Embracing Your Family’s Strengths and Identifying Its Challenges

“Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.”

– 1 Peter 4:10

Not long ago, we learned about City Impact: an after-school Bible Club for kids in a nearby community. Our own hometown didn’t have anything like it, and we were very interested to try to start something similar where we live. We visited City Impact and got to observe their Bible program and the meal they shared with the attendees afterward. Seeing how everything was run made us feel more confident about trying our hand at a club ourselves.

When we first began our Bible Club, we met in the evenings. We later moved it to our lunch hour once we began homeschooling. Our club isn’t exactly like City Impact - which is great! We have made it work for us. Currently, we utilize a VBS curriculum and modify it to fit our needs; we put on two five-week sessions during the school year (fall and spring). We absolutely love serving our community in this way! We also involve our kids, who are tremendous helpers in setting up the rooms we need, serving food, and loading/unloading our gear. We each get to use our unique gifts, and God has provided wonderful volunteers who work alongside us. A terrific homeschooled teen heads up the crafts, which is a great relief to me because that isn’t my strength at all!

Family Strengths

At Bible Club, I’m able to use my gifts of teaching and sharing God’s Word with the precious children who attend. Our kids are able to use their gifts of volunteering and service: helping the other children and also serving the meal. It is a true blessing to work alongside our kids for the glory of God and disciple them in this way. And while this ministry fits us well, we understand that this won’t be the case for everyone. However, every family has strengths that can be used to serve God’s kingdom. If you aren’t sure what yours are, here are some reflective questions you can ask to help identify them:

1. What would people say about your family, both positive and negative, right now? 
2. As you look back on your family life, what have been the highlights, and what makes you think of them? Why were they so exciting? 
3. How would you describe your family’s “superpower?” 

Once you have been able to recognize some of the gifts and strengths that God has given your family, we encourage you to look for doors that God opens for you to use them.

Family Weaknesses

God doesn’t want one person or one family to do it all. It is important to allow others to use their strengths for the kingdom. I personally find it challenging to keep up with the cleaning in our house, especially with homeschooling four kids and volunteering regularly. We decided to hire someone to come and clean once per week to help me. This has allowed others to use their gifts and earn an income, while also is a true blessing to our entire family!

Strengths are things that come naturally to us, but they must also be trained and exercised in order to truly flourish. This means that even though certain things may come easily to us, we should still put hard work into developing them. Someone who is musically gifted will be a much better musician if they take lessons and spend hours honing their craft. The same is true with gifts of character. You may be a naturally generous person, but there are smart ways to handle money and resources. It would massively benefit someone with the gift of generosity to learn how to become wise in this area by purposefully associating and learning from people who have made this habit part of their lives successfully.

Just as families have strengths, they also have weaknesses and it’s important that we are aware of them so that we can adapt as needed. The tough thing about weaknesses is that often, they are harder to identify than strengths. If you’re having a hard time figuring out areas in which your family isn’t naturally strong, here are some questions to help you:

1. What is something that seems to weaken or harm your family unit?
2. If someone was observing your family for a week or a month, what do you think they would say are your family’s challenges or weaknesses? (If you’re feeling brave, ask a close friend for perspective!)
3. If you could eliminate one thing from your family life, what would it be?
4. Are there certain things in your life that you do not want to see your children having to deal with when they have families of their own?

Conclusion

The Bible Club was a door God opened that has allowed us to use our family’s gifts for the betterment of our community. We don’t run the entire thing - we can’t! - but God has blessed us with wonderful friends and volunteers that work alongside us and are a huge help. We encourage you to look for ways to use the gifts with which God has blessed you, so that in turn you can bless others. When you see an opportunity to use your gifts, take advantage of it and trust that God will bless it. Last, we encourage you not to put a limit on what God can do. We have seen firsthand how small our ideas are in comparison to His! (Click here for our story!)

Key Points

• God has blessed each family with unique strengths that can and should be used to His glory.
• Take action when God gives you opportunities to use those strengths.
• Don’t be overly concerned about weaknesses. God will provide people to take care of areas in which you struggle.