Greetings PAACH homeschooling families. I hope your family is finding your rhythm as you march into new school year. PAACH is beginning a new focus towards encouraging families to worship together daily in your homes. Last month vice president Carlos Gonzalez outlined four elements for daily family worship: (1) Read the Bible, (2) Discuss God’s Word, (3) Pray together, & (4) Sing together. This month I want to give some thoughts about implementing daily family worship. Some of you may already practice these things with your children, and if so, I hope you are encouraged to continue these practices. If this idea is foreign to you, I hope to ignite and strengthen a resolve to a practice that may transform you family and deepen your relationships with God and one another.

Read

God’s Word is the life blood of our faith. Scripture offers us wisdom, strength, joy, comfort, healing, and more available at any time. This is the place where a believer can find everything needed to live a life of service that continually honors God in daily living. (2 Peter 1:3) Your children will best learn this by seeing you live it out and making opportunity for them to experience the Holy Spirit’s interaction throughout their day.

Discuss

A great way to interact with scripture is through catechism. John Paton shared a childhood memory: The Shorter Catechism was gone through regularly, each answering the question asked, till the whole had been explained, and its foundation in Scripture shown by the proof-texts adduced. It laid the solid rock-foundations of our religious life. I did not have any similar experience in my childhood, but I have seen this same fruitfulness bare out in my children’s lives. For the last 15 years we have used the book “Training Hearts Teaching Minds” which is a devotional based on the Shorter Catechism. Catechism gives the added benefit guiding a thorough discussion and helping to apply scripture and doctrine to every living.

Pray

Leading your children to God’s throne daily is both a responsibility and a privilege. Thomas Doolittle challenges families to pray together daily for many reasons, of which I will share a few. He says you should pray together daily because: you receive every day family-mercies from the hand of God, there are sins committed every day in your family and you are all every day liable to temptations, you have many daily family-wants which none can supply but God. The truth is that we are all sheep who are prone to wander and we need God to draw us back to Him daily. Sharing our hearts with God daily strengthens our connection to Him and allows us time to get know His voice more. (John 10:27- 8).

Sing

Singing songs to God as a family honors God simply because He is worthy of all we have and more. Scripture tells us to love God with our hearts and minds, and singing doctrinally sound songs of worship engages both. I have also found it beneficial to sing songs with the same theme as whatever you are studying in scripture. We have often sung songs by the Gettys, Sovereign Grace, City Alight, etc. that have solid doctrine within them. Music opens pathways to the soul that cannot be opened any other way. It can allow solid doctrine deeper into the heart and mind, and can usher you into the very throne room of God even when your flesh is fighting against you. Worship is a way to force your flesh into submission to God and strengthen your resolve to serve Him.

The PAACH board desires to help and support you throughout your homeschooling journey. We also desire to help you disciple your children by providing encouragement, wisdom, and resources that will enable you to be Godly parents who lead your children towards a relationship with Jesus Christ. We pray that your family learns together, grows together with others in community, and glorifies Christ in everything you do.

James Cox
PAACH President