Family Worship Ideas Needed

[Soonerborn]

I have 4 children (the oldest is 7).

We have regular, daily family worship and have been doing this since my oldest was born. We typically will pray, sing a song, and then read a passage of scripture. I go through the books from start to finish and give a brief exposition and application of the verses. Because of how young they are, we make it through books sometimes very slowly, as I often only read 10 or so verses a night.

For a "season" I am wanting to teach something more of a topical nature- just to break up our time. For example some ideas I had were to teach on the Parables of Jesus, Miracles of Jesus, What the Bible has to say about (Fill in the Blank)..or more Systematic Subjects such as Who God is, Who Man is, Salvation, Sin, etc,etc...

Again, my oldest is 7 so I want something with "meat" but is not way over their head. Any ideas on what you do for your time of Family Worship?

Thanks!

 

[Phil D.]

As a topical guide or template for children's devotions, the Westminster Smaller Catechism is of course both "meaty" and eminently understandable.

 

[Soonerborn]

As a topical guide or template for children's devotions, the Westminster Smaller Catechism is of course both "meaty" and eminently understandable.

Thanks for the reply! I forgot to mention we are already memorizing the Shorter Catechism (my wife, two older children, and myself). We begin family worship with our current question and some back questions for review. We go through a question a week - we are on question 47. Perhaps though, occasionally, I could spend the week expounding on the question we are learning that week?

 

[LeeD]

Perhaps though, occasionally, I could spend the week expounding on the question we are learning that week?

That would be a good move. We have done something very similar to this with our two girls.

 

[Notthemama1984]

I remember RC Sproul JR talking about his family worship routine once. He mentioned that they sang songs, read Scripture, memorized the Catechism, prayed, and would have a 20-30 SECOND sermon. I liked his approach. Whatever you choose to do, I would not make it long.

 

[MLCOPE2]

It's never too early to start teaching Church history.

 

[Jack K]

To break up the routine, turn the tables once a week and allow the kids to ask you whatever questions they have about God, the Bible, etc. In essence, they pick the topic. You'll learn a lot about where they are spiritually.

 

[Scot]

We've recently started to incorporate a Proverbs study guide by Kevin Swanson into family worship. So far, I think it's great.

You can find it on this site:

Generations With Vision

 

[Tim]

I remember RC Sproul JR talking about his family worship routine once. He mentioned that they sang songs, read Scripture, memorized the Catechism, prayed, and would have a 20-30 SECOND sermon. I liked his approach. Whatever you choose to do, I would not make it long.

Yes. R.C. Junior is worth listening to on family worship.

 

[Pergamum]

Act out some of the Old Testament narratives.

 

[kvanlaan]

Proverbs is a great place to start (and they are readily applicable to the heart of a teen, when that time comes).

 

[seajayrice]

We have used and enjoyed this book by Starr Meade, Traing Hearts, Teaching Minds - Based on the SC

 

[Ne Oublie]

Mike-

I recently heard about this and read the first 20 or so pages online..

Westminster Bookstore - Reformed Books - Low Prices - Flat Fee UPS Shipping - Long Story Short: Ten-Minute Devotions to Draw Your Family to God [Paperback] Machowski, Marty 9781935273813

It looks like a great resource...

 

[Mindaboo]

We have used and enjoyed this book by Starr Meade, Traing Hearts, Teaching Minds - Based on the SC

I've been doing this for about three years with my four kids. It has been a real blessing, especially for me. I have learned a lot. The daily devotion takes about 5 minutes, maybe 10. I add a little more to our routine, because my kids are all older.

 

[Pergamum]

Painting ethical pictures:

We also talk about ethical situations that we encounter and possible moral situations that occur in everyday life and talk through what the best thing to do would be and why some options are wrong and some choices are right. We try to link this to the 10 Commandments and paint concrete pictures of what the commandment violations would look like.

Example: Killing animals for fun versus killing animals for food: We aren't supposed to torture birds for fun, but Noah just helped me clean some snapping turtles for soup. He was able to articulate why one thing was right and the other thing was wrong, even though we killed the turtles and it was pretty brutal looking.

Example two: Why can I kiss mommy but not other girls? If that is so, why do gramma's kiss us and why can we kiss little babies but not 21 year old girls?

Or, what about laughing at other kids? When is it appropriate? When you are playing and someone falls in the mud? When a crippled kid comes into the village? When is laughing okay, and when is it mean, and what do you do if others laugh at someone or laugh at you?

 

[seajayrice]

If someone slips on a banana peel, it's OK to laugh, quietly, assuming no one was hurt of course . . .

 

[Pergamum]

CJRICE: Yes, that was our conclusion too. You wait until you know they are not hut...and then you yuck it up. Noah loves America's Funniest Videos, which my dad tivos and sends us and Noah asked us whether it was okay to laugh at people falling down.