Family worship is one of the forgotten relics of the Church’s better days. It’s only spoken of in a few small circles of the evangelical world. Why it’s missing in family life is maybe not surprising but it is disappointing. But there’s no reason that you can’t change right away. Here are three other motivations that every Christian home could agree with.
1) Family worship is spiritual training. You have a God who is worthy of worship more than one day of the week. And you also have a family who needs to worship more than one day a week. Happy combination that. While private devotions are good and should absolutely be encouraged, there’s no more efficient way to know that the family is engaging with the word of God (2 Tim 3:14-15). There are few better times for diagnosing spiritual grounding and understanding.
2. Family worship is wholesome. Family worship is an opportunity for the family to come together to do something that is wholly positive and good in and of itself. There’s nothing questionable about it as an activity. You don’t have to read an online review as in a movie. You don’t have to subject your family to dozens of advertisements for products you don’t want. You don’t have to spend money on anything more that what you already have somewhere around your house (a Bible). You don’t have to create a special opportunity where everybody schedules a time to meet (just a meal together). Is there anything more wholesome you can do? And it’s guaranteed to be edifying or convicting (Is 55:11)
2) Family worship is emotional training. Consider how overwhelming a Sunday can be when it’s been world, world, world all week long and then you step into a sanctuary, full of the sights and sounds associated with the presence of God. Some people feel a negative heaviness. But when you’ve spent time throughout the week in coming together for devotion to God as a family, you’ve actually been preparing to meet Him in corporate worship. You’ve a created a greater appreciation, expectation, and appetite for what happens on the Lord’s Day (Ps 84:1-2). I would submit that far more people who return for Sunday evening worship are those who worship as a family throughout the week. They’ve groomed an affection for what is being offered. Most who don’t worship throughout the week will leave with a sense, “Boy, I’m glad that’s over with.” They’re not emotionally hungry because it’s a shock to their senses. Regular family worship changes that.
3) Family worship is physical training. Many people miss the obvious reality that family worship offers the best opportunity to prepare all members of the family for corporate worship. Consider this: All the same expectations for corporate worship are present in family worship, order and peace, the way God like it (1 Cor 14:33, 40). Everyone sits together (“the family pew” according to Terry Johnson). Everyone is reverent (Its God’s time). Everyone is devoted (No answering phones, going to the bathroom, getting up for more dessert). Everyone is involved (Participation is required to one degree or another).
As a parent you have the double opportunity of first preparing your child for corporate worship (teaching those necessary courtesies) and then of gauging his or her readiness. You can help little minds wrestle with big thoughts. What words are important? What is God saying to her? How can he sing with the congregation? What should she do during prayer? How should he sit during this activity? The whole act is an exercise in learning the respect and reverence involved in worshiping with others and how to participate meaningfully.
So if your not there. Get there. If you’re not doing well, do better. You can do it. You have everything you need (2 Peter 1:3).
Scotty is a native of Santa Anna, Texas. He graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in 1994 and completed his Masters of Divinity at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in 2005. Scotty’s Air Force service of eleven years included time as a Security Forces Officer protecting nuclear weapons and also instructing at Officer Training School before being called into pastoral ministry. He and his wife Kerry are parents of three children, Clayton, Avery, and Grace.
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