(Part 1 of the Soul’s DNA series)
A manifesto is a public statement that summarizes the beliefs and aims of a group or individual.
This is my manifesto. It has been a North Star for me for many years.
It’s not my original work (I wish I could say it was!). It’s adopted from the thinking of Os Guinness. His writings in Entrepreneurs of Life (now a curriculum available at Trinity Forum) conclude with a summary statement – a manifesto – that helps to orient folks seeking to live with Christian intentionality in this world.
See what you think! And then scroll to the bottom to get an idea about how to use this!
Entrepreneurs Of Life
Os Guiness
As Entrepreneurs of Life, we respond to the call of our great Creator by seeing all life as an enterprise transformed by his call to ‘Follow me.’
We therefore count the cost, consider the risks, and set out on each day as a venture to multiply our gifts and opportunities in order to bring glory to God and add value to his world.
In so living
- we find the fullest meaning of our lives in answering the call,
- we seek our identity solely in our naming by the Caller,
- we pursue excellence defined as ‘My utmost for His highest,’
- we count our deepest companionship among our fellow-followers of the Way,
- we look for final approval only from one audience — the Audience of One,
- we break down every false barrier between the sacred and the secular, weaving all life into a seamless web of faith and love in action,
- and we work for no other accomplishment or legacy than the Caller’s own ‘well done.’
The menial and humdrum we elevate because of the one for whom it’s ultimately done.
The dangerous and sacrificial we bear as the privilege of high calling.
The siren sounds of ease, success and popularity we shun for a trustworthier voice.
The temptations of conceit coming from being so chosen we answer with a gratitude humbled by grace because we have been chosen at all.
Thus we are fully engaged in the world on realistic terms, but empowered by vision and energies from a world that is unseen but even more real and realistic
In all things, and in all the vicissitudes and seasons of life, we know that
- we are called not to somewhere or some thing but to Someone,
- that there is no true calling without the Caller,
- that calling is not only being who we are but becoming what we are to be,
- that no self-made goal can ever rival the Ultimate Why of the mystery of the Creator’s purpose for each of us as his creatures,
- that we will never rise higher than when we follow the call not knowing where the path may lead – so long as the Caller is God.
And that while we may lose our jobs and our health, or retire from a career, we will never retire from our calling — until that Final Call, which is death, leads each of us to the climax and consummation of all calling.
For on that day, for the first time, we will not need to listen only to a word; we will see the Caller face to face and find ourselves in our Father’s home forever.
In the meantime that is our journey until our life’s last day, the passion of our lives is to go further, higher, deeper, always closer to the One who called us once and calls us still — to Himself, and to all the joys that knowing him can mean.”
How To Use Entrepreneurs Of Life
A few ideas:
- Review this every Sunday/Monday morning as you start your week. It will help to reframe and anchor your busy week and infuse the days with purpose.
- Use it to spark your thinking – adapt it and edit it until it becomes your own. Then review it weekly.
- Ignore it – but consider putting together something like a personal mission statement. Draft something that is your “line in the sand.” Something you can use to orient and reorient life – especially when it all goes haywire.
Part 2 of this series will begin to unpack the “source code” for this manifesto.
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