Influence of Family Worship on the Church (2)

Besides the direct consequences of family prayer in blessings on the church, there are others which must not be overlooked. Not to repeat that the whole tone of piety in a congregation is elevated by household devotion, the interests of the religious community, as such, are kept continually before the mind. Those who pray for a blessing on the Word, will be most apt to expect a blessing, most ready to mourn over barren ordinances, most earnest in longing for revival, most compassionate to the souls of impenitent hearers, and most active in admonition and other efforts for the saving of souls.

Family prayer is prayer for more than the family; it is prayer for the church. Thus it seconds the preaching, and cultivates the spirit of love for the whole society. Now that the ancient Puritan usage, of repeating in the house the sermon which was heard in the church, has fallen into neglect, it is useful to have such prayers offered on the Lord’s day evening as may keep up the impression of divine ordinances. On the eve of sacramental services, the daily request of many families for the special presence of Christ is a means of edification to all concerned. In times of awakening, when multitudes are under the pangs of conviction for sin, there is unspeakable preciousness in a daily exercise which presents their case before God, and which tends to diffuse a healthful influence on every side.

All these incidental advantages derived by the church from family worship may be referred to a single principle: the interests of the body are brought home to the house. “Now are they many members, yet but one body.” The views of the humble, private Christian are enlarged to take in, first the particular church of which he is a member, and then the whole assemblage of Christ’s people. Surely this is no unimportant contribution to catholic unity.

No gift of the church is equal to her prayers. It is not enough that good enterprises should have a place in the sanctuary, they must have a place at the fireside. As the spirit of missions and the desire of Christ’s appearing increase among us, a change will be recognized in our family devotions. The diffusion of God’s Word will form a theme of daily supplication. The missionary, the catechism teacher, and the agent of public benevolence, will be solemnly and affectionately commended to God by praying households. Now this cannot be continued for any length of time without a manifest influence on all who are thus employed. The most experienced of the circle will find their public spirit, their philanthropy, and their zeal for Christ’s house augmented by this repeated utterance of benevolent desires. The children, youth, and sojourners of the house will learn to view these works of charity as an essential part of religion, never to be out of sight even for so much as a day. No agency will do more to extend and render universal, the participation of all our church members in the great aggressive work of the church. A due application of these truths to the prayers of our families would put an end to those mortifying and fearful revelations made from time to time of whole congregations, and even whole presbyteries, which contribute nothing to the spread of the gospel in foreign lands. Prayer would lead to action and new energy would be infused into our missions, foreign and domestic, our education of pious youth, and our circulation of Christian books, through the length and breadth of the land. It is respectfully suggested that pastors and elders may conduce to this end, by timely counsels, as to the mode of conducting family prayer, and by their own example when called upon tolead in the prayers of a household. The people at large need to be encouraged to enlarge their petitions for these great objects and to bring them constantly within the circle of their household devotions.

We have reserved for this place a point which appears to us to be second to no other in its bearing on this branch of our subject; we mean family prayer for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the church. The duty and privilege of such prayer, in general, are acknowledged by every pious heart. We desire to call attention to the necessity of such prayer as a part of daily household worship. A church is already in a state of revival when all its praying families are thus engaged in sincerity. But in the coldest times, those that fear the Lord should make conscience of bearing this matter on their hearts before God amidst their families. Immense power is thus added to the public ministry of the Word. It is lamentable that so many live as if the whole weight of responsibility was with the preacher, and as if they had no sort of concern in the success of his work. Periods of great awakening, ever since the day of Pentecost, have been commonly preceded by united and earnest prayer for this particular blessing, on the part of “the multitude of them that believed.” That professing Christian who truly longs for such an awakening as shall bring into the church his children, his neighbors, and all that are afar off, can in no way more directly contribute toward the blessed result than by deliberately and uninterruptedly making it enter into his prayers in which he leads his household. Where this is forgotten, it is no marvel if religion declines, and if the unconverted members of the family draw the natural conclusion that, after all, their impenitent condition is an evil too unimportant to be presented before God ….

Dr. James W. Alexander (1804–1859), eldest son of the renowned Archibald Alexander, wrote many volumes on practical Christian themes, including Plain Words to a Young Communicant (1854) and Thoughts on Preaching (1864). This article is drawn from his Thoughts on Family Worship (1847).

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