As a boy, Richard Leong navigated the graffiti-covered stairwells and cracked sidewalks of the housing project where he lived in Brooklyn, New York, bracing himself for the bullying that awaited him at school. Yet, amidst this cold, unforgiving world, the seeds for his giving journey were being planted.
Even then, Richard never walked alone. He watched his mom and dad, who were recent immigrants from China, endure, working hard to make ends meet despite the language barrier and very little opportunity. From them, he received an inheritance more valuable than any trust fund – a strong work ethic, a pride in their rich heritage and culture, a disciplined life, a focus on family, and the courage to press on against all odds.
“They gifted me a philosophy of life, one passed down to them from their parents,” Richard says. “They showed me how the brave actions of one generation can impact generations to come. Their legacy set me up for success.”
From corporate mission to a life of meaning
Richard graduated college with an engineering degree and became a top executive for several global energy companies, traveling the world and climbing the ladder of corporate success. Central to his career was his ability to help executives define the mission and vision for their businesses.
In his late twenties, he came to Christ, and his faith began to inform his life. But it wasn’t until his fifties that he began to think much more seriously about his own legacy and personal mission in a new way.
“At first, I thought about my legacy as my ‘stuff’ and how my investments and possessions would be dispersed after I died,” Richard says. “But thankfully, God brought some wise, wonderful people into my life who steered me onto a new mission – to use generosity to create a life of meaning.”
Soon after, Richard decided it was time to retire from the corporate world, and he and his wife, Elina, settled in Bellingham, Washington. He became very involved with several nonprofits, including NCF Northwest, where he serves as a board member.
3 essential questions for a family mission statement
As generosity became increasingly important in their lives, he and Elina naturally wanted to engage their adult daughters, Vanessa and Vivian, in a deeper way. They started to have more frequent family meetings about giving and eventually recognized that, to create a legacy of generosity, they needed a clear, unified direction.
So, they decided to develop a family mission statement to serve as their guiding compass. Drawing on his experience in corporate mission and vision work, Richard came up with three questions a family can ask to help craft their mission statement:
- What kind of a family do we want to be?
- What does our family want to accomplish together?
- What values and principles will guide the actions of our family?
To begin the process of answering these questions, the Leongs searched the Bible for a verse that would capture the heart of their family. It took some time, but God led them to Luke 3:11: “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.”
Two Tunics takes shape
Then, they went to work articulating and recording their hopes, dreams, and desires. They prayed about them and eventually were able to bring them all together in this family mission statement:
Two Tunics Legacy is an expression of God’s abounding generosity. Our mission is to live out and promote the call to action in Luke 3:11. We do this by engaging, challenging, and partnering with others to visibly demonstrate the power of God’s provision and compassion to a world in need.
Their Giving Fund at NCF became the Two Tunics Legacy Fund, and the term has become a rallying cry for their giving.
“Two tunics is like a code phrase for our family,” Richard says. “When we refer to it, everyone knows a serious giving discussion will take place.”
Learning to work as a team
As they began to strategically rethink how their family fund could impact the world, God began to infuse their giving with bold new dreams and passions, and they all learned how to bring their unique strengths and abilities to the table through an adventure in giving that taught them to work as a team.
Their oldest daughter, Vanessa, approached Richard and Elina about supporting Goldenwood, a nonprofit she was involved with in Manhattan, and their event, Dream Forum, which encourages dreamers who want to accomplish something for the kingdom.
Richard’s response was very logical and analytical. “My first thought was, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’” he says. “My left brain kicked in, and I thought, ‘why would we give to promote someone’s dream? How do we measure success? How do we know exactly what our money is going to be used for?’”
Elina, who is the natural skeptic in the family, responded with keen insight and asked the hard questions, encouraging Vanessa to seek clarification. Elina’s gift for anticipating undesirable scenarios has been key in protecting the family from making critical errors in judgment.
And as the family’s most neutral sounding board, their younger daughter, Vivian, listened to everyone’s input and offered wise insights that the others hadn’t considered. After working through their questions and concerns together, the Leongs ended up recommending grants to the organization, and it has been a turning point for their family giving.
Richard describes partnering with the organization as an indescribable blessing that would not have happened if they hadn’t approached it as a family, especially with Vanessa and Vivian. “If your intention is to have your children carry on this generosity legacy, then you’ve got to let them have a say,” Richard says. “They have to play a more significant role than just dad and mom dictating where the money is going.”
From Brooklyn to Manhattan
Richard recently had a chance to go to New York to meet many of the dreamers in person. “I tell you what, my heart just melted,” he says. “I was opposed to it, but God softened me.” In this place, not far from his humble beginnings in a housing project in Brooklyn, God has used Richard’s family to bring his life full circle through their giving journey together.
A blueprint for healing brokenness
Above all, Richard believes God has gifted every family with a unique purpose. And families don’t have to be perfect to start the process of defining their family mission.
“Many families are broken and hurting, and yours may be one of them,” he says. “But that’s all the more incentive to write a new chapter and establish who you are and what kind of legacy you want to leave from now on.”
Although it may involve difficult conversations, he says a family mission statement can become a road map for how you treat one another, how you handle family conflict, and how you learn to understand and forgive one another.
“Your family mission statement will be a message of love to one another and then to the world,” Richard says. “When that message becomes part of your family, that’s when you’ll start to see your legacy multiply.”
If you’d like to discuss defining your family’s mission statement, reach out to your local NCF team to start a conversation.
