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You have built a stronghold by the songs of babies. Strength rises up with the chorus of singing children. This kind of praise has the power to shut Satan’s mouth. Childlike worship will silence the madness of those who oppose you.

‭‭Psalm ‭8:2‬ (‭TPT‬‬)

This blog is a natural extension of the previous teaching - Building the Family Altar. We suggest reading this if you have not done so already.

Introduction:

Spiritual leaders in Christian families have a duty to present the members of their household before the King in worship, to teach them and raise them in faith. If we are called to be witnesses of Christ and we engage in the ‘Great Commission’*, and present the message of life to strangers, then surely the command to teach your children the ways of the Lord should be an obligation you rush to fulfill. Never assume that your children or family members will naturally move toward a decision for Christ. Seeing you sharing Christ with other people or showing compassion is good. Taking them to services and Sunday school is good, but these good things are not enough. Seek to lead your family to the knowledge of grace so that when they are old enough, they are able to make a choice for salvation. Spend time at the family altar with them, speaking over them, rejoicing with them and then faith becomes living and active.

*(Matt 28:18-20)

Ideas for Family Worship:

How often should we have times of family worship? This is not a question we can answer for you. Much will depend upon the ages of your children and the circumstances of your daily lives. What we can suggest is that younger children benefit from greater frequency, and all of us benefit from a clear sense of regularity. Sometimes the challenge is the practical one of finding a balance between the needs of people of different ages and commitments. Although regularity is needed, we certainly do not want family worship to become a ritual because then family members may regard it as a chore rather than a celebration. As the family grows, it is often a good idea to decide on one or two times in the week that can be set aside for family worship that establishes something regular that everyone will be able to attend. As your family enjoys this time, look to expand it. This is special worship time that needs to go beyond daily devotions to energise family relationship and build faith and faithfulness.

Family worship time is not only about praying around our needs and the needs of others - that is very good, but this is an opportunity to go much further, it’s a chance to get personal, to create a sense of intimacy between parents and children and your family and the King. Children have a spirit that is highly sensitive and perceptive - they will recognise truth from falsehood easily. What you need to do is show them real faith so that they desire it for themselves. Pray good things over your family calling them by name - speak life, protection and blessing to your family. Teach your children to do the same. And yes, it’s OK to get emotional. Teach your family about your faith and trust that looks for, and desires the very best for them. Clothe yourselves as parents and guardians with the character of Christ and demonstrate it to them personally. Show your family the joy of the Lord and also how to honour Him in giving and humility.

Remember that your family and especially younger children may not always have the same response as you to worship. They are still growing, and you are in the process of pointing them in the right direction. So, don't get upset if they sometimes seem reluctant or unmoved. Adjust to meet their need for an age relevant story or activity that will enthuse them. Keep speaking God's word over them and trust in the Holy Spirit to be the transformer. You are providing a place of meeting an avenue of worship and celebration, but it is the Holy Spirit that will take your obedient action and use it to build your family.

Family worship is celebration, so let worship times reflect a variety of interactive activities that teach, educate and generally involve family fun to reinforce bonds of love and respect for each other and for God. Finding a variety of different activities will keep every worship time fresh and exciting, removing any possibility of a ‘routine’. If you are really stuck for new ideas then take advantage of your Sunday school teachers, library resources and the internet. Personally, we have found one of the best ways to keep the family engaged and actively excited about family time is to allow children to take turns in choosing the activities on a particular day. Children are truly amazing and inspiring, ever creative and desiring to out-do each other.

Here are just a few family time ideas…

Prayer: In addition to prayer for the family and needs in the community

• Keep a diary of prayer and answers

• Children’s prayer points

Praise:

• Praise choruses and songs

• Personalised choruses

• Creating praise poems

Reading:

• Reading Bible Stories and talking about them

• Relating Biblical events to modern situations and personalising where appropriate

• Memory verses

• Verse searches based on themes or keywords

Creativity:

• Bible Quizzes

• Creating word searches and mini crossword puzzles - Get the children to do most of these.

• Creating mini-plays

• Creating family time video and audio

• Building a library of family time memories both digital and physical

Practical Teaching:

• Discussing ‘what if’ scenarios from real life - let the children/teenagers choose many of these and be prepared to give answers

• Plan a community day and as a family do something together to provide a service on your street

• Teach about the family history and heritage - build pride in family unity

• Talking about school and friendships and relating real life into biblical principles

• Questions and Answers - parents be prepared!

As children become teenagers, external pressures can grow and love must abound. Success in family worship will need to shift focus to include more sharing, loving support and a deeper teaching on the Gospel message. Parents are not always prepared for the fact that as their children grow, they need something different. Worship time needs to grow with them. Some parents may be unaware or may underestimate the growing peer pressures and opposition surrounding their children in the outside world. If you have been engaged together in family time from the early years then it is much easier to keep this fellowship together as a key part of family life into the teens and beyond. Give your teenagers much more of a say in what happens in family time. Let them engage you as much as you try to engage them. As family members move toward adulthood, it’s important that we learn and share together and that you honour their growing maturity. Family worship should be a source of victory for you and your family over every negative influence and challenge. And if you find a member of your family going astray - keep loving and praying over them until they return. Your effort in family worship will not go unrewarded.

If you have not engaged with family worship and your family is already growing, build the foundations in your own prayer together as parents, and then start - it is never too late to begin this family transforming activity.

The Power of Blessing:

Finally, let us say something about blessings spoken over family members. Whoever has spiritual authority in the home is anointed to speak blessings over the family. At various times, when circumstances or significant events take place it may be appropriate to speak a blessing over your child or a family member under your authority. We want to encourage you to use this anointing. When a situation arises, and you are moved to seek a blessing over your son or daughter you don’t have to call the pastor! It is you who should bless your children. The power and authority to bless is not dependent upon a person’s title or status, the power is dependent upon the anointing, and you have it over your family! There is no other man or woman that has the same anointing and authority as you do over your own family. If you have never done this then we encourage you to start. Witness the power of blessing and give a testimony.

Thank you for joining us today. This is a topic that could be expanded into a book, nonetheless, we hope you have gained something from this blog as a starting point for family worship. Please consider sharing this web page with friends, or share on social media using the social icons at the bottom of the page. You can also give us some anonymous feedback here.

We will announce our next blog topic in the News section and on the main blog page.

Steve and Khanya