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The Spiritually Vibrant Home: The Power of Messy Prayers, Loud Tables, and Open Doors
We all long for homes where we can thrive and flourish. What does it take to have a spiritually vibrant household?
Don Everts invites us to contemplate what the Bible says about households and consider what a new research project has revealed by pulling back the curtains on everyday households of faith. Original research from the Barna Group and Lutheran Hour Ministries shows that some of the healthiest, most vibrant homes extend beyond the nuclear family and include people that may not be biologically related but feel like family. These households have vital practices of spirituality, hospitality, and community that make them delightful places for living and thriving.
In the end you might just be surprised by how God wants to work in and through your household. And you'll have practical steps for nurturing a vibrant household of faith, no matter what stage of life you are in.
Don Everts invites us to contemplate what the Bible says about households and consider what a new research project has revealed by pulling back the curtains on everyday households of faith. Original research from the Barna Group and Lutheran Hour Ministries shows that some of the healthiest, most vibrant homes extend beyond the nuclear family and include people that may not be biologically related but feel like family. These households have vital practices of spirituality, hospitality, and community that make them delightful places for living and thriving.
In the end you might just be surprised by how God wants to work in and through your household. And you'll have practical steps for nurturing a vibrant household of faith, no matter what stage of life you are in.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2020
37 people are currently reading
1252 people want to read
About the author
Don Everts
38 books28 followersDon Everts began writing while spending nearly two decades on college campuses in Washington and Colorado. He wrote his first book, Jesus with Dirty Feet, as a 25 year-old who had just gotten married and moved to Boulder, CO.
Since then Don has published 12 books with InterVarsity Press and is currently mulling over writing an uplifting zombie novel.
Having finally gotten off the college campus, Don is serving as a minister at a nearly 200 year-old Presbyterian Church outside of St. Louis, MO.
Since then Don has published 12 books with InterVarsity Press and is currently mulling over writing an uplifting zombie novel.
Having finally gotten off the college campus, Don is serving as a minister at a nearly 200 year-old Presbyterian Church outside of St. Louis, MO.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
March 5, 2023
Nu putem sa ii obligam pe copiii noștri sa aleagă credința noastră, dar putem să le oferim un cadru cât mai bun în care să se dezvolte și să guste din ea.
Cum? Cercetătorii de la Barna Group au studiat viața multor crestini autentici pentru a vedea care lucruri din copilaria și adolescența lor i-au influențat cel mai mult în a continua pe calea credinței.
Rezultatele lor:
- Messy prayers - practicarea disciplinilor spirituale in familie - rugaciune zilnică cu copiii + minim 1 data pe săptămână citit din Biblie ca familie.
Rugaciuni reale, in mijlocul vieții (adesea haotice) de familie. La masa. Seara cu copiii. În momentele în care avem nevoie de puterea Lui pentru a arata dragoste fata de membrii familiei. Rugăciune când lucrurile au scăpat de sub control și avem cu toții nevoie de iertarea lui Dumnezeu pentru cum ne-am comportat. Etc.
- Loud Tables - activități făcute în familie, în care ideile privind principiile crestine sa fie discutate informal, atunci când se ivește un context oportun. Lucruri care să lege familia.
- Open Doors - comunitatea de oameni crestini pe care ii primim in casa noastra. Prezenta altora în viața noastră de familie (care să nu fie rude!). Copiii au nevoie de alți adulți pe care să îi poată respecta și de care sa poată fi influențați. Cartea spune de 3! 3 adulți crestini, altii decât părinții, care să fie alături de ei.
Concluzia?
- O masă mare și gălăgioasă la care să aibă loc și alții
- Timp investit pentru comunitate
- Alegeri care să ne ducă copiii în contexte în care sa relaționeze cu alți adulți crestini
- Uși larg deschise
- Momente grele, frustrante, pline de emoții? => rugaciune
Cum? Cercetătorii de la Barna Group au studiat viața multor crestini autentici pentru a vedea care lucruri din copilaria și adolescența lor i-au influențat cel mai mult în a continua pe calea credinței.
Rezultatele lor:
- Messy prayers - practicarea disciplinilor spirituale in familie - rugaciune zilnică cu copiii + minim 1 data pe săptămână citit din Biblie ca familie.
Rugaciuni reale, in mijlocul vieții (adesea haotice) de familie. La masa. Seara cu copiii. În momentele în care avem nevoie de puterea Lui pentru a arata dragoste fata de membrii familiei. Rugăciune când lucrurile au scăpat de sub control și avem cu toții nevoie de iertarea lui Dumnezeu pentru cum ne-am comportat. Etc.
