I used to believe that if families prayed daily together, read scriptures daily together, and held family home evening weekly together, it\u2019d keep the children in the church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t believe that anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
I used to believe it because that\u2019s what I was taught. And my own experience confirmed it for me. We didn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We were convinced that the two were related. Our families didn\u2019t read, pray, or have family home evening regularly, which didn\u2019t keep our siblings in the church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And for the most part, we\u2019ve done it. We\u2019ve missed it here and there, but we\u2019ve had family home evening nearly every week for the last 24 years. We\u2019ve prayed as a family at least once every day, but often twice (more if you include meals). We\u2019ve read scriptures regularly, several times a week, if not daily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it didn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sure, it\u2019s all anecdotal, but it\u2019s enough to convince me that none of it\u2019s a guarantee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n