The Book of Common Prayer says this about mission: "The mission of the Church is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ... The Church pursues its mission as it prays and worships, proclaims the Gospel, and promotes justice, peace, and love." (p. 855)
All our ministries, when they are true to their source, are part of the missionary work of the Church. These ministries are always marked by dynamic action, by a movement from where we are to where Christ calls us to serve. Our ministries are a continuing and always—changing response to the one mission of the Church.
Every Christian, growing in faith, comes to that time when the desire to serve must find expression. This desire to serve mirrors the Incarnation of Jesus Christ who came as one who serves; it arises from faith in the Resurrection of the one who draws us to himself. The desire to serve is holy. The call to serve is a call to the mission of the Church; it is the call to be a missionary.
Discernment
The response to this holy desire involves the practice of discernment. Discernment means respecting, celebrating, exploring, and testing the desire to serve. The normal first place for discernment is the congregation in which you worship. In formal and informal ways, together with other faithful people, find ways to explore and test your call to service. Ask others to help in that discernment—friends and colleagues, and parish, diocesan, provincial and national church people. Ask yourself and each on you call on for counsel: How can this desire be honored? How can it be celebrated? How can I explore what it means for me and what it requires from me?
What is my life’s mission?
Richard N. Bolles, an Episcopal priest, writes about how to find your mission in life in his book, What Color is Your Parachute?, 1988 edition.
Bolles believes that being called to service is an interaction between Someone who calls and someone who responds. The call from God is reflected in the gifts which God has given you. The beginning of your response to that call is reflected in ascertaining what those gifts are and what call they point to. This process of discernment will lead you into dialogue with the holy within you and with those around you.
The first step
in discerning a call, according to Bolles, is to seek out and find, in regular communication, the One who calls you. What you are called to do is rooted in Who calls you to this service. Become aware of the holy within you and establish a relationship with the Holy One, both as transcendent and in the people and the creation around you.
The second step
is "to do whatever you can, moment by moment, day by day, step by step, to make this world a better place—following the leading and guiding of God’s Spirit within you and around you." Although it is tempting to envision great acts of valiant service, one is rarely, if ever, led to those places without first having done many small acts of goodness—often very small ones. Each day we face "moments of decision" when one choice makes the world a better place and the other choice makes the world worse. The discipline of service is to choose on the side of good—every time.
The third step
is "to exercise that Talent which you particularly came to Earth to use—your greatest gift, which you most delight to use, in the place(s) or setting which God has caused to appeal to you the most, and for those purposes which God most needs to have done in the world." The unique gifts you have been given to use in service usually are those which give you the greatest pleasure. They are being used in those moments when you feel you are most fully who God created you to be.
The place of service is likely to be in those settings toward which you feel drawn. They are settings where you feel as if you "belonged" in some deeper sense which transcends mere membership or position.
Those with whom you will work in service most likely will identify what they need from you, rather than you giving them what you feel they need. Understanding God’s purpose will require you to listen to those who live and work in situations where you feel you might be called to serve. The One who calls you will make clear to you the purpose of your service, through dialogue with those with whom you serve.
Taking Action
Forms of service are many, and the places of service range from the local, to placement elsewhere in the United States, to placement worldwide. You may find the call answered by working in your congregation, or you may be called to service in another country. You may be called to prayer and contemplation as service, or you may be called to practice your service profession as a form of prayer and contemplation. You may already be serving in your home, your job, your church, or your community. If the call is of the Holy Spirit, you will be called to action in service, to witness in word and deed.
If this process leads you to seek new and different avenues of service, do not be limited in your vision. Discuss your gifts and desires with those around you, including friends in the Church and the clergy of your congregation. Listen to how they perceive you, your gifts, and the source of your energy. Go to the setting to which you are drawn and engage in dialogue with the people there. Listen to what they identify as their hopes, their needs, their expectations. See if you are drawn—and they draw you—into walking with them in their journey toward wholeness. And if so, travel that way a while, seeing if the service you are doing is making the world a better place.
You might find the following books useful:
- The Book of Common Prayer, (especially the Catechism, p. 845)
- Giving Mission its Proper Place
- Anglican Consultative Council
- What Color is Your Parachute? by Richard N. Bolles, Ten Speed Press
- Wishful Thinking—A Theological ABC by Frederick Buechner, 1973, Harper & Row
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