A mission statement is essential for a business. It defines the goals of a company based on its value system and provides a guide for evaluating how those goals are being met. For an individual or a family, it should be a statement of your values, your vision, your purpose.
Today I heard a family discussing their family’s Mission Statement on an early radio show from Focus on the Family, http://www.focusonthefamily.com. They had decided that as a Christian family they would together write several sentences describing their family’s purpose. They would then post this in a prominent place in their home as a reminder of who they are and where they’re going as a family.
Not that a mission statement guarantees freedom from conflict. But it can always provide a visible compass, a guide, toward their goals. For each of us as individuals, a personal mission statement can help give you clarity about who you are, a sense of purpose, and direction for living.
I thought about my own mission statement. If I died today, what would everyone say about me? What would you write on my tombstone?
Hmmm…. Over the years there have been moments when I was certain that I was accomplishing the mission God had assigned to me! I remember one eighteen degree morning in East Texas, when I stopped to check on a home health patient. She was a retired school teacher and a very bright, witty, 80-something gal. Each morning I had to light a fire in her fireplace, fix her a piece of toast, help her take her blood pressure pill, and then check her blood pressure. A little more than the typical visit might be, but I didn’t mind…
Anyway, I’ll never forget what she said to me one morning. She said, “You have the gentlest touch of anyone I’ve ever known.” What a blessing she was to me! What a thrill to be used by God to minister to her and to be rewarded with such a compliment. That experience, and many others, confirmed to me that I was doing exactly what God had planned for my life~accomplishing my mission to serve others. I just never wrote it down.
So here are some steps to take in order to write a personal or family mission statement. It doesn’t have to be lengthy, but it should include those goals that you most want to achieve, based on your personal belief system.
1. What are your values? What determines your moral compass? In other words, on what belief system do you make your moral decisions on a daily basis?
For many of us, it is our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, for which God has given a guidebook~the Bible, and a Guide~the Holy Spirit. The Bible teaches us everything we need to know in order to have a functional moral compass. Through seeking God in prayer and study, we have determined exactly what our values are. Our values are the best starting point for writing a mission statement.
2. Name your vision for your life and some particular goals that you want to accomplish. These could better be described as action items, I suppose. There is no absolute rule as far as how much you might write, or how little. This is personal for you. You can write something lengthy or something brief. What matters most is that you can verbalize and see on paper your personal vision for your life; you can see in writing what you want to accomplish based on your personal values. Some people have only one sentence in their mission statement, such as Pat Robertson, the famous television personality and Christian leader, who writes: “I want to be part of God’s plan of what He is doing on earth. and I want to bring Him glory.”
http://www.patrobertson.com/FastFacts/MissionStatement.asp
If you decide to research this topic further, you might check out a few of these websites:
binformation.about.com/cs/businessplans/a/mission.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_statement
http://www.missionstatements.com
I kind of enjoyed reading McDonald’s mission statement on Wikipedia:
McDonald’s – “To provide the fast food customer food prepared in the same high-quality manner world-wide that has consistent taste, serving time, and price in a low-key décor and friendly atmosphere.”
- Key Market: The fast food customer world-wide
- Contribution: tasty and reasonably-priced food prepared in a high-quality manner
- Distinction: delivered consistently (world-wide) in a low-key décor and friendly atmosphere.
“Here is a test to find out whether your mission in life is complete. If you’re alive, it isn’t.” Richard Bach