Family worship

I commented briefly before the sermon yesterday on heads of households leading worship in their homes. I did so on that occasion because January is recognized as Family Worship Month and yesterday was recognized as Family Worship Sunday.

If you desire to begin a regular worship time in your home or are looking for ideas in continuing worship time as a family, below are links to some resources:

-- Don Whitney, associate professor of biblical spirituality at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, has done some helpful writing on family worship. He has a 64-page book, Family Worship, that provides the biblical basis for family worship, its practice in Christian history and some guidance for today. You can find how to order it at his ministry website, www.biblicalspirituality.org. Here is a brief article he wrote on simplifying family worship.

-- Family Worship Month, which is a website dedicated to supporting the January emphasis, may be accessed here. It has numerous articles about the practice. I am familiar with most of these writers and commend them, but I have not read many of these articles and cannot say for sure I would necessarily affirm everything that is in them. If you have a question about anything in them, please let me know.

I think a point made by Whitney in his brief article is important. Let me paraphrase: Don't be intimidated. Don't make it complicated. Don't assume you have to do an hour or hours of preparation. It can be as simple -- especially starting out -- as dedicating 10 to 15 minutes to reading and commenting briefly on a Bible passage and spending time in prayer. The power of this practice can speak volumes -- especially to children.