It has been the practice of many mature Christian households for many decades to catechize their children in various ways, one of which has become affectionately known to them as family worship time. This is a time when the head of the home gathers his family in the house to have devotions from the Word of God, pray, and sing hymns or spiritual songs.
It is nothing new. The Puritans were ardent practitioners of this particular way of instruction. Joseph Alexander, a pastor who lived at the tail end of the Puritan era, wrote an exceptional little book packed with the benefits, all the particular biblical commands and principles that a father satisfies when he leads his family in this way, and suggested procedures as to how to conduct effective family worship. His book is one of those gems.
The Bible makes it clear in only two New Testament passages having to do with children’s spiritual upbringing, that parents are responsible for training their children (Ephesians 6:4; Colossians 3:21). And there are a number of good ways to do this. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 is quite a comprehensive little passage that provides the starting point, helping parents to see that they are to teach God’s Word to their children “in the way”, from the time the kids get up to the time they go to bed. In other words, parents are to use all of life’s tragedies and triumphs as viable training ground to help their children know and understand why they do what they do, what God would have them to do and why, and model to them the right way to respond to life. This comprehensive way of parenting would include a number of valid means of instruction, ranging from very informal (“in the way”) to a formal sit-down instructional time that we know as a good old fashioned Bible Study with lots of interaction. Family worship fits somewhere in the middle as a great tool for instructing children not only about God’s ways and how they should be thinking and acting in light of them, but also what worship is and how to worship with their spiritual family in a service. Alexander mentions in his book that the family is but a small church, with the father as pastor, implying that children learn how to conduct themselves in the worship service by learning how to worship God together with their biological family. He’s got something there!
Let me suggest Dr. Donald Whitney’s little book, and I mean little, Family Worship. It is so helpful when it comes to procedural issues such as how long to hold family worship time, how often during the week, what needs to be said, how it can communicate effectively. He has many suggestions that will make this time for you and your family profitable, enjoyable, and effective.
There is nothing in the Bible that commands us to have family worship time, just as there is nothing that commands us to have daily devotions. However, I am sure that you would agree that we can never get enough of sound teaching, our children included. In light of Jesus’ statement , that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of God’s mouth, one might naturally conclude that we should study the Word of God at least as much as we eat. Surely daily devotions make logical sense. They did characterize the devotional life of the psalmists (Psalms 4:4; 16:7; 44:8; 119:55). So, while family worship is not mandated, always glorify God, continually study to show ourselves approved, and constantly encourage one another in the Word are. Family worship is one effective way that, together with others, will help us accomplish these God-give responsibilities within our families.