Family Mission Statement in Progress

This past Sunday morning at church, I picked up a Home Life magazine to take home with me. I was looking through it after church, and saw this article.. blah blah blah.. basically it inspired me to write a mission statement for our family. 

When Brandon and I were engaged, we talked all the time about how "when we're married..." we'd do all sorts of things, like have monthly family meetings, and discuss goals and finances and etc all the time. Well, that never really happens in our home. So many day-to-day things get in the way of purposeful, intentional planning and discussion. But that's okay. We do talk frequently about what we desire most for our family and how we can glorify God through our family and personal lives. It's just not usually sit-down intentional. 

So when I proposed the idea that we go to lunch and discuss making a family mission statement, Brandon was definitely on board with the idea. We dropped Asher off at Brandon's mom's house, and away we went to Schlotzky's. I really enjoy their chicken pesto pizza. Sounds delicious now. Anyways...

We began by listing the purposes for which our family exists. They were:

• To glorify God (1 Peter 4:11, 1 Corinthians 10:31).
• To teach and train up our children in the way of the Lord (Proverbs 22:6, Ephesians 6:4).
• To create a home environment conducive to spiritual growth (Deuteronomy 6:4-9).
• To encourage one another and spur one another on toward God (1 Thessalonians 5:11).
• To keep one another accountable (Proverbs 27:17).
• To love, serve, and give to our community (Matthew 5:13-15).
• To share the love of God, the Gospel, with our family and community (Matthew 28:19-20).

We then listed out specific ways in which we can fulfill each of those goals. Some of those included:

• Family worship - setting aside time each day to read the Bible, pray, and sing praise to God as a family. We've been working on this one this week, and really enjoying it.
• Homeschooling - snicker if you want, but this is something we're truly passionate about and want very much for our family. We would love the opportunity to teach our children in our own home, in a Christ-centered environment. 
• Giving compliments freely and constructive criticism when necessary, in order to help one another grow.

We didn't get around to condensing it into a simple Family Mission Statement that day, but we got a lot done. I'm looking forward to finishing it up and maybe even posting it somewhere in our home to remind ourselves and others of the purpose of our lives. 

You can do the same! Here's how another family did it.