Defining God's Call
April 28, 2008
In June 2008, my next book entitled
Is God Calling Me? will be released. The book is a short (125 pages) book written primarily to younger leaders and potential leaders (although the concepts are applicable to persons of any age). My hope is this book will become a useful tool for thousands of young believers to consider the issue of call. Over the next few weeks, let’s preview some of the contents.
Perhaps the most distinctive feature of the book is a one-sentence definition of God’s call. As I have read other books on this subject, other authors describe the idea of call but seldom is it succinctly defined. My definition of God’s call is:
“A call is a profound impression from God that establishes parameters for your life and can only be altered by a subsequent, superceding impression from God.”
Let’s consider some of the key phrases in the definition. First, a call is “profound impression from God.” It is in inner experience. It is something you sense or feel. It is very subjective and difficult to quantify. When teaching on this aspect of the definition, I often end by saying, “You know it in your heart.” That is uncomfortable for some. Yet, it’s still true. A call from God is an inner impression, an inner resolution, an inner conviction. It is a an inner “ought to” that can’t be shaken.
A call is a “profound” impression. It is more than a prompting, leading, directing, urging, or sensing. It is a
profound impression. It is a deep-down, core-shaking, settled impression God is calling you. A call is a profound impression from God.
Second, a call “established parameters for your life.” Think of these a gigantic parentheses God erects around your life. When you are called, your future life must be lived in the context of God’s call. What is within the call is allowed. What is outside the call is not. It’s really that simple. This has significant implications. When you are called, you can’t entangle yourself in any relationship (romantic, vocational, or financial) that compromises your call. For me, this meant only dating women who shared my sense of call. It also meant rejecting a job offer in college that would have restricted me from following my sense of call. Both were painful, but necessary choices of following God’s call.
Finally, a call can only be altered by a “subsequent, superceding impression from God.” That sounds like something a seminary president would write! Yet, those words are carefully chosen. A call is a semi-permanent status. When you are called, you answer the call and stay in your assignment until God calls again. This is vital. A call requires disciplined obedience. A call requires faithfulness. A call is not something you walk away from when circumstances are difficult. A call can only be replaced by another call – subsequent and superceding to the prior experience with God.
This is just a taste! I hope you will enjoy the preview over the next few weeks and plan to get the book when it comes out. My real hope is thousands of you will help get the book into the hands of as many young believers (ages 16-24) as possible. We need a new generation of leaders and all of us are responsible for raising their awareness of God’s call in their lives.
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Expressing Servant Leadership
April 21, 2008
When we started these blog columns on servant leadership, I wrote my story of first being introduced to the concept and my frustration with what I was taught. For the past few weeks we have considered the motive and mission of servant leadership. That forms the foundation of my working definition of servant leadership:
A proper ministry motive expressed through your personal mission, shaped by your individual attributes, and applied in your assigned ministry setting produces servant leadership pleasing to God.
The motives for servant leadership are love God and serve people. Any personal mission can be expressed with a servant leadership attitude. Now we move to the next two components of the definition – your individual attributes and your assigned ministry setting. Servant leaders, properly motivated and missionaly focused, express themselves through their personal characteristics in their specific leadership assignment.
There are various ways to analyze your individual attributes. Here is a partial list to consider:
*Personality – We own our strengths, accept our weaknesses, and improve our liabilities.
*Giftedness – We know our spiritual gifts and use them contentedly.
*Abilities – We know our talents and use them willingly.
*Calling – We understand our calling and hold to it firmly.
*Training – We have a reservoir of knowledge and skills we have mastered.
*Experiences – We have been shaped by life.
*Character – We shape life by our holiness and sinfulness, sometimes concurrently.
God has made you a unique person with a constellation of the above attributes. The combinations of these are almost infinite. The point is not that you make a detailed analysis of all these factors before you can become a servant leader. What this list means is you can be assured - no matter how God has knitted you together - you can be a servant leader. There is no “one model” of servant leader.
So rest easy and accept this reality. You can be a servant leader. No one personality type, set of gifts or abilities, training program, or experiences create a servant leader. God makes all kinds of unique leaders and every one can be a servant leader.
The same kind of variety exists in ministry settings. Consider this list of some of the variables that describe leadership venues:
*Geographic – We have a location in which we minister.
*Cultural – We are impacted by the culture in which we minister.
*Social – We are shaped by the social milieu in which we minister.
*Economic – We are influenced by the economic realities of our ministry setting.
*Spiritual – We must reckon with the spiritual environment of our ministry setting.
Again, it is not important to analyze every one of these variable before you can become a servant leader. This list simply describes some of the different aspects of every ministry setting. God places leaders in all types of ministry situations. Servant leadership is possible in every setting, but it may look very different from location to location. As a leader, you need to analyze your setting to discover how to model servant leadership. It may look very different in a church plant in Asia compared to an administrative position with a mission board.
“Servant leader” is not a monolithic description of one kind of leader, role, or setting. Ask God to give you wisdom to become a servant leader where he has assigned you.
