Family Discussion Page

The church provides a Family Discussion Page (FDP) each week (for example). This is a tool that can be used to help our heads of households disciple their families as well as reinforce the sermons we hear on Sundays. The intent is to be able to lead a discussion with little or no outside preparation. The questions are based on the text of the English Standard Version Bible. The FDP is mostly intended for elementary age through adulthood with a mix of easy, concrete questions and harder, abstract questions. It's not as useful when you have little ones or those who are developmentally challenged although all need to hear God's Word.

Here are some suggested uses for the FDP:

  1. In the evening or morning, start with a brief prayer or sing a song together. Use the FDP entry for that day as a script. Then, end with prayer.

  2. Give your family members the assigned passage each morning or post the assignments in a central area so that everyone old enough to read and write will have their personal quiet times over the same passage. Encourage them to record their thoughts in a notebook. Gather together in the evening for a family discussion around the dinner table or at bed time where all share their thoughts on the passage and you ask them the FDP questions. Pray together as a family.

  3. Use as part of a small group Bible study with friends, neighbors, or classmates.

These are just suggestions. You may need to adapt to fit your household. Make it light not burdensome. Children may not remember what they learned but they will remember their families huddling around God's Word together. They will remember the centrality of God's Word in their parent's lives. They will remember you cared enough to spend "spiritual" time with them.

If the FDP does not work well in your situation, you may want to consult the family worship resources in our library, as well as titles by Starr Meade, Marty Machowski, and Big Truths for Young Hearts by Bruce Ware.

Also, the Serendipity Bible is an excellent resource for small group Bible study discussions. Some of the questions in the weekly FDP come from this Bible.