When we approach one of life’s cross-roads--be it accepting a call to a church, pursuing additional education or partnering in a ministry endeavor—pastors already understand that both faith and discernment are needed. However, rather than acquiesce to what seemingly is the providence of God, the Lord’s Spirit is coaching us to doggedly pursue a mission statement’s trajectory (Hebrews 11:8).

The thing about committing yourself to a plan is that a mission statement means nothing until it becomes a major part of your daily devotional life.  The Lord asks us to pray for His kingdom to come, that every sphere of life be increasingly under His rule. But, the questions of “in what way, with whom and where?” will arise. These questions naturally follow, as one’s mission statement becomes a decision-making tool.  Its clear focus provides direction in turning in one direction and avoiding another.

As you begin to affirm that your mission statement is a decision-making tool, you must concurrently request of the Lord for Him to set before you Kingdom building opportunities within your statement’s parameters. This sound basic to most everyone, however, until you go through the actual process that completely redirects you (and your wife and kids) lives, you may face the reality that a mission statement often isn’t asking for minor tweaks to your day-planner. Rather, it often calls for taking personal risk.

In 1999, I finished a year-long series of one day a month meetings with a dozen Puget Sound, Evangelical Free, pastors with a commitment to make a bold move toward concrete actions in alignment with my mission statement. Quickly, I recognized the requirement for exercising courage to overcome a rising fear of being unsure of what I was doing. For those of us who are reluctant to take a major risk, I will share in my next post how the Lord will even force you to make courageous decisions.

Pastor of the Lovell Community Chapel located in northern Michigan

In 1998, I began meeting one day each month with ten other Evangelical Free Church pastors in the Puget Sound region (Washington State) to forge my personal mission statement.  For the first four months a facilitator led us through Focusing Leaders Network, a guided assessment for discovering the best applications of each one’s giftedness.  We each mapped out our providential opportunities and whether each found a measure of God’s blessings and reflected on periods of “wilderness”  testing seasons where we were groping to understand what God was doing. For the following six months, we pondered new challenges by thinking in bigger terms in light of the Lord Jesus’ Kingdom.  Specifically, we spent extended time in prayer, Scripture reading and fasting to pen an individual strategic plan for the glory of God.  With a pastor/coach coming alongside for prayer support and counsel, I penned my mission statement and committed a detailed plan to the Lord.  In future posts, I will share more about this process in the hopes of connecting with a few who would desire to develop their own mission statement.  Would any of you be willing to offer how you came to understand what unique contribution the Lord would have you focus on? Please comment or email me.

Pastor of the Lovell Community Chapel located in northern Michigan