domestic worship

By: Reverend Alexssander Sherman Dane

Tips for doing a blessed home service

(1) Communicate with the family about the day, time, duration and place where they will do the home service It is very important that domestic worship is something formal within the home. If not, other activities will surely take its place. It cannot be an activity to be done if time is left. Therefore, make your service an event marked with date, place, time and duration, so that everyone knows and is prepared for this commitment within the family. For example: Wednesday, the 15th, on the porch of the house, thirty minutes long.

(2) Organize your home service This service should be lighter than a more formal church service. It must be objective and focused on communion between the family (with each other) and God. So it is not important that you worry about preparing complex things. I advise that your home service has at least three basic elements: a) Reading the Bible. Here you can use devotees like, for example, Every Day. So it is simpler to choose a message and you share that reading and each one can share and talk a little about the message. But you can also choose a Bible verse and prepare a brief message about it. b) Praise. If you play an instrument, choose a song or two. If you don’t play any instruments, put a praise on your cell phone or search YouTube for praise that you can put and sing together. Here you can encourage your children to choose the praise songs they like. Each can choose in a week, for example. c) Prayer. Prepare a time of prayer for each other and also for more general requests to pray for causes outside the home as well. It is important to create this broader view of the world, of people and of God’s work in the hearts of all. Thus, the schedule of your home service may look something like this: – Initial prayer (1 minute) – Praise (6 minutes) – Biblical message (15 minutes) – Prayer together (10 minutes)

(3) What to avoid and what to do in domestic worship? Many children hate this idea of home worship because their parents make it the most boring thing in the world. How are you going to get your kids to love something boring? It’s pretty complicated. So it is important to be careful and avoid some things that will make your worship unproductive. a) Avoid long Bible readings. This is not the time to make your child read everything he has not yet read from the Bible. Use shorter, more objective texts, with clear lessons that do not require much time. If he can learn a single thing, that’s fine. If your child is small, abuse stories, books with more pictures, etc. b) Avoid teaching theological polemics of the Bible. Domestic worship is a moment that aims at greater communion among the family. Starting to want to teach complex theology to children right then and there, will put everything to waste. c) Finish on time. Don’t get carried away. If you arrange a thirty-minute service, finish in thirty minutes. Your children will feel more relaxed knowing that you do what you say. If you match thirty and spend an hour and a half doing house worship, you can be sure that they will hate and run away. d) Avoid giving moral lessons, this is not the time. Parents love to teach their children lessons. And home worship is the worst time to be giving that scolding or wanting to get biblical texts to give sermons to them. Try to leave them free to understand the word for themselves and understand what God wants from them. You wouldn’t want to participate in something that is only criticized, would you? Yeah, they don’t either! e) Leave them and encourage them to speak. Children’s participation is very important. Encourage them to speak, to share, to make prayer requests, to pray and to comment on their understanding of shared biblical teachings. Give them that freedom. This will make them feel important and valued.

(4) Be prepared to face setbacks You didn’t expect that you would teach your children about God and nothing would go wrong, did you? We know that when we teach anyone about God, enemies rise up. So don’t be discouraged if enemies get up. Some common enemies can be the children’s unwillingness, their complaint, their parents’ discouragement, bad behavior and others. As obstacles appear, simply resolve them and move on. Every minute you invest in the family is a time that will bear many fruits! So never give up!

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Grace and peace!

Speak with:

Reverend,   Alexssander Sherman Dane

Ideepregai9@gmail.com

Ideepregaigroup.wordpress.com