table. I must admit this did not happen overnight. Many years of ups and downs with this routine have led to this discipline. One family I know makes it a practice to pray together before they leave the house. Another dad leaves the house before his family is even awake, so he writes a verse down for the rest “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. of the family to read when they Love the LORD your God with all your heart and get up. with all your soul and with all your strength. These Closing time commandments that I give you today are to be upon This is a prime time to spend your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about with your children, especially them when you sit at home and when you walk along prior to their teen years. Utilize the road, when you lie down and when you get up. this time to pray together or read Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on a Bible story book together as your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your a family; or consider doing this houses and on your gates.” with each individual child. One Deuteronomy 6:4-9 family takes the time to bless their children every evening using a blessing from Numbers Capitalize on the time that you have a 6:24-26. Another family frequently asks the captive audience. question, “Where did you see God at work Eating time around you today?” Research illustrates that families who eat My family has used a variety of different together regularly have reduced rates of devotional books over the years. Choose addictions and abuse in their homes because something that is easy, quick and takes little they develop healthy relationships through preparation. It’s better to have shorter, more eating together at home. It’s important to turn consistent family devotions than fewer, off the television, cell phones, music and any longer family devotions. Your consistency other media and focus on eating together will eventually enable your children to engage around the table. Our family frequently for longer periods of time as they grow older. engages in a conversation exercise called If you have teenagers, then you will find the “high/low.” We ask each other what was the devotions produced by Richard Ross at high point of your day and what was the low www.heartconnex.org to be a helpful tool. point of your day. Another family discusses Holiday time something that made them sad, glad or Families already celebrate a variety of mad. The point is to engage in meaningful holidays throughout the year. Most Old conversation. If you have older children, Testament holidays were celebrated to consider discussing current events from a remember specific ways God acted on His biblical perspective. For some good ideas, go people’s behalf. Evaluate the holidays you to www.dinnerdialogue.com. already celebrate and prayerfully discover Arise time some practical ways to discuss spiritual topics Many families struggle with morning related to that holiday. Christians celebrate times because everyone is in a chaotic rush two major holidays—Christmas and Easter. to get out the door for school and work. One Utilize “what God wants for Christmas” and approach to make mornings easier is to go “resurrection eggs” to assist your family in to bed 15 to 30 minutes earlier so that you creatively celebrating these important events can get up 15 to 30 minutes earlier and not make the morning routine so rushed. I want “The Lord bless you and keep you; my children to see me reading the Bible. the Lord make his face shine upon They have a natural way of imitating what you and be gracious to you; the Lord they see their parents doing. I also want my turn his face toward you and give you children to develop the discipline of reading peace.” the Bible daily. In order to foster this, each person in our family reads the same passage Numbers 6:24-26 each morning on his or her own. We then discuss what we learned around the breakfast while traveling home in the car if his son had anything they could pray about. The son said, “Dad, I’ve been wondering about trusting in Jesus. Could you pray about that with me?” The dad pulled over, had a meaningful faith interaction with his son and prayed with him.
surrounding the life of Christ. Both of these resources can be found at a local Christian bookstore or at www.familylife.com. Venture out and establish some new family holidays and traditions. The halfway point of our faith at home journey ends 940 weeks after birth when they graduate from high school and leave home. Time is ticking away, and we need to be strategic parents who intentionally utilize every possible moment to TEACH faith at home. The final destination of our faith at home journey will be when we see our children take steps forward to build upon our foundation and pass along the faith to our grandchildren and become beacons guiding future generations.
Want to learn more? Check out these resources: • “Growing a Spiritually Strong Family” by Dennis Rainey • “Family Worship” by Don Whitney • “Faith Begins at Home” (Dad, Mom, Devotions, and Prayer) resources by Mark Holmen • “Discovering God in Our Traditions” by Noel Piper • Also, two comprehensive books to guide you on this journey are “Growing Spiritually Strong Children” and “Mentoring Teens,” both produced by Focus on the Family.
Ben Phillips is the family ministry team leader for the Arkansas Baptist State Convention. Contact him by email at bphillips@absc.org if you have additional questions or are interested in parent training seminars in your church.
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