Does your family work well together as a team? If so, then you know there are many steps and lots of hard work to get every one on the team to become a team player. Teamwork is an essential part of building a Christ-focused family; but let’s face it, it isn’t always easy. Today we want to share with you some strategies we’ve used over the last 16 1/2 years to develop a good team within our family unit.
Prayerfully Making a Plan
This has served our family well in becoming a strong team over the years. Whenever we see an area that we desire for our family to come more cohesive in, we begin to pray and create a vision for our family to follow. While we understand that God orders our steps, we also know that if we are not proactive in seeking His face and moving ahead in life, then we are failing to walk out our faith. Prayerfully creating a plan for our family has become one of the pillars that bind the teamwork we’ve managed to cultivate in our family unit.
Creating Time for Conflict Management
One of the biggest lies the enemy tries to sow within a family are typically found through conflict without resolution. Unforgiveness is a major enemy of God’s plan for our lives and we refuse to allow the enemy to come in and sow seeds of division. Even in times where division tries to rear it’s ugly head; we’ve created margin in our daily lives to make sure we bring any unresolved conflict to the surface. Talking with our children about things that we may have done throughout the day or week to hurt them, as well as them talking amongst themselves has created a healing balm. We have found that without making the time for managing conflicts the team doesn’t work so well. We’re committed to seeing God’s plan for our family come to pass; and He’s made it clear that this is part of it.
Celebrating One Another
If we are being honest, it feels good to be celebrated every now and then. We have taught our children the importance of celebrating one another and recognizing the great things that God has placed inside each one of them. We’ve also taught them that even when we don’t “feel” like celebrating others; it is still important to do so. We have used this verse to help them understand the importance of this truth in Romans 12:10:
Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.
How Teamwork Has Won in Our Family
Teamwork has blessed our family in so many different ways over the years, here are just some of them:
- We’ve managed to successfully navigate 5 year-long combat tours.
- We’ve been able to serve others faithfully together because we are stronger as a team.
- We’ve been able to cultivate and grow our family in the principles of God’s word by holding one another accountable.
- We’ve created two family businesses together that are nurturing community with others as well as teaching the children the value of entrepreneurship. You can learn more about our two family businesses here and here.
We are thankful that because Christ loved us, we can love one another. We are thankful as parents to use the wisdom found in God’s Word to teach our children how to be a cohesive team glued together by God’s love, mercy, and grace. We are thankful that God has blessed with our own little team to go to the nations and proclaim His love and the truth of His word. We are thankful for the gift of teamwork – and encourage you to cultivate it every day in your own family in the way that God has called you to do so! Family teamwork for the win!
