On Family Worship

Family worship time

The Bible never gives explicit instructions on family worship--or sometimes called family devotions. It's rather something birthed out of the principle of worshiping God and serving Him first in all things. 

In Hebrews it says, "Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called 'Today,' so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin".

This is a good reminder of our daily dependence upon God. Family worship is our response.

Going old school

Jonathan Edwards said in his farewell address to his church in North Hampton, "We have had great disputes how the church ought to be regulated; and indeed the subject of these disputes was of great importance; but the due regulation of your families is of no less, and, in some respects, of much greater importance. Every Christian family ought to be as it were a little church, consecrated to Christ, and wholly influenced and governed by his rules. And family education and order are some of the chief means of grace. If these fail, all other means are likely to prove ineffectual. If these are duly maintained, all the means of grace will be likely to prosper and be successful.
Let me now therefore, once more, before I finally cease to speak to this congregation, repeat, and earnestly press the counsel which I have often urged on the heads of families, while I was their pastor, to great painfulness in teaching, warning, and directing their children; bringing them up in the training and admonition of the Lord; beginning early, where there is yet opportunity, and maintaining constant diligence in labors of this kind". 
So, the last time Jonathan Edwards will ever preach to the people, who are throwing him out of their church, he exhorts the heads of houses to disciple their children. 
This might seem odd to us today who so readily send our children to be taught by others, but really, it is the highest calling of any father or mother. 
Following the principle of being faithful in the small things, if we cannot disciple our own children we have no business discipling anyone else. 

In 1 Tim, Paul tells Timothy that an elder, "must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity(but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?)" 
This is basically what Jonathan Edwards is exhorting his church to. He begins by speaking of church government and ends with family government. Family worship is one of the principle means through which a man governs and disciples his children. 
So, while the bible never gives explicit instructions on family worship, it is assumed by the reader that it is a necessity for the Godly life. 

But how?

But how do we "do" family worship? The nuts and bolts of doing family worship are technically left up to the father and mother to decide, but using the scriptures as a guide we can find all the principles and instructions we need. Every instruction made to the church as to how to worship God can be applied directly to the home. 
To worship God we would say we praise Him, thank Him, pray to Him, study His word, confess our sins etc. I think I can say, all the standard stuff. So we build our time of family worship around these principles. 

Big Ben says timing is everything

First thing to do is set a time. If you miss the time, so be it, but you should have a scheduled time every day. We worship God every day with our family and then, we gather with other families and worship God with them. 
Your family worship schedule must be entirely set by your household schedule. You may do it in the morning, at night, at supper time, whenever. When dad is away, mom will lead it. When the kids get old enough, they may practice leading it, but it should be scheduled for every day. Not having family worship should be the exception, not the rule. 

Mary time

You should be seeing family worship as the best thing you will do all day. After all, is there anything more important and better than sitting at Jesus feet? This is exactly what we are doing during worship times is sitting at our Lord's feet--like Mary. "Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chose the good part, which shall not be taken away from her". 
Family worship time is Mary time--after family worship proceeds Martha time--when we get out there and "do the Word of God". 

A time to gather

So, once you have set your schedule, how do we spend our time worshiping? I'll tell you what our family does and you may adapt it for your family. We begin by gathering around with our bibles and any other materials. We have a little booklet which contains a list of scriptures the kids have memorized, and a family prayer list. 
Scripture memorization takes place first. Each child stands front and center and loudly and clearly quotes his/her scripture. We do some single verses, some multiple verses and some entire chapters. This is not only an exercise in scripture memorization, but also practicing oratory skills. Be patient! Some days are much better than others. Some days they will amaze you with their memory. The younger children, who are way behind the older, will learn the scriptures easily because they have heard their siblings repeat them so often. The ultimate goal isn't to just memorize and regurgitate. The goal is to set God's word in their hearts. 
After scripture memorization, we proceed with our bible study. This will vary tremendously. We have used various children's bibles. We have gone straight through bible books. Mix it up. Let it be a joyful time. Some days it is ten minutes and some days it is an hour. Go with the flow on this. Strike while the iron is hot! If the kids are really taking it in--keep going. If they are completely distracted--cut it short. Just know this--some days you will totally botch it. 
When you teach, ask lots and lots of questions. Always engage the kids and don't always accept the standard answers--mix it up. 
Have the kids read the scriptures. 
Have the kids act out some parts. Be very creative with it. 
The more senses you use, the better you remember things. Acting things out, talking about smells and tastes, making funny noises--all of this helps to set it in our memories. 
Make it real. 
Use as many stories and real life examples as you can. Your kids LOVE to hear your stories. And above all else, be ready to fail. It's okay. 

My wife and I have actually gotten into an argument during family worship. Oh the irony! Can you say, "Time to repent"? Don't try and hide it from your kids; let them see all your bumps and wrinkles. Then let them see you repent. In a way, this is part of worship too. We don't want any phony hypocritical worship time or it-ain't-worship! 
When we are finished with the Word, we assign prayers to each and we all pray together. We begin our prayer time with thanksgiving. This can be humorous sometimes with the little ones."Thanks for my matchboxes, thanks for my stuffy, thanks for my mom and dad, thanks for my new crayons, etc, etc, etc." You get the point :) That's it.  We praise Him, thank Him, pray to Him, study His word, and confess our sins. Don't get all worried about "getting it right", if your heart is right, then it's right.