Several years ago, our church needed to rebuild its children's ministry. No one stepped forward to lead it. The leadership vacancy raised several questions: Why didn't someone offer to serve? Who would recruit leaders? And if we found no gifted leader, should we shut down the ministry? It became obvious that we couldn't put a sign-up sheet in the lobby and expect people to "volunteer." And we knew from experience that making the job easier wasn't the answer. In fact, today we hear from younger people that we should raise the bar and require greater commitments.

Ultimately we asked Sharon, who had the talent, though we knew her interests were elsewhere. We explained our need and asked her for a one-year commitment. With the invitation came our acknowledgment that she preferred serving elsewhere. We offered to redirect her when the mission was accomplished. She said yes out of her faithfulness to the church.

Service will always be a combination of faithfulness to Christ and stewardship of ...