How do you train your sons to lead family worship?

Joel Beeke explains in this video that the best way to train your older children is for them to see you training your younger children. In the area of family worship, they learn from your example of faithful, regular times of family worship. One day, they will lead family worship for their own family.

He suggests that once your sons grow older, it would be wise to suggest that your sons help with part of family worship or all of it. Eventually, your sons will be leaving the home to start their new families and it is important that they start learning how they should teach and lead during times of family worship.

Proverbs 22:6 (NKJV) - "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."

The best training for older children is to watch you train the younger children. So when you're asking a four-year-old a question, that's not wasted time for the 17-year-old who knows the answer because the 17-year-old is getting the subconscious feeling, oh, this is the way you do it. Because before you know it, he's going to be there. You can have little kids. He's going to have to do the same thing.

I think that's the primary way. My firstborn, I just officiated his wedding a few months ago. So, you know, to take him apart a couple times before that and say, so son, I'm sure you're determined to carry on family worship, oh of course dad, you know, why wouldn't I? And get any questions about it? You've been watching me do it and what do you think?

You know, Is it going to be difficult for you?" Or better yet, say to him at some point when he's 17, 18, 19, tonight I'm delegating as head of the home, you know, I'm delegating a part of family worship to you, or maybe the whole family worship. I want to see you do a whole family worship with your younger siblings, and let's see how it goes, because you're going to be leaving the home soon. So the neat thing about family worship is you've got 20 years worth and 365 days a year, that's 7, 300 family worships between birth and 20 years of age. And so you can afford to do some experimentation with 7, 300 opportunities. So I think to train that way is good, but I still say the main training is the regular family worship and your son hearing that.