How to Create a Family Mission Statement

Knowing your family’s purpose will make you far more effective for the Gospel. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to create a family mission statement.

When it comes to living the Gospel at home, not only do you need to know why God saved you, but your family needs to understand its God-given purpose as well.

Your God-given purpose as a family will be a result of your individual life stories.

In other words, your story will influence your God-given mission as a family.

In addition, your family mission statement will help you determine your priorities as a family while choosing to say no to everything else.

What is a Family Mission Statement?

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

Your family mission statement will be what will help establish unity in your home.

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! ~Psalm 133:1

But what are you uniting around? The Gospel, yes, but that’s too broad. It’s not enough to profess with our mouths that we are a Christian, we must be intentional to live out our faith.

To live out our faith, we need a road map, uniquely designed for our family.

• How can the reality of God be seen in your family?
• How will your family intentionally live out the Gospel?
  

God placed you in this family.

He didn’t make a mistake.

You’re together because it is His will for your life.

It is your life story.

But why?

Why did God, in His sovereignty, place your family together?

In order to start living the Gospel at home, you have to know your family’s purpose.

Knowing your family’s purpose will make you far more effective as co-laborers of the Gospel.

How to Create a Family Mission Statement

What You Need

Bible. It’s a good idea to have your Bible nearby. God’s Word should guide your family in creating a family mission statement.

Journal. Journals are a great way to capture your thoughts and desires as you work through what God has called your family to do. Taking notes on what each person shares is a good way to look back and see how you reached your family’s final statement.

Pencil. I suggest grabbing a pencil for your family planning time. This allows you to erase and move things around as much as you want. Writing in pen seems so permanent. Give yourself a mental break and use a pencil.

Evaluation Worksheets. I have provided several worksheets at the end of this post for you to download. I suggest printing them off before you get started.

Time. It’s a good idea to set aside a good chunk of time to complete this project. How much time depends on how much time you have and how involved you want to be in this process.

For my husband and I, we worked in chunks of time throughout the week. Sometimes you need to sit on some thoughts for a day or two before committing to them.

Expectant Heart. It’s tempting to think this is a pointless exercise, but I assure you it will be fruitful. The process of creating a family mission statement is a rich experience. Therefore, come with an expectant heart, a heart that would love nothing more than to hear from God.

Who is involved

Your family mission statement should be reflective of everyone in the family.

This is not just a project for Mom (or Dad) to create and tell the rest of the family to follow suit. This is a FAMILY mission statement.

But it starts with Mom and Dad.

Therefore, sit down with your spouse and prayerfully consider your family’s purpose together.

Once the two of you have established a solid foundation, ask for input from your children.

Begin in Prayer

Before diving straight into the family evaluation worksheets, please begin your time in prayer. Seek the Lord and His direction for your family.

Read a few scriptures that come to mind.

Here are a few of our favorites:

• Joshua 24:14-15
• Deuteronomy 6
• Ephesians 5:1-2; 15-16
• Proverbs 29:18
• Proverbs 3:5
• Philippians 1:27
• Philippians 3:13-17

Complete the Family Evaluation Worksheets

Using the provided family evaluation worksheets below, continue your time of prayer for your family. You could even fill out the evaluation individually before coming together to discuss with your spouse.

Take your time on this step. Cover the answers and revelations in prayer. Do a lot of journaling and note taking.

The process of creating a family mission statement is more important than the end result.

So don’t rush through this step.

When it’s time to discuss the questions as a family, be attentive and open to everyone’s responses even if they are different from your own.

Make a list of your family’s core values

As you work through the questions, writing down and talking about your thoughts, you’ll begin to see several themes emerge. These are your family’s core values.

There is no right number, but a list of 8-10 core values your family holds dear is a good place to start.

This is not a list of values you “should” have, but a list of values that the Lord has “called” your family to live out.

Write your mission statement

Now it’s time to capture your core values in phrases and sentences that gives meaning to your family.

The core message should be short enough that every member of the family can memorize it.

Family devotions is a great time to review and work on memorizing your family mission statement.

Create action statements

This step is completely optional, but I highly suggest putting actionable items on paper for all of your family to see.

The mission statement is your thesis, but the actions will give meaning, especially to younger children as your family seeks to live out the mission God has given your family.

Revisit your core values and write an action statement for each value explaining how each member of the family can fulfill the mission of the family.

Here is Our Family Mission Statement

Our family mission is:

To be a living example of the gospel as we reflect the freedom, forgiveness, and power of a life committed to glorifying the One True God.

To accomplish this mission, we are committed:

To intentionally pursue Jesus, by daily dying to self and kneeling before our maker in humble pursuit of His purposes for our lives, relationships, and home in order to live a life of sincere faith.

To intentionally love one another as husband and wife by sharing in the gifts God has given each of us to build one another up, spurring one another to a deeper reliance on God and a greater desire to seek and live out His will over our own.

To intentionally nurture, love, and cherish our children, embracing them as our first ministry, our disciples, to train them up in the ways of the Lord so that they will be effective tools for the Gospel through regular family devotions and times of prayer, and family nights.

To intentionally care for our home, making it a tangible reflection of God’s beauty and grace for our family and all those the Lord brings our way by contributing to the household chores with joy.

To intentionally cultivate an atmosphere of love, learning, and passion in our home by being encouragers, examples of humility, and a people defined by being quick to forgive.

To inspire others to joyfully commit to living life intentionally by grace for the glory of God through our writing, hospitality, words of encouragement, and our lives. May every action make the Gospel attractive.

What to Do with Your Family Mission Statement

Now that you have developed a family mission statement, post it anywhere your family can refer to it often.

Our family mission statement hangs on our refrigerator as well as fills the front pocket of our family devotions binder, reminding us why God put us together.

We refer to our family mission statement daily (or as often as we remember), seeking to memorize the words, write them on our hearts, in order that we may live them out loud.

Because of our family mission statement, we no longer wonder if what we are doing is drawing us closer to God’s purposes or pushing us away.

Our family mission statement is the foundation by which all of our other plans and routines are established.

Other ideas for displaying your mission statement:

• Frame it as a wall decoration
• Post it on your bathroom mirror
• Put it in your prayer journal or Bible
• Put it with your master calendar
• Use it as a background on your phone or computer

In the end, your mission statement will be your go-to resource when making decisions (aka, adding items to your calendar).

Sometimes, or maybe even often, your family will be presented with some pretty awesome opportunities. Before committing, ask yourselves if it’s in line with your family’s mission and priorities.

Your Challenge

Today, create a family mission statement. Discover your family’s God-given purpose. Write it down and hang it where your family can refer to it often.

Download Your Family Evaluation Worksheet Here!

AND…

If you want to get crystal clear on your own purpose, I want to help you with a FREE Guide to Developing Your Own Mission Statement.

Go HERE to get your Free Guide to Developing Your Own Mission Statement.