In this series of Church Without Walls we’re suggesting to you that church looks like investing in your family. In this activity challenge we encourage you to set a savings plan for a family goal – a holiday or a special outing. The family that works together toward a shared goal achieves more!
Invest in your family and invite others into your family space.
CHURCH WITHOUT WALLS ACTIVITY CHALLENGE
Connect Activity #5
Set a savings plan for a family goal.
The summer holidays (in NZ) are a great time to set new goals as they prepare us for the year ahead. Including your entire household in these goals is the ONLY way to get buy-in and participation. So, if you’ve got trouble with everyone in your household committing to your goals, try including them a little more!
If you’ve never done this before you may like to start with a smaller objective than buying a tropical island. What about:
- a trip to the zoo
- going out for lunch
- buying a new board game
- shouting your friends to the movies
If setting goals is your “normal” activity, try setting the bar a little higher and stretch yourself to achieve more with your money. (And if you do secure a tropical island, please let us know!)
Financial Goals are what put feet on your dreams.
Phil Strong
WHAT COULD THIS LOOK LIKE?
The first step in setting goals is to brainstorm. Give everyone some chocolate (for inspiration) and then ask them to add to the Family List of Goals. This may give you more than you need, but it’s a good idea to start with an open field.
The second step is to prioritise your goals. In this activity challenge, the aim is to set family savings goals you can achieve in a short timeframe. The reason for this is the achievement of goals motivates us to achieve more goals. So, start small and grow bigger over time.
Then, make a step by step plan of how you can achieve that goal. It comes down to “how much do we need to gather together and how soon?” Maybe you might discover you need to save $50 per month for your goal. The next part of the plan would be “where does that money come from?” This should give you a plan you can implement.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
Here are several articles that may help you to be successful in this activity.
How to balance your family’s savings priorities
Frugal Families: 7 Ways to Save Money on Family Expenses
CHURCH WITHOUT WALLS
With all this talk about money you may be asking, what does this have to do with Church Without Walls? You’re right for asking that question!
Part of church life is discipleship and discipleship includes helping your family to grow. So, if you include your family and encourage them to develop sounds, biblical financial disciplines… isn’t that church?
In all of life we must make sure we do not make the object of our attention the object of our obsession. That would be making false idols.
Remember to teach your family that we cannot serve both God and money.
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matthew 6: 24)