- Loud Tables - activități făcute în familie, în care ideile privind principiile crestine sa fie discutate informal, atunci când se ivește un context oportun. Lucruri care să lege familia.
- Open Doors - comunitatea de oameni crestini pe care ii primim in casa noastra. Prezenta altora în viața noastră de familie (care să nu fie rude!). Copiii au nevoie de alți adulți pe care să îi poată respecta și de care sa poată fi influențați. Cartea spune de 3! 3 adulți crestini, altii decât părinții, care să fie alături de ei.
Concluzia?
- O masă mare și gălăgioasă la care să aibă loc și alții
- Timp investit pentru comunitate
- Alegeri care să ne ducă copiii în contexte în care sa relaționeze cu alți adulți crestini
- Uși larg deschise
- Momente grele, frustrante, pline de emoții? => rugaciune
January 20, 2025
Not intimidating at all and super practical.
I enjoyed this one.
I enjoyed this one.
April 12, 2025
I found this to be an incredibly timely read full of hope and warmth. I'm looking forward to implementing some of these practices in my own home.
May 26, 2020
Don Everts has teamed up with the Barna Group to provide a resource for parents who are asking the question: “What does it take to have a spiritually vibrant household?” The process of studying homes that fit that description yielded three essential markers that characterize The Spiritually Vibrant Home :
1. Messy Prayers
A spiritually vibrant household relates to God. At our house, “messy” was definitely the best description of our prayer times, our family devotions, and our attempts at spiritual training.
Everts employs the metaphor of a fireplace to portray the “messy prayers” life. A neat furnace certainly provides much more reliable heat with less fuss, muss, and bother, but “fireplaces are magical and have a way of drawing everyone together in memorable ways. And such is the case with households that relate to God together.” (85)
2. Loud Tables
Spiritual conversations are an important component of the spiritually vibrant household, and it was good news to me that the Everts household also gathered around a loud table. When our kids were all here at home, we sang hymns at breakfast with a St. Bernard howling a descant, and there was at least one instance when our Advent candles ignited a paper napkin. Even so, we connected at a heart level.
Just as we begin our meals with light fare, provide a steady diet to our families, and offer a rich dessert at the end, our conversations can begin with light topics. We should meet together frequently, and a regular rhythm of connection keeps the conversational flow natural and comfortable. When it’s time for deeper, more vulnerable topics, the foundation of trust has been laid.
3. Open Doors
Thoughts on hospitality always make me smile, because our home has been blessed with a steady flow of wonderful people, some of whom have been adopted as adjunct family members. Everts makes the point that it’s certainly much easier and safer to keep our household submerged like a submarine, but God calls us to be rescue ships. Families daunted by the idea of an open door should proceed slowly, trusting God for what’s next as they invite others into their circle of love and learning.
Readers should be aware of the difference between causation and correlation in looking at a set of data. Do open doors, messy prayers, and loud tables create a spiritually vibrant home–or are they a by-product? For example, “households that engaged in spiritual conversations did more of everything together when compared with households that had no spiritual conversations. We can’t exactly determine causation, but… spending time together having fun, eating food, and doing chores primes the pump for deeper interactions.”
Young families will find the message of The Spiritually Vibrant Home both helpful and hopeful, for the data reveals that there’s nothing magical or mysterious emerging from Everts’s collaboration with Barna. From my vantage point on the edge of an empty-ing nest, I’m grateful to discover that the Lord was faithful in his leading as we made decisions throughout the years about the kind of home we wanted to have.
He will do the same for you.
Many thanks to InterVarsity Press for providing a copy of this book to facilitate my review, which, of course, is offered freely and with honesty.
1. Messy Prayers
A spiritually vibrant household relates to God. At our house, “messy” was definitely the best description of our prayer times, our family devotions, and our attempts at spiritual training.
Everts employs the metaphor of a fireplace to portray the “messy prayers” life. A neat furnace certainly provides much more reliable heat with less fuss, muss, and bother, but “fireplaces are magical and have a way of drawing everyone together in memorable ways. And such is the case with households that relate to God together.” (85)
2. Loud Tables
Spiritual conversations are an important component of the spiritually vibrant household, and it was good news to me that the Everts household also gathered around a loud table. When our kids were all here at home, we sang hymns at breakfast with a St. Bernard howling a descant, and there was at least one instance when our Advent candles ignited a paper napkin. Even so, we connected at a heart level.
Just as we begin our meals with light fare, provide a steady diet to our families, and offer a rich dessert at the end, our conversations can begin with light topics. We should meet together frequently, and a regular rhythm of connection keeps the conversational flow natural and comfortable. When it’s time for deeper, more vulnerable topics, the foundation of trust has been laid.
