Get Started

 

What is family discipleship?

 

The clearest picture of family discipleship in Scripture appears in Deuteronomy 6:4–9:

5 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:4–9 ESV)

This conveys four foundational truths about leading your family in growing in love and obedience to the Lord:

  1. Family discipleship is grounded in the identity of our God (v. 4). The Lord—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—is the one and only God. We must know the Lord and worship him alone.

  2. Family discipleship starts with personal devotion (vv. 5–6). We should love the Lord with all we have, internalizing his guidance so that it shapes our lives.

  3. Family discipleship involves all of life (v. 7). Whatever we do, our lives should communicate our love for the Lord. Explicit instruction should be paired with modeling a life of faith.

  4. Family discipleship requires intentional practices (vv. 8-9). Incorporating discipleship into the lives of our families requires thoughtful and deliberate action.

 

How to do family discipleship

 

The deliberate actions that enable you to lead your family into deeper devotion to the Lord include:

  1. Pursue your own spiritual growth. You can’t teach what you don’t know. Your family will follow your evident passion as much as if not more than your explicit instruction. As Paul says, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Cor 11:1).

  2. Make a plan. Family discipleship inevitably happens as we live out our lives with our families. We are always teaching them in some way about what we think is important. But good family discipleship doesn’t just happen. We have to be intentional. Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t keep to the plan; adjust and move forward.

  3. Weave Christian truth and the love of God into your life together. This is the simple, practical goal of family discipleship. There are a range of ways it can be done, and pulling it off can be challenging in our often hectic lives, but all it really requires is finding some time every week, if not every day, to do three basic things together:

    1. Read. Give God’s Word an opportunity to speak in your home.

    2. Pray. Respond to the Lord with prayer, expressing your dependence on Him.

    3. Sing. Worship the Lord together. 

Recommended Resources

  • Personal devotion

    He Reads Truth, an online community to support, encourage, and guide men in reading Scripture.

  • Family Bible Reading

    The Big Picture Story Bible by David Helm. Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd Jones. These books are clear, engaging, and packed with biblical truth.

  • Catechism

    The New City Catechism. Questions to help your kids memorize foundational theological truths—both books and an easy-to-use mobile app.

  • Songs

    Find lyrics to hymns at my.hymnary.org. You can also listen together to richly theological worship music like the songs collected here.