Am I being called to preach

[Strong in Him]

Hello,

I am having a dilemma. How do I know if I am being called to preach? I have a VERY VERY STRONG desire and urge to want to preach, but I am scared. You see I have been out of my church for a long time and I am really scared what people might say. I am also scared that I dont have the necessary knowledge to be a minister. I feel like I dont know what I want to know. I want to preach and minister, but my main dilemma is "is this what God has for me". Someone, please help me....

I can't say for certain what God is saying to you, but I would say that if you feel called to preach then firstly you need to be a member/regular attender of a church so that you can be fed and nurtured spiritually, grow, and give others a chance to affirm his call on your life. We are the body of Christ. No part of that body can, or should, seek to operate in isolation; you will need their prayers and encouragement during your training. Also, on a practical level, the congregation are more likely to be open to the message that you bring them if they know you, your faith and your relationship with God. Otherwise you could be anybody, and people may not be willing to trust you or open themselves to the message you are bringing. They will also need to know that you are accountable to a minister, or someone, and not acting on your own authority.

Secondly I would say try to test out your call to preach before you commit yourself to any training. In the Methodist church we have 2 stages of training - being "on note" and being "on trial". Being "on note" means that a person has talked to their Superintendant who are happy for them to test a call to preach and has given them a note of authorisation to be able to do so. The trainee preacher then takes services with the help, and under the supervision of, a mentor. After a few months, if they are progressing well and still feel called, they take their first service, including preaching, entirely on their own. If they, and the preacher's meeting, feel it has gone well, and they still have a call, the preacher progresses to being "on trial". This involves a lot more study, several assessed services, two interviews and a chance for all the other local preachers to say whether or not they are ready to be fully accredited preachers. (I'm almost at that stage.) What I'm saying is, a call cannot remain a strong feeling. it has to be acted upon. At some point you have to say "Lord, I think this is what you are saying. I'm going to take the next step, (speaking to someone/applying for training), plaese will you tell me or stop me if I'm making a mistake."

You won't fail if you find you've misheard him; you'll fail if you think he's calling and don't go for it.