“A family mission statement is a combined, unified expression from all family members of what your family is all about — what it is you really want to do and be — and the principles you choose to govern your family life.” -Stephen Covey
Last week I shared with you our Family Mission Statement and a few of the questions I know people have about them. So maybe you read it (and if you didn’t you can here) and thought “Ok, cool, I would like to try this” and I want to help you do that.
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How to Write Your Family Mission Statement in 9 Steps
1.Pray
Praying throughout this process, praying about what a family mission statement is, and should be in your house, and more will help you. Ask for God’s wisdom to wash over you as you read His word. Ask for His guidance as you put the words on paper. Then, pray some more.
2.Why Have a Family Mission Statement?
Just like a company mission statement, the Family Mission Statement serve the purpose of being a standard to measure against. Decisions should fit with what the mission statement says. If something doesn’t fit, it has to go because it’s not “on mission”.
Also, like a company mission statement, it lets people know what you’re about, what your objectives, goals, and values are. In the case of a family mission statement, the people gleaning this information live with you.
3.Think About Your Funeral
I grew up in a house where my dad and grandpa worked in the funeral biz. We tell funeral home stories and chat about tombstones. I get it, we’re not normal in this arena.
But talking about your funeral is important. Think about how you want people to talk about you at your funeral. Do you want them to “Dad was so great and really loved playing golf” or do you want them to say “Dad was so on mission with our family”. Ok so maybe you don’t think people talk like that.
I do know that I want my kids to say at my funeral “It was obvious that mom’s first ministry was to her family, and then to the other things God called her to do”.
4.Ask Some Thoughtful Questions
To be “on mission” and to know what that mission is, you need to (prayerfully) think through some questions:
-What is the main purpose of our home?
-What would be different about the world if our family was not in it?
-What are characteristics we want to exemplify, teach, and grow in?
-How and who do we feel led/want to serve?
-What three adjectives would we like other people to use to describe us a family?
-What are our top 3 priorities/values as a family? Where do we want to be spending our time, talent, and treasure?
There are probably other questions that will come out of these. And that’s good. You want to be thinking outside of the moment-to-moment and instead to the big picture of your family’s mission. (Here are some more questions and more tips to think about, if you need them.)
5.Write Stuff Down
Make sure you are capturing the ideas as you come up with them!
6.Look for Themes
As you read the ideas, see if a common thread keeps coming through. These common threads can help you sum up your family mission statement into more concise wording. And if you can’t see a theme, that’s ok too!!
7.Bible Verses
What Bible verses really speak encouragement and life to you? What verses to you turn to again and again that match up with the themes for your family?
8.Start Putting It Together
When we wrote ours, we worked off of the model of the mission statement in Pilgrim’s Progress by John Runyan (and y’all I have s-e-a-r-c-h-e-d and now I cannot find it!), which we heard about in Visionary Marriage.
Maybe you want yours to be a list…
Maybe you want yours to be a personalized Bible verse…
Maybe you want it to look like a mission statement for a business or university…
9.Pray Some More
Pray over the words, the mindset, the mission of your family. And keep praying it!
**Do you want to print this off and work through it at home? Just click HERE to join the LATCC Community and get instant access to the ‘How to Write Your Family Mission Statement in 9 Steps’ eBook in the Whole Bean Resource Library!**
What worked for us?
We wanted something short, simple, and memorizable. We wanted it to be relevant to this season of life (read: the land of littles) and into future seasons of life (read: when we have some big kids or *gasp* they move out). We also wanted it to be what we hope our children will say about us at our funeral one day. And so we have this:
Heffner Family Mission Statement
Our family exists to glorify God by laying a strong foundation of faith through discipleship, in pursuit of multiplying God’s kingdom through our children, grandchildren, and the generations to come.
Hebrews 12:1-2 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Check out the resources highlighted throughout this article, go through the questions, and see what you come up with for your family mission statement! And if you’d share it with me, I’d love to see it!
P.S.Don’t forget to get your free printable copy of this post to work through at home! Click here to join the community and access the printable right away from the Whole Bean Resource Library.
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