3. Open Doors
Thoughts on hospitality always make me smile, because our home has been blessed with a steady flow of wonderful people, some of whom have been adopted as adjunct family members. Everts makes the point that it’s certainly much easier and safer to keep our household submerged like a submarine, but God calls us to be rescue ships. Families daunted by the idea of an open door should proceed slowly, trusting God for what’s next as they invite others into their circle of love and learning.
Readers should be aware of the difference between causation and correlation in looking at a set of data. Do open doors, messy prayers, and loud tables create a spiritually vibrant home–or are they a by-product? For example, “households that engaged in spiritual conversations did more of everything together when compared with households that had no spiritual conversations. We can’t exactly determine causation, but… spending time together having fun, eating food, and doing chores primes the pump for deeper interactions.”
Young families will find the message of The Spiritually Vibrant Home both helpful and hopeful, for the data reveals that there’s nothing magical or mysterious emerging from Everts’s collaboration with Barna. From my vantage point on the edge of an empty-ing nest, I’m grateful to discover that the Lord was faithful in his leading as we made decisions throughout the years about the kind of home we wanted to have.
He will do the same for you.
Many thanks to InterVarsity Press for providing a copy of this book to facilitate my review, which, of course, is offered freely and with honesty.
September 5, 2025
Quick Pros:
- if you're into research-based stuff, this book is for you
- this book is explicitly and intentionally geared toward every demographic: singles, couples without kids, nuclear families, grandparents, empty nesters, single parents, etc.
- it's explanatory and identifies both causal and correlational factors without being prescriptive so you can get ideas without being pigeon-holed into one way of creating spiritual vibrancy
- lots of infographics ◡̈
General review: I found this book really helpful. In some ways, the attempt to be catchy doesn't quite feel like it's catching the main point of certain sections. But the gist of the book is essentially that a broader community of people at lots of different depths of faith being active parts of your household is the path to spiritual vibrancy. It results in more spontaneous and casual conversations about God, creates more opportunities for discipleship, and integrates our own relationships with God into every moment of our lives. For example, hospitality is not just correlated to people with strong faith, but rather they've found a causal link between hospitality actually deepening spiritual formation.
I wanted to read this book because I want my kids to grow up in a spiritually vibrant household that helps them think deeply and come to their own (hopefully strong) convictions of faith in Jesus. But I came away from it wanting to lead a book discussion in my Church because it would be such a good read for every Christian regardless of stage of life or intention of raising a family. It helps us look outside of our four walls and consider the ways we can serve and be served by those around us for the flourishing of the Kingdom of God.
- if you're into research-based stuff, this book is for you
- this book is explicitly and intentionally geared toward every demographic: singles, couples without kids, nuclear families, grandparents, empty nesters, single parents, etc.
- it's explanatory and identifies both causal and correlational factors without being prescriptive so you can get ideas without being pigeon-holed into one way of creating spiritual vibrancy
- lots of infographics ◡̈
General review: I found this book really helpful. In some ways, the attempt to be catchy doesn't quite feel like it's catching the main point of certain sections. But the gist of the book is essentially that a broader community of people at lots of different depths of faith being active parts of your household is the path to spiritual vibrancy. It results in more spontaneous and casual conversations about God, creates more opportunities for discipleship, and integrates our own relationships with God into every moment of our lives. For example, hospitality is not just correlated to people with strong faith, but rather they've found a causal link between hospitality actually deepening spiritual formation.
I wanted to read this book because I want my kids to grow up in a spiritually vibrant household that helps them think deeply and come to their own (hopefully strong) convictions of faith in Jesus. But I came away from it wanting to lead a book discussion in my Church because it would be such a good read for every Christian regardless of stage of life or intention of raising a family. It helps us look outside of our four walls and consider the ways we can serve and be served by those around us for the flourishing of the Kingdom of God.
April 3, 2023
Easy-to-read, concise book on what a spiritually vibrant Christian home looks like. Using scripture as well as research from a Barna study of families, Don Everts presents 3 key areas that define what makes a vibrant household: families that regularly participate in applying spiritual disciplines, engaging in spiritual conversations, and extending hospitality, or as he puts it: messy prayers, loud tables, and open doors.
Everts is clear that correlation doesn't equal causation, but "through everyday activities trust is built. And trust is an important prerequisite for spiritual conversations" (p. 119). The research shows spiritually vibrant homes are described as comfortable, loving, safe, peaceful, casual, joyful and playful. Researchers noted "Many members of households and extended households engage with one another in a number of dimensions, a diversity of interactions that can have positive correlation with the overall atmosphere and spiritual nourishment of a home" (p. 119).
