How to Raise a Christian Family: 5 Key Practices to Start Today

Imagine standing in Joshua’s shoes for a second.

A leader. A parent. A man trying to hold the line in a culture pulling people in every direction. He looks around and says, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15)

Joshua didn’t hang a slogan on his kitchen wall or share a flowery, encouraging Facebook quote with his friends. It was a declaration. A line in the sand. Joshua wasn’t trying to raise “good kids”, he was establishing identity in Christ. He was choosing who his family would belong to, who they’d reflect, and what kind of legacy they’d leave. He was mirroring how to raise a Christian family. 

Now fast forward to today to your life, your home, your children.

The world your family is growing up in is louder, faster, and far more complicated than Joshua’s. But the calling is still the same: raise a family that doesn’t just believe in God, but lives like they belong to Him.

So if you’re wondering how to raise a Christian family in the middle of all the chaos, distraction, and pressure, you’re not alone. And you’re not without a roadmap.

Let’s walk through some real, biblical, key principles that help you build the kind of family culture that points to Jesus and allows you to answer the question “how to raise a Christian family” with confidence.

Your 5 Key Principles on How to Raise a Christian Family:

1. Church Should Be a Non-Negotiable

Let’s start here because this one’s easy to let slide. Life gets busy. Sunday becomes “catch up” day or in the world of TikTok, it’s “Sunday Reset” day. But as you see in scripture, the early church gathered because they needed each other to stay accountable and in fellowship (Acts 2:42–47).

Your family needs that too. This is how you raise a Christian family. 

Make church part of the routine. Not because it checks a religious box, but because it reorients your family around truth, worship, and the presence of God. Let your kids grow up knowing: “This is what we do. We show up. We grow. We worship together.”

2. Open the Bible Together

Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
And here’s the truth: your kids are walking a path that is getting darker by the day. They need light.

Don’t overcomplicate this. You don’t need to be a Bible scholar to lead your family through the Word. Pick a book of the Bible and read a few verses at breakfast. Try “a Proverb a day” in the morning or evening. Ask what they notice and keep them involved in the conversation. Don’t just read the verse, close the Bible, and move on with your day. You're representing to them that you're intentional about how you raise a Christian family in your everyday lives. 

This is vital to your children as the world is ever-changing. They need constant exposure to the truth. The truth of the Lord is what will push them, make them better, and guide them.

(If you want a starting point for some verses to read together, we love referring back to these 6 passages from Deuteronomy on Building a Strong Family with a Biblical Foundation!)

3. Pray First, Pray Often

1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, “Pray without ceasing.”
In other words, make prayer your family’s first response, not the last resort. 

Before school? Pray.
In the car? Pray.
Something hard happened? Pray.
Something awesome happened? Definitely pray.

And try to always do it when you are together. One person can say a prayer and everyone can bow heads in agreement or you can practice the time-old tradition of “popcorn prayer” for prayer requests. 

Teach your kids that prayer is formational. It’s their direct line to the Lord, to just have a conversation and be in fellowship with Him. 

4. Tell the Stories

You’ve got stories of answered prayers, of waiting on God, of messing up and watching Him show up anyway. Don’t keep those to yourself.

Your kids need to hear how God has been real to you; this is vital in how you raise a Christian family.

Deuteronomy 6:20–21 says to expect your kids to ask, “Why do we follow God?”and your job is to tell them the story.

Make sure you’re prepared for telling those stories using these 4 practical ideas. Learning how to share these family stories will help you to identify the themes of your family stories, choose your key stories to focus on, and paint a picture so they can share in the magnitude of who God is and what He’s done in your lives. 

5. Obedience Reinforces Values

This can be a tough one. Let’s be honest, sometimes you just want your kids to behave. But God’s not after perfect behavior. He’s after their heart posture. Explain to them that obedience is biblical, and it is expected. 

It’s also important to reiterate that the values you want to build your family foundation on will also be reinforced through obedience - it’s setting the standard you want to live by, and sticking to it. 

In John 14:23, Jesus says, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching.”

Obedience will flow from love, not fear. Teach your kids that following Jesus is from a place of honoring, respecting, and loving who He is and what He’s done for you and not about performing for approval.

The Kind of Family You Get to Build

Raising a Christian family is one of the most meaningful things you’ll ever do. Because it’s holy and eternal work.

When you pursue the blueprint on how to raise a Christian family, you’ll be met with expectation, opportunity, and faithfulness. 

-

The beauty is that you don’t have to figure it all out alone. If you’re looking for a way to get clear and more intentional about your next steps, learn more about the Family Legacy Study.

Through this study, you’ll explore what it looks like to define your family’s mission, values, and identity. And you’ll do it all through a biblical lens and a practical, step-by-step process designed for real families like yours.