So what’s keeping you from talking to your session about one of the most important decisions you will ever make? What’s keeping you from seeking counsel on matters related to vocation? What’s keeping you from an honest, denying-of-self evaluation of God’s call upon your life?

Thus begins a recent blurb I wrote which was aimed at young men who showed interest in matters that are part and parcel of pastoral ministry. Hopefully, these are questions that all God’s people are willing to ask themselves as they consider God’s call upon their lives. But there was no question about my intent as I penned those words a few weeks ago. I was challenging young men who love the Lord Jesus Christ to consider a potential call to gospel ministry.

Our God calls young people to a multiplicity of Christ-honoring vocations, including white-collar professional work, blue-collar and technical work, police and military service, and homemaking. These are noble callings, indeed! We need followers of Jesus Christ to take seriously the cultural mandate in every area of life. How desperate we would all be if Christians were not involved in every legitimate avenue of service.

A call from the church for young men to consider pastoral ministry does not diminish the role of most Christian young people who are not led into pastoral or missionary service. Every career should be seen as a vocation, a calling from God to use one’s gifts and passions in seeking to fulfill the kingdom mandate of subduing the earth for the glory of God.

At the same time, we should recognize that there has always been a special need in the church for gifted, passionate, and spiritually mature men to preach the gospel. When Jesus says that the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few, and tells disciples to pray for laborers for the harvest field, it is clear that He had in mind those who would give themselves to the proclamation of the gospel.

In today’s world, young people believing that God is leading them to law school or to medical school need to have outstanding grades in undergraduate school, apply a year in advance to a dozen or two dozen schools, and compete with students of equal standing from around the globe for a limited number of opportunities. But the same students could apply to many seminaries in the country a month before the start of school and be welcomed with open arms.

The unique need for pastors today is evidenced by the decreasing number of students sensing God’s call to be trained for pastoral ministry. Seminaries across the country are merging, closing, or re-trenching as the number of students preparing to serve as future pastors and missionaries continues to decline. For eight years, enrollments at accredited seminaries in North America have decreased.

All the while, the need for pastors in the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA) continues to grow, with an enormous demand on the horizon. In preparation for this article, I wrote down the names of men who had served for a good number of years as pastors in our denomination who were within four years of my age. (I was born in 1947.) There are 23 names on my list. Two men are now with the Lord. Seven have already retired or have announced their intention to retire. The number of men reaching retirement age in the next few years, for such a small denomination, is quite large.

At the same time, the number of men preparing for RP ministry in North America is small in comparison. There is only one student graduating from RPTS in 2015 with the goal of pastoring a North American congregation of the RPCNA. We have three other RP graduates, but they plan to return to their home countries to serve there. Not many other men are in the pipeline for our North American congregations. Please pray that the Lord of the harvest will raise up laborers for the harvest.

Several years ago, when many of the pastors who were prominent in my younger years were nearing retirement, I wondered how the Lord would meet the pastoral needs of our denomination. In fact, I wrote a similar article in the Witness then. Men known and loved in our denomination—Carsons, McMillans, McCrackens, Tweeds, Spears, McFarland, Joseph, Smith, Robson, Blackwood, and others—had served with distinction, but they were ready to pass the baton to the next generation.

The answer to our prayers then came in different ways, including a few who transferred into our denomination from other churches. But the primary way in which He provided for our denomination was to raise up men to come to the RP Seminary to prepare themselves for service in the church. In 2002, 10 Reformed Presbyterian men graduated from RPTS with an M.Div. degree, and almost all of them went on to be ordained into the pastoral ministry. One other man who is now a pastor in our denomination graduated with an MTS degree that same year. In our small denomination, I would guess that that number was an all-time high for us.

When Jesus tells His disciples that the fields are white for harvest but the laborers are few, He then bids His disciples to pray that God would raise up laborers for the harvest. And even as He told His disciples to pray, so He tells us to pray, that the Lord of the harvest will send laborers into His harvest field. God answers prayer, and so we need to commit ourselves to praying that He will raise up laborers for gospel ministry in our denomination.

Praying can be dangerous. As you pray, be aware of the possibility that you may be part of the answer to your own prayers. After Jesus told His disciples to pray for laborers for the harvest field in Luke 10, the very next words from His mouth were these: “Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.”

Men, are you willing to be sent, if the Lord is calling you to pastoral ministry? To return to a question I raised earlier, are you ready for an honest, denying-of-self evaluation of God’s call upon your life? If so, I encourage you to take a very important step and talk to your session about what they see in you. To the best of your ability, think through the following questions on your own as well as with your session:

Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ, and are you growing in sanctification? Is the Lord enabling you by His grace to be a man above reproach? Do you evidence the fruit of the Spirit in your life and relationships? If you are married, is your marriage solid?

What are your gifts? Have you ever been asked to teach a class (on any subject)? Do you have good reasoning skills? Have you ever led a Bible study? Do people come to you for counsel? What are your interests and passions? Do you like to read? Are you interested in theology? Do you have compassion for the lost? Do you ever pray for missionaries and others sharing the good news of Jesus Christ? Are you interested in discipleship? Do you enjoy Christian fellowship?

Do you have obvious reasons not to pursue a call to be a laborer in the harvest field at this time—certain disabilities, major indebtedness, marital or family issues, certain circumstances in life beyond your control to change, life-dominating sin, or other kinds of issues?

Could you see a way forward if you were to pursue theological training? What are the factors that need to be considered? Would doing part of your program via distance education be helpful in your situation?

What are the specific needs of your congregation or of your presbytery? Might God be calling you to be a part of meeting those needs?

Have you been satisfied with your current work, or is there a restlessness in your spirit as you fulfill your current responsibilities? Might it be that the only way to satisfy your longing heart is to yield to a call from God to preach the gospel?

Is God calling you to be an Isaiah? More than 2,700 years ago, Isaiah heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Isaiah responded, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isa. 6:8) May it be that, in our generation, young men will continue to respond to God’s call for laborers to work in His harvest field!

Dr. Jerry O’Neill is president of the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary.