I used to believe that if families prayed daily together, read scriptures daily together, and held family home evening weekly together, it’d keep the children in the church.
I don’t believe that anymore.
I used to believe it because that’s what I was taught. And my own experience confirmed it for me. We didn’t pray, read, or hold family home evening regularly growing up, and all my siblings have left the church at one point (two have been away for decades). Same with Mary.
We were convinced that the two were related. Our families didn’t read, pray, or have family home evening regularly, which didn’t keep our siblings in the church.
As a result, we were determined to be diligent about holding these three things regularly. And being home from my mission for only 6 months when we married, I was still very much in a black-and-white, exact-obedience mindset.
And for the most part, we’ve done it. We’ve missed it here and there, but we’ve had family home evening nearly every week for the last 24 years. We’ve prayed as a family at least once every day, but often twice (more if you include meals). We’ve read scriptures regularly, several times a week, if not daily.
But it didn’t work.
Sure, we have one child just months away from getting the Melchizedek Priesthood, going to the temple, and serving a mission. But, at the same time, half of our children are no longer with the church.
And it’s not just our family. I know lots of families who regularly prayed and read together and had regular family home evening yet who have some children who are disenfranchised from the church. Several of these families even live in our ward, families whose fathers have served in bishoprics and stake presidencies.
Likewise, I know families who rarely read and prayed together and rarely held family home evening, and they still have children who go to church.
Sure, it’s all anecdotal, but it’s enough to convince me that none of it’s a guarantee.
