In spring of this year, the pastoral staff of Graefenburg Baptist Church decided to provide a simple summer resource to help guide families in daily worship. We took the Gospel of Mark and broke it down into small, manageable sections, asked a few questions about the passage, provided a hymn or praise chorus for singing, and then wrote a daily prayer. We purposefully pieced the guide together so that families could work through the material every day in June and July, Monday-Friday, in about fifteen minutes. The format is simple: Read. Ask. Sing. Pray.
The response to the family worship guide has been exciting and, I’ll confess, surprising. The staff has been praying that a few families would participate, but we ended up running out of worship guides on the Sunday we made them available. Since that time, we have received texts, emails, and Facebook comments about the joy of reading and worshiping as a family. What a gift!
And then last week, I saw the most encouraging Facebook status update and photo. Embedded in this photo is a call to all fathers and husbands to notice the impact of spiritual leadership among their children. Embedded in this photo is the power of the word of God spoken by parents who place God’s agenda above their own. Embedded in this photo is the greatest discipleship the church could ever offer – and it isn’t a program. This is the ultimate discipleship strategy for every church. Right here:
The status for this image was this: “The look on Layla’s face looking at her Daddy ALL through family devotion tonight.”
Wow.
You can view and download the Family Worship and Prayer Guide right here.
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