SHAPING YOUR FAMILY’S FUTURE


CHAPTER 2 Skill-Building Genogram Exercise


Your genogram begins with you and your faith experience. From there you can add other indi- viduals and your connections with them. But in Chapter 2, we focus on the place you occupy within the triangles of your family system. Here are some questions to get you started:


• In your growing-up years, how often did your family attend some kind of religious event (including worship services, community events of a religious nature, rallies or crusades, house church meetings, prayer meetings, Bible studies, etc.)?


• Who was expected to attend these events? • What was your sense of how your parents felt about these events?


• What kind of religious events did you participate in as a child (Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, weeknight activities, release time from public school for religious education, summer church, Bible camp, etc.)?


• What routine spiritual practices were important in your family (prayer, personal devotions, meditation, etc.)?


• Did your family talk about religion, and if so, where, when, and how? Around the dinner table? In the car on the way to church? At large family gatherings?


• In what ways did the messages about religion change when there were other people—grandparents, neighbors, business associates—around?


• Did religion ever stir up conflict in your family?


• Once you became an adult, what expectations did your family have for your faith and spiritual life?


• How would you sum up your family’s understanding of spirituality and faith?


Once you gather all the information you can about your family’s religious traditions, enter on the genogram indications of each individual’s religious affiliation, as well as the family’s religious traditions. To the left of each square or circle, add the symbol and number


62


APPENDIX B


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