Teach Us to Pray

Family worship is not about perfection; it’s about love. It’s about gathering around the center of our family—God Himself—and admitting we (together) live by his gospel of grace.

Teach Us to Pray: Scripture-Centered Family Worship through the Year is a daily prayer book that guides families in both listening to and speaking to God through songs, scripture readings, guided action and quiet contemplation, organized to follow the life of Jesus through each season of the Christian calendar.

Read the Teach Us to Pray Introduction

View a Sample entry from Advent

Reviews

"Teach Us to Pray reminds us that prayer involves both discipline and delight. Copley and Vander Haagen have poured their hard-earned wisdom as pastors and parents into these pages, inviting us to pray as a way of re-narrating our lives into the story of Scripture, as modeled in the Christian calendar. They have found a way to do so with grace, simplicity, attention to a wide range of human emotions, and passages from every book of the Bible. To use this resource is to be led by wise pastoral guides into daily, active devotion, as well as unexpected moments of sweetness in friendship with God. My family and I will be reaching for this cherished book every day for many years to come."
—Peter Choi, City Church San Francisco

"In Teach Us to Pray, Lora A. Copley and Elizabeth Vander Haagen have given families a wonderful daily devotional that takes the profound truths of scripture and makes them available to people of all ages. They have created a resource rich with rituals and practices. Teach Us to Pray provides short, child-friendly readings and activities that bring families into God’s presence in a way that speaks to all, from children to teens to adults. By following the liturgical year, Teach Us to Pray offers a variety of readings and reflections while still providing rituals that are appreciated by children and reflect what is important in worship and our daily Christian walk."
—Laura Keeley and Robert J. Keeley, 14th Street Christian Reformed Church

"In their book Teach Us to Pray: Scripture-Centered Worship through the Year, Copley and Vander Haagen provide a wonderful pattern for daily family devotional time throughout the year. With the Christian calendar as the structure around which the book is organized, the authors present a robust and thoughtful pattern for this daily family prayer: preparing, inviting, stilling, singing, Bible reading, dwelling, praying and blessing. Each family member participates bodily and in stillness, silently and aloud, making the home the first place that children experience deep spiritual formation, with parents or guardians as tutors and guides of that experience. Influenced by the ancient practice of lectio divina, each week also includes a psalm or biblical song, and special days are accompanied by an additional Bible passage. Intercessions provide the seedbed for instilling care and concern for others personally, locally and globally. Geared towards families with young children, with built in flexibility in time and structure to account for fidgety little ones, Teach Us to Pray shapes and reinforces habits and postures of prayer for the entire family."
—Lisa Weaver, Catholic University

Teach Us to Pray: A Journey with Family Worship

"Four years ago we were asked to work together to create a prayer book that could help families―—even families with young children!— worship together." Read the full article published in Reformed Worship.

About the Authors

Lora A. Copley is an ordained minister in the Christian Reformed Church who teaches in a pastoral leadership program on the Navajo Nation and also at Rehoboth Christian High School. She prays with her husband and four children in Gallup, New Mexico.

Elizabeth Vander Haagen is a minister of the Christian Reformed Church in North America. She graduated from Calvin College and Princeton Theological Seminary and lives with her husband and children in Grand Rapids, Michigan.