Family on Mission

The past couple of weeks have been extremely crazy for our family. If I sat and told you the ridiculousness of our past 3 weeks, the majority of you would laugh and say, ‘That all really didn’t happen.” Between a family funeral, sicknesses, frogs in our water tank, snakes in our garage, the start of baseball season, our biggest youth event of the year, the crazy IRS, law suits, and debt collectors we could make a movie that only covers the last couple weeks.

I get it… many of you are ridiculously busy, overwhelmed with crazy schedules, and are struggling to make it through each day. Whether it is work, church, little league baseball, dance, or family emergencies, the majority of families today are struggling to find purpose. We are living with a mission – to get through today. We are battling our true mission and purpose as families and are not living on mission!

3DM, an incredible discipleship ministry, challenges families to live on mission. In his article, Moving From Family vs. Mission to Family ON Mission, Dave Rhodes writes, “Our families should be on mission, not in tension with it. And when our family is on mission, it is the most powerful force in all the world.”

But what does it look like to be a family on mission? How do we avoid improperly prioritizing our time, energy, and resources? God is challenging me to see my responsibility as a father and husband as a mission to bring Him honor and glory. Too often we fill our time and energy with pointless stuff and miss the mission God has placed us on!

Please don’t hear me wrong, it is okay to stay busy. As a Family Ministry Pastor with 5 children I know what it means to be busy. Almost every evening is filled with something. We tell friends that we have to schedule out our social time at least a week or two in advance. Staying busy is not bad if you are moving through life as a family on mission! The moment you feel like you are only a taxi driver, event planner, or are responsible to clean up disasters, you have missed the purpose God has for you and your family.

I am going to admit, I don’t have all of the answers when it comes to this topic. God and I are wrestling through what this looks like and what this means for my family. We are extremely busy and I feel as if the craziness of our lives is eating away at the mission God has for us. I would love to hear what you have put in place within your own family to live out as a family on mission!

What I do know is it begins with developing a family mission statement. In other words, what is that one phrase that identifies your family on mission? Beyond that, I know how important quality time through a family sabbath is. Our kids need our undivided attention. Our spouses desire more than our physical presence. In order to carry out our God-given mission as a family, we must create space to grow together as we grow closer to Christ!

I have also attached several articles in regards to this topic…