Re-Centering Your Purpose
What responsibilities are you taking on this year?
This is a question that I have been prayerfully pondering as 2026 begins. I am answering it in light of all the roles God has given me – a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a friend, a neighbor, a citizen, a church leader and a leader of Digital Strategies for Campus Crusade for Christ International. There are so many opportunities and the world around me changes from one day to the next. I can start to feel overwhelmed.
It helps to re-center myself in my primary identity as an image-bearer and child of God. I also go back to the personal calling God has given me and the shared calling that he has called me into:
Our calling: To help fulfill the Great Commission by winning, building
and sending in the power of the Holy Spirit and helping the body of Christ
do evangelism and discipleship.
We have a specific role to play in the body of Christ and in the Great Commission! We each have a part to play in this big organization and we are filling it around the world in contextualized ways. Within the organization, the part that Digital Strategies plays in our organization is this:
GDS vision: We make Jesus and his mission accessible to anyone,
anytime, anywhere they want to be a part of it.
Even though we are called “Digital Strategies,” God’s heart for people is most important. We get excited about new innovations and trying new technologies, but all of those things serve God’s people in his mission to reach people in missional gaps. We can go beyond the limits of where we have teams on the ground in locations where movements and churches have yet to be planted. Still, our approach is to connect people to loving communities of Christ-followers, not merely to transmit messages.
The Great Commission is our calling and God’s invitation to take the good news of his love to those who do not yet follow him. It is not a business problem to be solved. It is not a laboratory to perfect and refine technology. We use technology to reach people. We innovate new tools and resources to more effectively invite people into a loving relationship with God and his people.
As AI races forward, promising unprecedented progress, we will not be distracted. Real, human connections are the best way for us to live out the heart of God and invite people into grace-filled, loving communities where they can be welcomed as they are and grow in Christlikeness. We cannot expect AI to do the hard parts of the mission that involve faith, vulnerability, and risk. Taking the initiative in the power of the Holy Spirit and leaving the results to God is foundational to our calling. Let’s continue to trust God, take risks, and invite people into a real relationship with our God and his people.
Remember the words of Isaiah: "I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth" (Isaiah 49:6b, NIV). Where might you need God to re-center you in your calling?
