Families in mission

Catholics have been slow to realize the potential for families to be involved in mission ad gentes. While Protestant groups have promoted the participation of families in mission for years it is only recently that we have begun to initiate this possibility for families. We have yet to understand the potential that missionary families have to evangelize families and family life. We often do not understand the needs of families in mission and we do not understand the "life cycle" of the family, the different periods that the family passes through and how to help families participate in mission during these different stages. We have discovered that families can be the most stable and continuous element in the associate program or organization. We need to learn how to help families stay in mission and to learn how to better utilize the family in the task of evangelization.