Family Bible study on Sunday afternoons brings me so much joy. This week, we discussed the importance of family worship at home. Learning to navigate family worship with realistic expectations (it won’t look like a perfect picture) will help families:

• Meet regularly and intentionally to pass on faith.
• Prepare for mission work if needed, even outside traditional church buildings.
• Avoid the mindset of just consuming worship.
• Create informal, regular moments for faith discussions, sacred conversations, and even kitchen praise parties while making pizza.

In Grow at Home: A Beginner’s Guide to Family Discipleship, author Winfield Bevins writes, “Worship is not just something we do on Sunday mornings, but something that should take place in our homes…Family worship involves prayer, reading Scripture, and singing songs.”

Jonathan Edwards reminds us that “Every Christian family ought to be as it were a little church.”

The key to family worship is to start small and grow over time. Children really do want to learn about God. Family worship isn’t difficult—just keep it simple: prayer, Bible reading, and singing.

Everyone in the family can take part in prayer, scripture reading, and singing. In Sunday’s class, we sang “Jesus Loves Me” and asked, “What does this song tell us about God?” We asked this question repeatedly, digging deeply into the simple words. Scripture reading and singing are great ways to prompt these kinds of faith conversations.

Next week is fall break, so we won’t meet, but after that, we’ll dive deeper into family Bible reading. The Bible was always meant to be read together in community. (Deuteronomy 31)

I remember a conversation at the Children’s Pastors Conference where a colleague said, “My parents would never do something like this.” It saddened me, but it also strengthened my resolve.

God wants boys and girls to love their families. Families are His gift and the place where children learn to practice and live out loving God with their whole hearts for their whole lives. International Leadership Institute, Christian to the Core: Eight Core Values

Making Jesus the center of family life won’t happen by accident. From personal experience, I know the power of guarding family worship time and practicing faith at home through prayer, Bible reading, and singing. The temptation to give up will be strong, especially with the distractions of secular culture, media, busy schedules, and “She’s looking at me!” But making Jesus the King of our families is an eternal decision, and we have a real enemy trying to distract and defeat parents.

My role is to equip families to navigate these challenges as citizens of God’s Kingdom here on earth. We will teach, practice, and model discipleship at home because that is God’s plan. It’s our plan too, and it’s a biblical command to teach children of all ages and stages. May we be found faithful and obedient.

“Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.” 1 Timothy 4:15