Everts offers clear, doable suggestions--especially in the hospitality chapter. I read Rosaria Butterfield's book on hospitality which in contrast, is exasperating and impossible for the average family to accomplish (she also offered zero practical advice and condescended her family in the process). Everts has a high view of the family and the household, unlike Butterfield who seemingly can't balance family and serving others.
This is a book I'll continuously reference in the future. Would definitely recommend.
Everts is clear that correlation doesn't equal causation, but "through everyday activities trust is built. And trust is an important prerequisite for spiritual conversations" (p. 119). The research shows spiritually vibrant homes are described as comfortable, loving, safe, peaceful, casual, joyful and playful. Researchers noted "Many members of households and extended households engage with one another in a number of dimensions, a diversity of interactions that can have positive correlation with the overall atmosphere and spiritual nourishment of a home" (p. 119).
Everts offers clear, doable suggestions--especially in the hospitality chapter. I read Rosaria Butterfield's book on hospitality which in contrast, is exasperating and impossible for the average family to accomplish (she also offered zero practical advice and condescended her family in the process). Everts has a high view of the family and the household, unlike Butterfield who seemingly can't balance family and serving others.
This is a book I'll continuously reference in the future. Would definitely recommend.
November 8, 2022
Excellent! This tiny little book packs a punch!
I heard the author Don Everts on the FamilyLife today podcast and was enamored. Ever wondering if you’re doing ‘enough’? If you and your husband and teaching your children ‘enough’ about the love of God? About the Word of God? This book is for you!
Being a math nerd, the statistics in this book drew me in! So many statistics from Barna Group! Even if you aren’t a math nerd, it’s still so informative and helpful. They did a ton of polling to find out what key components give the results we so desire? Everts listed that out into three components - Messy Prayers, Loud Tables and Open Doors.
The Christian homes that had ‘messy’ prayers as in not perfect but genuine, and loud tables as in they had shared activities such as eating dinner together 3-4x per week and the Christian families that practiced heartfelt hospitality … those are the families whose children grew up understanding and eventually practicing that same faith. Those are the kids that continued the spiritual legacy!
Highly recommend this book. Everts breaks down those three points into bite size pieces very well also. This book is small in size and maybe 150(?) pages with many graphics so it doesn’t take long to get through.
I heard the author Don Everts on the FamilyLife today podcast and was enamored. Ever wondering if you’re doing ‘enough’? If you and your husband and teaching your children ‘enough’ about the love of God? About the Word of God? This book is for you!
Being a math nerd, the statistics in this book drew me in! So many statistics from Barna Group! Even if you aren’t a math nerd, it’s still so informative and helpful. They did a ton of polling to find out what key components give the results we so desire? Everts listed that out into three components - Messy Prayers, Loud Tables and Open Doors.
The Christian homes that had ‘messy’ prayers as in not perfect but genuine, and loud tables as in they had shared activities such as eating dinner together 3-4x per week and the Christian families that practiced heartfelt hospitality … those are the families whose children grew up understanding and eventually practicing that same faith. Those are the kids that continued the spiritual legacy!
Highly recommend this book. Everts breaks down those three points into bite size pieces very well also. This book is small in size and maybe 150(?) pages with many graphics so it doesn’t take long to get through.
April 8, 2025
3.5 ⭐️ a nice, short read that was very encouraging and convicting. Talked about practical ways of becoming a vibrant household. Main 3 points are: More prayers, more spiritual conversations, & opening up our homes. I liked that they did thorough research on this. Nothing too far from what I already knew, but it was good to be reminded and challenged.
March 17, 2023
I LOVED this book. Everts uses research & the Bible to explain how to have a spiritually vibrant household. This book would be great for a small book or book club. I especially loved the last chapter, focusing on hospitality
November 27, 2025
Fairly straightforward, in terms of what the research from Barna states. Best parts are the sections on hospitality and reflection on the biblical idea of household.
September 22, 2020
The Spiritually Vibrant Home, by Don Everts, is a practical book incorporating qualitative and quantitative research. Drawing on personal and professional experience, Everts sets out to answer the question, “What contributes to a spiritually vibrant home?” He writes, “We wanted to understand the rhythms with which households of faith gathered: the when, how, and why” (ix).
The book is divided into six chapters. Chapter one establishes a framework for understanding homelife, what Everts calls “the spiritual significance of the mundane” (11). Chapter 2 presents biblical, theological, and historic perspectives on households: what were they and who might be in them. Chapter 3 looks in depth at the Barna Group research on households of faith. Of specific relevance is the diversity data showing the ages and make up of households surveyed. This chapter also summarizes findings that spiritually vibrant homes “regularly participate in applying spiritual disciplines, engaging in spiritual conversations, and extending hospitality” (72). Everts creatively titles these three lifestyle expressions as “Messy Prayers, Loud Tables, and Open Doors.” Each of these are expounded and discussed respectively in the chapters 4-6.
