FORT WORTH, Texas — When Dallas and Martha Harvey packed up their life in New Jersey to move to Fort Worth so that Dallas could begin pursuing his master of divinity at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, their goal was to be prepared for future church roles. Three years later, however, it has stirred a calling that has launched a ministry reaching families across the country.

One year into her husband’s seminary work, Martha decided to pursue her own children’s ministry certificate through Southwestern, having served in children’s ministry most of her adult life. While pursuing that certificate, she took a family ministry class led by adjunct professor Jonathan Williams that impacted her deeply.

“When I went into that class with Dr. Williams, I just felt like it really articulated the weight that I had felt on the front lines of ministry for a long time,” Martha said. “And it’s really that the church can only do so much until parents take ownership of their God-given responsibility and the gift of discipling their children.”

Dallas took the same class the following semester and experienced a similar inspiration.

“It shook my foundations of everything I thought I knew as a father, as a minister,” Dallas said. “We’ve missed, somehow, this whole command for parents to disciple their children. We’ve given that responsibility to the church, to the professionals. And thus, our kids aren’t being discipled the way that they could.”

Martha recalled her time in children’s ministry, encouraging parents to disciple and have devotional times with their children, only to be told that they didn’t know how. She pointed out how home discipleship was typical before the 20th century, but as generations have gone on without much in-home discipleship, parents are simply left ignorant on how to lead.

This discouraging and alarming response from parents led Martha to an idea to help those parents.

It began as a “Christmas Box.” She figured giving out a small advent kit to members of her church could help bolster home discipleship for the month of December. She wrote short devotionals and question pages for them. She included candles and matches and other small, fun trinkets in the boxes to make the devotional times feel more interactive.

“I was really trying to just make it like a one-stop shop, even the verses written out in the devotional, so if they’re in the car or at a restaurant and they didn’t bring their Bible, or they don’t want to get on their phone and use the app, it’s just written there,” Martha said. “So everything they need was in this box.”

She made more than 50 boxes, and every single one was taken home by church members. After the initial run, the families in her church continued to ask if she would make more, so she did, eventually handing out 100 boxes by the next Christmas season.

“The stories we heard from that box were so cool, like families that had never read the Bible together started reading the Bible,” Martha said. “They went all through Advent season, which are these really intentional moments where they really brought faith into their homes. And because it was a fun box, their kids were begging them to do it.”

Following that season, the Harveys realized what they had created was something unique, and they wanted to share it with more people. The WITH Kit was born.

The Harveys began officially developing and creating their “Worship In The Home,” or WITH Kits, in December of last year, seeking to create monthly boxes with weekly devotionals that families can subscribe to receive in the mail.

“When we pray about and talk about what each devotional guide will be centered on and the passages that it will focus on, I feel like God is using a lot of our experiences and knowledge that we have been able to build at Southwestern to be able to write these with excellence,” Martha said. “It grows us spiritually as we write them, and God teaches us a lot along the way.”

The boxes themselves try to bring something new to the home every month with the devotionals. One month they made a box that could be decorated and colored on, including crayons with the devotional. Another month they included small crafts families can do together. Each box they send has a rubber duck in it, just for fun. While their numbers have dramatically increased since they began handing them out at church one Christmas season, Martha and Dallas each still hand pack the boxes, working to make each month memorable.

“We’re here from the first word of the devotional to when it arrives at your home,” Martha said.

They practice the devotionals with their own family, which includes a 7-year-old and a 4-year-old.

“They help us so much. They help ‘kid-approve’ our box contents, crafts and themes,” Martha said. “In fact, I talk to my daughter about it a lot when we go on walks around the seminary.”

In less than a year, their reach has expanded from Texas to California to Oklahoma and New Jersey, their boxes shipping from coast to coast. With goals to eventually create “milestone kits” for events like weddings, new babies, graduations and even moments of grief, the Harveys are not low on ideas with which they hope to equip families in every season with tools aimed at cultivating a culture of worship at home.

“The biggest goal is just to see worship in the home and homes transformed,” Martha said. “…We truly believe if the home is transformed, so will the church.”

“To see parents empowered to disciple their children in the home, worship together as a family in ways they never knew were possible, that they could do what they’ve never been trained to do as a result of these boxes — that’s the big vision,” Dallas said. “We want to see that just change our entire generation and the next generation of parents as a result. We want to be part of that.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Remington Cook is a news writer with Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.)