“The Family Worship Book” by Terry L. Johnson

The Family Worship Book by Terry Johnson serves as a good resource for those looking for a more deeper and substantial time of family worship, going beyond basic devotional practices and actually digging deeper with example outlines of worship, Scriptural reading, hymns, prayer, creeds and confessions, etc. The first few sections introduce what family worship is, why it's important, and how to get started. After the first few chapters the book feels like it goes directly into reference-mode, including a Bible-reading checklist, catechism, and then copious inclusion of psalter songs and hymns.

And while I'm all for this book and think that it's an excellent resource for getting started, the problem becomes that for things such as the sample responsive readings in the book, you're either left having to get multiple copies of the same book, or make copies of the pages that you want to use, and repeatedly in reading this book I found myself wondering, "so why wouldn't you just get a stack of Trinity Hymnals and use those for family worship time?" since so much of what this book includes as reference material is already in the Trinity hymnal (including the Westminster Confession, the Shorter Catechism and plenty of responsive readings, etc.) In fact, it seems like HUGE sections of the book could have been skipped and that Johnson could have just said "Go and buy a stack of Trinity hymnals for your family worship time" (a quick Google search for "trinity hymnal" will find a bunch of sites selling these, around $20 each, in both regular and Baptist flavors, too...) Using individual hymnals for each family member allows everyone to have their own to use for singing and catechism, and they can also make notes in their own copies of favorite hymns, etc.

One other issue I found was the fact that although this book includes a number of hymns, the songs don't include the actual musical notation, only the words, and are followed with comments at the bottom of the song like "All saints old 8.7.8.7.7.7", and speaking as someone with limited musical skills, that type of notation means nothing to me. It would have helped tremendously if the hymns included the musical notation as well, because in that situation if you aren't familiar with the melody you could at least play out the melody on the piano first if it's a hymn you don't know.

So those few gripes aside, it's still a good book for someone new to the idea of family worship who wants to get started, and there are some excellent ideas to incorporate, but again, seems like much of this material could have been skipped, and much more sensibly, simply pick up a few copies of the Trinity hymnal (enough for each family member) and go that route instead.

Voddie Baucham - Family Shepherds

(my Amazon review of Voddie's latest book 'Family Shepherds')

Voddie Baucham’s “Family Shepherds” gives a good amount of really good material for fathers who want to step up in taking the initiative in leading their wives and children spiritually, and while I really enjoyed the various steps offered in the book, and usually enjoy everything I read from Voddie, with this I came away feeling that it didn’t go quite far enough or deep enough.

Voddie outlines the importance of the role of family shepherd and lays out, among other things, the importance of family worship, the primacy of the marriage relationship, training and discipline of children, as well as regular corporate worship. All of these are great, but so many of these sections seemed superficially breezy without really packing in material that men need to hear. The assumption I had with this book is that shepherding is a responsibility that many men have neglected in recent years, thus the importance of this book was calling and guiding men back to this task. An excellent intention, but so many parts of the book, such as the importance of catechism, left me a little dry, as Voddie speaks of the importance of catechism, but then leaves the section with “do your research to find the best catechism to fit your doctrine.” What? This struck me as a cop-out. Again, in today’s world Dad’s aren’t doing this, so why would he leave this point so open-ended? So, are fathers just supposed to jump onto Google and look up whatever catechism they can find? Rather, instead of skimping, Voddie could have easily jumped into the importance of something like the 1689 London Confession, or the Westminster standards, or any Biblically-solid catechism to help men get started, instead of leaving them dry. I would have loved more here, even as an appendix, with a sage hand pointing to some sound sources to get started.

Likewise, addressing the importance of singing hymns as a family: an excellent point, yet WHAT hymnals? Why does Voddie leave it to fathers to know what song books to use? Should we just go to Lifeway and pick up a generic “hymnal” on the shelves, just because some of the songs look “Biblical”? Why not offer up some specific examples, such as the Trinity hymnal, and justify it with some of the many reasons that back this a solid, Scripturally-sound hymnal to incorporate? We use, and love, the trinity hymnal, but it’s details like that which would have really served to help point men to the right resources. Our Trinities are a little worn, and I’m always open to find other Biblically-solid hymnal to incorporate, so why couldn't there be more specific examples here?