Far from being merely a reflective—which is backwards looking—the book aims to encourage. Everts observes, “Anyone can choose to pursue spiritual vibrancy” (75). That means there is hope for each of us. Throughout the book are sets of questions that readers can ponder individually, with others in their household, or in small groups. Lest this sound like an exclusion of unmarried and never married people or empty nesters, the research reveals a surprising and refreshing breadth of home composition—including parents, grandparents, and non-relatives, Perhaps most pertinent to our current global environment—the Covid-19 pandemic—Everts observes, “Isolation is actually a risk factor for spiritual vibrancy” (158).
Supplemental material is provided by the publisher, Lutheran Hour Ministries, through hyperlinks. These free and paid resources offer support to individuals and households seeking to become more spiritually vibrant. Anyone curious about growing the spiritual vibrancy of their own household should consider this a practical resource in identifying spiritually formative practices.
The book is divided into six chapters. Chapter one establishes a framework for understanding homelife, what Everts calls “the spiritual significance of the mundane” (11). Chapter 2 presents biblical, theological, and historic perspectives on households: what were they and who might be in them. Chapter 3 looks in depth at the Barna Group research on households of faith. Of specific relevance is the diversity data showing the ages and make up of households surveyed. This chapter also summarizes findings that spiritually vibrant homes “regularly participate in applying spiritual disciplines, engaging in spiritual conversations, and extending hospitality” (72). Everts creatively titles these three lifestyle expressions as “Messy Prayers, Loud Tables, and Open Doors.” Each of these are expounded and discussed respectively in the chapters 4-6.
Far from being merely a reflective—which is backwards looking—the book aims to encourage. Everts observes, “Anyone can choose to pursue spiritual vibrancy” (75). That means there is hope for each of us. Throughout the book are sets of questions that readers can ponder individually, with others in their household, or in small groups. Lest this sound like an exclusion of unmarried and never married people or empty nesters, the research reveals a surprising and refreshing breadth of home composition—including parents, grandparents, and non-relatives, Perhaps most pertinent to our current global environment—the Covid-19 pandemic—Everts observes, “Isolation is actually a risk factor for spiritual vibrancy” (158).
Supplemental material is provided by the publisher, Lutheran Hour Ministries, through hyperlinks. These free and paid resources offer support to individuals and households seeking to become more spiritually vibrant. Anyone curious about growing the spiritual vibrancy of their own household should consider this a practical resource in identifying spiritually formative practices.
June 8, 2020
Is your home a place of spiritual thriving and flourishing? What would your spouse say? What would your kids say? In The Spiritually Vibrant Home, Don Everts shows us the power of messy prayers, loud tables, and open doors to empower spiritually vibrant homes.
Spiritual Significance
Everts is not a stranger to a busy work life and full family life. He is a writer for Lutheran Hour Ministries and associate pastor at Bonhomme Presbyterian Church in St. Louis. He and his wife live in a multigenerational household in the St. Luis area with their three children and Don’s mother, plus a dog and cat.
In 8 chapters (including an introduction and conclusion), Everts gives us a theology of the home and how it can be a place of spiritual significance. In many ways, it can actually be our primary base of spiritual significance, as he shows us how the Bible sees our homes as spiritual households.
All-In-One Guide
Everts outlines 3 ways to produce a spiritually vibrant home. First, we need messy prayers. This means that we must relate to God together in our households. Second, we need loud tables. This means that we must have spiritual conversations in our households. Third, we need open doors. This means we must extend hospitality in our households.
Supported with Biblical passages and featuring original research from Barna, this book is an all-in-one guide with practical help. Full-color infographics will catch your attention, and Everts writes with compelling examples from his own life. So this book is not just theoretical. There are concrete examples of how to improve your home life as well as additional resources offered for further reading and experimenting.
No Better Time
I realized that my childhood home was not spiritually vibrant. It is something I want to be actively working on now that I live with my wife and children. As I am writing this, we are grounded at home together due to the coronavirus pandemic. There is no better time to be spiritually strengthening our homes.
I received a media copy of The Spiritually Vibrant Home, and this is my honest review.
Spiritual Significance
Everts is not a stranger to a busy work life and full family life. He is a writer for Lutheran Hour Ministries and associate pastor at Bonhomme Presbyterian Church in St. Louis. He and his wife live in a multigenerational household in the St. Luis area with their three children and Don’s mother, plus a dog and cat.
In 8 chapters (including an introduction and conclusion), Everts gives us a theology of the home and how it can be a place of spiritual significance. In many ways, it can actually be our primary base of spiritual significance, as he shows us how the Bible sees our homes as spiritual households.