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Developing a Personal Mission Statement
April 14, 2008
When you start to write your personal mission statement, it may be hard to know where to begin. Don’t worry too much about getting it “right” too quickly. Just start writing some ideas and allow it to be shaped over time. As you work on the process, there are three resources that might help you – God (and his Word), friends and family, and life experiences. Let’s look at each of these and how they might help.
First, when developing a personal mission statement ask God for his help. Pray about it! God wants to clarify His mission for you. He is not hiding from you or trying to confuse you. He made you and wants the best for you. He has a unique mission for you. Ask him to show you what it is.
As you pray, study the Bible for direction. Do this two ways. First, be sure you are reading the Bible devotionally. As you read the Bible daily, God will speak to you incrementally about your mission. It may not come all at once in flash of insight, but God nonetheless speaks. Listen for his voice through the impressions you have in regular Bible reading.
You can also study the Bible more intentionally, looking for specific insight through how biblical characters lived out God’s mission. Men and women who followed God’s mission in various cultures, at various times in history, and through all kinds of trying circumstances are included in the biblical narrative. Studying their lives will help you discover principles and patterns for living your mission.
Second, when developing a personal mission ask other people for help. Your friends and family know you well. Asking them for their insight can aid your process. Ask them for their appraisal of your strengths, weaknesses, liabilities, gifts, and talents. While the sum of these parts doesn’t necessarily define your mission, understanding them can be very helpful in your process. You are uniquely created and equipped for God’s mission. Doesn’t it make sense that the things you are good at will be part of your mission? Doesn’t it also make sense that problem areas may reveal areas outside your mission?
Friends (mentors, peers, and colleagues) and family (parents, siblings, grandparents) are very insightful. They know you better than you think! Listening to them doesn’t mean you accept everything they say. But it does mean you hear them carefully and take advantage of what you can learn from them.
Finally, when developing a personal mission statement evaluate your experiences. What do you do well? What are you passionate about? What really “rings your bell” or “makes your heart sing” when you do it? On the other hand, what have you tried that wasn’t fulfilling? What activities – when you do them – never seem to end and leave you drained? Or the opposite – what activities cause time to fly and leave you energized?
Considering your experiences can shape your understanding of your mission. For example, for as long as I can remember, I have been leading. In grade school, teachers and peers put me in leadership roles. It seemed natural then, and it seems natural now. Leading, particularly innovating new solutions or solving thorny problems, energizes me. It’s the same way with speaking. My first time to speak to over 1000 people was in the sixth grade. The teacher asked me, “Are you nervous?” I answered, “no,” and remember thinking, “why should I be?” My earliest experiences, and many since, have confirmed God’s mission for me.
As you develop your mission statement, remember it takes time. It is a process and it changes through the years. My general rule of thumb is to encourage leaders to write a new personnel mission statement every year in their 20’s, every three years in their 30’s, twice in their 40’s, and once per decade after that. While this is an arbitrary pattern, it seems to take into account our need to articulate a specific mission and adjust it as we learn more about God, life, and ourselves.
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Importance of Your Personal Mission Statement
April 7, 2008
What is a personnel mission statement? It is a one-sentence statement of God’s unique assignment for you in his kingdom. While many leaders have a specific statement for their ministry’s mission or vision, few take the time to write a personal statement. Many leaders also have a general idea of their mission, but have never tried to state it in one sentence. Taking the time to work through this process is more than a leadership exercise. It is a disciplined investment in future effectiveness. Here are four reasons a personal mission statement is helpful.
First, a focused mission statement provides parameters for decision-making. For example, a frequent question people ask me is how I make decisions about accepting events and calendaring activities. My solution is to consult my mission statement. Activities that fit my personal mission are where I commit my time. Other events simply have to be refused. That doesn’t mean they are unimportant! It simply means they can’t be a priority for me.
Second, a written mission statement defines my purpose in life. God has made me (and you) a unique person designed to make a unique contribution to his kingdom. How exciting to know God has a special plan for each person! Discovering my mission has given me confidence. It helps me do what I do, not worrying so much about what others are doing. It allows me to celebrate the successes of other leaders, without feeling pressured to copy or compete with them.
Third, a written mission statement helps provides security. Despite leadership success, it is so easy to compare our achievements with others and feel we are inadequate. Why is this? We have an inborn need to compare ourselves to others. One of the disciplines of effective leaders is maintaining a healthy tension between vision and contentment – between who we hope to become and who we are. When you know God’s mission for your life, you can focus on pleasing him – not trying to find security by comparing yourself favorably to others.
Finally, a solid mission statement will help keep you humble. Humility comes from a clear personal mission? Yes. Here’s how. A clear personal mission submits you to God’s plan. It is your acknowledgment your plan for your life is over. God’s plan reigns supreme. You are committed to fulfilling who He made you to be. It also frees you to celebrate others. Nothing has minimized jealousy of other leaders like clarifying my personal mission. When envy rises, I remind myself of my mission and ask God for contentment. Celebrating the success of other leaders comes from knowing my mission and recognizing the unique mission of others.
If you are still not sure about your personal mission, stay with me a few more weeks as we learn how to do it and process the possibilities.
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