Family Mission Statement

Last week I posted about RJ and I working on a Family Mission Statement. Something to keep our eyes on what matters, to remind of us our goals, and encourage us to put first things first and not sweat the small things.

I found this excellent resource on SimpleMom. We asked ourselves some of these questions, the ones that seemed most pertinent to us, and then wrote up a statement summarizing what is most important to us. Then I went back over the answers to our questions and added some things about service and goals. I highly recommend it.


We, the Barnett family, believe that our purpose is to make the most of the unique resources, knowledge, skills that God has given us, and to share them freely with others, by:

• being open in our relationships, being open to new experiences, and
being open to following God's plans when they are different than ours
• giving more than we take in our relationships to one another and to creation
• living as if physical and temporal things have spiritual and eternal import
• working to reconcile broken relationships with God, people, and creation
• being filled with joy so that we are a blessing to those around us



We will serve one another:

Addie will serve RJ by making a clean and orderly home where the bed is made and his projects are easily accessible. She will provide the family with meals and meet the needs of the children by caring for her own body, changing diapers, feeding them, and playing.

RJ will serve Addie by providing for the families financial needs, washing the dishes, taking care of his body, and playing with the children. He will provide his family with quality time together, and encourage each person's spiritual growth.

We will work together to clean and put away the laundry, and to provide nutritious food from the store and the garden.


We will serve our community:

We will welcome others into our home to share meals and life. We will serve our congregation and other ministers of the Kingdom of God using our unique gifts and skills. We will make our part of the earth a beautiful place. We will be kind to people who are not kind to us and our loved ones. We will share wit others the stories of what God has done for us and the things we have learned about serving him.


In ten years...

We would like our home to be financially sustainable. RJ will be able to provide for our needs by working at things that he enjoys and finds fulfilling. Addie will find ways to make additional income without taking from the time she spends adequately meeting the needs of her family.

We would like to understand more about our identity in the family of God. We would like to be more knowledgeable about sustainably providing for our families needs and the needs of others. We would like to watch our children grow in wisdom, in stature, and in favor with God and men.

Addie will have more peace and not worry about things. RJ will communicate with others about how he is feeling, what he is learning, and what he wants from his life.

We hope that we will facilitate a trusting comeraderie with our children, where they know that we understand and care about what is important to them.

Addie & RJ will still make each other laugh every day, and give themselves frely to one another. We will be more one each day than the day before.

We will meet with the Church daily, being devoted to the teaching of the scriptures, to sharing meals and fellowship, to prayer, and to the sacraments of the Lord's Supper, Servanthood, and Baptism into the person-hood of Christ.