We Need All Three Spheres of Worship

a neglegted graceJason Helopoulos:
A Christian will find it most beneficial to practice secret worship, corporate worship, and family worship. They are all important for our life in Christ. They each bear a necessary weight, and they all inform one another. When my secret worship is lacking or even non-existent, then my worship in the corporate community and family will be affected. When my attendance at corporate worship is sparse, then my secret worship and family worship will suffer as well. These three spheres of worship are related, informed, and encouraged by one another, because in each I am meeting with the Lord and benefiting from His grace. As I grow in my enjoyment of the Lord in my closet, so my enjoyment of Him in corporate worship will increase. As I hear the preached Word of God in corporate worship, this informs and stimulates my heart and mind in leading my own family in worship. As I worship God with my family, my affection and love for the Lord increases, which encourages my secret and corporate worship. They all inform one another. If I am starving in one area, then as I function in the other spheres I will find that I am malnourished there as well.  
― Jason Helopoulos, A Neglected Grace: Family Worship in the Christian Home (Christian Focus, 2013),  p. 27

God is to be worshipped everywhere, in spirit and truth; as, in private families daily, and in secret, each one by himself; so, more solemnly in the public assemblies, which are not carelessly or wilfully to be neglected, or forsaken, when God, by His Word or providence, calls thereunto.

Westminster Confession of Faith, XXI.6

The Benefits of Family Worship

In addition to honoring and glorifying God, and obeying the command to bring up children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, Jason Helopoulos gives several practical benefits of family worship. It:

  1. Centers the home on Christ
  2. Encourages our children in the things of Christ
  3. Encourages Christian character
  4. Encourages peace in the home
  5. Binds the family together
  6. Provides common knowledge as a family
  7. Equips our children for corporate worship
  8. Reinforces spiritual headship
  9. Provides systematic discipleship

― Jason Helopoulos, A Neglected Grace: Family Worship in the Christian Home (Christian Focus, 2013)