Family Discipleship Time

On the fifteenth episode of the Family Discipleship Podcast the hosts (Adam Griffin, Chelsea Griffin, and Cassie Bryant) talk about family discipleship time, what it looks like for parents to have an appointed time where the family gathers for talking about and living out the gospel.  

Questions we addressed in this episode:

• Why is having time in the word or worship a critical component of leading a family? 
• What are some examples of family discipleship time? What would be a daily, weekly, or monthly example?  
• What do you think most families do with their time together? Is there a way to leverage those times they are already together to make it a time for family discipleship? 
• Where should family discipleship be on our list of priorities? 
• Why do you think it’s so easy for parents to treat family discipleship so casually and with so little intentionality?
• What are your favorite memories of family discipleship time? 
• Would you consider the commitment to going to church together part of a family’s family discipleship time? 
• In the book Family Worship, Donald Whitney talks about the simple formula of Read, Pray, Sing. What does that look like though for different ages of kids? 
• Do you have any resources that you suggest for Family Discipleship Time for different age families?

Some of our favorite quotes from this episode:

• “Our kids are unwise by nature. The bible says that “folly is stored up in the heart of a child.” It’s such a delight to read the word with our kids and just to see God’s goodness in that his word can be understood by kids. He can reveal himself to children.” - Chelsea Griffin
• “It would be strange in a Christian family to all read our bibles separately. No. We should read it with our children from day one.” - Chelsea Griffin
• “There are so many other things in your life that you’re preparing for all the time and they’re not nearly as important as this. You’re preparing meals everyday. You’re not going to not feed yourself or your kids. You’re preparing for work or your home. That’s the same amount of time we are asking you to consider preparing for something way more important – investing in the spiritual life of your kids.” - Adam Griffin
• “Church is a big part of our family discipleship time. Being together with the local body is an important thing to prioritize.” - Cassie Bryant
• “Almost every family has time in the car together. What’s great about that is that everyone is strapped down! That can be a great time for worship or to pray together or to talk about scripture.” - Chelsea Griffin
• “We make time for the things we want to do. You don’t work for your clock or your calendar, they work for you.” - Adam Griffin
• “If we believe that scripture is authoritative and it is sufficient and that it is our daily bread then we should be partaking in it everyday.” - Cassie Bryant
• “Being in God’s word everyday is acknowledging our dependence on him – in my personal walk but also as a family.” - Cassie Bryant
• “We hear people talk all the time about finding a church with the best kid’s stuff. What I really want everyone to be able to say is that the best kids ministry is at my house. No one loves my kids like I do. I know them and I know what they’re going through.” - Chelsea Griffin 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Family Worship by Donald Whitney
• Long Story Short - Marty Machowski
• Old Story New - Marty Machowski
• Jesus Storybook Bible - Sally Lloyd-Jones
• Indescribable - Louie Giglio
• They Ology - Marty Marchowski
• Good Book Company Kids Books - Tales that Tell the Truth
• Poetic Pilgrim’s Progress - Rousseaux Brasseur
• Radical Book for Kids - Champ Thornton
• Prince Warrior - Priscilla Shirer
• Green Ember Series - S.D. Smith
• “Christ calls us to care for those living in poverty—including parents working hard for their children’s future. Download your free copy of Created to Flourish: How Employment-Based Solutions Help Eradicate Poverty, to learn how. HOPE International fights physical and spiritual poverty in 16 countries through Christ-centered microenterprise development.”

To keep up with the Family Discipleship Podcast, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter. 

To read more about family discipleship, check out the book Family Discipleship: Leading Your Home Through Time, Moments, and Milestones by Adam Griffin and Matt Chandler. 

The Family Discipleship Podcast is a podcast of Training the Church.