Raising Kids: 6 Tips to Help Your Family Devotion Time

One of the joys my wife and I share in raising our kids is searching for meaning in the everyday, ordinary things. But not just any old meaning—God-pointing, faith-building, gospel-centred meaning designed to put down roots. Making it fun and natural along the way helps.

In this lesson: Six ways to help family devotion time work better amid life's messiness.

Family devotion time is vital to raising kids well. It's never perfect, often messy, but almost always precious. Typically, it involves awkward seating arrangements; sore bottoms from sitting on the floor; washing machine havoc in the background; siblings bickering; Ring doorbells; and of course those phone notification pings.

Messy business: you bet.

The sooner it's embraced, the better. Noise is part of life—don't let it deter you. There's never going to be the perfect moment for family devotion time. The real challenge is getting started and being consistent. For each family, devotional time will look different. You'll be searching in vain if you're after a perfect cookie-cutter template—a sort of "out-of-the-box" experience. The important thing is to take the lead, open those Bibles, and make a start.

Listed below are six small steps you can take to help your family devotional time.

1. Build up to reading chapters

Our Bible reading time typically involves reading small chunks of Scripture. We focus on a parable, a proverb, or a selected paragraph. This is good and helpful and has its place—especially when time is limited. However, as with all growing children, appetites need to be appropriately satisfied. Appetites also need to be trained.

Aim to read more Scripture in one sitting. Plan ahead if it helps. The benefits of longer reading are many: more Scripture intake; a wider view of the author's intention; improved reading comprehension; more familiarity with your kids' reading style and ability; and, faith-building for those listening (Romans 10:17).

2. Use the section headings

Most modern Bible translations come with useful section headings. Although not part of the original Bible text, they've been helpfully inserted by editors to aid the reader by summarising the text and creating artificial breaks. When used as part of your family devotional reading, they can act as helpful signposts.

As a family, we use the section headings regularly. Each person will begin by reading the section heading and finish with the last verse in that section. The next reader will then do the same thing. We'll do this until we get to the end of the entire chapter. The great thing about using section headings is that everyone gets a chance to read and they know exactly where to start and end.

3. Familiarise the reading order

Disruptions to the flow of reading occur because family members are confused whose turn it is. This needed an upgrade in our family devotion time. It slowed down the reading, and caused unnecessary distractions.

At the beginning, make sure everyone knows their reading order. Use the seating arrangement to find the most natural order possible. Sitting in a circle on the floor or around the dinner table helps us. And whilst you're getting things ready, why not get one of your kids to arrange the reading order. The more you involve them, the better. They'll feel a sense of ownership which may lead to them being more invested in the reading time.

This tweak made a big difference to our reading flow, creating a more instinctive reading rhythm that felt natural.

4. Practice reading genealogies

Most of us are comfortable pronouncing familiar sounding names like David, Peter, John, Mary, Sarah, Paul, and Bethlehem. But pronouncing unfamiliar (and sometimes funny) sounding names and places can be a little more challenging. It takes practice to say Mahershalalhashbaz (Isaiah 8:3) or Chushanrishathaim (Judges 3:10). Even shorter ones like Shemaiah (2 Chronicles 12:7) can cause a pause.

However, awkward pauses and stuttering through names can disrupt the flow and cause us to miss the main point. The focal point then becomes the "correct" pronunciation. This eats into valuable time which is already limited. Moreover, this can become a stumbling block for those listening. Clear and fluent Bible reading is a good bar to raise for our kids. It's good for them and it's good for those listening in.

As with most things, this is a discipline that needs working at.

My fourth tip: practice reading unfamiliar names during your family devotion time. We occasionally use the genealogies as a starting point. Matthew 1:1-17, Luke 3:23-38, and 1 Chronicles 1-9 will give you plenty to keep you going. Aim to read quickly, confidently, almost zipping through the names in one go, without pausing and worrying about the pronunciation. Model it for them. But be sure to explain the purpose* of the genealogies. I wouldn't want my kids to think they exist purely for the purpose of improving their reading fluency.

And when a word is pronounced incorrectly, don't draw attention to it. Encourage them to keep moving on. Build up their confidence by doing this regularly. Aim to get the giggles out of the way, and then focus on the text.

*Important note: The genealogies found in the Bible were primarily written as a record to demonstrate God's faithfulness to a specific group of people at a specific point in history. Ultimately, they point the reader to connect the dots that Jesus is the chosen Messiah—the promised Saviour. I'm pretty sure reading comprehension wasn't the author's primary concern.

5. If time permits, recap at the end

Forgetfulness troubles us all. We often need a quick recap having read a lengthy portion of Scripture. When time permits, we'll discuss anything that struck us. I'll try to read the room, keep an eye on the time, but usually will allow plenty of time for this.

As a closing recap, I'll ask each reader in my family to read their section heading(s). This helps the chapter sink in, and take root. It helps register if it didn't fully register properly in the first full reading.

By doing this, it helps direct our closing prayers.

6. Close with precise prayers

Finally, we each close with short prayers. With the section headings fresh at the forefront of our minds, we are ready to go to the Lord with specific prayers.

By modelling our prayers based on Scripture, we as parents can set a good pattern to follow. Use something memorable in the text to make it the focal point of your prayers. For example, we recently read the ninth chapter of Mark's gospel. The section heading (v33-37) in the English Standard Version (ESV) Bible reads "Who is the Greatest?". You can pray like this:

"Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for receiving all who come to You and for teaching us what true greatness looks like. Forgive us for when we have not faithfully reflected this. Help us to be servant hearted in our actions and attitudes. Amen."

Finally, I'll encourage my family with a prompt to pray for people that the Lord puts on their hearts. Usually, the first person that comes to everyone's mind is someone from school, church, or a family member.