{"id":8892,"date":"2012-04-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-04-30T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites-stage.familylife.com\/flministries\/?p=8892"},"modified":"2012-04-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-04-30T00:00:00","slug":"three-powerful-dynamics-of-a-mission-minded-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/articles\/topics\/parenting\/foundations\/spiritual-development\/three-powerful-dynamics-of-a-mission-minded-family\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Powerful Dynamics of a Mission Minded Family"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

God has a destiny for your family.\u00a0He has an individual plan for each member, as well as a \u201ccorporate\u201d purpose for you as a family unit.\u00a0God will help you, as parents, to train each child toward God\u2019s mission for his or her life, and He will help you to focus your family toward making a strong impact for His kingdom\u2014in your community, in your church, in your children\u2019s schools, and in the world.<\/p>\n

In a mission-minded family, there\u2019s a God-infused energy.\u00a0There\u2019s a focus on God\u2019s worldwide purpose.\u00a0There\u2019s a passion for the lost.\u00a0There\u2019s a spiritual depth and hunger that reaches beyond the maintenance mode of cultural Christianity.\u00a0A mission-minded family emphasizes leadership, calling, and destiny.\u00a0There\u2019s a prevailing attitude of self-sacrifice.\u00a0And there\u2019s an unmistakable and contagious joy.<\/p>\n

I believe these qualities can be identified and summarized in three powerful dynamics.<\/p>\n

Dynamic #1: A mission-minded family lives in submission.<\/strong>\u00a0A mission-minded family is submitted.\u00a0There\u2019s a total submission to God and to His purposes.\u00a0In archery, the arrow doesn\u2019t choose its destination; it simply rests in the archer\u2019s hand to be aimed toward his chosen target.\u00a0When the archer is ready, the arrow will be released and as long as the arrow is properly aligned and unhindered by outside forces, it will soar forward toward its appointed destiny.<\/p>\n

It may sound more important to board an overseas-bound 747 or to have the opportunity to influence a huge crowd of people, but these activities may not be God\u2019s best plan for this particular moment (or season) in our lives.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re all called, as believers, to be a part of God\u2019s worldwide plan; but His expectations for us, as individuals and as a family, may be much smaller, yet possibly even more challenging to obey.\u00a0Today\u2019s mission-for-the-moment simply may be to open our Bible and read a few chapters or to take a minute to pray for a friend.\u00a0Maybe right now all God wants is for us to snuggle up on the couch with a little one and read a fun storybook.\u00a0Or perhaps God\u2019s perfect will is merely for us to quit procrastinating, turn off the computer, and go finish those loads of laundry!<\/p>\n

Submission to God involves every area of our lives: our personal maturity (spiritually, mentally, physically, and financially), our attitude toward our marriage, our family priorities, our disciplines in home management\u2014along with our ministry callings.\u00a0As we allow God to refine those sub areas in our lives, we can trust that He will fulfill all of His mission promises to us \u2026 in His timing.<\/p>\n

Dynamic #2: A mission-minded family is focused on eternity.\u00a0<\/strong>Mission-minded families have a focused purpose for life.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s good to consider the godly legacy we will leave for the next generation and important to realize that our day-to-day decisions can leave a lasting example, for good or for evil.\u00a0But as Christians, and as members of mission-minded families, our godly legacy is not the end.\u00a0Our ultimate life evaluation will not be determined by the opinions of those we leave behind.\u00a0Instead, our life will be judged by the One we go to meet\u2014our almighty God in heaven.<\/p>\n

A mission-minded family keeps God\u2019s focus in mind.\u00a0A powerful dynamic is present when you raise your children to walk daily in the fear of the Lord.\u00a0It\u2019s not about preparing kids to be successful, or to get into a good college, or to make a lot of money to give to missions, or even to do something \u201cfamous\u201d for God.\u00a0Our mission is to love and please God\u2014to live every day in complete obedience.<\/p>\n

How this plays out for each mission-minded family will be different.\u00a0God has unique purposes and callings.\u00a0But we begin with the end in mind.\u00a0As we\u2019re raising each of our children\u2014from cuddling our babies, to disciplining our toddlers, to teaching and training our school-age children, to encouraging and motivating our teens, to aiming and releasing our young adults to God\u2019s call for their lives\u2014we keep the target in focus.<\/p>\n

Dynamic #3: A mission-minded family is strategically aimed.<\/strong>\u00a0Each person in your family has specific gifts and callings, and you also have a destiny as a family.\u00a0God has placed you together as a powerful mission-minded unit, so it is important to seek the Lord for His purpose for you as a team.<\/p>\n

Our goal is not to raise kids to be popular, famous, or wealthy.\u00a0The goal is not to somehow get our teenagers to \u201csurvive\u201d their youth without tasting a drop of alcohol, puffing on a cigarette, or experimenting with illegal drugs.\u00a0It\u2019s not enough to \u201chope\u201d that each child will turn out okay or \u201ctrust\u201d that they won\u2019t be \u201ctoo bad.\u201d\u00a0As we influence tomorrow\u2019s world changers, our vision must be infinitely higher.<\/p>\n

Instead of focusing on the \u201cNO\u201d side of human legalism (emphasizing our never-ending rules), it\u2019s much more fulfilling and productive to challenge young people to live on the \u201cYES\u201d side of God\u2019s life (emphasizing His eternal plans).<\/p>\n

As we keep each of our children focused on God\u2019s long-term goals, today\u2019s short-term decisions will make sense.\u00a0And today\u2019s temptations, by God\u2019s grace, will be easier to withstand.<\/p>\n

As mission-minded families, we can seek God\u2019s direction and then begin to serve as God\u2019s facilitators and motivators.\u00a0If we can encourage our children to discover God\u2019s plans and\u00a0want to<\/em>\u00a0develop specific God-given abilities, it will totally change everything.\u00a0Instead of dealing with surface issues, we begin to train our children\u2019s hearts and to focus on staying aimed toward God\u2019s purpose.\u00a0A change at this root level alters everything, from grades in school and success in activities to confidence in leadership and a spiritual desire to develop God-glorifying friendships.<\/p>\n

\n

Adapted from\u00a0<\/i> The Mission-Minded Family<\/a> , by Ann Dunagan, \u00a9 2007, Authentic Publishing<\/i>. Used by permission.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

God will help you focus your family toward making a strong impact for His kingdom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":8742,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2806],"tags":[],"equip-category":[],"cwp_profile":[3090],"class_list":["post-8892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spiritual-development","cwp_profile-ann-dunagan"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2018\/04\/Parenting1040x326-Default-graphic.jpg","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2018\/04\/Parenting1040x326-Default-graphic.jpg",1024,320,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"WordPress Admin","author_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/author\/wordpress-admincru-org\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"God will help you focus your family toward making a strong impact for His kingdom.","meta_box":{"_cloudsearch_visibility":"","profile_obj_manual_select":false,"profile_obj":false,"separator":false,"enable_link":false,"login_restricted":"","content_type":"","disclaimer_banner":"","currency":false,"pricing_subtext":false,"element_type":false,"date_field":false,"date_format":false,"theme_header_position":"","post_header_is_sticky":"","is_header_overlay":"","series":false,"ignore_sticky":false,"conditional_blocks_category":false,"cta_selection":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8892"},{"taxonomy":"equip-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/equip-category?post=8892"},{"taxonomy":"cwp_profile","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cwp_profile?post=8892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}