Equipping Families to Use the Hymnal at Home

Here are some ideas for how church musicians, pastors, and teachers can help families use the hymnal at home. You also download a free family devotions guide with hymns and readings for each week during the school year.

Show Families How to Use the Hymnal in Devotions

Because the hymnal is so often used for just worship services, some people may not realize what a great resource it can be for at-home devotions. For these people, it’s important to outline which resources in Lutheran Service Book are most useful in the home. Point families to the daily orders of prayer on pages 294–98 or show them how to find hymns that are suitable for devotional use throughout the Church Year.

If you’re looking for articles to share, our colleagues at the CPH Edu blog have compiled several shareable resources written just for families. These posts on how to use the hymnal for devotions at home and how to teach the truth in hymns contain practical, applicable tips for starting a daily devotional routine with the hymnal.

Share Additional Resources

Beyond LSB, there are a number of supplemental resources to point families toward as they begin daily devotions.

• Daily prayer cards contain everything from the daily devotional pages in LSB but are in an inexpensive, compact format. These are available in packs of 10, so you could purchase them in bulk and pass them out to families after worship.
• My First Hymnal contains select hymns, songs, and prayers that are great for using with kids. The book also has a corresponding set of recordings that families can use.
• Our family devotions guide combines the best of LSB and My First Hymnal by giving families weekly Bible readings and hymn suggestions. Each hymn in the guide is in both LSB and My First Hymnal, so family members of all ages can pray and sing together.

Support Families throughout the Year

After you’ve helped families get started with their devotional routines, it’s important to support them in their devotional practice throughout the school year. Consider how you can incorporate the hymns from the family devotions guide into worship or choir rehearsal each week. Perhaps select different arrangements of each hymn for your adult choir and children’s choir to work on together. Maybe send out a weekly email reminder or write a weekly bulletin announcement giving a preview of the following week’s hymns and readings. Actions like these can help show families that your congregation serves alongside them as they raise their children in the faith.

This guide contains Bible readings and a hymn for each week during the school year. Print it out, make copies, and pass it out to families at your church!