Webster's defines covenant as a "formal, solemn and binding agreement...a written agreement or promise between two or more parties...". Throughout the Bible, we are reminded of God's covenants with Noah and mankind (the rainbow in Genesis 9); with Abram (righteousness through faith in Genesis 15); and with Moses (The Ten Commandments in Exodus 20). Covenants and family are clearly important to God, so shouldn't a family covenant with a purposefully stated mission statement be regarded as an essential part of every family?
The first step in developing a covenant is to identify your core values -- what do we as a family really believe in and value as guiding truths in our family's behavior. In refining our covenant, I narrowed our values down to those which could be connected with key verses in scripture that have spoken to my heart. Next step is to craft the mission and vision statement -- what is our family's purpose, and what do we want our family to become. The mission statement is a description of our family's fundamental purpose and should answer the question: "why do we exist?" The vision statement describes our family's preferred future and how we will accomplish the mission of our family. A good vision statement capture's your family's passion; it casts a vision of the innermost hopes and dreams you have for your family. And lastly, to tie it all together, I came up with a family theme verse from scripture which I felt best summarized our mission, vision and values.
Admittedly, creating our family covenant was something I continually put off doing. Once I set aside the time to focus on doing it, I truly felt energized by the Spirit to not only complete it but also create a document that we would proudly share in a prominent place in our home (near the dinner table) to serve as a daily reminder of our commitment to God and to our family.
