Family On A Mission

Weddings are a $40 billion dollar a year industry. Americans spend about the same (40 billion) on recreation and entertainment each year.  We spend hours and hours planning elaborate ceremonies and receptions, vacations and family outings.   We stress over the details and pour our creativity and passion into these grand events and activities.

What if we put the same amount of time, energy and placed the same (or greater) value on giving our families a clear and simple purpose?

My husband and I have the privilege of sitting down with many couples for pre-marital counseling as they are just starting out on their journey as a family. One of the greatest tools we offer them is the opportunity to create a family Mission Statement. We encourage couples to sit down together and formulate a simple paragraph that outlines what they desire their family to become. It may seem like a very corporate idea, but we have found that it offers couples a clear vision and purpose for them to shape their lives.

Career decisions, parenting decisions, deciding on schooling, where to live, who to hang out with, what to spend, etc…all of these difficult choices in life become simple and obvious when we have a defined purpose for our family. A Mission Statement serves as a foundation that is easy to build a healthy family upon.

Here are some basic steps to create a Mission Statement for your family:

Sit down with your spouse. A Mission Statement should be something you create together as the leaders in your home. Pour a cup of coffee or glass of wine and sit down to dream together and answer some the following questions:

What are the top priorities we want our family to value?  (Time together, faith, education, etc…)

What are the top three emotions we would like to fill our home?

What are some adjectives we would like to describe our home environment?

What traditions do we want to establish?

What are our strengths?

What areas do we need to work on as a family?

What do we want our family to look like in 15 years?  (Consider these areas: Financial, Emotional, Spiritual, Relational, Health)

What type of community do we want to be a part of? (With regard to the type of people we surround ourselves with and grow close with)

Once you have answered these questions together, compile the information and refine until you have a simple statement that you can use as your family’s mission. Here is an example of a simple statement:

Our Family, The {Your Family Name} Family exists to {Basic Statement of Purpose}.  Because we value {Core values}, we will make our home a place of {Adjectives to describe your home environment}, and together we will build a family that prioritizes {list top priorities} above all else.

Obviously, this is just a simple guideline, and can be modified to fit your own creativity and family mission. Once you’ve got your Mission Statement finalized, take time to internalize it, share it with your kids and revisit it often!  Love THIS idea for displaying your statement! Use the Mission Statement to guide you as you make both big and small decisions and watch as your family flourishes!