Bible Pathways in Picture and Word

Family Worship

God wants the home to be the happiest place on earth, the very symbol of the home in heaven.

( The Faith I Live By pg 259 )

Let the father, as priest of the household, lay upon the altar of God the morning and evening sacrifice, while the wife and children unite in prayer and praise. In such a household Jesus will love to tarry. {Child Guidance 518}

The father, who is the priest of his household, should conduct the morning and evening worship. There is no reason why this should not be the most interesting and enjoyable exercise of the home life, and God is dishonored when it is made dry and irksome. Let the seasons of family worship be short and spirited. Do not let your children or any member of your family dread them because of their tediousness or lack of interest. When a long chapter is read and explained and a long prayer offered, this precious service becomes wearisome, and it is a relief when it is over. }
It should be the special object of the heads of the family to make the hour of worship intensely interesting. By a little thought and careful preparation for this season, when we come into the presence of God, family worship can be made pleasant and will be fraught with results that eternity alone will reveal. (Child Guidance pg 522)

Family Worship Ideas

1. When children are very small it is beneficial to have something for them to hold during worship. This may be done by creating a worship box with lots of small items that correspond to the songs that you sing or the Bible stories or verses being read. Bells, finger puppets, small animals, flowers, felts etc. are excellent for this. You may begin worship with an infant this way. At a very young age, my first child would fuss if she missed worship and was much more pleasant if we had it every day.

(Scroll down to the blue part of the page to learn some simple worship songs for children)

2. As children grow older pictures help to hold their attention. The Bible Story Books are an excellent way to learn Bible stories and have readily available pictures. If you are reading Christ Object Lessons pictures or felts of the parables make this more interesting for children.

3. When children are old enough to read it will help to hold their interest if they are allowed to read also. Going around the circle with each reading a verse is profitable for keeping the interest and also helps to develop the reading skills.

4. Music has been called the universal language. It is a wonderful way to praise God. Having a themed worship and singing songs about the Bible, the sanctuary, the crucifixion, or thankfulness, etc. a makes this special. Find verses that match the theme to intersperse with the songs.

5. Change your worship study throughout the year. We like to have special worships at different times of the year. Here are a few ideas.

Rainbows of Promise- This is an extra for whenever you need something for your little ones to look forward to. We had a search for hidden Bible treasure. We need to search the Scriptures, and dig deep in the mines of truth; for the precious jewels do not always lie on the surface; we should search for them as for hidden treasure. Lift Him Up pg 23 We wrote out Bible promises on rainbow colored sheets of paper, rollled them up and put a rubber band around them. The children searched for them and got to open them, read them and choose their favorite one to share at our special vespers. The vespers also consisted of using our Bibles as a songbook and singing some of the scripture songs we know. We often do it more than once a year at the request of the children.

Week of Prayer-Consists of reading stories of answered prayers and also having a tree " The leaves of which are for the healing of the nations". We used a dead tree and made leaves, flowers and fruits for it. On each leaf is written a person who we are praying for. If we see improvement such as they come to church, we put a flower. If they give their heart to Christ or we see a complete answer to prayer we put a fruit. Each night we each prayed for the people that we put on the tree. An appeal to heaven by the humblest saint is more to be dreaded by Satan than the decrees of cabinets of the mandates of kings. In Heavenly Places pg 8

Visit the holiday page for additional ideas

6. Make Friday evening Sunset worship special. We usually sing hyms, allowing everyone to pick one. Then we repeat the 10 commandments. This can be made interesting to children with felts, picture cards or flip charts or tables of stone for them to hold. We also always sing a special sabbath song. We usually close with a special sentence prayer-where each of us saying a sentence of praise or request and the last person ends with their sentence and the Amen.

Learn Children's Worship Songs

These melodies are "no frills" and to our knowledge, out of copyright.

Oh Be Careful

This song will be more interesting to children if you add the motions. Point to eyes, ears, etc. Point to heaven for "up above".