Read, Pray, and Sing

How to Do Family Worship

You will hear it over and over in The Crossing Church: We believe parents are the primary disciple-makers in the home. And hopefully, you believe that, too. In their book, Raising Passionate Jesus Followers, Phil and Diane Comer suggest that during the child-rearing years, the primary vocation of a parent is the discipleship of their children. In other words, more than your job being your primary job, pointing your kids to Jesus is your primary job. 

But when you get down to it, making a disciple of Jesus is no easy task. Many parents feel overwhelmed by life in general, much less by the prospect of having to get their kid to love Jesus. Most Christian adults were never taught how to do this stuff, much less how to lead their kids to do it. The good news is that there are some really simple things that any parent can do, which will help to foster a deeper love for Christ and His Kingdom. First and foremost, we as parents must lead our families to worship together.

Family Worship Includes 3 Ingredients

If the idea of leading your family in worship sounds intimidating or crazy, just know that it’s a really easy thing to do. You don’t need a specialized degree, and you don’t have to be a Bible scholar. In fact, the hardest thing you will have to do is to carve out time. That’s your first objective. Set aside 10 minutes—preferably at the end of each day—to worship together. That’s it. You don’t have to prepare a lesson, choreograph a routine, or pick out a playlist. Just set an appointment, and keep it. Once you’re all gathered together, walk through the three movements of family worship together.

Read

Chapter by chapter, read through books of the Bible together. The younger your children, the more you will want to use narrative passages (i.e. Exodus or Ruth) and read shorter sections. As your children get older, set a goal to read through the entire New Testament, and later through the entire Bible.

Anyone can read! It doesn’t have to always be mom or dad. In fact, encourage your kids to read some of the passages. When you read, do it enthusiastically and interpretively. In other words, don’t be one of the those people who reads the Bible as apathetically as if reading a phone directory out loud. 

Explain any words your kids may not understand. Clarify the meaning of key verses. If something doesn’t make sense to you, let your family know. It takes swallowing a little pride, but being transparent with your kids about your own growth and need for Jesus is one of the greatest gifts you can give them.

Pray

Whether prayer is offered by the father only, or by someone he designates, or by each member of the family in turn, be sure to pray together. You may want to keep a prayer list. There are great apps to help you with this—Like Echo. However you do it, pray about at least one thing suggested to you and your family by the Scripture passage you have read.

You may want to use the Psalms to help you with your prayers. You can turn a few verses into a prayer. If praying through Psalm 23, for instance, after reading the first verse you might thank the Lord for being your Shepherd, ask him to shepherd your family through certain events or decisions, and so forth. As you have time, continue through the passage line by line, speaking to God about what comes to mind while reading the text.

Consider walking through the Lord’s Prayer (or the model prayer) found in Matthew 6:9-13. You might also consider following the acronym: PRAY. Pause, rejoice, ask, and yield. Pause for a moment to recognize the presence of God. Rejoice in who He is and what He has done. Ask. Present your requests to God. And yield. Repent of sins and ask God to help you be more like Jesus.

Sing

There is something about music that helps tune our hearts in ways nothing else can. You may want to just sing some songs that are familiar to everyone without accompaniment. Maybe someone in the family is a musician and can play the guitar. Perhaps you would prefer to sing along with a song from artists like Shane and Shane or Phil Wickham.

Again, don’t make it complicated. Be okay with it not being great. This is not about performance, but about communion with God. Show your kids that it’s okay to approach God even if you don’t have the best singing voice.

Keep it Simple

Don’t overcomplicate things by trying to add too much. If time permits, and you want to discuss a takeaway from Sunday’s sermon, great! If you want to memorize a verse as a family, that’s awesome! If you want to teach something or bring a short devotion from a book, that’s good. But don’t think that these things are necessary. Keep it simple, and stick with it.

Not every night is going to feel like a mountaintop encounter with God. In fact, most nights won’t. It will seem at times that your kids are not paying attention or would rather be anywhere else. That okay… and normal. Keep your cool. Show grace. And lead.