Build the Highway:

Preparing Pathways for People to Return to God

There is a kind of need that is hard to ignore.

We see it in the exhaustion of leaders, the anxiety of young people, the grief sitting quietly beneath the surface of families, the loneliness in our communities, and the spiritual confusion many people are carrying.

People are looking for safe places to be heard.
They are looking for wise guides.
They are looking for people who can walk with them through pain, confusion, shame, suffering and change.

For those drawn to counselling, chaplaincy, pastoral care or ministry, this need can feel like more than concern. It can begin to feel like calling.

Isaiah 62:10 gives us a powerful image for this kind of work:

“Pass through, pass through the gates!
Prepare the way for the people.
Build up, build up the highway!
Remove the stones.
Raise a banner for the peoples.”

The picture is not of people waiting for a road to appear. It is the picture of people building one. They clear what is obstructing the way. They prepare the ground. They make the path visible. They create access for people to return, to move forward, and to find their way home.

Christians are called to help prepare pathways where people can encounter truth, healing, restoration and Christ. Whether through ministry, friendship, leadership, parenting, community service or simply walking alongside others in everyday life, we participate in God’s work of making a way for people to experience His presence and grace.

Caring for people means helping prepare the way

Many people step into counselling, chaplaincy or ministry because they care deeply about others.

They are often the people others naturally turn to. They listen well. They notice pain. They want to help. They feel the weight of what people are facing and want to respond faithfully.

This desire to care is important, but it also raises an important question: what does healthy Christian care actually look like?

Isaiah’s image of building a highway offers a helpful answer.

Those preparing the road are not carrying travellers to their destination. They are clearing obstacles, strengthening the path and making the journey possible. They create conditions that help people move forward.

In many ways, this is what counsellors, chaplains and ministry leaders do. They walk alongside people, help identify barriers, create spaces of safety and support, and assist others as they navigate difficult seasons.

Christian care is not about becoming someone else’s saviour. It is about faithfully helping prepare the way.

Christ remains the healer.
Christ remains the destination.
We are called to help make the path clearer for those seeking hope, healing and restoration.

The highway must be able to carry weight

A highway is not built only for appearance. It must be able to carry weight.

Engineers think carefully about the road they are building. Who will use it? What pressure will it need to bear? What future load is coming? What foundations are required? Where does drainage need to be placed? What will happen under stress?

The same questions matter in ministry and care.

People bring enormous weight into counselling rooms, chaplaincy conversations, pastoral meetings and ministry spaces. They bring grief, trauma, shame, family breakdown, anxiety, burnout, confusion, spiritual pain and unprocessed stories.

If we are to care well, we cannot build lightly.

Good intentions are not enough. Gifting is not enough. Passion is not enough.

The work of caring for people requires wisdom, formation, self-awareness, emotional maturity, theological depth, ethical understanding and practical skill.

Many ministry roads collapse not because people lacked passion, but because the foundation was never strong enough to carry the weight.

God often works beneath the surface first

Before a highway is visible, much of the most important work happens underneath.

The ground is assessed. Weak places are stabilised. The foundation is prepared. Drainage is installed. The visible road is only as strong as what sits beneath it.

The same is true in us.

Before God expands visible ministry, He often works deeply in the hidden life.

He confronts the false self.
He exposes ambition.
He reveals performance.
He challenges self-reliance.
He brings attention to unhealed wounds.
He gently uncovers the need to be needed.

This can feel uncomfortable. It may feel like delay, failure, weakness or uncertainty. Yet often, this is not God removing the calling. It is God strengthening the foundations beneath it.

The hidden life matters because people are safest around leaders whose private life and public life are becoming increasingly aligned.

The goal is not simply to become more capable.
The goal is to become more whole.

From the unformed inner life to the formed inner life

People-centred work will eventually reveal what is happening within us.

Pressure has a way of exposing the foundations.

An unformed inner life may carry resentment, insecurity, fear, emotional shutdown, pride, self-protection, hidden exhaustion or a performance-based identity. These things do not always appear immediately. But over time, under pressure, they can shape the way we lead, listen, respond and relate.

By contrast, a formed inner life is marked by surrender, integrity, humility, emotional honesty, grounded identity, dependence on God, congruence and love without performance.

This is the work of Christian formation.

