A Framework You Can Use: A Compass, And A Map
You are guiding a team, and those your team serves. How do you navigate?
When we set out to help others, sometimes it helps to have some visual models or easy to remember acronyms to use in delivering our services, or helping others with an easy way to remember a big idea. Mission 143 uses 2 models you are free to use, share, modify, or reference to help those you lead and those you serve guide their mission to it's most beautiful potential.
The MAP
Fish, Farm, Fly is a map model we use to illustrate where people are on their journey, and where we are located in delivering our services. Some need a fish to survive the day, and we serve them there. Some need farming help, getting a start in a career, budgeting and saving, maybe even turning the corner to charity themselves. Some need help getting off the ground on the mission God designed them for, and they join our ranks in working somewhere helping those we serve, or going on to do what only they can do, like curing Cancer. We help them break ground and fly. Who wouldn't want to see someone from a food line or teen pregnancy win on that level down the road? Mission 143 exists to serve the charity and non-profit leaders located in each of those areas of the map. Fish, Farm, Fly. From Survival to Stable (Fish). From Stable to Sustainable (farm). From Sustainable to Significance (fly).
The Compass
GRACE is a compass for helping our teams, and those we serve "level up" their navigation of the journey of life. We are talking about a stacking principle of thought and behaviors that help people move from fish to farm to fly. From survival to significance. GRACE is an acronym that guides those in the struggle to develop the following mindsets: Growth - things can change, and I can change them. Responsibility - I have agency over my decisions, and what I control, nobody else. Ability- I can learn, grow, level up, be and do more. Charity - I can help others even one step behind me. Elevate - God designed me to deliver a mission He wants done, and it is significant. I can do this, I will do this. We help them do this.
We serve on that map, we live that compass. Whether we are on a food line, serving the hungry, getting a pregnant teen to prenatal care, or procuring clothing for those who need, we are GRACE in action, we can impact that person's journey from survival to significant. We are in it together.
I'll break it out more below...
The Map - Fishing, Farming, Flying. Survival to Significance
We Meet Them Where They Are, We Serve Them As They Need
Misison 143 uses the 3 metaphors of fishing, farming, and flying to describe the full map of the territory we all aspire to. Let me explain.
The model evolves from the following, well known phrase, with a bit of an addition on the end. "If you give a man a fish, he eats for a day. If you teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime. If you teach a man to teach others to fish, you solve world hunger."
Mission 143 Changes the substance of that a bit.
We give fish. We do that to make life survivable to those in dire need. Those who are hungry, those who are homeless, those who need shelter from abuse, those in prison, those teens who are pregnant and trying to navigate impossible circumstances alone. We gladly give fish.
GRACE - The compass to living out God's mission for us.
What is GRACE?
As we mentioned above GRACE is an acronym for Growth, Responsibility, Ability, Charity, and Elevation. This is a mindset model you can use when leading your team, or even coaching with those you serve. Helping build a mindset and approach to pursuing each person's God given mission is something we all should aspire to. Below I will break out each.
Growth
Things can change. We can make changes. We can influence change. We can influence our circumstances. Those who will rise will know that nothing is finite, closed off, or unable to be changed for the better. With every adversity there lies opportunity, and we have to believe and move towards that growth opportunity.
Responsibility
No, it's not about beating ourselves up for everything that has gone wrong, all the misfortunes, all the things we have been carrying. It's about where we go from here. It's about PRIDE, Personal Responsibility In Doing Everything. It's about agency. We own our thoughts, our words, our habits and our outcomes. We are human. We make mistakes. In keeping the focus on what we control, we keep our compass pointing towards the prize. Him, through the mission He called us to live out. Think, "I may have made choices in the past that led to bad outcomes, but I own what I do today. I take responsibility and decide to move forward in a more effective way. Ownership. It matters.
Ability
We can learn new skill. We can level up our ability to provide, grow, and change for the better. We can impact our progression towards our mission in life. Growth and responsibility lead to a craving for action that leads to our change in circumstances. Learning a new job skill, a marketable trade, and how to pursue opportunities is what ability is all about.
Charity
When we start to move to sustainability, we learn abundance. We realize that we can help those where we were. We can offer a hand up. We have time, or talent, or treasure we can lend to those who are where we were. We can give, as Jesus taught. We can do, as we are asked to do. We love our neighbor. We can always give that charity. It's counterintuitive, but the more we do to help others get what they need, the more we get what we need. Need is a word worth examining. God's mission for us is what we truly need after we get past the needing a fish to survive.
Elevation
God gave us all a mission. We are all out here trying to find it, pursuing it, or living it. In those we lead, and those we serve, we are called to support them in delivering on His divine mission for us all. Some are living it out working on the front lines of the charity. Some of us are living it out in coaching the aged-out foster kids, some are still trying to get their values and purpose aligned and listening for the Spirit to guide them to their higher calling. We always want to be asking, "Is this what God wanted me to do", and then elevate ourselves to that mission.
Contact Us
Reach out!
I will make time to talk with you!
Mike Panebianco - Servant - Mission 143
