# Family Worship Practices



## GoodTreeMinistries.com (May 6, 2013)

How Does your family do family worship? What materials do you use? How often and how long do you have your Family Worship time? Does your church have any info on how to hold family worship or do you know any good articles on this?


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## Jack K (May 6, 2013)

Read from the Bible. Discuss. Pray. Sing. Keep it short, about 15 minutes (shorter when the kids were tiny).

We do it around the dinner table after we eat. We have Bibles, hymnals and a book of psalms. Other than that, no materials. I read through books of the Bible. Sometimes I do some very brief prep for the discussion ahead of time (five minutes of glancing at a commentary, or at the notes in my ESV Study Bible), but usually I just wing it.

Simplicity really helps if you intend to keep at it for the long haul. I don't use any published devotionals or a Bible reading guide, but others find that those sorts of materials make things simpler for them. In such cases, they're good options. The time together should fit what the particular family finds works easily for them.


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## Kevin (May 6, 2013)

The basic core that we never do with out is scripture and prayer. 

I call it REAP. Read, Explain, Ask, Pray

Read a text, explain it in a way that is understandable to the youngest, ask questions to be sure it is understood and the. Pray for each of the children. 

There are many things that we add creeds, catechism , hymns, psalms ,10 commandments, Lord's Prayer, biographies, etc. but always make the REAP the foundation.


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## jwithnell (May 6, 2013)

You might want to search through previous threads; good resources have been mentioned. I'm always glad to see this question because this time of worship is so critical to rearing the next generation in Christ. With kids in my family from near 30 down to 7, let me suggest that you find what works for your family. Often a simpler approach will lead to more consistency. What you do will shift somewhat depending on the age of your children. At minimum, right before bed, we read through a section of scripture and follow that with prayer. We usually have time for questions and discussion. Over the years we've incorporated catechism and hymns. Often, after we chase the kids up to bed, Brian and I will have a more extensive prayer time together.


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## Elizabeth (May 6, 2013)

We use either the Book of Common Prayer, 1928 or the Lutheran Service Book as we alternate between vespers, compline and evening prayer. We read Scripture according to the lectionary, pick an appropriate hymn, sing a psalm. Pray the collect.

Every evening unless we have church, 6 PM or so, fireside in fall/winter, out on the porch when it's pleasant spring/summer. Was so lovely this night, as the crab-apple trees are about to bloom and the evening is so very sweetly mild and gentle.

Best part of the day, this.


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## kodos (May 6, 2013)

Our family worship lasts about 15-30 minutes depending on the passage and how many questions the children might have.
Loosely looks something like this:


 Prayer (asking for assistance in Worship, and that God be glorified in our worship)
 Praise (Psalm)
 Reading of the Word
 Exposition of the Word
 Prayer of Confession and Prayer of Petition.
 Praise (Psalm)

Our family does well with structure so this works out really well for us. The important thing is consistency in my opinion. When my work schedule was crazy, I was very inconsistent and that was the worst thing for us. Doing it every day has made it a joyful part of our day.


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## reaganmarsh (May 6, 2013)

Our kids are young (4 1/2 years and 4 months, respectively). But our 4 yo loves "Bible story" time. Each night before bed, we learn/review Scripture memory verses (we use TAG from Founders), read a Bible story or two, and learn/review the catechism. We've tried some singing but so far he doesn't like to sing along. Our 4 month old mostly just smiles because her big brother is the apple of her eye! Our worship lasts 15-20 minutes most nights. 

I give praise to God in this (can I do that *and* say that I'm proud of our son?) Hopefully this will also encourage y'all in this good work. He's 4 1/2, and has learned over 100 individual verses, plus the Lord's Prayer, the 10 Commandments, most of the account of Christ's birth from Lk 2, and Psalm 23, in addition to around half of the Baptist Catechism set to music (also Founders), which he asks for me to put on most mornings while we make breakfast. In the TAG catechism (which is "graded") he's up to question 39. I praise God for his precious Word and that our son loves to learn it and ask questions. Our prayer is that he will indeed be God to us and our children after us. 

