Values: State it, Own it, Live it
What do you want your family to be like? How do you wish people would describe you? Twenty or thirty years from now, what do you hope your children will say about how they grew up and what they learned from you?
At RedlandHills, we know what we want our family to be like:
Our mission is to help our families
Connect with God, live in Community and share Compassion with others.
This is the driving force behind everything we do in Kid Min and it is why we structure our Sunday time around the following points:
GROW IN KNOWLEDGE–
Through studying God’s word, our kids will get to know God, love Jesus and experience Holy Spirit. They will see for themselves that God has a plan for their lives. They will know that they are loved, they are seen, and that they are heard.
BE TOGETHER–
God designed us to do life together- not apart. We intentionally structure our time so our kids are in groups- listening, solving, planning and growing together. We provide a nonthreatening environment where the shyest introvert to the extreme extrovert all have a role in the class community.
DO FOR OTHERS–
Being together gives our children an opportunity to share their ideas, passions and gifts with each other. We help them put their ideas into action to make a difference for our neighbors both locally and around the world.
How do you answer those questions for your family?
OWN YOUR VALUES–
A good way to find the answers to these questions is to:
Identify what you truly value, and then prioritize the values you want to focus on as a family. We all need clear direction and boundaries, but our children especially need us to be clear about what we expect of them. They are also more apt to take ownership of these values, when they’re included in the discussion. The important thing to remember is to be clear about “what” is important and “why” it is important.
Write down your family values. After you have identified your core family values, write them down and store in an easily accessible place. Refer to them when resolving disagreements and making family decisions, and allow these values to be the driving force behind everything you are as a family. If it’s written down, that means it’s true for everyone in your family all the time. It may even help you avoid those emotional “but everyone is….” conversations.
State it! Own it! Live it!
Living Out Loud
in HIM, terry