The Purpose of a Family Meeting

A family meeting is more than just a routine gathering; it is the heartbeat of a thriving household. The purpose of a family meeting is that it becomes the first standard of success if you want to know if your family is growing. When you can regularly gather and experiment and implement together, you are headed in the right direction. Let’s take a deeper look into how those areas translate in the purpose of a family meeting.

Gather with Your Family Meeting

While it might sound basic, the first essential purpose of a family meeting is to gather together intentionally. Whether you have toddlers or fully grown adults, that struggle for dedicated time is always there. The reason we need the intentionality and repetition of a meeting is because it helps reinforce not just the pattern of meeting but it reinforces the concepts in which you want your family to be rooted. 

We gather because our families need to connect, or often re-connect, so a meeting is an intentional way to do this where everyone knows their voice will be heard. It’s different from just a casual hang-out or reviewing the week’s schedule. When your family can step into that purpose to gather, hear from one another, and repeat key practices, it changes everyone for the better.

Implement at Your Family Meeting

One of the misconceptions about family meetings is that they are some serious, boring, rigid event type. It is actually the furthest thing from the truth! For us, we see family meetings like a sandbox. It’s a fun, safe space to experiment and implement. The family meeting is a space to dream and test the actions to implement those things. You need a family meeting if you want a place to implement ideas and to pass on the information and lessons needed.

Set the Table for Family Connection

Ultimately, the family meeting is about becoming a redemptive space. It sets a table and invites everyone in. That can be a beautiful foundation to lay with young kids as they grow into a healthy interdependence with family. Or maybe your family is struggling with disconnect and conflict– the family meeting provides a structured, positive way to re-engage. At the end of the day, we all want to be known and heard, and gathering up around the table (even if it’s virtual) is a powerful practice. The family meeting provides a consistent place for your family to engage and return to through all seasons.

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The good news is that family meetings adapt over different seasons, so there is no wrong way to start! Don’t be afraid to dive in with a basic agenda or simply start by gathering your family to ask what is on their minds, what would they like to engage around regularly. Listen, connect, and dream together! 

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