Restart the Rhythms of Family Worship
As the Lord renews your passion for family worship and you recast the vision for your family, you can also restart the rhythms of family worship.
Incorporating discipleship into your family's routine is less about adding new events to your schedule and more about adding intentionality to the time you already have together. Our prayer is that family worship will be woven into the natural rhythms of your week as you intentionally lead your family to Jesus Christ.
Some of these intentional rhythms may find you engaging faith talks, spiritual questions, heart issues, or prayer requests during car-ride conversations, bed-time routines, or while running weekend errands. Perhaps you’ll encourage a child with Scripture while taking them to school or share a testimony with your kids as you fish or play at the park together. These are natural rhythms you already enjoy with your family and restarting family discipleship may begin by simply adding intentionality to these moments.
As Scripture says, parents are to teach God’s Word to their children in their house, walking by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise (Deut. 6:7).
Another way to begin is to set a time for family devotion. Whether it's at the dinner table, during breakfast, at bedtime, or another time in the week, family devotions allow you to open the Bible, read & teach a passage of Scripture, discuss the passage together, share prayer requests & praises, and then pray with and for one another.
As you begin leading your household you may encounter growing pains. You may feel unprepared, children may seem disinterested, & it may not go how you imagined. Persevere. It will become more natural as you go. Children grow accustomed to sharing prayers, parents grow in their leadership, and family devotions become an important and sweet rhythm filled with blessings.
We offer this booklet as a short encouragement for families to RENEW their passion for family worship, RECAST a vision for family worship, RESTART these rhythms, and REDISCOVER the joy of Family Worship.
Jonathan Williams, Ph.D. (Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) is the founder and executive director of Gospel Family Ministries. This ministry focuses on strengthening family ministry in the local church and cultivating family worship in the Christian home. Jonathan is the author of “A Practical Theology of Family Worship” and “Gospel Family.” He also teaches as an adjunct professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, TX, and is the managing editor of the Southwestern D6 Family Ministry Journal. Previously, Jonathan served for 10 years as the senior pastor of Wilcrest Baptist Church, a multi-ethnic church of more than 50 nations. He lives in Texas with his wife and three children.