My Personal Mission Statement

Staying grounded in my calling

Photo by Arifur Rahman on Unsplash

(A three-minute read.)

Do you have a personal mission statement—something that serves as your “true north,” grounding you in your life’s purpose and direction?

I know it sort of feels like something from the business world, which I generally don’t get excited about. But four or five years ago, I started crafting my own personal mission statement that could constantly remind me of why I exist. It can also help me make decisions about various opportunities in life—both personally and professionally.

So what is my personal mission statement?

It goes like this:

I exist to experience eternal fellowship with the triune God of love—and to extend that fellowship to others.

That’s it.

Very simple.

But perhaps profound?

It was actually a little while in the making, as I originally designed a mission statement that emphasized the second clause more than the first one. I don’t remember exactly how I articulated it, but I placed the bulk of my emphasis on what I did on God’s behalf.

But then I realized: my primary calling is not to do things for God but to be with God. I was created to experience the Beatific Vision. I was created not because I was needed but because I was wanted.

The triune God of love—consisting of Father, Son, and Spirit—have all that God needs within the godhead. God is community itself. There is nothing outside of God that God needs.

Thus, God created me out of pure enjoyment, delight, and love. And I’m invited to respond in kind—not because God will have some ontological deficit if I don’t respond, but because God delights in having me delight in him.

In this regard, I affirm and appreciate the second clause of the first answer in the Westminster Shorter Catechism. “What is the chief end of man?” it asks.

Answer: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.”

I’m invited to enjoy God—and to enjoy him enjoying me forever. My life would be complete if that’s all I ended up ever experiencing.

And yet, of course, from out of that enjoyment flows a wonderful and glorious byproduct. Enjoying, delighting in, and loving others—and inviting them into this symphony of love and delight—is a natural result.

As I experience this eternal fellowship with the triune God of love, I naturally long to extend that fellowship to others and to invite them into the circle of love. I ever want the circle to grow—not because I’m operating from a place of scarcity, but because I’m operating from a place of abundance and joy.

Thus, as many Christian thinkers have articulated it throughout the ages, I am loved into loving.

I saw a friend share this thought from John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, the other day. I think it captures all this sentiment wonderfully. It’s from his pamphlet, An Earnest Appeal to Men of Reason and Religion, written in 1743:

What religion do I preach? The religion of love; the law of kindness brought to light by the Gospel. What is it good for? To make all who receive it enjoy God and themselves: to make them like God; lovers of all.

Beautiful!

Of course, I don’t always remember this or get it “right.” That’s why I have a mission statement to begin with—precisely because I need to be reminded of it over and over again. So often I get going down the wrong road, hustling to earn what I’ve already been given by God.

I can’t remember if I’ve shared this story before, but it’s one of my favorites—which John Mark Comer recounts in his book, Practicing the Way.

It’s about a farmer in nineteenth-century France who would come into a church and just spend hours sitting there. Day after day after day. Finally, the priest came up to the man and asked him what he was doing. The man simply replied, “I look at him, he looks at me, and we are happy.”

That’s joy and delight! And that’s the bulk of my life’s mission—and from out of that will flow all other wonderful gifts and joys.

What about you?

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Shawn is a pastor and church planter in Portland, Maine, whose life, ministry, and writing focus on incarnational and embodied expressions of faith. The author of four books and a columnist for Adventist Review, he is also a DPhil (PhD) candidate at the University of Oxford, focusing on nineteenth-century American Christianity. You can follow him on Instagram, and listen to his podcast Mission Lab.