All-In-One Guide
Everts outlines 3 ways to produce a spiritually vibrant home. First, we need messy prayers. This means that we must relate to God together in our households. Second, we need loud tables. This means that we must have spiritual conversations in our households. Third, we need open doors. This means we must extend hospitality in our households.
Supported with Biblical passages and featuring original research from Barna, this book is an all-in-one guide with practical help. Full-color infographics will catch your attention, and Everts writes with compelling examples from his own life. So this book is not just theoretical. There are concrete examples of how to improve your home life as well as additional resources offered for further reading and experimenting.
No Better Time
I realized that my childhood home was not spiritually vibrant. It is something I want to be actively working on now that I live with my wife and children. As I am writing this, we are grounded at home together due to the coronavirus pandemic. There is no better time to be spiritually strengthening our homes.
I received a media copy of The Spiritually Vibrant Home, and this is my honest review.
March 21, 2020
A recent Christianity Today article posed three weighty questions, this one the most important to me: When this unique season ends, what things will I be especially glad I did? [see “The Case for Sheltering in Place without Screens”]. Woah! Many of us haven’t even gotten to that question as we seek to navigate these new waters of SO MUCH TOGETHERNESS! Especially PARENTS now at home, juggling work and kids all under the same roof, and ROOMMATES finding themselves tripping over one another 24/7!
HUGE question, though, isn’t it? When we all get beyond these days of quarantining, what will we be glad we did and what will we regret not doing? While it may be tough (especially for outside-the-home-working-parents who suddenly find themselves “homeschooling” and for roommates now meting out small work spaces) to think beyond the daily annoyances of sheltering, that might be just the question for this COVID-19 hour!
A book we recently read—The Spiritually Vibrant Home: The Power of Messy Prayers, Loud Tables, and Open Doors—offers some real encouragement especially for households of faith who right now are re-assessing all sorts of interpersonal relationships (Ha! Time out for the stories, moms and dads!). Drawing on his own journey of assessing the “shape” of his household, author Don Everts invites the reader to: (1) consider what it means to be a household; (2) discover that households “really matter to God;” and (3) ponder some practical suggestions to deepen and broaden your own household life with “messy prayers, loud tables, and open doors.”
Everts’ easy-going style welcomes the reader in through poignant moments throughout his own life and then translates heavy-duty sociological research concerning households into every-day language we can digest. Throughout this fully-approachable book, Everts invites us to “examine the spiritual significance of our mundane domestic moments.” I highly recommend! And, remember, amazon's still delivering :) !
HUGE question, though, isn’t it? When we all get beyond these days of quarantining, what will we be glad we did and what will we regret not doing? While it may be tough (especially for outside-the-home-working-parents who suddenly find themselves “homeschooling” and for roommates now meting out small work spaces) to think beyond the daily annoyances of sheltering, that might be just the question for this COVID-19 hour!
A book we recently read—The Spiritually Vibrant Home: The Power of Messy Prayers, Loud Tables, and Open Doors—offers some real encouragement especially for households of faith who right now are re-assessing all sorts of interpersonal relationships (Ha! Time out for the stories, moms and dads!). Drawing on his own journey of assessing the “shape” of his household, author Don Everts invites the reader to: (1) consider what it means to be a household; (2) discover that households “really matter to God;” and (3) ponder some practical suggestions to deepen and broaden your own household life with “messy prayers, loud tables, and open doors.”
Everts’ easy-going style welcomes the reader in through poignant moments throughout his own life and then translates heavy-duty sociological research concerning households into every-day language we can digest. Throughout this fully-approachable book, Everts invites us to “examine the spiritual significance of our mundane domestic moments.” I highly recommend! And, remember, amazon's still delivering :) !
March 3, 2020
This book has amazing insights on how the Bible understands households, how we bless our households and how our households bless each other.
Loaded with new research on vibrant homes of faith, Don Everts details how faithful homes help live life.
Examples abound of building a spiritually vibrant home by welcoming friends and family alike into
simple actions of prayer, meals and laughter. If your children are small, almost grown, moved-out, or not-yet-born, you can learn lessons of nurturing a spiritually vibrant home.
I was immediately drawn into the book with an invitation to live a more connected life, to be more invitational, and consider a larger household for a path to a growing faith.
The case for living as a household of faith has countless references in scripture (to be honest, Don does count them). The examples describe how people life and are bless in their connected household.
This book punctuates each section with practical questions which challenge us to apply this teaching to our everyday lives. Perfect for study in a small group!
While the book includes the results of a lot of research, well-designed graphics convey that research in an easy-to-understand ways.
