Pure Church

Driving home from Bible study Wednesday night, my wife and I began discussing a pastor friend who is encountering significant resistance to his ministry of consecutive exposition. At one point things turned into a family discussion as follows:

Mom: Girls, can you believe that some people don't want to hear their pastors explain the Bible to them?

Youngest girl [incredulous]: So, what's the point of going to church?

Dad: Exactly.

Mom [graciously]: Well, some people would rather hear the pastor tell them how to do certain things and tell them entertaining stories.



Oldest girl [perplexed]: What?

Dad: Like how to parent, how to communicate with your wife, and so on.

Oldest girl: I don't understand. Isn't the Bible full of things like that if you just keep preaching through it?

Dad [triumphant]: Yep. You understand it quite well. When you grow up and move away, be sure to find a church that's dedicated to preaching the word of God like that.

If my 9 and 10 year olds get it, I wonder why it's so difficult for adult pastors to understand.

Thanks to James Grant for a useful, fear-free approach to building a routine for family worship. The three steps:

1. Plan to have family worship after an evening meal
2. Read through a good book (like this one)
3. Say the Lord’s prayer after reading the book


Grant's final encouragement:

whether you are starting out or have been doing this for a while, don’t make it into a burden. You will defeat your purpose if you treat this as a strict discipline. Your kids need to enjoy this, and if you include them and keep it simple at first, they will help you build it into more.

Good counsel indeed. Read the entire post for more explanation and some additional resources. (HT: JT)