Sabbath Family Time

By Karen F. Church

My husband and I decided to implement a gospel study time for our family on Sundays as Church leaders have encouraged us to do (see “Letter from the First Presidency,” Liahona, December 1999, 1). At first we felt unsure how to begin or what to do. But I knew the Lord would help us if we tried, so we began developing a number of activities to make our time together fun and productive. Following are some of the activities we do:

• Ask one of the children to prepare a short talk to be delivered after church. The talk can come from lessons learned that day at church.

• Have hymn-singing time. This could include teaching new hymns, singing old favorites, or playing games to name familiar tunes.

• Write letters to send to grandparents, family members, missionaries, or friends.

• Invite other families to join in, and ask each family to prepare a flannel-board story, a talk, and one or two musical numbers.

• Organize the children to perform an impromptu skit about a religious topic or story.

• Read from the scriptures, a Church book, or the Liahona.

• Hold parent and child interviews.

• Play a Church-related game.

• Plan to share the family’s Sabbath activity with others by preparing and delivering a treat and a card to a friend or neighbor.

We have found that the more we involve our children in a variety of activities, the more they look forward to our Sunday gospel time together.

Illustrated by Beth Whittaker