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Christian homes should gather for family worship every morning or evening, if not both. Some don’t know how.
Below is a guide you may want to follow. By God’s grace, our family accomplishes these ten steps in 30 minutes most mornings.
1. Sing a song or two. Distribute hymnbooks if available. Use instruments if you can. Fathers should model singing with gusto. Assign hymnbook collection duties to the smallest children.
2. Begin with a brief prayer, perhaps by praying a verse like Psalm 67:1, “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah.”
3. Ask everyone who can read to open their Bibles to the passage you’ll read. Create a warm atmosphere with the tone of your voice. Try reading a chapter or a half chapter. Consider going through a book of the Bible so everyone knows where to pick up the next day.
4. To add variety, the father may want to preface the Bible reading time with a couple catechism questions, a chant, a memory verse, a theological phrase, or a verse that struck him in personal worship that morning.
5. Read two verses at a time, moving clockwise, each family member participating, starting with the head of the home. Read loudly and clearly, without shouting or whispering. Encourage the littlest ones to sit on your lap and move their finger across the text. Help the newest readers with difficult words. Chuckle and enjoy their struggle over terms like “Cappadocia” and “Euroclydon”. Expect them to shout “Euroclydon” all day long. Remind the family everyone was once at that reading level.
6. Periodically pause the reading to explain the meaning of the verse. Ask yourself, what does this verse teach me about God, about sin, or about myself? Study Bibles can help here, as can The Family Worship Bible Guide.
7. Interject questions or comments that come to mind and encourage each family member to do the same. Tell a story to illustrate a point. Seek to exalt Christ in all things.
8. Close by applying the text to the lives of your family. Ask the members to state their biggest takeaways. Shepherd your children by observing their facial expressions closely.
9. Before the final prayer, ask mother about the upcoming day, if there are matters to discuss, problems to unravel, sins to rebuke, or Ws to praise.
10. Close in prayer. Use variety. Keep a prayer request list. Involve everyone in prayer if possible. Teach them how to weave the passage through their prayers. Kneeling shows special reverence. If sitting, never allow slouching. Teach by bookending the prayers with father and mother.