“Why was I born?” begins Oscar Hammerstein II’s poignant lyrics to a 1929 classic torch song. “Why am I living? What do I get? What am I giving?” All good questions for anyone deeply searching for their raison d’etre (reason for being).
The new Breakthrough worship series “On Purpose,” is available now, just in time for a summer of such reflections. Indeed, the popular, free and easy-to-use worship resource can inspire similar questions and statements of an examined life, along with some helpful scriptures:
- Week 1: Why Am I Here? | John 3:1-9
- Week 2: What is a Purpose? | Matthew 5:13-16
- Week 3: Who Am I? | Acts 9:1-19; John 21:15-19
- Week 4: Purpose is Present | Matthew 14:13-21
- Week 5: No Time Is Wasted | Proverbs 8:22-31 or Exodus 16
- Week 6: Will Purpose Make Me Happy? | Exodus 16:1-20
Even more, “On Purpose” can inspire and enhance any church’s worship and preaching, Bible study, mission outreach, and small-group discussions for adults and youth. Trying to discover the purpose of our lives can lead to a lot of questions, including, “What does living with purpose look like?”
“Often, the world is all too ready to give us answers—the promise that finding the perfect job or achieving the next milestone will make us happy,” reads the series description. “But in this series, we embrace the questions as an invitation to discover what it is that God wants to do with the story of our lives.”
The Rev. Denise Kilgo, pastor of Summerfield Peace United Methodist Church in North Carolina, got an early start on using “On Purpose” May 5, after completing the Eastertide series “A New Creation.”
“I did the suggestion of having people write down on cards their questions for God,” she reports on the Breakthrough Series Clergy Facebook Group. I invited them to place the cards on the altar rail when they came up to receive (Communion) as a symbol of giving those questions to God.
“Even in a shrinking congregation of many more older than younger people, there were still so many deep questions raised on those cards,” she continues. “Questions about our purpose or call arise at all stages of life, as changes come. Thank you for this thoughtful series!
“Also, I’m moving to a new appointment,” she adds, “and they are receiving a new pastor. So, this theme is also working well with the change/transition they are going through as a congregation.”
Check out Breakthrough’s On Purpose Summer series now, and usher your congregation into a deeper, probing awareness, so that each worshiper might find and live into their true life’s purpose.
- Upcoming Breakthrough worship series and tentative release dates are:
- Created for Connection: July 1
- Transformed by Grace (Special stewardship series): August 1
- Gift Exchange (Advent series): September 3
Join the Breakthrough group for clergy here. Join the Breakthrough group for congregations here