According to a 2005 Gallup Poll, the most popular career choices for teens are doctors, nurses, teachers, computer technologists, professional athletes, lawyers, veterinarians, chefs, musicians, military officers and mechanics. Depending on gender, one of these options may sway you in one particular direction or another. More recent 2010 findings would add accountants, firefighters, fashion designers, forensic scientists and police officers into the mix. Salvation Army officership didn't seem to make the list.

What happened to the youth who view ministry as a lifelong calling and vocation? The survey responses hit me quite personally, as the very thing I'm absolutely passionate about doing seems to be the most undesired by the masses.

In the Canada and Bermuda Territory, there are 12 potential cadets who may be commissioned in June as Salvation Army officers. While this is the same number of disciples with which Jesus commenced his ministry, shouldn't we be concerned that there are so few Salvationists signing on to full-time service?

Some might argue that less is more. We should celebrate the fact that it is not quantity that matters but quality. Better to have just 12 Spirit-filled and Spirit-driven leaders than to have a larger group that may not make it for the long haul.

We could also look at the Gallup results in a different way. Imagine that being a preacher or a pastor did rank at the top of the career list. If every youth graduating high school sought to become a minister of the Gospel, think of the subsequent domino effect. If everyone chose to be in ministry, eventually there would be no one left in the pews. So we shouldn't argue that everyone should seek the role of a minister or officer, but rather ask why we don't see more people embracing this vocation.

When we engage this tension in theological terms, we recognize that the office of a minister of the Gospel is a holy and sacred calling. To Moses, God said, “I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people out of Egypt (Exodus 3:10). God's word to the prophet Jeremiah was equally as clear and directive: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations (Jeremiah 1:5). Choosing to be a minister of the Gospel is not a choice that can be made outside of a strong sense of holy calling. The challenge that may be confronting us is how we are assisting young people in discerning the will of God for their lives. How are today's young people helped to even consider full-time ministry as a viable life goal?

Our Founder, William Booth, had strong convictions on this subject. In an excerpt from The War Cry, December 6, 1884, he said: “We must have officers. The people are perishing. We want men and women filled with this idea, and filled with the idea of the Grand Remedy that is provided and filled with the resistless power of the Holy Ghost, who will go and force these same ideas upon the world about them.” He then went on to talk about the active role the community of faith must play in nurturing young people toward their sense of God-focused vocation. “Let everybody help God to speed it! Mothers and fathers, captains and lieutenants, sergeants and soldiers … put them on the altar. Spend money and time and strength in teaching and training them. Nurse them for God. When they fall down, pick they back up again. Get them saved. Get them into uniform. Write their names on the roll. When they get carried away by childish impulses … fetch them back again … Fill their mouths with your songs. Teach them your music and hurry them in every way possible to get ready for the fight.”

While in our postmodern/post-Christian context, some might question how directive we might be in “hurrying people along to the fight,” the point is well taken. There is a responsibility the community of faith has to nurture young people to at least consider the vocation of officership. Conversely, those of us who are currently in the ranks, have an increased burden and responsibility to speak about that which inspires and motivates us, every day, to be officers in The Salvation Army.

Reflecting on both past and present appointments, I am amazed at all the places ministry in The Salvation Army has taken us. Our lives are richer for all the people we have met and the lessons we have learned. Yes, there are days when the challenges can seem overwhelming. Yet, there come these wonderful moments when you see God's Spirit bursting forth in a human life and you know the journey has been worth every step. Certainly it has been a life of sacrifice, but also a life of adventure. We have placed ourselves at the Army's disposal. Yet we have learned nothing can outweigh the joy of being a part of God's unfolding plan for the world.

While underscoring the importance of officers telling their story as a means to encourage and nurture officer recruits, equally we must consider the importance of promoting commitment to membership in The Salvation Army. In order to have officers, we must first have soldiers. Challenging people to step up and sign up, as General-Elect Linda Bond has said, is one of our greatest needs. Only as people are invited to align themselves with the mission of The Salvation Army, and find their role within, will we find the means to open conversations about full time service in our Army.

Over the past year at Winnipeg's Heritage Park Temple, we have seen an incredible influx of community children into our congregation. As we have brought them along the discipleship spectrum, some have reached a point where we thought it appropriate to speak to them about junior soldiership. A recent conversation with one parent will always stand out in my mind. “You are inviting my son to enlist? Wow!” he said. “So cool! My son just loves The Salvation Army!” While it was important to help this parent understand we would not be shipping his child off to the Middle East any time soon, this parent saw the significance of belonging to something. As we chatted, he communicated his excitement as to the impact this membership might have on his child. This Easter we will potentially enroll eight junior soldiers who have come directly from community ministry contact. Who knows, maybe among the mix, there will even be a future officer of The Salvation Army. The point is that we have learned the importance of opening the door for these conversations and seeking to be a community of faith that will nurture Kingdom possibilities.

Officers are needed; people who will make themselves available to be used by God in any way, at any time for the mission of reaching the world for Jesus. Maybe ministry will never make the top career choice on the Gallup poll. But in Salvation Army terms, we will find increased ways to strengthen the nurturing of our officer recruits in the context of our faith communities. In so doing, we assist the young, and even the not so young, in more actively discerning the will of God for their lives.

Major Julie Slous is corps officer at Winnipeg's Heritage Park Temple. She also serves as adjunct faculty at the College for Officer Training. In May 2009, Julie completed her doctoral studies in biblical preaching. Her thesis work centred on “Preaching a Disturbing Gospel─The Homiletic of The Salvation Army for Postmodern Times.” When not studying and writing, personal hobbies include reading, cooking, musical composition and, of course, listening to sermons! Married to Brian, she has three children.