What is Family Worship?

(This column was first published in The Wheaton Record on October 13th, 2020.)

Despite growing up in a relatively theologically conservative church, I didn’t hear much about the practice of family worship until I was at Wheaton! This shouldn’t be surprising, since regular family dinner, let alone family worship, is rare in our culture, but this ancient practice ought to be revived. Family worship, historically practiced in many denominations, is like a mini worship service in the home. Ideally, Scripture is read and taught, song and prayer are lifted, people are loved and God is pleased. By no means does this need to be an extensive two-hour service. Even 10-15 minutes, perhaps after dinner, perhaps in the morning, can suffice.  This may seem like a strange column for the Wheaton Record. However, the odds are that most of us will end up with kids, so why not start thinking and preparing for that now? Many spend years preparing for a career while not spending even five minutes preparing for a child until he or she is in the womb!  I don’t want to place an extra-biblical burden on you, yet Scripture does tell us that fathers are to raise up their children “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). This is the opposite of raising kids in the discipline and instruction of secular culture. Attitudes, loves and wisdom instilled in children must be honoring to God. If we don’t disciple our children, the culture will, whether through Snapchat or Spongebob. Instead of teaching them to conform to the culture, let’s teach them to be transformed by the renewal of their minds that they may change the culture for the glory of God. Instead of neglecting, exasperating, over-sheltering or misleading them, we must teach them the value of Bible-reading, prayer, praise, and evangelism. Parents ought to be the main teachers of the Word of God to their children. God instructed His people about His words in Deuteronomy: “You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give them…” (11:19-21). In many ways our children will look up to us for guidance in their complicated, little worlds.  Therefore, it is inexcusable for us to mislead them by staying silent about the Word of God. We talk about what matters to us. Therefore, we must speak about the Word. Even if they do not want to hear it at first, God does, for His Word honors Him. And at the end of the day, family worship is primarily about His glory, not our children.

The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of the Wheaton Record or Wheaton College.