I have seen and heard of many parents in the last few weeks that have a desire to engage their families in a devotion time. Our church in our vision has asked families to "Maintain a Family Devotion" as a measurement of growing in their relationship as a family. I wanted to give you a few recommendations of how to have a family devotion time as well as some resources that will help you in leading this time.
First just some "best practices" for a family devotion time:
1. Make it a priority. When you get serious as a parent about a family devotion, then trust me the devil will get serious about attacking your time and priorities! You will find it is easy to just push it away, to be too tired, to miss one night, then two, then before long a week and then you have stopped altogether. The key to having a family devotion is to actually HAVE a family devotion. This is when you stop what you are doing and focus on spending time together in God's Word.
2. Start simple. You do not have to walk through the entire Bible every single time that you have a devotion time. This can be intimidating and you will not see engagement from your family. Instead, start with a simple verse, a simple explanation, and then a simple action of what to do with it. ASk questions, but start with simple questions. Then as your family grows, you will begin to see this time lengthen more and more.
3. Ask questions that we know the answers to. This may sound funny, but as the leader of the family devotion time, I do not want to ask a question that I do not know the answer to. If I only ask questions that allow for every opinion to be expressed then this will open the door to relativism. This will lead to subjectivity about God's Word. God's Word is absolute in its truth. Now does that mean that I will know the answer to every question asked of me: of course I won't. If I don't know the answer, then I say I don't know, but then I want to come back the next time and be prepared to give an answer.
4. Have a pattern of study (at first). The basic way of teaching the Bible is first to begin with the Scripture. Speak of its meaning (what it meant then and what it means today). Give illustrations. Then talk of ways to apply it. If you follow this simple pattern, then you will see that teaching God's Word to your family is easier than you thought. As you grow in your pattern you will begin to teach more creatively and see ways that you can expound upon topics.
These are just some simple techniques to get you started. Now here are some recommended resources that you can use to get you going in the right direction for your family devotion (I am not paid to reference any of these, haha). Some of these are weekly and some are daily. Find what works best for your family and begin.
Free ones:
First just some "best practices" for a family devotion time:
1. Make it a priority. When you get serious as a parent about a family devotion, then trust me the devil will get serious about attacking your time and priorities! You will find it is easy to just push it away, to be too tired, to miss one night, then two, then before long a week and then you have stopped altogether. The key to having a family devotion is to actually HAVE a family devotion. This is when you stop what you are doing and focus on spending time together in God's Word.
2. Start simple. You do not have to walk through the entire Bible every single time that you have a devotion time. This can be intimidating and you will not see engagement from your family. Instead, start with a simple verse, a simple explanation, and then a simple action of what to do with it. ASk questions, but start with simple questions. Then as your family grows, you will begin to see this time lengthen more and more.
3. Ask questions that we know the answers to. This may sound funny, but as the leader of the family devotion time, I do not want to ask a question that I do not know the answer to. If I only ask questions that allow for every opinion to be expressed then this will open the door to relativism. This will lead to subjectivity about God's Word. God's Word is absolute in its truth. Now does that mean that I will know the answer to every question asked of me: of course I won't. If I don't know the answer, then I say I don't know, but then I want to come back the next time and be prepared to give an answer.
4. Have a pattern of study (at first). The basic way of teaching the Bible is first to begin with the Scripture. Speak of its meaning (what it meant then and what it means today). Give illustrations. Then talk of ways to apply it. If you follow this simple pattern, then you will see that teaching God's Word to your family is easier than you thought. As you grow in your pattern you will begin to teach more creatively and see ways that you can expound upon topics.
These are just some simple techniques to get you started. Now here are some recommended resources that you can use to get you going in the right direction for your family devotion (I am not paid to reference any of these, haha). Some of these are weekly and some are daily. Find what works best for your family and begin.
Free ones:
Our Homepoint Resource center has resources available for family devotions in the Gathering Place at Millington FBC.
Pickup at the church or subscribe online
Subscribe online to receive daily devotions by email
Not free ones:
Pickup at the church or subscribe online
Subscribe online to receive daily devotions by email
Not free ones:
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