Updated from an original post on April 9, 2018
For Lee
We have a family mission statement. That may seem a bit superfluous at first but hear me out in this post on why and then I’ll explain ours to you.
It is often said (and, quite frankly, it often feels like) our families are under attack. Our great enemy Satan would like nothing more than to have God’s fundamentally ordained institution of the family crumble under the weight of “world pollution.”[1] So, if families are under attack, how will we go about defending them?
Ephesians chapter six tells us we are to “stand” our ground[2] and take up a “holding action” against dark world rulers and powers and principalities and something called spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. So, I need to put up my hand and say, “Stop. No further Satan. Not with my family. Not with my circle of influence.” One of the best ways to do that in my mind is with our family mission statement. After all, the true strength of a family is demonstrated when things are not going well, or when we’re challenged by something, or one of us is facing a particularly tough situation. And our family needs to be strong.
Think our family is special? Just in the last decade-plus, several of us have lost jobs. We’ve found others, to be sure, but the timing wasn’t ours. One was unfairly accused by law enforcement and the case was dismissed and the record wiped clean. We have received medical diagnoses involving any number of illnesses (physical, mental, emotional). In our immediate and extended family we’ve known miscarriage, suicide, cancer, dementia, Alzheimer’s, autism, and death. I am not telling you this looking for sympathy or pity, but if you thought our family was doing “pretty well,” I would ask, “What’s going on in your family?” The family is certainly under attack.
So, how do I begin to hold up my hand to Satan and say, “No further. Not here.” In worldly warfare, we start with our military doctrine—the foundation of our military’s purpose and what we believe about how to fight and win the next war. So, in this spiritual battle, why not turn to the bedrock of my faith (truly, where else are you going to turn)? And, as far as my family is concerned, what is that which I believe is foundational to my family’s purpose? How are we going to put up this holding action in a spiritual attack? That’s why we have a family mission statement.
To contend for the cause of Jesus Christ in the world, by sending out generational leaders who pursue truth, and establish enduring legacies of agape love in their homes.
The Bible says that we each exist, individually and collectively, for the praise of His Glory. I find this reference in Ephesians 1:12 and again in Ephesians 1:14 to be foundational. Therefore, this Spencer family unit which God has ordained will exist for the praise of His Glory. And I would love for our purpose to be otherwise, as Jude wrote about in the first verses of his letter. But, in order to put up a holding action against the evil one, my sense is that we must, like Jude, contend for the cause of Jesus Christ. I don’t know how effective we are in doing this, but at least we have chosen to be on God’s side of the line of truth He draws in the culture. So then, the first clause is the purpose statement: “To contend for the cause of Jesus Christ in the world.” A purpose statement portion is what gets us out of bed in the morning. It is why we exist. It powers us into our days. We may falter, and we may faint. But, at least everyone will know what side we’re on.
And just as the “purpose” portion of the mission statement usually begins with the word “To”, the business portion, how we conduct ourselves in this purpose differently or distinctly from others, begins with the word “by”. So, knowing what side we’re on, this is how our family is going to conduct its business. In our mission statement there are two ways we’re going to do that.
The first, “by sending out generational leaders who pursue truth”, speaks to the heart of the holding action itself. My descendants will be leaders in their generations in many ways, but they will first lead others—their families, their circles of influence—in the pursuit of truth. What other pursuit is there? I have an expectation for those who follow me that they will pursue truth. And, when they do, they’ll look behind them and find others following them. Others want to follow you when it’s obvious you know where you’re going. So, my family will be leaders in their generation as I was, and I would want them to accept this mantle, and not see it as a burden. Frankly, it’s what I think God would want them to do as well. That’s my private prayer for my grandchildren’s children.
The second, “and establish enduring legacies of agape love in their homes” is how we secure the home against the internal challenges and difficulties of life. Those difficulties will be there to be sure. But if we each have established a legacy of unconditional love in our homes, we will have done what’s in the realm of the possible to prepare for whatever the enemy may try to do to us. And, that legacy of love must be enduring, no matter what. It must stand the test of time and have weathered all sorts of attacks and “enemy campaigns” against us.
When times are tough for us, you will find our generations pursuing truth and establishing legacies of love in our homes. We even crafted a “tag line.” That is a pithy, shortened mission statement that is easy to remember: “Launching leaders for truth, leaving legacies of love.” When my daughter fashioned a shadow box of pictures and remembrances for my office, did she include a “Thanks, Dad” or a “Love you, Dad” in the shadowbox? No, she wrote, “Launching leaders for truth, leaving legacies of love.” She could not have included anything better. She “gets it.”
In the event of an untimely death or tragedy in our family, and the dust settles for the transition of that family member into God’s wider reality, my family may be facing an uncertain future. But at least they will have something to reference, remember, and focus on. And if what they are doing then is not launching leaders for truth or leaving legacies of love, then I would have them think about why they are doing it and return to the mission statement we agreed to long ago.
When we have disagreements in our family, or are facing unfair accusations, or a critical diagnosis, I would hope that each of us returns to our faith and the mission statement that reflects it for the relationships that comprise the Spencer family. Our family is strong, and it needs to be. The enemy is not far off. But I refuse to give him any ground. Not here. Not with my family. Not with my circle of influence.
We have a family mission statement and it is not remotely superfluous.
[1] See James 1:27
[2] Paul actually uses the word “stand” three times in this passage.