Family Worship – How To Lead Your Family In Worship.

Recently the Lord has been speaking to me about teaching people how to “do the stuff” on a practical level. Today I am going to teach about how to have a family worship time and how even the most untalented person musically can still lead their family in worship.

Psalm 22:27
All the ends of the world Shall remember and turn to the LORD, And all the families of the nations Shall worship before You.

It is important that we lead our families in worship. We need to model to our spouses and to our children that worship is not just something that is done on Sunday and maybe Wednesday night. Do you want your home to be a place where the Spirit of God is welcome? Well then start a family worship time. God inhabits the praises of His people. Do you want your children to experience more of the presence of the Lord in their lives? Then establish a practice of worshiping at home.  I will give you some basic tips on how you can start. It is not as hard as you think!

Choose the Format You Are Going to Use for Family Worship.

Not many of us are professional musicians. We just can’t whip out the guitar or sit at the piano and lead worship. Good thing that being a professional is not what it takes. It just takes a heart of worship. Here are some ideas how you can get over the need for music.

• Use Worship CD’s There are both CD’s available with vocals and without vocals. If you can sing, then I suggest that you use the ones without the vocals, but for the majority of the world, just sing along with the vocalist in the music. Start with songs and music that you are familiar with. Maybe some oldies but goodies that you don’t have to think about too hard. Here are a couple of my suggestions for you to use.More Love, More Power: 25 Best Loved Live Worship Classics [2 DISC SET]Hosanna: Vintage Vineyard Music 
• Of course I am biased towards Vineyard Music. I am a Vineyard Pastor after all but you can get your favorite Hillsong CD’s by going through those links as well and then searching for Hillsong worship.
• Learn to Play Basic Guitar or Piano. You do not have to be a professional to play worship music. There are resources available to help you learn enough so you can be the music for your family. Not only will this make the worship more personal, but it will instill a love for music in your children. I am not a professional guitar player. I just strum it, but I learned how to lead worship with a guitar and so can you. So if you have any desire or talent at all, you can learn to do it. It really is not that hard, and with the resources I have found to help you start a family worship time, it is even easier than when I learned. For the price of taking your family out to dinner one night you can learn something that will bless them for a lifetime. Check out this program for learning how to play worship guitar! Or if you tried to learn how to play piano as a kid but got bored or didn’t like it, try the piano fools course on learning how to play piano by using chords and not sheet music. Even if you never become good enough to play publicly, these courses will help you play for your family worship. Along with that, I have found the easiest book of praise and worship choruses out there. They are all in the key of C and simplified for people like me. You only need to know a few chords to play these songs and they are some of the all time favorites. The Easy Worship Fake Book: Over 100 Songs in the Key of “C”

Set a time that works with your family schedule to have a family praise and worship time. 

It all depends on your schedule and your convictions on how many times a week you worship the Lord together as a family. You can do it once a day or once a week. It all depends on you, however it should be at least once a week in order to have the desired effect and influence on your family to show them that worship is not just something that you do on Sunday but it is a lifestyle. Consider doing it before you family game night, or incorporate it into your family devotions. Maybe on Saturday mornings before the family goes out to do its recreational activities. Whatever the time is, schedule it and make it a part of your weekly routine.

Make worshiping fun! 

Use some silly kids songs in your repertoire. Use some songs that come with body motions. Get the young hero’s moving. They will find it fun rather than just a religious exercise that mom and dad make them do. You will find they start asking you to have a family worship time.

Put together a list of songs before hand that you are going to use in your worship.

Spend some time in prayer before you start your family worship time and ask the Lord what He wants to do with that time. My suggestions are this. Use a couple of songs at the beginning that are fast and full of energy. This get’s your children into the swing of things and allows them to express their natural energy. Let them be free. If they want to clap, jump, dance, ect. Let them do so! Then after they have done that, start to lead them to a time of worship where they are singing to Jesus. Both encourage them and model for them that worship is singing directly to Jesus. Let them see you close your eyes, or get on your knees, in worship to Him. They will do what they see you do!

Finally lead your family to a point of consecration and prayer for their needs.

End your family worship time with a time of allowing God to work in the hearts of everyone, yourself included. God inhabits the praises of His people and when praise and worship goes on, there is also the power to see Him do miraculous things! If there are any family members sick, now is the perfect time to pray for them. If there are any family members that have not given their life to Jesus, now is the perfect time to lead them to Jesus. Use the end of this time as a channel to seeing God move in your family’s life.

I hope you have enjoyed this teaching on family worship. Give me and others your ideas on what works in promoting family worship at your home by leaving comments below. 

Blessings!

Pastor Duke