Letter: Editorial: Church in 21st century looking more like 19th

RE: Editorial: Church in 21st century looking more like 19th

In your recent editorial, you state, “The number of people training for pastoral ministry has dropped precipitously over the last 20 years.”

In churches from Virginia to Kansas to Texas, I also have observed this decline. Are we in the local church providing an environment in which our children and youth are open to and able to hear God’s call to pastoral ministry?

Local congregations of the past were intentional about educating our children and youth through Sunday school, Girls in Action, Royal Ambassadors, Acteens and Challengers in which they studied Scripture and learned of Jesus Christ’s mission, Abraham, Moses, Esther, Paul, Priscilla and Aquila, and others God called and sent for specific purposes.

In recent years, however, these educational ministries seem to have fallen out of favor. Finding adults willing to teach our children has become increasingly difficult. Numbers of families valuing Bible study for all ages have declined, as evidenced by decreasing Sunday school attendance in favor of small-group adult Bible study.

Where do our children learn the importance of listening for God’s call? Who encourages them to recognize God’s voice calling in the night as Eli taught the child Samuel?

Have we in the local church lost sight of our responsibility to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out more workers and then to train and equip them for the task? Do we disciple our people, not just for day-to-day living, but to listen for and obey God’s call to full-time ministry?

Do we understand and teach ministry means a willingness to serve and trust God’s provision wherever he leads?

These are questions burdening my heart after more than six decades of serving Christ in five states, as well as overseas, now teaching young adults and praying for young families.

Judy Braswell
Monahans, Texas