Five Ways to Start Family Devotions that Stick

With all the daily life things we need to get done, where do we get the time for family devotions? I struggled with this question for a long time. Life got away from me sometimes as I juggled a full-time job and raising three kids under the age of 9. It felt extremely overwhelming to plan an extra daily activity – family devotional time.

After a lot of trial and error, below is what worked for my family:

Pray – Ask for divine help

Take time and pray about your family devotional time. Jesus gave us a helper, the Holy Spirit, who knows every single person in your family better than they know themselves. He is ready and willing to help, we just need to ask. I thought I could organize my family devotionals by myself and I tried to at first. I failed – it became tedious and overwhelming. When I learned to start by actively praying about it, things changed. Family devotional time became a real time of connection and bonding because we invited the Holy Spirit into every session.

Tip: Invite the Holy Spirit through prayer. He makes all the difference!

Expect that it will not always be perfect

Focus on being consistent and Christ-Centered, not being perfect. When we started out, I had (very unrealistic) goals. I had set activities we needed to do every single day, and I expected my children to follow without question. When we did our family devotionals this way, it became a chore that nobody really looked forward to. Now I have learned to be more accommodating. We may not get everything done, but the important thing is that we came together and spent some time reading the Bible and talking about Jesus.

Tip: Decide what is a must have for your family devotions. For us, it is coming together every day and reading at least one Bible verse or Bible story. Other things are optional.

Add family devotions to a daily routine you already have

Connect family devotions to an activity that most family members already do together. For us, this was bedtime. We moved bedtime to half an hour later and used that time for our family devotions. Try different times, for example, dinner time or breakfast and see what works best for your family.

Tip: Find an activity most or all family members already do together daily, then include your devotion time in it.

Mix up the content used during family devotional time

Make family devotional time age appropriate and fun. Include activities, songs, games and stories to keep young kids engaged. If you have very young kids like me, keep it short and memorable. When kids are engaged, they learn and remember more. In my household, we use a monthly theme (for example God’s love) to organize devotional content. The family devotions are then based on that theme and the activities build on each other.

Tip: Identify and use resources that help all your kids stay engaged during family devotion time.

Invite conversation and connection

I used to view family devotion time as a time to teach (and I love to teach!), but those times became more meaningful when I allowed the kids to interact with me and the content. I have learned to ask questions like, “What do you learn from this verse or story?” or “What was your favorite part of this verse?” This allows the kids to share their thoughts and perspectives on the Bible, Jesus, and faith.

I have also learned that the Holy Spirit is the main teacher, not me. I am just a vessel and my kids can be vessels too. Sometimes He uses them to teach me something!

Tip: Share with your kids and also allow them to share with you.

Final encouragement

You are planting seeds when you have family devotions. You are shaping the little souls that God has entrusted into your care. If He did not believe that you were up to the task, He would not have assigned the job to you. So keep at it. He will strengthen and equip you.

Remember, He who started a good work in you will be faithful to complete it (Phil 1:6).

Keep going. God sees what you do, and He is pleased.