“You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.” Nehemiah‬ 9‬:6‬ 

This verse convicted me in the summer of 2020. There the church was, watching worship on a screen. I knew there had to be more we could do. Thankfully my Youth Ministry director introduced me to Donald Whitney’s Family Worship.  

What is Family Worship?

Family worship is a Christian discipline like any other. But it’s a long-lost discipline. It is obedience to Deuteronomy 6:6-7. “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” 

The presupposition of both the Old Testament and New Testament is that parents, specifically fathers, teach their children to love and follow the Lord. “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Ephesians 6:4

COVID revealed to me how unprepared many families were to do this. Partially because of a prevalent church culture that has convinced parents the best way to disciple their kids is, “bring your kids to us and let us teach them.” Praise the Lord for quality children and youth ministries – we have great ones at Wildwood, but that’s not God’s intent for primary responsibility for discipling kids. Dads and moms are. And in many cases, it’s grandparents! 

Family worship is one way we can obey the Lord by teaching our kids the ways of the Lord.

How do we do family worship?

Your listeners might be saying, “I’m not a worship leader or a pastor!” 

Read a passage from scripture, ask a couple questions about you read. Who wrote it? What does the passage say? What does it mean? How does this apply to our lives today? How should we respond? 

The Word is living and active – try not to make it dull and boring! Read short sections and ask good questions. Be genuinely interested in your own spiritual growth and this will flow. 

Pray – Take prayer requests, talk about what’s coming up in your day and what challenges you might face or what opportunities or the needs you know of. Take turns praying or let the head of household pray. 

As an aside, this is a great time to deconflict schedules as you talk about what you’re doing that day. This gives everyone in the family a little more confidence to face the day as well as highlights opportunities for prayer.

Sing – J.A. Medders said, “Something nuclear happens when we sing the glories of Christ. We are wielding weapons-grade gospel power to tear down strongholds and cast out every word raised against the word of our Messiah, and we fall down before our Lord and follow him.” Fill your home not only with worship music, but with worship! 

We have a YouTube playlist with a bunch of songs with lyrics. Apple Music has the lyrics available on most songs, I’m sure Spotify does as well. I use my iPad or iPhone and connect it to a Bluetooth speaker. I know some who play the song through their internet connected Smart TV. Turn on the radio to WDLM and sing along with the song being played. And if none of that sounds appealing or feasible, you can bring out the hymnal! 

When should we do family worship? 

We do this at the start of our day because we’re more consistent at that time than any other. I know some families can’t do it then but can be really consistent at dinner or bedtime.

Here’s the key: 

it’s not writing a sermon every day. It’s not producing a worship experience every day. It’s not bringing your family to tears everyday. I

The key is consistency: Donald Whitney, who wrote the book, “Family Worship,” said in his book, “Oak trees aren’t grown  by means of an occasional spectacular day of weather, but by long-term, consistent exposure to the elements that encourage their growth. The same patient persistence is true for growing ‘oaks of righteousness’ (Isaiah 61:3).”

So pursue faithful consistency in family worship; we worship together Monday – Thursday, plus Sunday with our church. 

I might add that being consistent in family worship is key, but it cannot overcome your inconsistent faith life. In other words, if family worship is something you do to make your kids something you’re not, not gonna work. Your consistent walk with Christ, living in sincere obedience to Him, will make all the difference in the world. 

My kids hear me teach the Bible, they hear me pray, they hear me worship. They know that I love the Lord with all my heart and I desire to honor Him. I believe that is a blessing we’d all love to give our kids! 

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”  (Galatians 6:9)

If your audience would like to explore Family Worship more, they can visit our Family Worship page Si Satchanalai here and they can check out the sermon series from 2020 Longyearbyen here.