There is no ‘right way’ to have family worship.  I wanted to make sure that people realize that what I do is certainly not the standard, and Scripture simply doesn’t give one for us to follow.  The father (mother if there is no father)simply needs to worship God and lead his family to grow in love with Jesus.  But I thought I’d share what Shua and I do for family worship, as one example of how things can be done.

Shua and I begin by gathering our kids in our bedroom on a small rug.  We also happen to have our piano in there which works out well because we’ve been teaching our kids hymns.  So we’ll sing one or two hymns out of a hymnal.  Jack and Elisabeth love getting the hymnals.  I don’t know why.  They just love getting them and then putting them away.  So Shua will be playing on the piano and we’ll be singing.  One thing about the hymnal is that every key is so high.  I guess they’re meat for you to really belt it out.  The problem is that our kids don’t sing loud, so you just hear me.

Afterwards, we put the hymnals away (or Jack and Elisabeth do) and then I begin with the devotional.  These days I have thoruohgly enjoyed the book, Big Truths for Young Hearts by Bruce Ware which we received at the Sovereign Grace Pastor’s Conference.

What a blessing this book has been.  It is essentially a systematic theology for kids.  There are some things in here that I didn’t learn till I was in seminary, but I think Bruce Ware does a great job of making these truths understandable to kids.  Granted, I have had to ask follow-up questions, try to spice things up with my own excitement.  But I believe the value of learning these truths at such a young age will shore up kids’ faith and trust in the Bible, in God, and in the Gospel.

Justin Taylor interviewed Bruce Ware on this book that gives you a picture of why he wrote it.

After going over the book, I close with prayer, sometimes praying for the church and missionaries we support around the world, and we hug and kiss everyone good night.  One thing to note is that not every child understands everything.  Jack and Elisabeth have glossy eyes. Jack especially fidgets.  Shua is the one who polices their behavior as I lead and teach.  But I do know one thing, this is no chore for the kids.  One of their greatest fears is to be unable to participate in our family worship for the day (one of our kids was excused one night and boy did she feel terrible.  I had to really work through what she did wrong and how she was fully welcome back into our family worship as a result of her sorrow over her disruptive behavior).

I would say that I never want to short-change my kids, believing that such truths are beyond them.  Also, I want them to have fun but also to take this time seriously.  And thus far, the Lord has been gracious.