Developing a Mission Statement
for Your Life
(adapted from the Seven Habits Organizer)
One of the most powerful methods of cultivating a passionate vision and mission for your life is to create and live by a mission statement that can become a personal creed for your life. Oftentimes, it is the puniness of our affections and the darkened texture of our vision of God that keeps us from seeing God at work in our lives. A personal mission statement can have a powerful effect in helping to remind each of us of the things that God desires for us.
“Such statements capture what you want to be and do—What qualities you want to develop, what you want to accomplish, what contributions you want to make. Clarity on these issues is critical because it affects everything else—the goals you set, the decisions you make, the paradigms you hold, and the way you spend your time.” (Seven Habits Organizer, 1997)
A personal mission statement can become a kind of personal creed guiding your actions, the basis for making life-directed decisions, as well as the daily, day-to-day decisions that make up our lives. It can also be a fun process of discovery of who it is that God is making you to be. Here are some questions to get you started:
/ / What would I really like to see happen in my one life to live?
/ / What do I feel are my greatest passions and gifts?
/ / How do I want to impact the world for Christ?
/ / What have been the things that God seems to have blessed in my life?
/ / If I had no limit on resources and time, what would I do?
/ / What are the three or four most important things for me to be engaged
in, according to my understanding of the Scripture?
Because each individual is a unique and special creation of God, every personal mission statement will express its own unique qualities both in content and form. Your mission statement might be expressed in just a few lines, or it might take pages to develop. It is usually a good idea to revisit whatever you come up with on a periodic basis, say once a year, to do more fine-tuning so that the statement ages well as you grow and mature.
“Mission statements can be written in poetry, prose, music, or art, and written for individuals, couples, families, or organizations. Writing an empowering mission statement is not a ‘to-do’ to be checked off. To be empowering, it has to become a living, breathing document. You must ponder it, memorize it, review it, update it, and write it into your heart and mind.” (Seven Habits Organizer)
“Priming the Pump” of Your Mind in Developing
and Empowering Mission Statement
/ / Embraces and reflects God’s will for your life
/ / Represents the deepest and best aspirations you have for your life
in Christ/ / Is the fulfillment of your own unique gifts and capacity to contribute to
the glory of God and the joy of the nations./ / Deals with all the significant God-given roles in your life
/ / Represents a lifetime balance of spiritual, personal, family, work,
community, etc./ / Is written to inspire and direct you—not to impress anyone. It should
communicate to you and inspire you on the most essential level.
I went through this process when I developed my own personal mission statement some years ago. In my process, I tried to make a kind of “personal creed” that I dubbed “The Sojourner’s Creed.”
The Sojourner’s Creed
I belong to Christ.
My time and my life are His.
He directs the moments and activities of my days.
He is the counselor whose wisdom I follow.
He is the model for how I seek to live,
And the audience I see to please.
He has called me to worship Him.
He has gifted me to serve Him.
I belong to Christ,
And I will seek to live passionately for and like Him,
Today and forever.
A Mission / Vision Workshop
- List those things that are most important to your life.
- How effective are you at keeping these things first in your life? Why or why not?
- If you were to do one thing in your spiritual life that would have the most positive impact, what would that one thing be?
- If you were to do one thing in your professional life that would have the most positive impact, what would that one thing be?
- If you were to do one thing in your personal life that would have the most positive impact, what would that one thing be?
One final note: Pray, pray, pray. You want to make sure that you are submitted to God in this entire process. Pray.
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