Last week, I wrote about the importance of passing on our faith to our children (Part One). Spending time together in family worship is a crucial part of this faith training. Here are some tips for family worship:

Keep it simple and fun

• Keep a manageable time (10 -15 minutes)
• Don’t lecture. Encourage family discussion
• Strive to maintain an enjoyable and fun atmosphere; make it a special family time

Set a regular time

• Encourage everyone in the family to plan for this time
• Find a time that is not hurried or pressured (if that’s possible)

Have a plan

Here’s an outline to help you as you plan your family devotional times.

• Pray (1 minute)
• Read the Word (7 minutes)
  • What’s the main idea of the passage?
  • How can we live out this truth?
• Sing a song (2 minutes)
  • Pick a song that is related to the biblical passage if possible
  • If no one in your family plays piano or guitar, use YouTube
• Pray (5 minutes)
  • Write down prayer requests in a family prayer journal
  • Ask for a volunteer to pray for each request

Strive for consistency

• Meet daily or as many days each week as possible
• Strive to have all members of the family present, but proceed even if not
• When schedules don’t work out, don’t give up. Keep trying.

Click here for more resources for family worship.

Your elementary child comes home from school asking if God really created the universe. Your teenager tells you that God seems mean to limit marriage to a man and woman. Your college student says that she no longer believes in Christianity in light of the various world religions.

In today’s world, holding to the Christian faith is more challenging than ever. Undoubtedly, our faith will not be reinforced by other cultural forces as it might have been in the past. Consider the fact that nearly every cultural institution has capitulated to the sexual revolution, even the Boy Scouts.[1] In fact, much of the culture not only doesn’t support traditional Christian beliefs but instead is openly hostile to biblical faith.

If our children remain steadfast in the faith, it is vital that dads and moms take faith training of their children seriously. Without a firm commitment to teach and model a vibrant love for Christ and to teach a biblical worldview to our children, it is very unlikely that they will hold to the Christian faith as they mature. Consider this biblical admonition:

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”      – Deuteronomy 6:4-9

A crucial tool in passing on the faith to our children is family worship. In family worship, parents and children gather together daily or several days a week to read the Word, pray, and sing. This time might be at breakfast, around the dinner table, or even a few minutes before bed.

Next week, I’ll post some practical tips for leading family worship.

[1] Richard Gonzalez, “Boy Scouts Will Admit Transgender Boys,” NPR, January 31, 2017, accessed March 15, 2017, http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/01/31/512541372/boy-scouts-will-admit-transgender-boys.