Household Worship Guide

Dear Brothers and Sisters, 

God is to be worshiped by his people as they gather each Lord’s Day and also within their homes from day to day. Below you will find resources to aid you in individual and family worship. 

We suggest that you read scripture, catechize, pray, and sing. We also encourage you to discuss the sermons from the previous Lord’s Day. The morning sermons are typically expositions of texts of scripture. The afternoon sermons are catechetical, or doctrinal, in nature. Through catechetical preaching, we proclaim the great doctrines of the Christian faith as revealed in scripture as we work our way through the Baptist Catechism once every two years.  In this way, we seek to be faithful to “preach the word” (2 Timothy 4:2) and “to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). We encourage individuals to reflect on these sermons. And we encourage small groups, couples, and families to discuss these sermons throughout the week to deepen understanding and to make further application. 

Some may consider the resources listed below and assume that family worship needs to be complex. In fact, we would encourage you to keep family worship simple, relatively brief, and consistent. This is especially important for those with small children. Times of family worship ought to be a joy to our children and not drudgery. We hope that the resources below are helpful to you in some way.

Lastly, please consider what our confession of faith says about worship. In chapter 22 paragraph 6 we read, “God is to be worshipped everywhere in spirit and in truth; as in private families daily, and in secret each one by himself; so more solemnly in the public assemblies, which are not carelessly nor wilfully to be neglected or forsaken, when God by his Word or providence calleth thereunto” (Second London Confession, 22:6). May the Lord bless his church as she assembles to worship publically each Lord’s Day. And may he bless his people as we go our separate ways to worship the Lord individually and as families in spirit and in truth. 

Yours In Christ,

Pastor Joe Anady

On Behalf Of The Elders Of
Emmaus Reformed Baptist Church

Resources For Private Worship

Scripture Reading

God’s people ought to read God’s Word (Psalm 119; Acts 17:11).* Individuals are encouraged to read the scriptures daily. Couples and families are encouraged to read Scripture together. In our experience, the key to faithful Bible reading is to have a plan. Choose a time, place, and method for reading through the scriptures and seek to be consistent.

There are many Bible reading plans available online. At Emmaus, we encourage the use of the M’Cheyne Reading Plan which guides the reader through the New Testament and Psalms twice and the Old Testament once per year. There is a two-year variation of this plan known as the Carson Reading Plan. 

The M’Cheyne Reading Plan is posted on the home page of our website each week. It can be found at the bottom of the page under the heading “Bible Reading & Catechism”. We have also dedicated a page on our website to this reading plan. There the plan is set alongside the catechism question for the week and a suggested memory verse. 

Prayer 

Christ taught his disciples to pray like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever, Amen. (Matthew 6:9–13, with traditional conclusion added)

We would recommend that you consider Baptist Catechism questions 105-114 to learn more about praying according to the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer. You may also find our prayer service guide helpful. Lastly, do not forget about the Emmaus Prayer Guide that is posted in the Members’ group on The Realm (our online communication platform) at the end of each week. The Prayer Guide keeps a record of the ongoing prayer needs within the church. 

Singing

It would be wonderful if someone within the home possessed the musical ability to lead the family in singing. Psalms and hymns can also be sung acapella. There are many resources available online that can be used to aid family singing. For example, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church has an online version of the Trinity Hymnal that includes tunes. Emmaus has recorded a number of the songs that we sing in corporate worship. We hope these recordings will be useful in the home. They can be found at emmausrbc.org/music.

Sermon Manuscripts, Outlines, Discussion Questions, And Audio

As stated above, on the Lord’s Day we preach expositionally through the scriptures in the AM service and catechetically (or doctrinally) in the PM service. 

Sermon manuscripts are typically posed early on Sunday morning before the sermons are delivered. You may find the most recent manuscripts on the home page of our website. All sermon manuscripts can be found in the archives. Notice that in the archives you may select English or Spanish.

Outlines and discussion questions for each sermon are made available in print form at the AM and PM services. These discussion questions and outlines are also made available online. The most recent are posted on the home page. All may be found in the archives. 

The audio recordings of the sermons are typically posted to our website by the following Tuesday. 

*As wonderful as personal Bible reading is, I often remind people that in the history of the church very few had copies of the Scriptures in their homes. Also, it should be remembered that many were illiterate. I say this, not to discourage personal Bible reading, but to encourage you to listen very carefully as the Word of God is read and preached within the congregation each Lord’s Day. Throughout the history of the church, this has been the primary way for Christians to encounter God’s Word.