ROOTED · WEEK 11
Could God be calling me?
Calling is not about chasing a title. It is learning to recognize where God's voice, your gifts, your burden, and faithful service may be pointing.
Leader Prep · 5 Minutes
Don't rush to name the call.
A teenager may say, "I think God is calling me to preach," "I feel like I'm supposed to do missions," or simply, "I feel like God wants to use my life."
Take that seriously. But taking it seriously does not mean immediately assigning a title.
Calling is discerned over time through Scripture, prayer, the Holy Spirit, faithful service, character, gifting, opportunity, and confirmation from mature believers.
A powerful response to "I think God is calling me" is not "Great-you are definitely a preacher." It is: "I want to help you listen carefully to what God may be doing."
The Big Idea
Calling begins with surrender before it ever becomes assignment.
Before the question is, "What ministry am I called to?" the deeper question is, "Does my whole life belong to God?" We learn to say yes to Jesus before we know every detail of where He may lead.
Scripture
"Speak, for Your servant hears."
1 SAMUEL 3:1-10Samuel hears his name called, but at first he does not recognize that God is speaking.
Eli helps him understand what may be happening and teaches him how to respond.
That is a powerful picture of spiritual discernment: Samuel hears, but an older spiritual leader helps him recognize and respond.
Samuel eventually says, "Speak, for Your servant hears."
Notice that his posture is not, "Tell me what position I get." It is the posture of a servant ready to listen and obey.
Tonight's Flow
Don't manufacture a call. Create room to listen.
Calling should not become emotional pressure. Help students become attentive to what God may already be developing in them.
Table
Ask students what they imagine when they hear someone say, "God called me." Where did those ideas come from?
Word
Read 1 Samuel 3:1-10 and walk through the teaching points below.
Discern
Walk through the four indicators: Burden · Gifts · Fruit · Confirmation. Let students identify what they see developing.
Surrender + Pray
Do not ask everyone to claim a specific ministry. Ask everyone to sincerely pray: "God, my answer is yes before I know the assignment."
Teaching Guide · 15 Minutes
Four truths to establish.
Help students see calling as something that grows out of discipleship, Spirit-led service, character, and obedience.
Every Christian is called to follow Jesus.
Before we talk about preaching, missions, pastoral ministry, worship, or any other assignment, there is a call that belongs to every believer: follow Christ, live holy, love others, serve His Church, and participate in His mission.
God may give specific assignments.
Scripture also shows God setting people apart for particular work. Some are called into pastoral ministry, preaching, missions, evangelism, teaching, leadership, or other forms of vocational ministry and kingdom service.
Calling is confirmed through faithfulness.
Do not wait for a future platform before becoming faithful. Serve now. Pray now. Study Scripture now. Develop character now. Calling often becomes clearer while we obey what God has already placed in front of us.
You should not discern calling alone.
Samuel had Eli. Paul had the Church. Timothy had Paul and other spiritual leaders. Healthy calling is recognized and developed inside Christian community-not only privately.
Discern The Call
Look for four things over time.
What keeps pulling at your heart?
Are there people, needs, places, or ministry problems you cannot easily ignore? A sustained spiritual burden can be one clue, though burden alone does not establish a call.
What is God developing in you?
What spiritual gifts, abilities, leadership capacities, or ministry strengths are beginning to emerge? Calling and gifting often begin to reinforce one another.
What happens when you serve?
Is God actually helping people through you? Are others encouraged, discipled, challenged, strengthened, or drawn toward Jesus? Calling should eventually produce fruit.
What do mature believers see?
Do your pastor, parents, Student Shepherd, and trusted spiritual leaders recognize something similar? God often uses the Church to help confirm what He is doing in a person.
Important Distinction
Ministry is bigger than a credential.
Every believer can serve God and participate meaningfully in the ministry of the local church.
A student does not need a future title before they can pray, witness, serve, lead appropriately, encourage others, or use the gifts God has given them.
At the same time, a sustained call toward vocational or credentialed ministry should be taken seriously and developed responsibly.
In the Church of God, recognized ministerial development includes commitment to Christ and the Church, training, practical experience, accountability, and appropriate credentialing.
The goal is never to rush a teenager toward a title. The goal is to help them become the kind of disciple who can faithfully carry whatever God eventually entrusts to them.
Talk
Ask questions bigger than "Do you want to preach?"
When you hear "called by God," what kind of person or ministry do you immediately imagine?
What people or needs do you find yourself caring deeply about?
What gifts or abilities are other people beginning to recognize in you?
Why might God want us to serve faithfully before He gives us clarity about a future assignment?
If God asked you to do something with your life that was different from what you currently imagine, would your answer still be yes?
Practice + Pray
Build a calling page.
Ask students to divide a page into four sections:
BURDEN - What do I care deeply about?
GIFTS - What seems to be developing in me?
FRUIT - Where has God already used me?
CONFIRMATION - What have mature believers said?
They do not have to fill every box tonight. Empty spaces are part of discernment too.
Say yes before you know where.
Give students quiet space to pray:
"Jesus, my life belongs to You. I do not need a title. I do not need everyone to notice me. I want to be faithful. If You are calling me to something specific, help me hear You clearly. Give me courage to say yes and humility to let others help me discern it."
For The Student Shepherd
They said, "I think I'm called." What now?
Listen before labeling.
Ask what they experienced, what they sense God saying, how long they have felt it, and what specifically seems to be stirring in them.
Involve the pastor.
Do not make yourself the only voice helping a student discern calling. Bring the senior pastor into the conversation early.
Give them something real to do.
Let them serve. Give age-appropriate opportunities to pray, teach, lead, help, witness, organize, or minister under supervision.
Watch character as closely as gifting.
Look for humility, holiness, teachability, faithfulness, compassion, integrity, and willingness to serve when nobody is watching.
Start a development plan.
Give the student Scripture to study, a ministry mentor, books or resources, regular conversations, and increasing opportunities to serve.
Let confirmation develop over time.
A genuine call does not need to be rushed. Give space for gifts, fruit, character, burden, and the affirmation of the Church to become clearer.
Leader Coaching
Notice this.
Parent Table Talk
Don't write their calling for them.
Parents can help students discern without pressuring them to repeat a parent's dream or ministry path.
Is there anything you feel God may be stirring in your heart?
Name one ministry quality, spiritual gift, or area of compassion you genuinely see developing.
Resist immediately deciding what their calling means. Ask questions and give them room to discern.
"God, our child belongs to You. Give them ears to hear, courage to obey, and people who will help them follow Your call wisely."
Before Week Twelve
Don't lose what surfaced tonight.
Write down every student who expressed a possible ministry calling, strong spiritual burden, or unusual sense of assignment.
Have a personal conversation with each of those students rather than leaving their response inside the group meeting.
Make sure the senior pastor knows which students should begin receiving intentional ministry development.
Identify one next ministry opportunity for each student who wants to explore calling further.
Prepare for Week Twelve by asking the pastor to participate in the commissioning and prayer over students.
Next
Week 12 - Commission.
The first 90 days do not end with students completing twelve lessons. They end with a church recognizing what God has begun, praying over its students, and sending them into their next season of discipleship, service, witness, and calling.