Bold Course | Birchman's Discipleship Process

Family Worship Night

The primary responsibility for teaching children is placed on their parents. This is what we are commanded to do as parents according to scripture (Deuteronomy 6:7, 11:18-21, Proverbs 22:6, Ephesians 6:1-4).

Therefore, an essential part of this Bold Course is to have a family worship night. This doesn’t have to be long but will probably be about 10 to 30 minutes in length. We are encouraging Monday night, but it can be done at anytime in the week. We at Birchman will provide the weekly family worship guides on this website in PDF form for you to print out.

Since each family at Birchman is different, our weekly family worship guide is designed to fit your family.  There is a simple format to follow and questions to ask your teenager, children, preschool, spouse, or a group of singles. There is even a coloring page that can be used for children based on the Bible reading plan.

Ideally, we want the father of the home to lead this time with everyone involved. However, if the father is not able to lead or will not, he can still lead by gathering the children and raising the expectation that this is a new family tradition. Naturally, if no father is at the home, this responsibility falls on the mother. It should be noted that tremendous godly leaders can be developed by a faithful mother pouring into the life of her children (see Timothy 1). However the point is that this becomes a tradition in the home.

Three “Musts” before you even begin the family Worship time:

1. You must relax and have fun with this. This is not the time for you to “posture” yourself and begin to act spiritual with your kids. This is not a performance. They know your faults probably better than you do. This is designed to be a meaningful time where you all have a chance to share what God is teaching you, how He is working and for you to all worship together in an intimate context, your home. However, this will be awkward at first and you must fight through the awkwardness. We will provide creative options, but always feel free to make each lesson or family worship time fit your family. Take this time very seriously, but not yourself. Laugh and smile.
    
2. You must be consistent. Don’t worry about how long your family worship time is, or how “deep” it is. The first goal is simply to be consistent with meeting and doing it. Just like working out, it’s better to be consistently working out for 10 minutes every day, than for two hours once a month. Some parents (especially those of older children and teenagers) may even experience a tremendous amount of resistance. Just remember: You’re the parent. You’re the parent. You’re the parent. You chart the course in your family, not your children.
    
3. You must give yourself and your children grace. Some nights are going to go great, and there may be some nights that seem like disaster. Satan will attempt to put every single excuse in your ear as to why you shouldn’t do this and just quit. Just remember, by doing this, you are following God’s commands and He will strongly support you. Rely on his grace and lead out.

Family Worship Night
Step by Step

We are basing the weekly Family Worship Guide on the Bible reading plan presented in Bold Course Field Guide. There will be a summary of what was read and questions that follow. There will also be creative ways to do your family Worship guide based on the different ages of your children: Youth, children, preschool.

Step One: Read and discuss scripture.

Simply read the passage and ask the questions from the weekly Guide.

Step Two: Worship in Song.

Watch the corresponding worship video from Youtube or download the song from Itunes.  You may want to sing or just listen. If you have small children, you can have them color the page provided in the weekly family worship guide while the song is being played.

Step Three: Pray and close.

Pray for the lost nation or people group in the worship guide, but also for individual needs. Give thanks, praise, confession or requests depending on what the Holy Spirit leads you to. Close by simply giving some affirming words to your children based on what you see God doing in their lives.

Step Four: Record the success of the night on the Bold Course Facebook page.

A success and “win” is that you did it! Others need the encouragement and accountability to keep going. Therefore, every Monday night or whenever you have it, record something positive that others may need to hear.

Remember that your children WILL NEVER forget the time you take to do this. You are modeling for them what they will do with their children. Think about that.