How to Do Family Worship?

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What is family worship? How can I lead devotions to God in my home? This page will answer those questions and help you make family worship a habit in your congregation. Church leaders and Christian parents are beginning to put more emphasis on the role of the family in the spiritual development of children. This is a good development. Everyone can agree that when the church and parents work together, its the next generation that benefits.

This page is a list of practical resources to encourage families to worship together at home. A regular time of family devotions can change the spiritual climate and make a lasting difference in the lives of children. I will continue to add to this page over time, so leave me a comment to recommend a resource.


Family Worship Starts with Parents

Family Worship Guidebook (PDF) – This is a simple 10 page booklet I wrote to help families in our church begin the practice of having devotions and planning family worship at home.  I used it as part of a coaching process, but it could be helpful as a simple printed resource as well. It includes four sections. 1.Basic information to help you get started 2.Principles for family worship 3.Three sample plans for family devotions 4.Additional ideas for after you start. You have my permission to print multiple copies of this resource for your ministry.

Family Worship Workshop Notes (Zip File) – This is an unedited collection of lesson plans, worksheets, and other material I created to teach a 13 week parents Sunday School class about Family Worship.  Once you unzip these files, you can edit them in Microsoft Word as you like. At some point I will revise this material to post on the website, but if you are teaching your church about Family Worship this will be a helpful resource.


How Do You Do Family Worship?

YouTube video
Family Worship – Dr. Donad Whitney from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary explains his views on Family Worship Bible Studies and how to help parents transfer their Christian faith in God to their children.

Resources for Family Worship

Resources from Sojourn Kids – Jared Kennedy has complied an impressive list of resources to teach young children to love God. This is mainly a list of links to printed materials, but you can download their excellent SojournKids Family Worship Guide (PDF). This list is very comprehensive and has suggestions for music, catechisms, story Bibles, family devotional books, and Bible memory. This will make family worship easy. They also suggest specific resources for different age groups of children. You should also check out their new children’s book that teachers about family worship.

You might also enjoy a new website called “The Family Worship Project.” It has some solid articles and resource for families in your church.


Printable Family Devotions


Free Music for Family Worship

One simple way to lead music during family worship devotions is to sing along with an appropriate worship song video on the Internet. Here are a few of my favorite. These are all free to watch via YouTube.

More Resources

  • Faith Focused Family Church Bulletin Insert – You can print this off to encourage parents in your church with 5 practical ways to integrate faith into the home.
  • Why Use a Children’s Catechism? This article used a Q & A format to explain what is a catechism and how it can help children learn about God.
  • 10 Easy Bible Memory Verses for Children – Here is a collection of short and easy to learn Bible verses. You can work on these together as your Bible devotion during family worship. Simply ask questions to help the children understand the verses while you learn them.
  • Family Worship Ideas for Christmas & Advent – Try these simple ideas to focus your home of Christ during the holiday season. Includes suggestions for meaningful traditions to encourage kids to love God.
  • Family Discipleship in the Summertime – Here are some practical tips to help parents be consistent in their spiritual leadership during the summer break. This would be helpful to print and distribute around your church before school lets out.
  • “Barnabas Bear” Family Ministry Idea – This is a creative approach to stay connected with kids who are away from church during their family vacations. It also provides a visual reminder to the kids and parents to keep up with their devotions while away from home.
  • 2010 Connecting Church & Home Conference: Read our notes from each session and even listen to the conference audio. We also have notes from the 2009 conference.
  • Read about “Family Worship” on Wikipedia

Top Videos on Family Devotionals

Leading Family Worship | Desiring God
Uploaded by Desiring GodLeading Family Worship. Desiring God 2011 Conference for Pastors. The Powerful Life of the Praying Pastor

.How do you do family worship? Uploaded by Southern Seminary”How do you do family worship?” Dr. Donald Whitney answers in Honest Answers | Episode 32 Watch more …

Seeds Family Worship Seeds Family Worship is a music-based ministry that creates word for word scripture songs for families. These are not your old school bible songs; these are ..

.Family Worship 101 | Crossway.org – Donald S. Whitney for a free, 5-day email course designed to teach you how to lead your family in …

Follow our latest blog posts about the family ministry or ask a question in our family ministry forum.

Need More Ideas? Browse our list of children’s sermons or kids Bible lessons that can also be shortened to use as family devotions.

New Sunday School Curriculum: Our Bible lessons are designed to keep the kids’ attention and show how God's Word makes a difference. Every series is flexible enough for a wide-age group and affordable enough for small churches. Download a free Bible lesson in pdf or view our latest Sunday School curriculum for small churches.

2 thoughts on “How to Do Family Worship?”

  1. Hi Tony,
    I am the Preschool Ministry Director at Celebration Baptist Church in Tallahassee, FL. I would love to have my parents take a Family Worship workshop to help better equip them in truly being the kid’s first spiritual leader. I was excited to find your guide and worksheets on this website. Thank you so much for creating what I was looking for! When I tried to open the Family Worship Guide from the ZIP file, it came up as a lesson for Easter instead. I was wondering if there was a way to get the correct guide, so that I may start trying to help parents on their journey with their little ones here in Tallahassee?
    Thank you so much for your time,
    Sherrie Miller
    Preschool Ministry Director
    Celebration Baptist Church

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