Family Mission Statement

For years I have wanted to develop a Family Mission Statement.  I have read various articles and I loved the idea if having a family focus.  Hubby and I have talked about it over the years and have even done some preliminary steps to start developing one.  But we have never gotten to the place of being able to implement one for our family.

Until after the move….

     Something about taking ownership of your own place that catapults you to start things you have just talked about in the past.

Hubby and I went out for coffee at this sweet little coffee show just down the road from our house and we talked over all the ideas we  had and some new ideas and some of the things I had put together for this coffee date. 

I have the best hubby… one who will spend date time planning with me, because he knows it is important to me and the functioning of our family. Now this man by nature is a spontaneous man.  So this has become a labor of love on his part.   After years of being married to me… a planner…  he started walking up on Saturday mornings asking “so, what’s the plan.”  One of his many sayings has become, “A man without a plan …  is not a man.”   Love Him!!!!

We wanted to develop a Mission Statement that matched our families desires and dynamics: Some of the questions we asked and answered for our family where:

· What Kind of family do we want to be?
· What kind of home do we want to invite our friends to?
· What do we like about our family – what makes us proud?
· What is truly important to us?
· What are our responsibilities as a family?
· What are our goals as a family?
· What is God asking of us?
· What are the principles and guidelines we want to live by?
· What do we want to ne remembered for as a family?

When we meet with the kids we talked about why it was important to have a Vision for our family and about various people who were successful in fulfilling the things they were called to do.

Everyone one needs a vision:

· Moses – Let my people go
· Lincoln - A nation divided against itself cannot stand
· Nehemiah – to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem
· Steve Jobs – to build a better computer

Without a vision the people perish ~ Proverbs 29:18

Five things happen to families without a vision

· They get off track and lose direction, especially during difficult times
· They have difficulty making good decisions
· They lose a sense of meaningfulness and purpose
· They lack motivations to better themselves
· They wind up following the vision of others

He who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind ~ James 1:6

David and I talked about what core values were important to us and ones we wanted to instill in our family.  We looked at different list we had seen online and came up with this:

 

Chellsen Family Values - 10 Values that Shape our Family

God First - Honoring God comes before anything else.

Concern for others – Jesus told us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. That means constantly paying attention to their welfare. Included in concern for others are the concerns like evangelism and justice.

Hard Work – Whatever we work at, we should do it wholeheartedly. We work not just to please ourselves but also to please God and all those we are responsible to. Each person takes responsibility for the jobs assigned to them.

Truthfulness – Our words should be filled with truth, truth in love. THINK before we speak.

Generosity – God wants us to have an overflowing and openhanded love for others, especially in our sharing and giving.

Family Unity and Love – The family is the core unit and it needs respect, support and love.

Boundaries – God has given each individual certain areas of responsibility that belong to him or her alone, first their body and next their property. These areas of individual responsibility should be respected and protected.

Celebration & Rest – Celebration should be a part of every day, because we recognize all that God does for us. We also need times of rest for renewal.

Thankfulness & Contentment – We are grateful for all things. We appreciate others and show that appreciation. Our focus is on the blessings not what is lacking in our lives. In whatever place or position God has put us in we should learn to be at peace.

Grace – We are meant to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, offering forgiveness and grace to others even when it isn’t deserved or even when the infraction has been repeated numerous times (70 X 7 X).

We put together the following Family Mission Statement, Family Purpose Statement & Family Motto.

 

  We feel that our home is the training ground for learning to be Christ Followers and Servants that love each other – those in our home and those outside of our home. We wanted our name to be apart of our Family Motto , so that it would be something easy to remember and we could fall back on it when we are working on character issues as a family or as individuals.  When I have seen one of our children not being helpful with another sibling I have been able to say “what does the “h” in our Family Motto stand for and they get it right away.  

Our desire is to start family nights on Saturday nights twice a month. We will be going over each of the elements from the Family Mission, Purpose and Motto Statements.  The goal of the family night would be to have a time of discussion and an object lesson, and a fun dessert
.

Once a month we will have a Family Meeting to go over family details. Our Pastor had shared with us, at one of our Family Faith Nights, a form that can be used for family meetings.  I revamped that form to meet our needs and came up with the form to the right.  We will be picking a Family Giving Project that we will save our coins and put money in anonymously.

The last element we talked about was having a Family and Friends Night and a quarterly Family Fun Night.  The Family and Friends night would be a night where we could invite over a family to join us for a night of fellowship.  We would ask each child to give suggestions for families they would like to have over.  We would share a meal together and have fun getting to know each other better.  We had our first  Family and Friends Night this past Saturday, Inviting another large family (larger than ours – 12 in all) over for dinner.  We had a great time – it was very relaxing and peaceful.  After sharing a meal together, the parents sat outside and talked, while little ones were in and out sitting on laps.  All the other kids were inside playing games, laughing and having fun.  The Quarterly Family Fun Night would be a gathering we would have to invited a group of friends or a family over for a movie or game night.  We are still working out details on this one.

I am excited to see what God is going to do in and through us in these family goals.  Praying for His grace to be consistent…

Living in family time together~