How can my family become more spiritually minded?

I think that family devotions are an essential feature of raising a family, though I know that can be complicated due to school schedules, after-school activities, and so on.

My wife and I raised our children in Britain, and they were not sent to post-school activities every day of the week. At least six of the seven days of the week, we sat around a table and ate dinner together. On average, dinner would take an hour. We would eat, talk, and ask the children about their day, and then I would read some portion of Scripture and ask for prayer requests. Throughout the different stages in their growth and development, from little children to teenagers, we took turns to pray, and I usually closed. That was a staple of creating a desire for spiritual things in our children.

We did a lot of memorization, specifically the Psalms and passages in the New Testament. Children are able to memorize Bible verses very easily—far easier than it is for me at my age. It is about creating an atmosphere in your family where talking about Christian things, such as Scripture and prayer requests, is natural and not forced. If there was a problem, our response would be: “Let’s pray about it.” So, we encouraged our children to think in terms of spiritual-mindedness.

This is a transcript of Derek Thomas’ answer given during our 2020 Dallas-Fort Worth Conference, and has been lightly edited for readability. To ask Ligonier a biblical or theological question, email ask@ligonier.org or message us on Facebook or Twitter.