Recently I preached a sermon at Nowra City Church around the idea of developing a Personal Mission Statement. Here are the notes and some of the PowerPoint Slides that were associated with preach. I hope these help you develop your own Personal Mission Statement.

What is your purpose in life?

Spend a few minutes writing down what you think the answer is to the above question

A Purpose Statement is the statement on the reason something exists. Here are some famous Purpose Statements.

Jesus has a Purpose Statement or Mission Statement – which is the same thing.

In Luke 3 the bible records Jesus’ Baptism and then he is taken out by the Holy Spirit into the Wilderness for 40 days, where he fasts and defeats the temptation of the devil. The bible then records that Jesus returned in the power of the Holy Spirit. He then gets up in Luke 4:18 and reads out his Purpose or Mission Statement:-

I have been meditating on Micah 6:8 which starts off with the powerful question:-

What does the Lord require of you?

So here is a question for you.

What does the Lord require of you?

Take a few minutes and answer that question.

Emphasis on the word BE

Be: Its about the Holy Spirit transforming your life to be the best version of you there can be. And by doing that – you become a walking billboard for Jesus Christ.

So marrying the above two verses – we are transformed by the Holy Spirit, to BE, and then God sends us into our world to make difference.

We need to remember that God met Moses in his workplace.

David also had a major revelation of God – while at work and then he wrote Ps 23.

A modern version of Ps 23 may go something like this.

The Lord is my IT guy

He ensures I receives high speed downloads from heaven and that my prayerful uploads go straight to his Inbox

He regularly defrags my heart making sure all sectors functional optimally.

He recharges my battery

Surely in times of viruses, he will be available to me, to clean my life and ensure adequate virus protection for the future.

He backs me up

I know that even though I surf through the valley of Darkness.com, sin.net and hardtimes.org.au, he will be there to delete my history and restore factory defaults.

When I am down, your staff, I ring them and they comfort me

Surely, he helps me with my accessories

And I will dwell with him even after my life hits Ctrl Alt Delete.

So I have been thinking about writing a purpose statement or mission statement for my life

A statement that acts as clarifying statement of my values and how I outwork my life.

A personal mission statement provides clarity and gives you a sense of purpose. It defines who you are and how you will live.

I asked facebook if people on there had a personal mission statement and one man posted the following answer:-

im blind to the future sorry ,,hes gonna have to guide me

My response to the post was this.

A purpose statement is how you choose to act in the present.

So I believe, having a purpose statement is about being a person who is intentional about how they process the present. Its about doing the now better.

Here are some examples – starting with the family rules of Ps Mike and Beth’s family.

Ok here is an exercise for you

You are now 90 years old, sitting on a rocking chair outside your porch; you can feel the spring breeze gently brushing against your face. You are blissful and happy, and are pleased with the wonderful life you’ve been blessed with. Looking back at your life and all that you’ve achieved and acquired, all the relationships you’ve developed; what matters to you most? List them out.

Should individuals have mission statements? Absolutely! You should develop a personal mission statement for the very same reasons a business makes use of one. Your personal mission statement should describe your goals, your priorities, and your values.

Your statement of mission should:

a. Define what’s important to you. (Your Values)

c. Specify how you intend to go about fulfilling your priorities. (Your Endeavours)

d. Personify what needs you serve by doing what you do. (Your Purpose)

15 Questions to ask to help you develop your Personal Mission Statement:

1. What are you passionate about?

2. What are your deepest values

• Achievement

• Adventure

• Family

• Fitness

• Friendship

• Loyalty

• Learning

• Success

• Faith

• Personal Growth

• Kindness

• Others

• Love

• Integrity

• Education

• Empowerment

• Influence

• Security

• Compassion

• Creativity

• Positive

3. What makes you smile? (Activities, people, events, hobbies, projects, etc.)

4. What are your favourite things to do in the past? What about now?

5. Who inspires you most? (Anyone you know or do not know. Family, friends, authors, artists, leaders, etc.) Which qualities inspire you, in each person?

6. Do you have a verse or number of verses that particularly speak to you – maybe you call them your life verse.

7. What are you naturally good at? (Skills, abilities, gifts etc.)

8. What do people typically ask you for help in?

9. If you had to teach something, what would you teach?

10. What would you regret not fully doing, being or having in your life?

11. What things do you do that you sense God’s presence in

12. What causes do you strongly believe in? Connect with?

13. If you could get a message across to a large group of people. Who would those people be? What would your message be?

14. Given your talents, passions and values. How could you use these resources to serve, to help, to contribute? ( to people, beings, causes, organization, environment, planet, etc.)

Now looking at the answers to those questions: spend some time fashioning a Personal Mission Statement.

Here is mine as an example.

The mission statement of Peter Pilt

I will passionately follow hard after God, be totally committed to His Cause, be continually filled with the presence of the Holy Spirit and love and serve His local church. I will act justly and love mercy and kindness. The word of God is the constitution of my life and I allow it to govern my actions, my values and my heart towards others. I will live life on purpose being intentional with every day. I will understand that life is short and so I will not waste it on small dreams, small mindedness, mediocrity, negativity and being critical. I will be infectiously enthusiastic, inspired and inspiring, high energy, radically optimistic and will see life as a great adventure that God  has gifted me with. I reject narrow living and instead embrace the full width, depth and height of life. I commit to love outrageously, characterize my life with generosity, be thankful at all times and in all circumstances, open the door to opportunity  whenever he knocks, laugh often and dance in the rain for no reason at all.  I will be a loving and exceptional father to my daughters,  a committed husband to Melanie, a loyal friend, a caring pastor and a kind, friendly stranger to those I don’t know. 

My life verses are Micah 6:8, Ps 1:3 and Eph 1:19

If this Blog post has helped you, feel free to share it on Facebook or Twitter. I trust you have a great day

Peter

Categories: Life, Nowra City Church, Sermon Notes, Wisdom for life

Tags: Developing a Personal Mission Statement, Developing a Purpose Statement, Family Rules, What is my purpose in life