Family Story: How to Write Your Mission Statement

A mission statement is a summary of goals, values and culture that provides a compass by which a company, organization or family is guided. As I mentioned when we first began sharing about family mission, most mission statements are clear and concise. The mission of a business may only be one sentence. As a family with multiple members and personalities, your statement may be longer but still doesn’t have to be complex. Again, there is no perfect “formula” for writing an effective family mission statement but you can determine yours this way:

Values + Actions = Mission

I shared in that first post {remember when I got ahead of myself?!} that a family mission statement can we as simple as this: To love God and love others by serving our family, our community and the world. This statement reveals the values of love, faith, family, community and worldview. It simply states that this family wants love and faith to be their guide as they serve those around them and those in need around the world. This statement can become a compass by which a family guides their life and navigates their story.

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Now that we’ve spent time thinking and praying through the plot of our family stories, it’s time to determine the mission by which we will guide our daily lives.

Download the Family Mission Worksheet to get started.

If you’ve been following along, you’ve already spent time pondering the setting and plot lines of your life. You’ve taken inventory of how you spend your time and what needs to be added or subtracted from your life to line up with your values. From your answers to these important questions, begin to develop a one or two sentence mission statement by which your family can guide this next season of life.

Keep in mind that mission statements may evolve throughout different seasons of life. A family with small children may have a mission much different than one with teenagers. God may also lay specific missions on your heart during a specific time; as a result of a life circumstance or a clear calling to something new. Although your mission statement will be a guideline, it can never be the final word. As you walk in the Spirit, you’ll find a healthy balance in living intentionally by your mission while remaining open to God’s constant guidance.

Scriptures to read together to provide a framework for your family mission:

“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. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah‬ ‭29‬:‭11-13‬

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭28‬

In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps. Proverbs‬ ‭16‬:‭9‬

The Lord Almighty has sworn, “Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will happen.” Isaiah‬ ‭14‬:‭24‬

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. ‭Philippians‬ ‭2‬:‭1-4‬

With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. ‭2 Thessalonians‬ ‭1‬:‭11-12‬

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Ephesians‬ ‭4‬:‭11-13‬

For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. Romans‬ ‭12‬:‭4-6‬ NIV

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. Ephesians‬ ‭4‬:‭1-3‬

…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. ‭Philippians‬ ‭1‬:‭6‬

Now write your mission statement.

Try to keep it simple and include one or two family values + one or two actions you’d like your family to be a part of. Talk it over with your spouse and children so everyone plays a part in writing this important guiding statement. Most importantly, pray and ask God to guide you as you consider your family mission. As long as your heart is focused on him, he will show you what you are supposed to be about. . .in every season.

Do you have a family mission statement? Would you share it with us in the comments?