There is a Great Need

in many churches today for leaders to give regular encouragement and equipping for parents on their family discipleship journeys. If you are here thinking about doing that for your congregation praise God! It's not a popular or easy topic to speak on, but it is one that many families need to hear about.
So, with your context in mind, consider the needs of your congregation in two areas:

Why?

They need a clear, motivating vision of why family discipleship is important. And they don't just need this as a one off. The challenges and temptations of daily life will lead us off course from our convictions regularly, so consider your congregation's need for ongoing encouragement in this area.
And please take to heart how counter cultural the call of God is on Christian parents. The voice of culture will be in the ears of your saints, in varying degrees, on the topic of parenting. May your church speak clearly and powerfully against this with God's wonderful plan for parenting.

How?

It is no good to tell someone how essential and powerful something is without telling them how to do it. There is no need to be one size fits all, but you can provide your congregation with training and resources that they can use in a way that fits their family context. There may be some who have not grown up with good examples of godly parenting and many of these concepts may be new and daunting to them, so prayerfully consider what practical help and support you can provide in setting them up for success.

Start with Prayer

Meet Them Where They Are

If you don't already have your finger on the pulse of how parents are going with family discipleship in your congregation this can be a great starting point. There are many ways of doing this; you could ask parents to fill out an anonymous survey online or by paper, you could pick a few families to meet with and ask them some questions about their current practices and areas of need. Most congregations will have some families with areas that need some growth, but it can be very helpful for your leadership team to know how to best serve the families in your congregation by first taking stock of where they are at.
You can find a free Word Document that you can change as you like here (if you can't access DropBox, email [email protected] and ask for a copy) which has some ideas of questions you could use to find out where your congregation are at with their family discipleship. For more info on the family discipleship model this is based on, see the Big Picture.

Regular Encouragement

Consider if there is a way your team could give regular encouragement to your congregation to prioritize family discipleship, reminding them of the need for gospel motivation for their obedience in this and the wonderful opportunity that it is for them and their families to delight God together regularly. Imagine in a week how many thoughts and worldy influences parents may have had encouraging them to forgo discipleship at home. May your words provide them with a compelling reminder that this is the greatest investment they can ever make in the lives of their children.

Training

Robert M'Cheyne

Robert M'Cheyne (1813-1833) was a pastor with a vision for his congregation. He came up with a number of "Daily Bread" readings that he would circulate amongst his church members to guide their daily private time with God as well as Family Worship each year. In the accompanying letter to his congregation, he wrote of his earnest desire to see more in his flock find salvation and the growth of those who are saves. Before he gives the outline for daily readings he warns them of the dangers of this undertaking, including formality, self-righteousness and careless reading. But then he goes on to share the benefits of participating in the daily readings, and this list is great and glorious, but particularly of note are three points:

1. Parents will have a regular subject upon which to examine their children and servants. It is much to be desired that family worship were made more instructive than it generally is. The mere reading of the chapter is often too like water spilt on the ground. Let it be read by every member of the family beforehand, and then the meaning and application drawn out by simple question and answer. The calendar will be helpful in this. Friends, also, when they meet, will have a subject for profitable conversation in the portions read that day. The meaning of difficult passages may be inquired from the more judicious and ripe Christians, and the fragrance of simpler Scriptures spread abroad.

2. The pastor will know in what part of the pasture the flock are feeding. He will thus be enabled to speak more suitably to them on the Sabbath; and both pastor and elders will be able to drop a word of light and comfort in visiting from house to house, which will be more readily responded to.

3. The sweet bond of Christian love and unity will be strengthened. We shall be often led to think of those dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, here and elsewhere, who agree to join with us in reading these portions. We shall oftener be led to agree on earth, touching something we shall ask of God. We shall pray over the same promises, mourn over the same confessions, praise God in the same songs, and be nourished by the same words of eternal life.

The thought of asking your congregation to follow a shared reading plan may make your toes curl for a variety of reasons. Our modern culture of individualism may have many convincing arguments against this. But providing families with a guide for Family Worship, uniting the body around shared readings and providing pastors with the material on which their sheep are feeding through the week has great benefit.

Lacking Discipleship at Home

There are children in your congregation who will never experience the blessings of joining in daily Family Worship and other aspects of discipleship, for a range of reasons. Now, much is already done by your church for their spiritual formation to be sure, but you may prayerfully consider if there is some way, special to the children in this category, that you could support them and their families with the resources of your church.

A Note on Mums

I speak with many Christian mothers who long for their husbands to take their spiritual leadership in the home more seriously. They may feel like a dripping tap, repeatedly asking their husbands to lead in this way, and it can cause a strain in their relationship. Much prayer is needed in these cases, but, as we have seen through history in the case of Family Worship, it is not the wife's duty alone to call her husband to faithfulness in this area. There may be many barriers for some fathers and mothers to overcome in their pursuit of these things, but the church should not be found to be silent on calling them and equipping them to persevere in their pursuit, for much is at stake.