Teaching The Bible To Kids

Teaching The Bible To Kids Episode 324

The Bible is important in a Christian’s life, but teaching the Bible to kids is sometimes difficult. In this episode, we cover some suggestions on getting the most out of your study and engage your children.

Thanks to our sponsor CSBible.com (The Christian Standard Bible) and easy to understand translation. Visit their website to learn more. (Hint: this is a great Bible to use when teaching the Bible to kids.)

My fondest memories with my grandmother revolve around the Bible. I use to sit on her feet as she wound yarn (I held the big spool) and she recounted the stories about Adam and Eve, Cane and Abel, The Fall, Noah, and the Ark, Abraham, Issac and Jacob, Sampson and Delilah, and King David. Then onto the New Testament and the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Even before I could read I had all of these beloved stories that I thought about often.

I followed in my grandmother’s footsteps and told my little ones stories from the Bible. The children loved to listen to stories and it was with a glad heart that I was planting seeds for my children and generations to come. I would ask my children to tell me a favorite part or they would take turns sharing a favorite story.

Train Up Your Children

Ephesians 6:4: “Fathers, don’t stir up anger in your children, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” (CSB)

To teach the Bible you have to know about the Bible yourself. So, friends, delve into the Scriptures! You will be blessed. Pray beforehand and ask the Lord to touch your heart as you read through. There are many different Bibles. Read a few to see what works for you and then purchase a Bible if you don’t have one already.

Deuteronomy 11:19 “Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”

Important points:

The Bible is the truth. The Bible is the infallible, inerrant word of God.
The Bible is for today. While this is HIS-Story, it is relevant to our lives now.
God is love. His love is shown within the pages of the Bible.

We must give kids a foundation. Many like to ask the kids what they think, but little ones don’t have well-formed opinions without having a good basis to make them – asking is redundant in my opinion.

We want the children to know about God, His love and His Son Jesus as well as the Holy Spirit. That is the greatest story ever told and The Bible is still the number one bestseller. We can help our children by telling them what the passage teaches about God, for them personally and why we need Jesus, a Savior. Once they understand these major truths you can move on to asking them questions.

As an aside here, while a children’s Bible is nice and helps when the children are very little it is often good to read from a standard Bible.

Ask questions about what happened to be sure they understand the main points of the passage. Just the facts, what happened?
Ask what we can learn from this passage?

Discussion on life applications may take time. As your child gets older, again you can explain how a specific passage impacts their life and then, later ask the child again. I homeschooled for many years and I have to tell you that at some points I found I was repeating things I had previously told my other children, yet this method works extremely well. It is definitely tried and true.

Don’t just ask the kids what they think about a particular passage because it doesn’t get to the crux of the meaning behind it. For example, if you ask kids what they think about Adam and Eve they will blame them for the fact that we are not in the Garden of Eden, because of “their” mistake. It is easier to blame others and not take any blame for “mistakes” we make, right? Instead, explain that Adam and Eve had the gift of “free will” and because of this, God allowed them the choice to do what was right or wrong. We too have this same freedom in our life and it is to be cherished.

Memorization of passages is a standard in many families. Rather than huge blocks of Scripture, I like the children to memorize the verses are that are helpful. For example the Lord’s Prayer. Many other key scriptures are worth memorizing.

Meditation is another important way to teach the Bible. Teach children to close their eyes and listen after you read a particular Scripture. Little ones have a hard time keeping their eyes closed so you can ask them to put their heads on their arms on a table.

Preface mediation with this:

Tell the children you are going to read a passage and you want them to close their eyes to listen.
Explain to the children that God’s voice is a “still small voice” 1 Kings 19:11-13
Ask the children to listen after you read and tell them you will let them know when they can raise up their heads or open their eyes.
Ask them to listen for that still small voice – to ask the Lord to come deeper into their hearts.
Remind them that we are to be respectful of the Scriptures and remain quiet.

Mediation is a learned skill and one that is such a blessing especially in the life of a mature Christian. Demonstrate to the children how to do it – and even your older teens.

The Word of God is a blessing and I pray that you will teach your children to cherish the freedoms we have in this country to worship openly, to worship as we chose and to honor our Lord and Savior.

*All Bible verses in this post are from The Christian Standard Bible translation (CSB)

Special Thanks to Our Network Sponsor – Christian Standard Bible

The Christian Standard Bible captures the Bible’s original meaning without compromising clarity. An optimal blend of accuracy and readability, this translation helps readers make a deeper connection with God’s Word and inspires lifelong discipleship. The CSB is for everyone—for readers young and old, new and seasoned. It’s a Bible pastors can preach from and a Bible you can share with your neighbor hearing God’s Word for the very first time.

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