Student Ministry

The writers of the Westminster Confession of Faith really loved to worship God. They wrote: “God is to be worshiped everywhere, in spirit and in truth; as, in private families daily, and in secret, each one by himself; so, more solemnly, in the public assemblies.” (WCF 21.6) Of those three spheres of worship (worshiping God privately, worshiping God with our families, and worshiping God publicly) the idea of a family worship time is the most challenging one for many people today.

The family worship time in our home could certainly be improved. But let me tell you what we do, in case you are looking for some ideas about how to start....

This summer I met a man who works for the NYC Department of Education. He told me something that astonished me. He told me that when the long-range planners for the New York State Department of Correctional Services want to determine whether they will have sufficient prison space in future years they look at the test scores of the 3rd and 4th grade children in New York City. If our 3rd graders are doing poorly, the State builds more prisons. Many of those kids, when they are grown, will have prison cells for their homes.

One of the joys and challenges of parenthood is teaching your child how to eat. Newborns can instinctively breast-feed, but they usually have a hard time handling a fork. Before little Junior can sit at the table and dine with the family, a long, messy process of training is usually required.

Churches also face the joy and the challenge of preparing children to come to the Lord’s Table.