Motherhood is hard work. But as a Christian mother, Sunday morning offers renewal, encouragement, and a time to refocus on what truly matters. Here are a few ways you can prepare your heart (and home) for church as a mother.
I look forward to Sunday morning because it is the anchor to my week. It’s the starting point. It’s my refresher.
Attending Sunday morning worship gives me the encouragement and time to refocus that I so desperately need as a Christian mother.
The demands of everyday life can stack up quickly, and it’s easy to let myself be distracted by them. Luckily, there are things I can do to prepare my mind and heart so I can focus on what matters – worshipping God with fellow believers!
If you struggle to wrap up the laundry or meal prep ahead of Sunday morning worship, I hope the tips in this blog post encourage you and give you the peace you need to head into Sunday worship with a clear heart and mind.
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Table of Contents
Practical Homemaking Tips to Prepare for Sunday Worship
Tips for Every Member of Your Family
Tips for Strengthening Your Spiritual Life
More Enriching Christian Motherhood Content
Practical Homemaking Tips to Prepare for Sunday Worship
I am a firm believer that outer order can lead to inner calm. I don’t mean this as a sort of meditative guide. I mean that when your home is in order, your mind, as a mother, isn’t making a list of things to tend to after worship is over.
Notice I didn’t say clean. Let’s be honest – if you have young children, as I do, your home may never truly be clean!
As you walk through this list, I hope you can hear my heart when I say sometimes the laundry can be left in the hamper for a Sunday, and everything will be okay. The goal is to get your heart and mind focused on worship.
So use these homemaking tips loosely. Pick and choose them for what works for you and your family in whatever season of life you’re currently in.
1. Put the House to Bed
On Saturdays, everything gets put to bed. Prep any side dishes, sauces, or snacks you may need for Sunday to make the day go more smoothly. Once those are properly stored, the kitchen gets a good wipe-down. Any related kitchen projects, like sourdough and ferments, can “go to sleep” in the fridge.
Wrap up the laundry and resist the urge to start another load. Put away what you have and get church clothes in order so Sunday isn’t a hectic rush.
Finally, pick up the house. You don’t need to dust the ceiling fans or pick up the couch to clean underneath it. But you can collect the stray items that have become orphaned throughout the week and return them to their homes. For us, that always seems to be books and blankets. I am constantly returning books to the bookshelves and blankets to their baskets.
2. Prepare for Sunday on Saturday
There are several things you can do to reduce your mental load on Sundays. Prepare Bible activity bags on Saturday and store them by the front door, alongside church shoes, to avoid that last-minute rush out the door.
Gather gifts for friends or swaps you’ll be making at church and put them by the front door.
Finally, write up your check that you will be gifting to the church before you panic while the collection plate passes you by.
3. Meal Plan
Sundays are simple for me. That usually means we have leftovers or a crockpot meal. We attend worship on Sunday mornings and Sunday nights, so it’s difficult for me to make a warm meal from scratch that my family will love without also making us late for church.
Even if you don’t throw something into the crock pot, you can have an idea of what you and your family will eat for lunch. Are you going out after services? Great! You just made a plan for lunch.
4. Put Gas in the Car
This is a master hack for families with young children. If you want to be late for church, forget to put gas in the car on Saturday.
5. Prep the Diaper Bag
As we go about our week, we will use diapers, wipes, and outfits from the diaper bag we might desperately need come Sunday. So replenish the diaper bag on Saturday!
And don’t forget to pack a snack and some hand sanitizer for you, Mom. That diaper bag is a resource for you just as much as it is for your baby!
6. Refresh Your Purse
If you’re like me, receipts and children’s toys find their way into my purse every week. Take a moment to remove them from your purse so they aren’t tumbling out when you reach for hand sanitizer or lip balm.
Tips for Every Member of Your Family
The heart of a mother trains, nurtures, and rears her children. A mother loves, honors, and respects her husband.
You can take a little time to nurture your family before Sunday morning! Here are my top tips.
7. Review Expectations with Children
Behavior expectations should be explained to children well in advance of any meeting, event, or gathering. They need time to ask questions, and you need time to explain age-appropriate expectations.
When we are on our way to worship and Bible class, I explain our family’s expectations. Even though my children are school-age, I still review expectations. Because as they have aged, expectations have changed!
8. Help Your Husband
You can support your husband by asking if he’s playing an active role in worship. Is he going to be leading a lesson or singing? Are you a greeter? Is he serving the Lord’s Supper?
There is no harm in making sure you are on the same page. It can even influence what you pack in your diaper bag (an extra activity for a child if you plan on staying late) or when you leave your home (earlier if you plan to be a greeter).
9. Let Children Prepare Their Bible Bags
Children just learning to walk are more than capable of helping build a Bible bag. As your children grow, they can take over a sense of ownership in their Bible bag and begin selecting activities themselves.
In our home, all activities and books have to be approved by Mom and Dad. We had a streak of letting our children take toys to worship, and there was more than one time that a noisy toy made it into worship when it shouldn’t have. Oops!
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10. Strive To Be Early, But Don’t Stress When You Aren’t
If you have small children, there’s almost no Sunday you will be on time to worship. But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth trying to achieve!
Arriving early to worship allows you to socialize and get settled. It may also give you time to center your thoughts on what you came to do – worship God!
11. Review Bible Class Lessons
There is no better way to get your mind right than to “review your homework.”
What was the main message of last week’s class? What topic will you be reviewing today? Can you prepare comments for today’s class?
Reviewing notes from last week’s Bible class and sermon is a great way to prepare yourself for Sunday morning. Maybe you wake up early and stew over your notes with a cup of coffee. Maybe you take a few moments just before bed and review your notes.
