A couple of months ago, before the pandemic happened, I wrote a couple of pastoral posts on resources for family worship. Since that time, the importance of regular patterns of family worship should have only increased in our eyes. The primary responsibility for disciplining children rests with their parents (Deuteronomy 6:7) and no interruption to church programs will change that. But where is a family to start?  

Here are a few we’ve been using in our family as of late:  

Our family just finished the 86th and final lesson from Marian Schoolland’s Leading Little Ones to God: A Child’s Book of Bible Teachings. Originally published in the 1960s, Suzanne and I were impressed by the broad range of biblical truths covered in this devotional in an age-appropriate way (the lessons are targeted for children 4-10 years old). Each devotion looks at a biblical topic—such as how to pray—through the lens of a particular Bible story. There are accompanying Scripture texts to read from the Bible itself, a song you can choose to sing, a memory verse, and a written prayer.  

The only drawback that we encountered with this devotional was its use of images of Jesus; but, undeterred, in the handful of places where that happened, we would have the kids draw a picture on the lesson (sans Jesus) and then taped it into the book over the existing picture. The kids were thrilled, my conscience was satisfied, and we’ve got a pretty fun memorial of family devotions in the year 2020.  

We’ve also been making steady use of Desiring God’s Foundation Verses for kids. Our kids are pretty good at memorization and we do our best to make it fun with lots of actions, silly sounds, and lots of affirmation. Here is another great place for dads, in particular, to lead their family by emphasizing the value of committing God’s word to memory and then thinking about it together.  

Speaking of memorization, I hope you made note of this email from the Sunday School committee earlier in the week on its challenge to memorize Romans 8 over the summer. This is another great way for families to study God’s word together. One tool that I’ve used to help with Scripture memorization is BibleMemory.com. The App requires you to type out the verse with different words blanked out, but you can also record yourself reading the verse and draw pictures to help you remember content. 

Each of these resources is a tool meant to press our ears more tightly up against the Bible. They’re not a silver bullet for spiritual maturity; and yet, a good tool used in the right way and blessed by God’s Spirit can facilitate the growth in grace that we should want for ourselves and our families. 

If you’re not sure where to start, just pick one tool and begin to use it regularly. Let’s saturate our families with God’s Word and then let’s pray that God will use it to produce faith and conform our lives more consistently after the God we’re seeking to listen to.  

 
Yours in Christ,  
 
Pastor Wayne