Want to know what others are doing for family devotions?
Pastor Sam Shim from the Gospel Prism Blog and pastor of The Wellspring Church (as far as I can tell) had a cool review of books they have been using for family devotions. He makes a great statement I think is worth remembering,
Let me first say that there is no standard for family worship. And we are by no means that standard. Also, I don’t know if there is that one book, other than Scripture, that is THE standard devotional to be used for family worship. We have tried many different devotionals, all of them have worked for a season. Some of them we will probably use again.
I just thought that was great wisdom to remember. There are lots of great resources and tools, none is perfect except the Bible. Don’t get caught up in one perfect resource. Try some out if they work, great, if not, move on. I think the important thing (like so much in our life) is just do something and keep at it. That is my challenge for this year. I need to move beyond great ideas and start doing.
Their structure for family worship:
Here is how Pastor Sam and his family structure their family worship:
So here is our structure for family worship:
1. We sing hymns together. My wife plays the piano very well. And we choose hymns of all types, often learning hymns together. We’ve sung a vast array of Charles Wesley, Fanny Crosby, Isaac Watts, and many others. (At Christmas, we always try singing the Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus together. The kids love that. Ok, I love that, they sort of roll their eyes).
2. Then we read the Word aloud together.
3. Then we sing the Gloria Patri together in response to reading the word. (I know. You’re probably thinking, “Gloria Who?” It’s something I saw at Park Street Church in Boston. After the reading of the Word, they sing the “Gloria Patri.” (Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost…)
4. Then we read from Long Story Short.
5. We then sing either the Doxology (Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow) or the Benediction (The Lord Bless you and keep you with the Amens) or we do both.
6. We read from the Church History book.
7. We close in prayer, and we pray for the sick, for missionaries, for current events.
All told, it is probably 30 minutes long.
So, back to Pastor Sam’s list:
Here’s a quick overview of the different books he recommends. For a full description of each be sure to read his reviews on his blog You can preview them all in my affiliate widget below. You will be taken to Amazon if you click on the images below. Enjoy. Let me know other resources you have found and maybe we can get a second update to this post real soon. Please leave comments below! By the way, even if you don’t want to get any of the recommended devos for your family, you MUST click on the arrows-it is way too much fun!
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