Our Plan

VISION

Believing in a creator God who revealed His character and incredible love through the life and death of Jesus Christ, we will be a family that lives wisely: building our values upon a Biblical worldview, teaching our children absolute truths, seeking to be in the Center of God’s will, and serving God in our home, church and community.

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MISSION

With God at the center of our lives and home, our family purpose is to create a nurturing, safe environment of transformational love which:

• views marriage as a permanent covenant between a man and a wife,
• treats children as a sacred stewardship,
• uses our time, talents and treasure to express the love of Christ in a tangible way to people in need as directed in James 1:27 (Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world).

We love the Lord. We show this best by obeying His commandments, by working to take every thought captive and by loving the Lord with all our hearts, minds and strength.

We focus on developing the Christ-likeness in each member in the family.

We love each other. We show this best by caring for, helping and encouraging one another.

We listen to the words of our Father in Heaven as made known to us through the Bible, the inerrant word of God. Thus we say as family, “Speak, Lord, for they servant heareth.” (1 Samuel 3:10)

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VALUES

Spiritual Passion: Enthusiastic in determining to know, follow and serve Jesus Christ (Deuteronomy 6:4-5; Mark 12:29-30)

Obedience: Submitting to the God given leadership of those in authority over you and complying with their standards even when unsupervised. (Psalm 75:5-7; Daniel 2:20-21; Ephesians 5:21 - 6:1-9 )

Servanthood: Overcoming self-centeredness; focusing on what I can do for others. (Philippians 2:5-8 )

Humility: Valuing the ideas, opinion & advice of those wiser and more experienced. (Proverbs 3:13, 13:10, 16:31)

Self-Discipline: Wisely watching over my thoughts, energy, and time in order to glorify God and make the most of my life (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)

Moral Purity: Avoiding activities or situations that compromise Biblical standards, prevent me from becoming Christ-like, or tempt me to disobey God. (Philippians 4:8 )

Moral Courage: Being willing to stand up for what I believe, even if I must stand alone. (Acts 4:19; 29)

Responsibility: Developing a commitment to hard work; refusing to blame others for my actions, attitudes and decisions. (Romans 14:2)

Respect: Treating all humans as unique, eternal beings who have been created in God’s image and loved enough that Jesus died for them. (Genesis 1:26; Genesis 2:7; John 3:16)

Gratefulness: Making known to God and others in what way He or they have benefited my life (1 Corinthians 4:7, Ephesians 5:20)

Reference: Operational definitions of character qualities

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STRATEGIC PLAN

Biblical authority: Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honor thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. (Acts 6:1-4)

Authority is defined as the right to influence or persuade. Power and control are coerced by manipulation or force. Authority is not gained by manipulating our children with positive or negative incentives designed to change behaviors. God has given parents authority over their children; we have the right to influence and persuade them.

In his book Meet the Rabbis: Rabbinic Thoughts on the Teachings of Jesus, Brad Young defines a disciple as “one who is open to change and is actively seeking to learn how to live life to its fullest potential in the kingdom of heaven.” It is our fervent prayer that our children each become disciples of Christ, voluntarily committing themselves to His teaching. True discipleship is committed to changing the heart, not merely controlling behavior. Therefore, we are committed to:

• Keeping the home central in evangelizing and discipling our children
• Demonstrating a Holy Spirit filled life by living out submission to appropriate Biblical authority in our own life. (Acts 5:21 - Acts 6:4)
• In Sketches of Jewish Social Life, Alfred Edersheim writes, “Even the relationship in which God presented Himself to His people, as their Father, would give peculiar strength and sacredness to the bond which connected earthly parents with their offspring.” I believe that this picture is instructive; therefore, God’s dealings with Israel will be the basis and model for how we disciple our children.  

  • Make sure the child has heard and understand a short list of rules (Exodus 20:2-17, Deuteronomy 5:6-21)

  • Act as a prophet; issue a warning before judgment falls

  • Ask the child what he or she did. Give the child an opportunity to repent and change his or her behavior (Genesis 3:9-11; Genesis 4:9)

  • Help the child understand the impact of their behavioral choices on others (II Samuel 12:1-6)

  • Allow child to experience natural consequence(s) for his or her choice

  • Allow the child to experience Babylon: if the child does not repent, take away his or her freedom

  • What about the rod?

Fellowship ~ You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings-what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (2 Timothy 3:10-12).

The relationship between a disciple and his or her mentor is based upon voluntary fellowship. Unlike the professional relationship that exists between a teacher and a student, a disciple chooses to submit to the teaching of the mentor. In order for our children to be discipled by us, they must spend time with us. But more than that, they must do it on their own volition. Therefore we are committed to:

• Devoting quantity and quality time to family activities
• Building a partnership with our children that is based on generous sharing
• “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” (Acts 2:42)
  • Prioritizing family meal times

  • Praying with our children

    • Living a life that is prayerfully thankful
    • Joining our children in their prayers
    • Praying for our children
    • Praying for wisdom in parenting our children

Bible Study ”But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 3:14-15)

In Deuteronomy we are commanded to teach our children the scriptures. “And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. (Deuteronomy 6:6-7) In order to obey this command, we must be more involved in our child’s religious training than simply driving them to church on Sunday or having our child spend time with the youth pastor.

In Honey For a Child’s Heart, Gladys Hunt writes that the goal of time spent together in the Bible is teaching our children to think biblically.

That’s a large goal: to think biblically. It means a good bit more than quoting certain Scripture verses or participating in quizzes. It involves squaring up our thinking with what the Bible says about God, about man, about sin, about redemption, about human need and about righteousness. Thinking biblically insists on an understanding of the vast sweep of what Scripture reveals to us. It is the gauge which we measure our ideas and our lives.

Therefore, we are committed to:

• Daily Bible reading with our children

• During Bible reading, have everyone else ask and answer one question about the passage being read

• Teaching our children to use a concordance to study the Bible in the original text

• Developing expertise through topical studies and word studies

• Evaluating our culture (books, movies, news stories, etc.) from a Biblical worldview

Cultivate a fear of the Lord “And I say unto you my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.” (Luke 12:4-5)Without the fear of the Lord, the Ten Commandments are nothing but good advice. Therefore, we are committed to:

• Teaching our children that there are consequences for the choices they make.

• Reinforcing that consequences occur when natural law and civil laws are broken

• Teaching our children that sin is sin even if they don’t perceive immediate consequences and that there are spiritual consequence when spiritual law is broken

• As our culture increasingly moves away from its Christian heritage, we will remind our kids, “Don’t confuse legality with morality. Dr. King noted that everything Hitler did in Nazi Germany was legal. Don’t give anyone the proxy for your conscience. And don’t compare legality with fairness.” ~ Marion Wright Edelman, The Measure of Our Success: A Letter to My Children and Yours