So, that's our family worship format.

The following are helpful resources:

www.chapellibrary.org/files/archive/pdf-english/fworfg.pdf

theveritasschool.org/wp-content/uploads/FamilyWorship.pdf

http://www.amazon.com/Family-Worship-Bible-History-Your/dp/0978523806


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## Tim (May 6, 2013)

I also recommend reading through these two relevant documents:

Westminster Directory for Family Worship
Epistle to the Reader, Especially Heads of Families


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## irresistible_grace (May 7, 2013)

The Lord's Prayer (EVERYONE says it together)
Reading of the Law (Decalogue - Exodus 20)
Psalm (One year Bible - ESV)
Sing a Psalm (Psalms for Singing - Crown & Covenant)
The Apostles Creed (EVERYONE says it together)
Older Testament (One year Bible - ESV)
Newer Testament (One year Bible - ESV)
A portion of the Westminster Confession of Faith, WSC or Heidelberg 
Prayer beginning with the youngest & finishes with Dad 
(EVERYONE prays including the females)
--------------------------------------- 
30 - 45 minutes once a day EVERYDAY


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## Christopher88 (May 7, 2013)

What do you men do who are with out children but with a wife?


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## Tim (May 7, 2013)

Sonny said:


> What do you men do who are with out children but with a wife?



I have set a pattern that I will continue once I am married/with children:

pray
read 1 chapter of scripture
sing 1 psalm

Of course, I can study something further outside this part of the routine.


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## Christopher88 (May 7, 2013)

I am getting married in July;
My plan is to conduct the following after dinner with my wife.
Prayer
Scripture reading from the New Testament
Rotate between a Psalm and Proverb 
Read from a reformed confession 
Prayer 

Do you men prepare your selves to lead your family? How do you prepare your selves?


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## Tim (May 7, 2013)

Sonny said:


> Do you men prepare your selves to lead your family? How do you prepare your selves?



It is useful to practice reading scripture out loud.


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## Rev. Todd Ruddell (May 7, 2013)

Family worship is also a good time to review our catechetical instruction. Some of our families at CCRPC review their children's memory work along with family worship.


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## seajayrice (May 7, 2013)

We have used "Training Hearts/Teaching Minds" by Starr Meade for our 8 and 9 year old kids. Tried the same book a few years back with less success. Short and sweet. Open with psalm singing.


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## davenporter (May 7, 2013)

Sonny said:


> What do you men do who are with out children but with a wife?



Our child is only 3 months old. My wife and I read a psalm, a couple of chapters of Scripture, and an extra-Biblical devotional book (which right now is Augustine's Confessions), and then we pray together. We spend between 10-40 minutes. Some nights when we are very tired we will just read a psalm, one NT chapter, and pray. Other nights we'll read more. Bedtime works the best for us because it works out everyday (around work and school), we never need to reschedule, it was easy to get into the habit, and it ends the day well.


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## M21195 (May 7, 2013)

I open with prayer, shorter catechism Q&A with discussion, read email from a missionary (I'm on his email list), family prayer with everyone taking turn in order.


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## joejohnston3 (May 7, 2013)

Here is a copy from my other post:

Originally Posted by ooguyx 
Originally Posted by joejohnston3 
We have family devotion every day and we firstly sing 2-3 hymns, then read from the Confession of Faith, then do a reformed study guide designed for our children, then read a section of the Bible, then pray! It sounds in-depth but truly only takes about less than 30 minutes and has produced some great results for our family.
What reformed study guide do you use? I've been meaning to get something like that for our family worship.
It is called - "Studying God's Word" Book B, by Michael J. McHugh through Christian Liberty Press. Our church hands it out to parents in order to have a common teaching guide and we do a children's lesson on Sunday to ask question concerning the unit we learned that week.


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