What Is Family Worship? A Plain Answer for Families

Family worship is a short time each day when your family gathers to pray, sing and read God's Word together. It does not need a pulpit, a special room or a trained leader, and it can take ten minutes at the table or on the couch.

If you are a Christian parent and you have heard the phrase family worship and wondered what it means, this guide gives you a plain answer. We will look at where it comes from in Scripture, what happens in a session, and the worries most parents have when they begin. And then I want you to see what holds it all together. We gather because of Jesus Christ, who is worthy of our worship and who is the only one who can bring sinners to God.

What is family worship?

Family worship is the family doing a few simple things together every day. You pray, you sing, and you read a short part of the Bible and talk about it. The name fits, because God is the one being worshipped. He speaks to us in His Word, and we answer Him in prayer and song.

A father or mother opens the Bible, a child asks a question, someone prays, and the family sings a verse of a hymn. When it is finished, everyone gets on with the day.

Where family worship comes from

God told His people to teach their children at home. In Deuteronomy 6:4 to 9, Moses tells Israel to love the Lord with everything they have, and then he says this about the children.

“These words, which I command you today, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.”Deuteronomy 6:6-7, World English Bible

The same command runs through the rest of the Bible. The psalmist writes that “We will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of Yahweh, his strength, and his wondrous deeds that he has done” (Psalm 78:4). Joshua says, “as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh” (Joshua 24:15). Paul tells fathers to “nurture them in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4), and he tells the church to sing “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord” (Colossians 3:16).

Scripture gives the command and leaves details such as the length and the time of day to the family.

What happens in a family worship session

The sessions on this site follow a simple order. The family begins in prayer, sings together, sees where the chapter is going, reads it, and reflects together on what it says. Then comes a step called “Looking to Jesus in my life,” where you ask how the chapter shows Christ and what that means for us today. The family then prays together, and there is a place to journal. A session takes about ten to fifteen minutes.

You can use any Bible and any hymn book at home. The only thing that matters is that God's Word is read and God's people respond to it.

Three worries parents have

Is family worship a second church service?

No. The family and the church work together. The home is the first place a child hears God's Word, and the church is where the whole body gathers under its elders, with baptism and the Lord's Supper. Family worship does not replace Sunday, and Sunday does not replace the home.

Will family worship make my children Christians?

No, and I want to say this gently. God has appointed daily teaching in His Word as the ordinary way He hands the faith from one generation to the next. But the new birth is God's work alone. Jesus said, “The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don’t know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8).

So we read, we pray, we sing and we teach, and we ask God to give each of our children a new heart. We do not assume a child is saved because they sit with us every night, and we do not press a child to say words they do not mean. Each child needs to repent and believe for themselves.

What if I am not a good teacher?

You do not have to be one. Read the passage, ask what it says, and when you do not know the answer, say so and look at the text together. A parent who keeps opening the Bible with the children is teaching them something, even on the nights when the answers are short.

Why Jesus is at the centre

Family worship is not a way to make a well behaved family. The Bible tells one story, how God saves sinners through His Son, and every chapter leads to Him in some way. Mark begins with these words, “The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1). When your family reads a chapter, ask where Jesus is in it.

Parents and children are sinners alike, and we gather because we need a Saviour. Jesus lived the life we have not lived, died in the place of sinners and rose again. That is the good news we hold out to our children, and it is the same good news we need ourselves every day. A father who says in front of his children, “Lord, forgive me, I was impatient today,” shows them what the gospel does.

A first week you can manage

1. Choose one time of day, after dinner or before bed, and keep it to ten minutes.
2. Open the session for Mark chapter 1, read it aloud, and ask one question about what you read.
3. Pray together, and let the children say a sentence if they are willing.
4. Do the same the next day with Mark chapter 2.
5. If you miss a day, begin again the next one. Nobody is keeping score.

Common questions

How long should family worship be?

Ten to fifteen minutes is enough for most families, and five minutes is fine with little ones. A short time kept every day will do more good than a long time kept now and then.

Who should lead family worship?

Scripture directs fathers to bring up their children in the instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4), and mothers are partners in that work. If the father is away or is not a believer, the mother leads, gently and faithfully, and she can open the Bible with her children.

Do we need to sing well?

No. God asks us to sing with grace in our hearts. The hymn library has the words and the story behind each hymn, so you can sing a verse together even if no one in the house is a musician.

So my friend, you can begin tonight. Pick a book and chapter and the whole session is ready for you. The Family Worship App is free, and it is a ministry of Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. If it helps your family and you would like to help other families use it, you can give here. May the Lord bless your home as you open His Word together, and may your children come to know Christ.