Ideas for Family Worship

I understand that the idea of leading your family in worship can be an intimidating thought. Hopefully, these resources will give you some ideas and direction when it comes to leading your family in worship. No matter what you do, just reading the Bible, praying and worshipping with them is good enough, trust me! But occasionally you may want to mix things up.

1. I’ve recently put together a weekly family devotional schedule. You can find it here. This has been effective for our family, and I believe may be beneficial to yours. From my experience when you have something “marked” on the calendar that activity becomes important, and almost always completed. I believe planning a family devotional schedule will help your family stay more committed to family devotions.

This is what the new our family weekly devotional schedule looks like: Disclaimer: We have daughters who are 6 and 1. We generally spend between 15 to 40 minutes during each devotion. Our goal is daily family devotions, but that’s not always the case. 

2. Here’s a great article on the Biblical Elements of Family Worship.

3. Here’s a good article on how to Train Your Children to Worship.

4. Here’s an example of a good family worship template you could use. The website is called the family worship guide.

Here’s some other good ideas:

There are a variety of ways God’s Word can be conveyed to your family:

1.    By direct reading from the Bible according to a plan.

2.    By reading from a sound Bible story book.

3.    Through the use of a catechism, a very successful method of teaching biblical truths by simple questions and answers.

4.    Through Scripture memory and review.

5.    By reading from a good devotional commentary.

6.    By reading through solid Christian classics like The Pilgrim’s Progress (Make sure your Bibles are in front of you, to explore the scriptural truths that will jump from every page!).

7.    By reading from Christian biographies, historical fiction, theological novels.

Jerry Marcellino
Rediscovering Family Worship, Audubon Press, 2002, p. 16

Motivations for family devotions:

1.    What better way to evangelize your children daily?

2.    What better way to provide a regular time for your children to learn the things of God from you?

3.    What better way to provide your children with an ongoing opportunity to ask about the things of God in a comfortable context for such questions?

4.    What better way for you to transmit your core beliefs to your children?

5.    What better way for your children to see the ongoing spiritual example of their parents?

6.    What better way to provide workable, reproducible examples to your children of how to have a distinctively Christian home when they start a home of their own?

7.    What better way for getting your family together on a daily basis?

8.    Isn’t this what you really want to do?

Donald S. Whitney
Family Worship, 2005, p. 23.