I do agree with Voddie’s remarks about the “3-legged stool, and think that is a good outline, but I found his second requirement for church leaders as being “Godly, manly pastors and elders” to be a little bit skimpy in his description. “Manly” elders? Pastor/theologians who come to mind that I greatly appreciate, such as Wayne Grudem and Edmund Clowney, aren’t exactly the model of what I consider “manly”, but rather as examples of well-educated teachers with an extraordinary understanding of the Bible. I think one of the issues I have with this Voddie’s comment on elders, as well as with Grace Family church in general, is the practice of lay-eldership, or men without formal seminary training, serving as elders and teaching. “Manliness” isn’t that big of a concern to me as much as men serving that are “not a novice” (1 Tim. 3:6 - νεόφυτος) if I'm expected to submit myself and my family to their training. Lay elders who work full-time in the market and then are expected to teach on weekends is no different than asking a guy who read a bunch of books on heart surgery to do your triple-bypass. Maybe this sounds harsh, but I don’t believe that deacon-qualified men should serve as elders, and Voddie could have put a little more Scriptural backing into what the Bible really says about the role of an elder, above and beyond just “manliness”.

The Michael Pearl/pelagianism discussion (p. 116-118) was an entertaining detour. I’m amused (and a little alarmed) by this bearded, knife-throwing arminian, so it was interesting to to read Voddie’s attack on Pearl’s skewed behaviorism model. Voddie was right on spot regarding discipline, and this day and age, there can’t be enough said about the need for Biblically-consistent discipline of children. The extensive references to Cotton Mather’s teaching were a perfect outline to follow, and I really gained a lot from that particular section.

Family Shepherds is definitely worth the read, but again, it didn’t go far enough for me. Sadly, I was also disappointed that there was virtually NOTHING about the father as the homeschooling leader. This was a notably huge absence, as I firmly believe that one of the family shepherd’s principle responsibilities is to be actively involved in the homeschooling of the children - and I don’t mean necessarily teaching every subject, but rather being extremely well-aware of what the curriculum is, including the worldview of the curriculum and the Biblical orientation it follows, and offering as much support as possible to the mother who labors to educate the children. A family shepherd, on a day off for example, should be completely capable of sitting down, picking up a teachers instruction manual, and jumping right in to be able to help guide and instruct their child, just as competently as the wife does, without excuse. A family shepherd should actively be seeking out ways to incorporate additional education after work, on weekends, etc, whenever possible, with a positive, engaged interest in the love of learning in their children. As a personal aside, I also believe that a family shepherd should be capable of picking up a spatula every now and then, being able to navigate a grocery store, and also change a diaper or two (thousand.) Family shepherds should loathe the Asherim that is television.

At the close of Family Shepherds, I found that even the resources in the appendix were disappointing, as these “tools” seemed more like copy-and-paste excepts from Grace Family’s weekly bulletin, and felt more like a promotional vehicle for the church, and less of actual family shepherd tools. While I respect all that is put into the Grace Family church bulletins, to me, far more practical that simply seeing the list of family names to pray for would be to see, for instance, how do some of the different families of Grace Family conduct family worship? What are some of the general outlines that they follow? What songs do they use? Any Biblical study material they could recommend? Particular catechism? If (according to the appendix) the officers of Grace Family supposedly call/visit their members once a month, then there should be a wealth and bounty of practical examples to share of family worship framework examples, right? (e.g. “Jim and Tammy” follow this particular model: Jim opens with prayer, their oldest daughter plays a solo hymn on the piano, the oldest son reads a chapter from Old Testament, father then reads a study guide based on the chapter, etc, etc. Another model is the Smith family, that uses this general outline: etc, etc...) Again, this book exists because Dad’s aren’t naturally performing as family shepherds today - so give Dad’s more resources and actual tools and examples to help them! I seriously don’t think Voddie could have overdone it with examples. Pack in more punch, instead of leaving me dry, which is how I felt at the end of reading.

A side-note on the graphic design, when I took the book out of the Amazon envelope, I was studying the lower middle portion of the book for awhile, as it appeared initially that mold spots were growing on the cover (had the book been damaged at the Amazon factory with moisture?) Apparently that’s the design, but the seeming appearance of mold dots on a smooth paperback cover didn’t make a great initial impression.

