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Do you know a young person whom God has blessed with the talents to be a pastor or teacher? Perhaps it’s the eighth-grader who patiently helps the preschoolers in Sunday school and vacation Bible school. Or the high school freshman who bravely stands up for a classmate being bullied. It could be the teen who coordinates service opportunities for your congregation’s youth group.
Brad Gurgel, principal at St. Peter, St. Peter, Minn., decided to make your next step easy. He developed a card to give to young people who you feel that God might be equipping for full-time ministry. The card can be personalized for each situation.
“I strongly feel that if we strive to more regularly give out personal words and letters of encouragement about considering the public ministry to the young people in our lives, many more would be led to consider serving God in this way,” says Gurgel. “With this in mind, I attempted to design a card that would make it quick and easy for anyone to let a young person know that they recognize gifts in them that could be used in the public ministry. Taking just a few minutes to fill this out for someone in your life might make all the difference in helping them to decide to move forward in pursuing the goal of becoming a pastor or teacher someday.”
Gurgel knows from personal experience how much of an impact it has on a young person to be encouraged to use their gifts to serve in the ministry. He notes, “When someone took the time to personally communicate this to me, it caused me to stop and reflect on the gifts and talents that I had and to think seriously about the possibility of the ministry. I know it gave me confidence and reassurance that, yes, I truly did have certain talents and gifts that I could use to serve God as a pastor or teacher. These little reassurances that I received were vital to me eventually choosing to become a Lutheran school teacher.”
As WELS continues to experience a shortage of pastors and teachers, this type of encouragement is an easy way for all members to help with recruitment. “When people present themselves at Martin Luther College to train for the ministry, almost all of them have a story about someone who encouraged them to do just that,” says Paul Prange, administrator of WELS Board for Ministerial Education. “A card or comment like this could make all the difference!”
Volume 106, Number 2
Issue: February 2019
