The Call To The Ministry: C.H. Spurgeon

How may a young man know whether he is called or not?

1. The first sign of the heavenly calling is an intense, all-absorbing desire for the work. In order to a true call to the ministry there must be an irresistible, overwhelming craving and raging thirst for telling to others what God has done to our own souls; what if I call it a kind of storge, such as birds have for rearing their young when the season is come; when the mother-bird would sooner die than leave her nest...(Do not enter the ministry if you can help it)

2. In the second place, combined with the earnest desire to become a pastor, there must be aptness to teach and some measure of the other qualities needful for the office of a public instructor. A man to prove his call must make a successful trial of these...

3. In order further prove a man's call, after a little exercise of his gifts, such as I have already spoken of, he must see a measure of conversion-work going on under his efforts, or he may conclude that he has made a mistake, and, therefore, may go back by the best way he can...

4. A step beyond all this is, however, needful in our enquiry. The will of the Lord concerning pastors is made known through the prayerful judgment of His Church. It is neeful as a proof of your vocation that your preaching should be acceptable to the people of God...

Spurgeon, C.H. Lecture To My Students. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1954.