Help My Family Worship

Spending devotional time in the home is one of the most important and beneficial activities for families. However, many families struggle knowing how to begin the spiritual habit of family worship. Whether your family is young or old, small or large, this brief guide will give you a head start in the right direction.

A productive family worship gathering in the home involves three fundamental parts: Bible study, prayer, and fellowship. As we consider how to begin, let’s consider these three parts.

Bible Study:
When preparing for family worship there is nothing more important than the way you handle your Bible. The Bible is God’s revelation of Himself, the bread of life, the sword of the Spirit, and the only sacred writing able to make sinners wise unto salvation. Without the Bible, family worship would be impossible. How else would your family know what to believe about God, faith, and life? Hopefully you already sense the weight of handling the Bible well before your family. The importance of Scripture to your family’s growth should give you pause, but you need not be anxious. Even if you are a new Christian who is beginning to learn your way around the Bible, don’t worry. Here are a few simple directions to get you well on your way toward leading your family with the Scriptures.

Always begin with your Bible. Instead of trying to think of a topic to talk about with your family, start by finding a passage of Scripture which strikes you as encouraging, helpful, inspiring, or hopeful. This will help your family worship time move in the right direction by allowing you to focus on what God has said in His word. Never underestimate the temptation to use the Bible to speak your mind rather than using the Bible to speak God’s mind.

After you have determined what passage or book of the Bible will be the foundation of your family worship session, begin planning how you will work through the Scripture from beginning to end. You will find the following plan helpful as you work to explain, illustrate, and apply the Scriptures.

1. Explain: It is important that you explain to your family the simple and straightforward meaning of the Scripture passage used in family worship. You do not have to go into extensive detail. Instead work to give as much explanation as necessary to communicate what the author of the passage intended to tell the hearers of his day. Picking up a good commentary will usually give you more than enough information to helpfully explain the Bible passage to your family.

2. Illustrate: A second aspect of teaching your family the Bible is illustrating the principle or command of the passage. A striking and helpful illustration is one that helps your family understand the Bible by imagining what the Scriptures mean in real life. Helpful kinds of illustrations may include true stories from the life of your family, analogies, historical events, or even similar events recorded in Scripture. Be sure to always use illustrations that are interesting not because they are clever, but because they accurately depict the meaning of the Bible text.

3. Apply: No Bible study is complete without applying the Scriptural principle or command to the everyday lives of your family. An excellent approach to applying the Scriptures is found in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 which says, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” Notice in this passage that God’s word is profitable in four foundational ways; teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness.

Four questions which coincide with these four profits of the Bible are:
i. Teaching: “What are the principles or commands of the passage?”
ii. Reproof: “How have we failed to live by these principles or commands?”
iii. Correction: “What must we do to repent/change by God’s grace?”
iv. Training in Righteousness: “What is our specific plan for repentance/change?”

Together you will find these four questions to be a very helpful guide for your family’s application of the Scripture. As you work together as a family to answer questions like these, make sure you are specific in your answers because God intends for His word to affect specific change in His children.

Now, let’s consider the second important part of family worship; prayer.

Prayer
Along with Bible study, prayer is an important part of family worship. It has been said, “The family that prays together, stays together.” Though family prayer will not guarantee that your family will stay together, there is no doubting that God has given prayer an essential role in the Christian life and in Christian families. Throughout the Bible God’s people are found consistently praying together and leading each other in prayer.

If you’re family is just beginning to practice family worship, leading them in prayer may seem a bit awkward. Prayer is spiritual discipline that grows by practice. The faithful puritan preacher Richard Sibbes wrote, “By prayer we learn to pray.” The kids may be fidgeting. The baby may be crying. Your words may be jumbled. Don’t give up. As with every aspect of the Christian life, simply bring to God your family’s sacrifice of prayer and praise. No matter how interrupted or awkward your prayer time may be, know that the God who is gracious hears you and delights in the prayers of your family. Devotional time in the home offers a prime opportunity to hear the insights, concerns, and requests of other family members. Likewise, family prayer time is a great time for you not only to set an example of prayer, but for your children to take an active role in praying too.

Finally, let’s consider together the content of our prayers. For most families, there is a tendency to fill what little prayer time they have with requests that concern circumstances, illness, pets, and minor concerns. While God encourages us to make every aspect of life a matter of prayer, you may find it necessary to focus the prayer requests during family worship. As you do, keep in mind that God is up to much more in our lives than changing our circumstances, healing our illnesses, helping our pets, and making life convenient. God’s ultimate purpose is that His children grow in spiritual maturity. This means that a rich family worship will include a time of prayer that addresses the God’s deeper concerns. Strive to focus the prayers of your family toward spiritual growth, resisting temptation, loving Christ, and serving people. Such prayers are not only powerful and effective to please God, but also powerful and effective to influence and shepherd your family as they learn to pray deeply.

Fellowship
Last, but certainly not least, is fellowship. Family fellowship is important to family worship. Throughout the Scriptures, fellowship occurs when Christians spend time together encouraging, challenging, and enjoying each other’s company. Today the concept of fellowship has been redefined in many circles to mean merely hanging out, chatting leisurely, and playing games. While these are certainly enjoyable and important in the course of family fellowship, it is important to remember that biblical family fellowship is much more. The deep and lasting fellowship of Christians always centers on the gospel. The redemptive story of the gospel, which celebrates the life changing work and power of Jesus Christ, is always at the heart of Christlike fellowship. Your home devotions should include a specific time to talk together as a family about Christ, daily struggles, hopes, concerns, fear, and victories. One helpful way to begin this kind of sharing is to take turns sharing the highlights and lowlights of the day or week. This will not only help family members grow closer together in prayer, but will also provide some additional insight into other ways you can bring the Scriptures to bear upon the daily life of your family.

Some other fellowship starters you might consider to accompany family fellowship and fun are:
• Weekly game and movie night
• A scavenger hunt around the house
• An evening bike ride through the neighborhood
• A family trip to the park
• A cookie bake
Activities such as these can be helpful in drawing your family together in preparation for family worship.

I hope you will help you cultivate a culture of family worship in your home.

*originally posted September 15, 2010

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