God has plans and great purpose for your family! Allow Him into your family purpose and planning, so that your best family life can be had. Home in on His purpose so you and your family can live it out!
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
The next step in the family mission statement planning process for our family was two-fold and can be the same for your family as well:
1. Breaking down the mission statement year by year.
2. Attaching a verse (or more than one) to each year.
We want each year to have purpose and meaning for our family. I don’t want to just coast on auto-pilot. I want to be intentional in what we are teaching our kids and what we are doing as a family every year, every month, and every day. I think that there are other parents out there who feel the same way, which is why I am sharing this message of family mission statement planning.
By assigning a year to each of the statements that make up our family mission statement, we are able to focus on each one for a full year. Of course, the entire mission statement is always actively being engaged and put to use. However, emphasizing a certain part of that mission statement helps us to zone in and provide practical activities that create intentional family purpose. Here is our entire family mission statement below. Again, it is provided only as example. For information on how to create your own family mission statement read the first posting I wrote on this topic: Developing a Family Mission Statement
The Battles Family Mission Statement
1. We love God first and foremost. We are a Christ centered family. Our primary goal is to worship God, obey His commands, and have a personal relationship with Christ.
2. We strive to love one another as we love ourselves. This is our golden rule: to treat others as we also want to be treated.
3. We work hard individually and as a team.
4. We respect one another by sharing, practicing good manners, listening, and speaking with kind words and tone of voice.
5. We continue to learn together always and teach one another new skills.
6. We serve those in need. We seek to help the less fortunate.
7. We strive to live a life of integrity and purity. We do this by keeping our minds, bodies, and hearts pure.
8. We practice fiscal responsibility which includes tithing, saving, and giving.
9. We play together, have fun, enjoy life, and go on adventures as a family.
10. We seek to fulfill God’s purpose for each of our lives through finding and doing His will.
We have a total of 10 statements included in our family mission statement. We assigned each one a year. Each of the next 10 years is listed below with one part of the mission statement. Each year we will emphasize that particular value in our family.
We also selected verses to go along with our family purpose and statement for each year. For some years, I selected more than one verse. I will explain more about verse selection in an e-book (coming very soon), as this information is too much for a blog and is such important information for a family looking to create a clear, God inpired vision for their family.
Below is our family’s plan for the next 10 years, so you have an example. Each year below contains one part of the entire family mission statement. This breakdown, along with pairing of verses, will help us actively and intentionally teach our children each year about life lessons that align with the statement of that specific year.
2019
We love God first and foremost. We are a Christ centered family. Our primary goal is to worship God, obey His commands, and have a personal relationship with Christ.
Matthew 22:37-38 “Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.”
2020
We strive to love one another as we love ourselves. This is our golden rule: to treat others as we also want to be treated.
Mark 12:31 “The second most important commandment is this: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ There is no other commandment more important than these two.””
2021
We work hard individually and as a team.
Colossians 3:23 “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as though you were working for the Lord and not for people.”
2022
We respect one another by sharing, practicing good manners, listening, and speaking with kind words and tone of voice.
Proverbs 16:24 “Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.”
1 Peter 2:17 “Respect everyone and show special love for God’s people. Honor God and respect the
2023
We continue to learn together always and teach one another new skills.
Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
Proverbs 1:8-9 “Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck.”
2024
We serve those in need. We seek to help the less fortunate.
Titus 3:14 “And let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful.”
2025
We strive to live a life of integrity and purity. We do this by keeping our minds, bodies, and hearts pure.
Matthew 5:8” God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.”
Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
2026
We practice fiscal responsibility which includes tithing, saving, and giving.
Leviticus 27:30 “One tenth of the produce of the land, whether grain from the fields or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD and must be set apart to him as holy.”
Proverbs 13:11 “Money wrongly gained will disappear bit by bit; money earned little by little will grow and grow.”
2 Corinthians 9:7 “Each one should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not out of regret or compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver.”
2027
We play together, have fun, enjoy life, and go on adventures as a family.
John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
2028
We seek to fulfill God’s purpose for each of our lives through finding and doing His will.
Proverbs 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Proverbs 19:21 “Many plans are in a man’s heart, but the purpose of the LORD will prevail.”
Yearly Emphasis
By taking a different part of the complete family mission statement and using it each year you are helping your family focus on that value and purpose for a complete year. By focusing an entire year on that value you are providing time to emphasize this purpose in your life and the lives of your children. It is more than just saying this is our purpose and theme for the year. It is actively implementing activities that engage your entire family on the subject matter for that purpose. Part III of the Family Mission Statement Planning blog series will touch on this subject more and Part IV of the series will discuss keeping the mission statement top of mind and how to display it in your home.
Scripture
It is important to let your kids know that what you are doing as a family is what God has told us all to do. This means finding scripture to support your purpose and each statement in your mission. Every family choses their own mission statements, so it is important to find scripture that speaks to your family. If you can’t think of scripture that applies to your purpose and mission statements then google it. You will find that there is scripture on almost every topic under the sun. Find verses that align with your purpose. This will also help ensure that your statements are aligned with scripture. You wouldn’t want to declare a mission statement over your family that is outside of God’s will. You can know with certainty that it is outside of God’s will if scripture goes against your statement. If you find that one of your statements doesn’t align with scripture, then it is time to revise and rework your statement, so that it does align with God’s word and instructions for our lives. The Bible provides us this clear instruction and should be our first source of guidance.
When you find a verse that you think may work, then read the passages before and after that verse to learn the context. Make sure the meaning behind the scripture aligns with your family’s purpose. More on this subject is written in the e-book that is coming soon. So….stay tuned! My goal is to help families take their family mission statement planning to a whole new level and help them through the process every step of the way!
