There is a big insert in the Jan Kingdom Ministry about the Family Worship Night (which has evolved new capital letters - like Governing Body.)
Some helpful suggestions include the head of the household putting an agenda on the fridge door a few days ahead for the family to "build excitement and anticipation" (I kid you not.) The provision is compared to the Sabbath arrangement as a gift from God. And a young married pioneer couple say that they wake up in the morning & say with excitement "Today is our Family Worship Night."
I'll scan & post when I get a chance.
For such a supposedly informal arrangement there does seem an awful lot of instructions with numerous suggestions as to what could be done (dressing up in bible costumes , role playing to pre-empt issues at school etc)- one gets the impression that most JWs just haven't been bothering.
I know that when I was growing up the family study was very rarely conducted (although that didn't stop the family going on circuit assemblies & my father pretending that we had a regular study.)
They're preposterous. In a way, I'm glad they're "suggesting" this, because I think it may wake people up to how loony they've become. For one thing, how is it a gift from God? Did Jehovah speak directly to the GB, and instruct them to institute a Family Worship Night? Did God instruct the Writing Department to compare it to the Sabbath? Did all the GB members recieve instructions in a dream the night before their weekly meeting instructing them put in motion this wonderful arrangement? If the answer to those questions is no, then its not a gift from God. God had nothing to do with this "arrangement", or gift as they put it. Another thing, why do they still promote pioneers as if they're respected or something? I can't speak for all congregations, but I know enough that could care less about pioneering or pioneers. I could care less what some young pioneer couple thinks. It's tantamount to creature worship the way they try impressing upon you the status of pioneers.
Kids dressing up in bible costumes is ridiculous and borderline idolatrous too. The men and women in the bible were just that.......men and women. Fleshly people, sinful people. They left behind good and bad examples, and experiences that we can relate to today. We're not supposed to worship them. We're not supposed to instruct our kids to worship them by dressing up like them. It's similar to how the WT discourages youth from idolizing sports stars by having posters in their bedrooms, or tee shirts with their favorite athletes face on them.
I find it hilarious that they're suggesting the head of the household stick a post-it on the refrigerator door to build anticipation for this arrangement. As a kid, when dad said we're going to DisneyWorld, I got excited. When dad said lets go to Long John Silvers, I got excited. When dad said lets have the family study, I wanted to kill myself just like a bunch of other JW children. Considering how many articles they publish on family worship night, and the need for families to have the family study, apparently a bunch of adults feel the same way I felt as a kid.
