A Weekend at Bethel for Aspiring Ministry Leaders
Explore the Call is a collaboration between the Central Region of the Missionary Church, Bethel University and World Partners. Its purpose is to provide a weekend of discernment for high school students who feel called to vocational ministry.
Twenty students gathered at Bethel University in November and for the next 42 hours heard from ministry professors, pastors, missionaries, worship leaders, and university students about a wide range of ministries. They stayed in Bethel dormitories with ministry students, visited different churches on Sunday morning, ate with and interviewed pastors at those churches, worshiped, and prayed. They were given tools to understand personal strengths and weaknesses, and tools to verbalize how they have already seen God shaping their personal callings.
There were several students who felt called to children’s ministry, youth ministry, worship ministry, pastoral ministry, para-church ministry, and missions. One student noted, “I was feeling torn between a call to youth ministry and a call to missions, but this weekend helped me to see how these calls can actually work together — rather than be divergent!”
World Partners missionary Jeremy Tice commented, “I truly enjoyed the opportunity to pray with students and help them in their discerning process. It’s exciting to see how God is moving in Gen Z and how many are being called out as missionaries and leaders in the church!”
A call to action for the Missionary Church
A key observation from our students and this event is that this generation of young people is special! We are seeing more called to vocational ministry than in the previous two generations.
How will your church support and encourage this generation?
What steps will you take to empower and equip our young men and women to live sacrificial lives, to embrace their calls and to follow Christ whatever the cost?
Pray for them! Prepare them! Send them!
If you are a youth leader and know of students in your church who may be called to vocational ministry, stay tuned for the announcement of the next “Explore the Call” weekend. This event is a fantastic opportunity for you to refer your students to maximize their potential.
If you are interested in seeing how World Partners can join you in the discipling of your youth or discerning a call to missions, please contact us by email at info@wpartners.org.