I was especially challenged by a chapter on initiating spiritual conversations in the home. Not only were there simple ways to get started, but the benefits are clear and lasting.
Loaded with new research on vibrant homes of faith, Don Everts details how faithful homes help live life.
Examples abound of building a spiritually vibrant home by welcoming friends and family alike into
simple actions of prayer, meals and laughter. If your children are small, almost grown, moved-out, or not-yet-born, you can learn lessons of nurturing a spiritually vibrant home.
I was immediately drawn into the book with an invitation to live a more connected life, to be more invitational, and consider a larger household for a path to a growing faith.
The case for living as a household of faith has countless references in scripture (to be honest, Don does count them). The examples describe how people life and are bless in their connected household.
This book punctuates each section with practical questions which challenge us to apply this teaching to our everyday lives. Perfect for study in a small group!
While the book includes the results of a lot of research, well-designed graphics convey that research in an easy-to-understand ways.
I was especially challenged by a chapter on initiating spiritual conversations in the home. Not only were there simple ways to get started, but the benefits are clear and lasting.
February 27, 2020
I didn't know there were so many ways to make my home more warm and engaging!
Being more hospitable, having good conversations, providing a welcoming atmosphere—these are all things we can do, and do better, according to Everts. We can make our households more responsive to outsiders and a warmer place for those who live there. This book gives ample ways to do just that.
What really hits home is this isn't just pie-in-the-sky optimism on Everts' part, either. His distillation of scriptural insights, Barna Group data, and input from Lutheran Hour Ministries has produced a real "handbook" to make your home the kind of place you've always wanted it to be.
Like this book's companion volume, The Reluctant Witness: Discovering the Delight of Spiritual Conversations, Everts has written a fun, easy-to-read book that challenges our notions of home life and encourages us to make ours more vibrant and alive.
Being more hospitable, having good conversations, providing a welcoming atmosphere—these are all things we can do, and do better, according to Everts. We can make our households more responsive to outsiders and a warmer place for those who live there. This book gives ample ways to do just that.
What really hits home is this isn't just pie-in-the-sky optimism on Everts' part, either. His distillation of scriptural insights, Barna Group data, and input from Lutheran Hour Ministries has produced a real "handbook" to make your home the kind of place you've always wanted it to be.
Like this book's companion volume, The Reluctant Witness: Discovering the Delight of Spiritual Conversations, Everts has written a fun, easy-to-read book that challenges our notions of home life and encourages us to make ours more vibrant and alive.
June 28, 2021
Great read and insight based on research for any parent or children's ministry leader looking to help disciple their kids or lead families to Jesus! Parents cannot afford to leave it up to the church to disciple their children. Discipleship begins at home. Research shows that spiritually vibrant homes participate in a lot of mundane activities as a family. It's the little things that make a big difference such as reading Scripture together, going to the park, regular prayer, playing board games, eating dinner as a family and inviting friends over on a regular basis! These mundane activities set the tone for spiritual conversations to take place where faith formation happens and parents can pass down the faith to their children. Of course there is no foolproof way to ensure that our kids will take hold of the faith we so cherish but there are very practical things we can do day in and day out to help develop a spiritually vibrant home!
August 21, 2025
3.5 stars
This book can be summed up this way: marks of a spiritually vibrant household include prayer, spiritual conversations, and inviting people into their home that don't live there. There are quite a few stats and graphs included and some of those are very interesting. There are some practical tips for people on working on the 3 key marks mentioned above and how to start integrating them into your life if you aren't already doing them. There are personal anecdotes and stories mingled in. I felt like some of it was commonplace and common sense. At times I put the book down for a couple weeks. I did mark a few sections to come back to. The two things I'll remember most from it is that the mother has the greatest impact on a child's spiritual development and that the Greek word for hospitality literally means "loving a stranger."
This book can be summed up this way: marks of a spiritually vibrant household include prayer, spiritual conversations, and inviting people into their home that don't live there. There are quite a few stats and graphs included and some of those are very interesting. There are some practical tips for people on working on the 3 key marks mentioned above and how to start integrating them into your life if you aren't already doing them. There are personal anecdotes and stories mingled in. I felt like some of it was commonplace and common sense. At times I put the book down for a couple weeks. I did mark a few sections to come back to. The two things I'll remember most from it is that the mother has the greatest impact on a child's spiritual development and that the Greek word for hospitality literally means "loving a stranger."
May 28, 2020
Drawing from the Barna study about what makes households spiritually vibrant, Everts writes a very easy and practical book on the findings, how to improve, and why all of it is biblical. The first three chapters set up the understanding of the three practices (spiritual disciplines, spiritual conversations, hospitality) and the last three chapters offer a scriptural understanding, findings from the research, and Practical tips to improve. Along the way, discussion questions probe the reader to deeper engagement. Highly recommend this book for someone looking for research based practices and ideas about spiritual households.
