Every Christian family should worship the Lord in the home. But it can be difficult to begin and to continue with consistency this blessed practice. William Swan Plumer, in his brief pamphlet "Family Worship," gives nine helpful instructions for heads of households as they seek to conduct this servie to the glory of God:
These rules may well aid in making this part of worship profitable:
1. Let it be at seasonable and convenient hours, commonly before breakfast and just after tea or supper.
2. Let it not be tediously long. It is sometimes painfully protracted. That is not edifying.
3. Let the reading of God’s word, prayer, and if possible, singing, be parts of each exercise.
4. Let great decorum and decent solemnity enter into all acts of family devotion.
5. Let not the presence of company nor business engagements interrupt the regular order for worship.
6. Let family mercies and afflictions be duly noticed by him who leads in the exercises.
7. Continually labor to have the heart right and warm.
8. Be joyful and cheerful in the whole service.
9. Never give reproofs to others in the forms of prayer.