Find My Charism
Across cultures
You listen to someone’s questions about God and learn the words and examples that help you speak about Jesus together.
Mission
Sharing Christ across boundaries of community, language, and culture.
Wondering how this gift may show up in your life? Discover your charisms →
Understanding Mission
Mission shares Christ across boundaries of community, language, culture, or background. The Holy Spirit can help someone enter an unfamiliar setting with love, learn from its people, and find ways to share the Gospel they can hear and respond to. Evangelization attends to that encounter with Christ; Mission especially attends to crossing those boundaries. Working with the Church and local partners, it joins proclamation, friendship, practical service, and the growth of Christian community.
Where you may recognize it
Consider the relationships and responsibilities already part of your life.
In a new community
You build friendships beyond familiar circles, learning how people live their faith and where a welcome invitation to know Christ could begin.
Alongside a partner
You join a Church partnership where local people help shape how faith is shared and practical needs are met.
The Great Commission
The image at the top of this page brings together Jesus’ sending of the disciples and his Ascension. At the end of Matthew’s Gospel, the risen Jesus meets his eleven disciples on a mountain in Galilee. He sends them to make disciples of every nation, to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and to teach people to live by his commands. He promises to remain with them always.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations… I am with you always, until the end of the age.
Jesus gives the Church its mission directly: to bring people of every nation into life with him. Mission carries this invitation beyond familiar communities and cultures through proclamation, friendship, and practical love. We do not go alone: Christ remains with his Church, and the Holy Spirit guides and strengthens those he sends.
More Scripture & Church teaching
Acts 1:8–11
Acts describes Jesus’ Ascension and his promise of the Holy Spirit’s power for the disciples’ witness. The illustration draws on this scene alongside Matthew’s Great Commission.
1 Corinthians 12:4–11, 27–31
Paul describes a variety of gifts from the same Spirit, given for the benefit of the whole body.
Catechism 799–801
Charisms are gifts of the Holy Spirit for building up the Church and serving others. Love is their measure, and their discernment includes the guidance of the Church’s pastors.
Catechism 863–864
The Church’s apostolate shares Christ’s mission, and all her members have a part in it.
Catechism 849–856
The Church’s mission comes from the love of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It includes proclaiming Christ, inviting faith, forming Christian communities, and respectful dialogue across cultures.
Mission in service of others
These ministries and programs may offer ways to serve through Mission. Speak with parish staff about where help is needed, how to prepare, and the parish’s volunteer process.
Prison ministry and support
Share Christ’s love with people in prison and their families through an established ministry. Kairos offers both prepared team roles and outside support such as prayer, baking, artwork and meals.
Mission and outreach
Join an established Church outreach partnership that shares Christ through friendship, proclamation and practical service beyond familiar parish circles.
Parish evangelization and retreat teams
Help people encounter Christ through a parish evangelization course or retreat, such as ChristLife or The Rescue Project. Welcome, meals, invitations, discussion and prayer each offer ways to serve.
Related charisms
Evangelization
Apostleship
Mission
Hospitality
Communication
Encouragement
Intercession
Administration
Resources for learning and preparation
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Word on Fire Institute
Courses, seminars and communities that help Catholics grow in faith and share Christ through their interests, work and relationships.
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Franciscan at Home
Ministry-formation workshops from Franciscan University’s Catechetical Institute for catechists, parish teams and other people serving the Church. Ask your parish or diocese about available formation and access.
As you discern
Bring these experiences to prayer, Mass and the sacraments, and conversation with a priest or trusted guide in the faith. Look over time for love of God and neighbor, faithfulness to Church teaching, and the good of those you serve. Joy, difficulty, and others’ feedback can help you recognize patterns. Consider how crossing a boundary helps people share faith and learn from one another in an actual community. If no example comes to mind, begin with the experience suggested below.
In a community different from yours, what did listening teach you about how to share Christ and receive what others bring?
When local people reshape your hopes for the work, how do you respond and help strengthen their responsibility for its future?
Something to try: Join an established parish mission or outreach partnership with its coordinator’s agreement. Ask how the local community shapes the work and how faith is shared. Carry out one agreed role, then reflect with the team on what you learned from the people and how that should shape a return visit.
Bring this to prayer
Saint Maximilian Kolbe
Come, Holy Spirit. Open my heart to people beyond the boundaries of what is familiar.
Help me listen, learn, and share the Gospel through friendship and practical love.
Saint Maximilian Kolbe, pray for me.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish Franciscan priest who used publishing to share the faith and founded a missionary community in Japan. Later imprisoned at Auschwitz, he volunteered to take the place of another man condemned to die. His life joined carrying the Gospel across languages and cultures with a willingness to give everything in love for another person.
More about his life ↗