Think of the time throughout the week each member of your family spends at school or at work or at other activities. How does that compare with the time you spend reading God’s Word, praying to God, and worshiping God? Reading the Bible together as a family can be a great way to show your family the importance of God and His Word. In this blog I have listed several ways to make reading the Bible a family activity.
1. Pick a book of the Bible to read as a family. Sit down and discuss why everyone would like to read a particular book. Make sure that everyone has some input. This is a great way to spark family members’ interest in reading the Bible.
2. Read aloud together. Give everyone in the family their own copy of the Bible and have each person read a few verses of a chapter. This helps everyone focus on and remember what is being read. As a side note, this can be a great way to help your children practice reading.
3. Listen together. Give everyone in the family their own copy of the Bible and listen to the Bible on CD or the Bible on tape. Or have one person read the text if you do not have the Bible on CD or tape. This might be a good way to do this if your child cannot read yet.
4. Discuss what you read. Read a chapter or two and engage in a family discussion about the text. If you have younger children, this can be a great opportunity to see if they understood what was read. If you have older children, this can be a great opportunity to engage in an in-depth discussion.
Finally in order to make reading the Bible a family activity, you must schedule the time to do it. Set aside a specific time everyday (or every week depending on what is right for your family). Schedule the time just like you would your child’s soccer match or piano recital. Make sure everyone in the family knows the time that has been set aside. Take the scheduled time seriously: you would not miss your child’s soccer game, don’t miss your family Bible study time together.