God is Worthy of Your Family's Worship
“Turn your families into little churches.”
― Matthew Henry
This week, as we continue to highlight A Practical Guide to Family Worship, we want to share counsel written in 2020 by Acey Floyd, director of administration and customer service at Media Gratiae. Acey writes of the principles of family worship and draws from his own experience as a father of three to offer practical advice on how to do family worship with little ones.
What is Family Worship?
Growing up in small-town Mississippi, I had never heard of the practice of family worship. It was certainly a foreign concept. The pastors that I grew up hearing did not maliciously hide the idea of family worship from their congregations. Rather, they were either unaware of its existence or had failed to see its value for their churches.
After attending Christ Church in New Albany, MS for some time I began to hear about family worship. Several of the men in the church spoke of Puritan pastors who practiced family worship. These men also spoke of the underlying biblical precedent for practicing family worship and its vital importance for their families. A wonderful blessing came during this time when I was able to attend family worship with some of these families.
Pastor and author, William Boekestein defines family worship as “the regular use of Scripture, song, and prayer by a family unit, guided by the head of the household.”*
In the homes of these families, I saw this definition fleshed out. However, I also saw that family worship could be brief yet powerful and simple yet penetrating. More than that, I saw that a man could point his family to Christ in a direct and loving way by the means of grace. Though I had never seen family worship before, the experience didn’t intimidate me. Rather, it enticed me to want to lead my family as those men led their families.
Why is Family Worship Important?
Family worship is important first and foremost because it glorifies God. He is the Sovereign Lord over all who is seated upon the throne of heaven. He is the rightful object of worship in all creation by virtue of being God. Consequently, He is the rightful object of worship in family worship as well. Not dad. Not mom. Not little boys or little girls. Not the exercise of family worship itself. God alone. Because of who He is and what He has done, families must look away from themselves, their circumstances, and look to Him in humble, reverent preoccupation.
Family worship is important because it provides the members of the household with an opportunity to grow in grace and knowledge. At least, singing, reading, and praying big themes like the character of God, the fall of Adam, the person and work of Christ, the Christian life, and the judgment of the Great Day informs the minds and increases the intellectual knowledge of the members of the household. However, the greater hope is that spiritual fodder is laid up in the hearts and minds of the members of the household. The prayer is that as the Lord wills, in due time, the Holy Spirit will ignite that fodder either to eternal life or to a greater measure of sanctification.
Family worship is important because it trains the members of the household for corporate worship. It trains children to sit still (or attempt to sit still), listen, think, and ask questions about the singing, reading, preaching, and praying of the Word that they hear. It also trains parents to know how to ask questions regarding the singing, reading, preaching, and praying of the Word that their children heard with them. Asking the right questions can help to draw out the inmost thoughts of a child which can help the parent know how to counsel them more wisely.
How do You Practice Family Worship?
My wife and I are in a unique season of life. We have a three-year-old and a seven-month-old. We understand that the way family worship looks now will not be the way it will look in three to five years. So, for now, we are rolling with the proverbial punches. Right now, family worship looks like this:
After dinner, we go to the couch in the living room and sit down. We begin with a hymn, usually the Doxology or Lead me, Lord. My wife and I sing while our three-year-old timidly smiles, contemplating as to whether or not to sing but ultimately deciding not to. We encourage him to sing but do not make it mandatory for him to do so.
After we have sing, we move to Scripture reading. We’ve wanted our family to read and learn about the character of God and the believer’s response. So for almost 60 days now, we’ve read Exodus 34:6-8 and Psalm 16. Through the course of those days, our three-year-old has memorized both passages simply from hearing them read over and over again. He can quote them at will and has even begun to ask questions.
After we read the Scripture, he asks questions about the passages such as, “Daddy, what does ‘slow to anger’ mean?” or “Daddy, what does David mean when he says, ‘You are my Lord?’” or “Daddy, what is a soul?” We discuss those questions and move on to prayer. I pray for each member of my household using the passage as my guide. After this, we are on our way to bedtime.
A disclaimer and word of warning needs to be given in regard to family worship. My wife and I aren’t practicing family worship under the false assumption that if we faithfully practice family worship our children will, without question, love and follow Jesus. The practice of family worship doesn’t put God in our debt so that He owes us the salvation of our children. It isn’t a means by which we strong arm Him into saving our children. To the contrary, it is a means through which children hear the gospel which is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). Parents cannot trust in their own efforts to save their children. Rather, they must faithfully practice family worship and diligently live out gospel truths when not practicing family worship, while entrusting the outcome to God. They must do all that is within their ability to share the gospel but in the end be able to say, “...may the LORD do what seems good to him” (2 Samuel 10:12).
What do you do if you’ve never practiced family worship? Start today.
What do you do if you’ve been inconsistent with family worship? Start afresh today.God is worthy of the worship of every member of your household. In simplicity and faithfulness, lead them to Him.