Preparing a Mother’s Heart
If you’re like me, you’re wondering if the church outfits you selected have stains or wrinkles. As you’re walking into church, you may say a silent prayer that your children behave in Bible class.
Moms worry – it’s part of the gig! But it’s critical to remove the worry and truly focus on God. Here are a few ways to help as you prepare for Sunday morning worship.
12. Practice What You Learned From Previous Bible Class Notes and Sermon Notes
Our preacher is fond of preaching in a series. I know as long as I keep a copy of last week’s notes, I can stay abreast of what is discussed in the sermon. But I don’t want to just let it sit in my Bible bag – I want to put it into practice!
Take the time to reread your notes. Pray about it. Find a way to put it into practice. I have heard wonderful women in my life bring a neighbor cookies after a lesson on kindness. I have received cards from friends after they heard a lesson on encouragement.
There are so many good deeds you can perform to apply what you learn in Bible class and worship.
13. Stay Thankful
Don’t fall prey to thanking God last. What a thought!
Philippians 4:6 tells us, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” I was in a ladies’ Bible class one evening when the teacher said, “Thanksgiving is the last on the list, but what if we took thankfulness to God first?”
Could you imagine how you could transform your heart and mind if you purposefully started with thanksgiving?
14. Pray
The power of God amazes me when I think of prayer. How many must be praying, and He still hears my prayers?
Prayer can easily be modeled for children in a family prayer. Let them hear you pray. Show them what it means to be thankful to God, fight for your friends and family spiritually, and cast your cares upon the Lord.
15. Let Go of Perfection
Insisting on perfection will only send you into paralysis. And we know that, truly, sincerely, only Jesus was perfect.
Your dinner table doesn’t need a pristine table setting to be ready for guests. Your home doesn’t need origami toilet paper to be ready for guests. Your wardrobe doesn’t need to be dry-cleaned in order for you to be ready to go to worship.
When you let go of your standards of perfection for time with God and community, your heart will soften in ways you couldn’t have imagined.
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16. Pursue – Even After Sleepless Nights
The heart of a Godly mother is focused on the Lord. Even after a hard temper tantrum. Even after a sleepless night.
Don’t use the hard parts of motherhood as an excuse to stay away from worship. It’s simply too important to miss! Show up tired. Show up with your children. Keep attending even when things don’t look picture-perfect.
Your dedication to your faith is what matters.
17. Settle in to Community
Notice I didn’t say, “find a community.” I said, “Settle into a community.”
Everyone can find a community. But settling in to a community requires a willing heart. A heart willing to put themselves out there, be the first one to say hello, or leave the house 15 minutes early to grab a coffee for a friend.
When you contribute to the community of young families at your congregation, you can widen the support system that will get you through those rough mornings, toddler meltdowns, and overall hard times that come our way.
Look for women your age, women with children the same age as your children, or a small group in your congregation to get plugged in to your church’s community.
18. Shift Your Focus
Our church keeps our children present during our worship service. It acts as a sort of training ground and example for our children. Their participation in worship is just as vital as ours!
When we have our children with us, the attention is very often drawn away from the lesson and onto our children. Someone needs a snack, a diaper change, a cuddle, or a kiss. Someone else might want to tell stories or need gentle correction that you don’t, in fact, attempt to do a headstand in worship.
As a mother training her children, it’s okay to shift your focus from the lesson to training your children. This is where engaging with the lesson outside of worship comes in handy. You can review the streamed lesson or your notes when you get home and still walk away from worshipping with children spiritually enriched.
19. Use What’s Available To You
Our church has a few cry rooms and a kitchen. I have taken both my children to both places multiple times over the years.
Sometimes a baby just won’t settle. That’s what a cry room is for! Very rarely can I expect my infant or toddler to last the whole service with no interruptions.
20. Take a Deep Breath
Sometimes the overwhelm of getting my children to worship after a hard morning is enough to keep my focus the entire day. But I can’t let it! I need the time with my church family to reset and strengthen myself for the coming week.
When toddler meltdowns get tough, take a deep breath. When everything goes wrong as you’re trying to get out the door for worship, take a deep breath.
Tips for Strengthening Your Spiritual Life
The Christian faith demands continuous study, dedication, and practice. Don’t let the busyness of motherhood keep you from studying Scripture and praying!
Here are a few tips for strengthening your spiritual life.
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21. Read Your Bible Daily
The best things are always the simple things.
When you read your Bible every day, you are creating a wonderful habit that will center you as you go about your day.
You don’t have to use a fancy commentary, but they do help.
22. Go Deeper in Bible Study
Commentaries, additional sermons, and even understanding the Hebrew and Greek of the Old and New Testaments are great ways to enrich your Bible study.
23. Study With Others
A group Bible study, similar to a commentary, can help you better understand what God is trying to communicate. Other perspectives can also help you understand your sisters in Christ, their struggles, and how you can help them.
24. Pray With Your Husband
As the spiritual leader of your home, your husband has a weight of responsibility on him. Pray for him and with him. Prayer is one of the easiest ways you can both grow closer to God and strengthen your relationship with your husband.
25. Mentor Young Women
Young ladies can always use spiritual direction. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there! Half the battle of mentorship is simply making yourself available.
More Enriching Christian Motherhood Content
I am so passionate about you running a Godly home! A homemaker is in such a noble position. But why? I break that down a bit in “What is a Homemaker?”
Homemakers don’t have to be mothers! If you are a newlywed or a woman who hopes to one day be married, I have a short Bible study about Biblical womanhood. Cut through culture’s noise and truly focus on what God has to say about womanhood.
You can also fight culture by dressing modestly or hosting a ladies’ day. Check out my most popular blog post, “How to Plan a Church Ladies Day,” and download my free guide!
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