October 27, 2020
So many times, family ministry books are crushing law. Nobody does this parent thing perfectly and we know we should do better, but that just gives us more things to do and we are already overwhelmed. So we are tempted to throw it away in despair and give up. This book is okay. Some encouragement and some practical suggestions. I like the part about the importance of home and hospitality in the Bible and stand convicted. It is part of a family ministry pack from Lutheran Hour and we'll see what the rest is. Hopefully you can one thing to do that encourages faith and hope and won't be a great burden.
March 5, 2020
I was asked to read and review this book but I really enjoyed it! The subtitle is my favorite part of this book because it speaks to exactly the type of home we are trying to create. This book demonstrated that we are (hopefully!) on the right track while also giving simple and practical ways to continue creating a spiritually vibrant home. The authors stories were relatable, and I really liked the discussion questions interspersed throughout the chapters. This would be a great book for a small group to read and discuss!
November 23, 2021
A positive, hopeful manifesto for Kingdom living in Christian households. I appreciated the Barna research to back up many of the conclusions. In our era of small, isolated nuclear families, Everts's point about "households" expanding to include non-relatives and guests on a regular basis was eye opening. Another big take away is the fact that hospitable households tend to be more spiritually vibrant, emotionally open, and well-read than non-hospitable homes. My overall conclusion? I need a bigger, better dining room table.
January 30, 2022
I listened to the on audio but have heard it’s better in print with the charts and stats.
I loved the three pillars of the spiritually vibrant home:
Messy prayers
Loud tables
Open doors
Knowing that these elements of a Christian life are a long term investment in our kids and their lives is an encouragement to keep the faith and maintain these spiritual practices.
The chapters were sprinkled with stories and practical ideas.
I loved the three pillars of the spiritually vibrant home:
Messy prayers
Loud tables
Open doors
Knowing that these elements of a Christian life are a long term investment in our kids and their lives is an encouragement to keep the faith and maintain these spiritual practices.
The chapters were sprinkled with stories and practical ideas.
May 8, 2024
I’m surprised how much I enjoyed this book and I may read it again soon with an intentional look toward application. It was more academic than I anticipated, but in an interesting way, not boring or dry. The biggest takeaway from me was the chapter about biblical households and how they differ from what those of us in the Western Church think of by default. The book also gave some great suggestions about hospitality, something we love. Very good book and I highly recommend it.
August 16, 2025
Fairly standard family discipleship book but standard is leaps and bounds better than others. Biggest stand out is he has some genius analogies. Namely, family discipleship being a bonfire that requires care and tending and it’s not a thermostat where you can change the temperature with little to no effort. Or seeing hospitality as a rescue ship that takes people in despite the mess versus a household that’s like a submarine that is isolationist and a quarantine zone.
July 3, 2021
So good. So hope-filled and I love the research combined with common experience. What really made the book a 5-star was the lack of shame for those not there and the helpful starting points for people who want to be there. It became accessible and doable. Which gives every family wanting a spiritual vibrant home HOPE.
July 12, 2021
I love books regarding trends, stats and data. Don Everts' Spiritually Vibrant Home certainly includes data. I appreciate how he has laid out the book for readers to follow along. For those that want to grow in messy prayers, loud tables, and open doors, Everts helps the reader see and envision how they might take steps forward to grow as a family and at a pace that is realistic.
January 11, 2022
Simple concepts, practical applications, minimal advice. Lots of personal examples and really interesting data points on US households. I particularly loved the correlation between spiritually vibrant households and the myriad of household activities they participate in together. A great book on the intersection of faith and family.
March 4, 2022
Everts discusses how "messy prayers, loud tables, and open doors" are statistically, and biblically, significant for a thriving household - "a warm, beautiful outpost for the kingdom of God" - but unfortunately the intriguing Barna research as well as nuggets of wisdom are rather lost amid dry repetition.
October 4, 2022
Short, practical, research-based book with kind fatherly overtones. I felt so encouraged by this book to think through our household rhythms - and he provides a lot of freedom in which to do this and how it might look. I also like that these things aren’t based on his opinion of how a spiritually vibrant family works but rather in empirical data - colored by his life-experience.
January 5, 2023
I really enjoyed this book. It’s a quick, easy read but very impactful. My biggest complaints are that it tends to be a bit repetitive, but with different analogies to mean the same thing. It also has a couple of parts that are the author promoting himself and his other works which I felt like did not fit or flow whatsoever. But ultimately, it was a good read.
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