Parents and Kids of Faith

Posted by Pastor George

Saturday, March 24, 2007

BUILDING THE STRATEGIC HOME

(or finding some family "rocks")
Part 2
“Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it. ”Proverbs 22:6

In continuing with the theme of the last Parents and Kids of Faith along with what I covered at the Faith Family Forum, this article is to present questions for your consideration as a family. It is to help establish what is important in your family in regard to priorities and attempt to align them with God-centered purposes. If we do not assess what is preoccupying our time and interpreting what we are doing, we risk being controlled by activity that is meaningless and decreasing the value of a Christ-centered home.

The following questions are designed to help unify your family, remind you of what is important, setting a pattern of a Christ-centered home, reducing conflicts, providing barriers of security for your children, and freeing you from the “tyranny of the urgent.”

1. How would you answer the question: What is the purpose of our family?

2. What do you want your family to look like in the near future and a bit beyond?

3. How do you define the role of husband/father, wife/mother, son, and/or daughter?

4. What spiritual values do you hold dearest as a family?

5. How is everyone to treat each other in the family?

6. What virtues of character are considered of “most” importance to you?

7. How is conflict to be resolved in your family?

8. How do you want to spend your “leisure time?”

9. How are finances to be managed by you and taught to the children?

10. What are the guidelines to ensure good health in your home?

11. Where do the activities of the family fit in your priorities so conflicts of scheduling can be resolved?

12. What big decisions do you see down the road to be making for your children that you can be proactive with now rather than later? (Dating? Driving? Modesty rules? Academic performance and activities? Activiites versus other priorities?)

Next week I will begin a series of examples of how you convert the answers to such questions to a plan of action for your family. Take time before then to chew on these questions.