5 Ways to Worship Together as a Family
Worship should be more than something reserved only for Sunday mornings. The Bible encouraged us to make worship a part of our daily routines. When we take time to worship God together, what follows is an increased sense of unity and joy in our homes.
Psalm 71:18 says, “That is why I can never stop praising you; I declare your glory all day long.” God is worthy of our praises all day every day!
Let’s not waste the precious time we have with our children living under the same roof as us! It is important that we share who God is and model to our children what it looks like to live lives that honor our Creator. Psalm 71:18 says, “…Give me time to tell this new generation (and their children too) about all your mighty miracles.” The Bible reminds us that God’s “mercies are new every morning” (Lamentations 3:22-23), and it is up to us to acknowledge them!
Here are a few practical ways to incorporate worship into your family life:
1. Don’t Neglect Sunday Church
This past year attending church has become a little more complicated… but also easier in many ways! Now, thanks to the power of the internet, if you can’t get everyone up and safely out the door to attend church in-person, you can log in and worship from the comfort of your own home. One thing we all are in danger of after this season in which our world has been turned upside down is letting go of the discipline of regularly participating in church activities: online or in-person.
Don’t let complacency steal away your family’s connection to your local church! As we all emerge from this unprecedented year one thing remains glaringly true: we need to be anchored to an unmovable God to survive life in this chaotic world. You need the foundation of the Gospel to keep you grounded when voices are shouting confusion and fear at you from every direction.
Your children need the comfort of the Holy Spirit to keep them feeling safe as they are navigating what it means to live in a world that can never be made 100% risk-proof for them. We need to be reminded that God has a plan, a hope, and a future for us even when the way forward seems murky and unknown!
The place we are most filled with this hope, truth, connection, and meaning – where we can experience God’s tangible presence – is in his house. Hebrews 10:24-25 tells us that we shouldn’t neglect or underestimate the power of meeting together with other believers. Your faith as a family unit best grows in the context of community. It’s when we rub shoulders with others that we gain the instruction and accountability we need to find maturity as Christians.
2. Start and End Your Day with Gratitude
Worship is adoration to God for who he is and the many good gifts he gives us. We can’t praise God for what he has done if we aren’t first paying attention to what he has gifted us. Making gratitude a part of your family’s daily rhythm is a simple way for you all to pause together and take note of what God has gifted you over the course of a day.
When we make a point to dial into the simple ways God is showing up in our lives, our faith begins to grow immensely. We start to see the simple as miraculous and this perspective shift has the power to change our lives!
3. Appreciate God’s Creation Together as a Family
Nothing inspires worship more than creation itself! Isaiah 6:3 poetically proclaims that the whole earth is full of God’s glory. Just pausing to behold the sunset or sunrise is enough to humble your heart before the Lord. Exploring the outdoors is a great way to unplug and connect with each other in the midst of our busy lives.
During the height of the pandemic, my anxiety started shooting way up again…after several years of me working hard to get it under control. What brought me the most peace and comfort during this time was spending the weekend outdoor camping with my family. God’s creation is one of the best reminders of this unfailing love and faithfulness.
4. Crank up the Worship Tunes at Home
What about foregoing Netflix and opting for blasting your favorite worship tunes in your home? With technology, we have access to amazing God-inspired music that can help lift our spirits. If you’re musical, you could play and sing worship songs together or make it fun and dance it out to your favorite Christian tune. Let God’s presence fill your home through the power of music.
5. Serve Others Together
Serving as a family is a great way to put our lives in proper perspective! Sometimes we are blind to how good God has been to us because we are so focused on the tiny details of our own lives, we fail to see how our lives compare in the big picture. Serving together gives you a family mission. It is the way we tangibly live out the mission of the Gospel in our homes.
Now, more than ever, our world needs us to reach out as the hands and feet of Jesus! Throughout history, God’s people have been the ones that bravely served the needy in our communities. The early church were the ones to step out and save the abandoned children from their culture, nuns came to the aid of the dying during the Black Death, and now the church’s work shows love to the world in so many practical ways such as operating food banks, helping the homeless, and more.
The church isn’t perfect, but it’s important that we don’t shrink back from our mission to love others as Jesus did (John 15:12).
Don’t forget that our homes are the first place we are called to practice living a life of worship. Serving our spouses and children is not always easy but it’s a great space to follow God’s command to serve one another in love (Galatians 5:13). We are missing the most important aspects of the transformational power of the Gospel in our lives if we raise our hands in praise on Sunday and then come home and neglect our families the rest of the week.
When we live lives with a Heaven-minded perspective, our families reap the amazing benefits of walking together with a God-inspired purpose and joy.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/Vasyl Dolmatov