'Family Driven Faith' by Voddie Baucham

I just finished Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham, a book I actually read most of a few years ago, but I finally got around to finishing.  There is a lot to really enjoy from this book, primarily being the theme of calling fathers back to leadership and discipleship of their families and the centrality of family worship in the home.  Indeed, it wasn't until at Voddie's church and hearing Don Whitney visit and talk about the importance of family worship as a regular, focused feature of the Christian home, that we started implementing this as well.  We've visited with friends who, following dinner and games would welcome us into their family worship, for hymns and Bible study, and its a wonderful blessing (plus it gives you ideas of things to incorporate into your own family worship as well.)
Voddie's focus on this in the book is wonderful, although I wish he could have gone a little bit deeper.  To be honest, sadly, I think the idea of worship in the home is such a completely lost concept in mainstream Christianity that a book like this almost needed "baby steps" of how to get started.  For instance:

• Catechisms - Which catechisms should be used?    Which ones skipped?  How much?  Which ones are best for which age groups?
• Hymns - Which hymnals?  which are good, which are worth skipping?
• Bible study guides - There are a gazillion to choose from, and I've been blessed by studies like the Big Book Of Questions & Answers About Jesus by Sinclair Fergusen, but I'd love to know of others.  

True, Scripture reading is always going to be enough, but like that Ethopian talking to Phillip in the book of Acts, sometimes it helps to have someone explain a certain book to you.
Those are the types of things that went through my head while reading Family Driven Faith.  For any parent looking to revitalize the home as a place of worship, and to work to cultivate a genuine faith and Biblically-centered worldview with their children, this book is worth checking out.

Q&A with Dr. Waldron and John Divito

Some fair observations made about the FIC model (although right off the bat Dr. Waldron gets it wrong by pronouncing Dr. Baucham's name as "VAH-dee". The rejection of systematic age-segregation ministry could be seen as overreacting, yet at the same time Voddie makes good points in that, if this system works, why do so many kids in this model turn from their faith when they go off to college.

I would agree with the observation that FIC churches reject nurseries for babies. I have no problem with nurseries, and one of the things I found with Voddie's church was that even though there was no nursery per se, there would still be a gathering of women in the back room on any given Sunday with their fussy babies, so why not just make an accommodation for them?

Now one thing I think Dr. Waldron did miss was that FIC model churches ofter place a much stronger emphasis on father-led worship in the home, particularly encouraging the daily practice of family worship (more than just simple, trite and irregular devotional times). I had never heard of this prior to attending Voddie's church and it definitely introduced a very important practice into our own home, with daily hymns, Bible reading and prayer as a family.


Q&A with Dr. Waldron and John Divito | Waldron on the Family Integrated Church from MCTS on Vimeo.

The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name

Ideal for family worship, the Jesus Storybook Bible is an excellent retelling of many of the principle stories of the Bible.  This was used as part of this year's Family Camp, with each lesson taught at camp punctuated with some of the audio from this series.  The narration is actually fantastic:  read by David Suchet (the Inspector Poirot actor), the reading is very dramatic and entertaining, and appeals both to kids and adults (some of the narration is actually pretty funny.)

There's also a deluxe edition that includes a book with the CD narrations.  Eventually I'll get around to linking some of the sermon notes from family camp.  Every year its a tremendous blessing to be able to head out to do some camping and enjoy the teaching and fellowship, and I look forward to the family camp time each year.

"People of the Church" by L. C. Rudolph

We just finished reading People of the church (Covenant life curriculum) by L. C. rudolph as part of our family worship time, and the text, albeit very brief, offers a decent and compact overview of some of the principle followers of Christ throughout Church history, including Calvin, Polycarp of Smyrna, Columba of Iona, etc.  Ideal for family worship and young listeners, the text offers a glipse into their lives and details some of their accomplishments, in addition to their trials and persecutions.  I wasn't able to find much about it online, but there's a link to Amazon above where it can presumably be found used.  Well worth it.

The Big Book of Questions and Answers About Jesus - Sinclair Ferguson

Two books that we use as a part of our family worship are Big Book Of Questions and Answers and Big Book Of Questions & Answers About Jesus.  Dr. Ferguson is an amazing teacher, both his doctrinal teachings for adults as well as his teaching material for kids.  We are currently using the Big Book of Q&A About Jesus nightly, and I like the way the material is broken down into a Scriptural study about an aspect of Jesus life, followed by a question to consider, an activity and closing prayer.  Combined with hymns and Scripture reading, this makes for an excellent addition to daily family worship time.  Highly recommended.

Bartholomew's Passage

We've been reading Bartholomew's Passage as part of our nightly family worship.  It's a fun little book intended to be read around the Advent season (Yes, we've missed this window by a few weeks, but it's still a good read.)  The writing isn't always perfect, the theology can be a little wonky from time to time (with an Arminian edge), and some of the "cliff-hangers" can be a little bit contrived, but otherwise it's a fairly fun read.  And while some of the thematic material might be a little bit creepy for younger readers, Ytreeide does do a nice job with some of the historical realism with details about the Roman occupation, the Dead Sea, the Essenes, etc.  A section each night makes for a nice part of family worship time during the Christmas season.