secret call (internal) and recognition of the providential call (circumstantial), the ecclesiastical call is a confirmation by the Christian community that the call to pastoral ministry is genuine and recognized by the church. An extremely important phase of the call, this is by no means a rubber stamp. The ecclesiastical call is a solemn responsibility for the church, and a critical affirmation for the called person.

Is ordination a necessity for someone who wants to pursue youth ministry? Definitely not. There are many very effective youth pastors, highly respected by their congregations, who lack any ordination credentials.

On the other hand, might ordination be a worthwhile pursuit? Definitely.

First of all, if this is God’s call upon one’s life, the greatest joy will always be in obedience. Whatever God leads us to do is a worthwhile pursuit.

There’s great encouragement in knowing one is set apart for the work and supported in the work by a local church community.

There’s the added credibility within the congregation that follows the church’s public recognition of gifts and calling for ministry, credibility that can be very helpful (and is all too often lacking) for a youth minister.

There are the added privileges of administering the sacraments and officiating at weddings and funerals. Which probably doesn’t sound like big fun. But, in fact, for many in pastoral ministry, officiating and sharing in these significant lifetime landmarks is one of the highest privileges of ordained ministry. To be present in these intensely vivid and defining moments is to find oneself on stage and playing a pivotal role in real-life human dramas.

Promotion to Low Rank
Folks we now refer to in the church as “ministers” are, in the New Testament, called diakonoi. Derived from the Greek word for service (1 Corinthians 12:4-30), it was Paul’s favorite title for Christian leaders. Significantly, it’s the same word that’s the root for butler and waiter. Will Willimon observes how odd it is that the church should designate its leaders by so mundane and lowly a term. In thinking through the question of calling, it’s a fact we would do well to consider. If you’re interested in going deeper, I explore the call to youth ministry further in my new book This Way to Youth Ministry (Youth Specialties).

Those 5,000 men who sought to volunteer for the fateful voyage of The Endurance had no idea where the journey might lead, but they had both a heart to serve and a heart for adventure. In considering a calling to youth ministry, surely we need no less.