God is not only interested in what we do for others. He is deeply committed to who we are becoming in Him.

For counsellors, chaplains and ministry leaders, formation is not an optional extra. It is part of the work. The life of Christ must be formed in us if the care of Christ is to flow safely through us.

We all need healthy drainage systems

In road construction, drainage is essential.

If water becomes trapped beneath the surface, pressure builds. Cracks form. Weakness spreads invisibly. Eventually, the structure begins to fail.

The same is true in the human soul.

Unprocessed pain does not disappear simply because we are serving others. If it has nowhere healthy to go, it may become cynicism, control, bitterness, numbness, burnout, addiction, emotional shutdown or moral collapse.

Some people do not intend to harm others, but unresolved pain begins to leak into the systems, relationships and ministries they are building.

This is why those who care for others also need places where they are cared for.

Healthy drainage systems may include prayer, confession, supervision, counselling, lament, community, friendship, Sabbath, spiritual direction and honest relationships where we are truly known.

These are not signs of weakness.
They are survival systems for people who walk with others through suffering.

No one builds the highway alone.

Clear away the stones

Isaiah says, “Remove the stones.”

This is both personal and vocational.

In the lives of those we support, the stones may be grief, shame, trauma, anxiety, conflict, confusion or despair. Part of caring well is learning how to help people notice what is obstructing the way and support them as they take the next faithful step.

But there are also stones within us that God may ask us to remove.

• Pride.
• Hurry.
• Fear.
• Comparison.
• Cynicism.
• Unforgiveness.
• Hidden exhaustion.
• Self-protection.
• The need to prove ourselves.
• The desire to be seen as indispensable.

Sometimes the very things we have learned to hide behind become the things that obstruct the highway God is asking us to build.

Formation invites us to surrender them.

Raise the banner

Isaiah does not only call the people to build the highway. It also calls them to raise a banner.

The banner is not our gifting.
It is not our platform.
It is not our qualifications.
It is not our ministry success.

The banner is Christ.

Christ crucified.
Christ risen.
Christ present.
Christ interceding.
Christ reigning.
Christ calling people home.

The danger in ministry is that we can subtly become the banner ourselves. We can begin to draw people toward our wisdom, our presence, our ability, our insight or our leadership.

But Christian care points beyond itself.

We prepare the way, but we are not the way.
We walk with people, but we are not their destination.
We create pathways of care, but Christ is the one who restores.

Preparation is part of the calling

Some people sense a call to help others but hesitate when it comes to training.

They wonder whether they are ready.
They wonder whether study is necessary.
They wonder whether their desire to help is enough.
They wonder whether this sense of calling should simply remain informal.

But preparation is not a distraction from the calling. Often, preparation is part of the calling.

Those who build highways require tools, training, wisdom and understanding. They need to know the terrain. They need to understand pressure points. They need to build something that can last.

Those who care for people need preparation too.

Counselling, chaplaincy and ministry involve real lives, real pain and real responsibility. They require more than kindness alone. They require wisdom, practice, humility, theological grounding, ethical awareness and the capacity to support others without taking over what belongs to them.

Training does not replace calling.
It helps shape and steward it.

What might God be asking you to build?

Perhaps you have been noticing the need for some time.

Perhaps people already trust you with their stories.
Perhaps you are drawn to the quiet work of listening, supporting and guiding.
Perhaps you see the need in your church, workplace, school or community.
Perhaps you sense that God is asking you to prepare more deeply for the people He is calling you to serve.

Isaiah’s invitation still speaks:

Prepare the way.
Build up the highway.
Remove the stones.
Raise the banner.

At Tov Academy, our counselling, chaplaincy and ministry pathways are designed for people who want to be formed and equipped for this kind of service. We believe that learning, formation and practice belong together, because people need helpers who are not only compassionate, but wise, grounded and prepared.

The world does not simply need more people with good intentions.

It needs people who are willing to be formed.
People who can care without carrying.
People who can walk with others through suffering.
People who can prepare pathways of healing, hope and restoration.
People who know that Christ is the banner, and that we are called to make a way toward Him.

Explore the pathway

If you are sensing a call toward counselling, chaplaincy or ministry, this may be a season to take the next step.

Explore Tov Academy’s accredited pathways and consider what it might look like to learn, form and become — for the sake of others.

 

Written by Sally Simpson, General Manager