Ideas for Studying the Bible with Your Kids
1. Pick a regular time and try to stick to it. We gather each night as a family before bed to read the Bible, a devotional, go over what happened in history for that day, read a quote for the day and then we pray together.
The only exception is when something in the schedule keeps the kids or us out later than usual. Then we just gather to pray before going to bed.
2. Choose a devotional guide that is appropriate to your family’s needs. We tried doing some Bible study books that were just too detailed and time consuming and it fizzled in the end. Try out several things and stick with what works best for your family. 15 to 20 minutes is just about right, so be flexible with the materials you use. If it is too lengthy, divide it up between nights or skip certain parts and do others. Don’t be a slave to the resources you are using. Let the resources serve you instead.
Resources We Use
· Daily Truth for Godly Youth by Howard Bean. This is 365 practical devotionals for Teen and Adults. It is arranged with 5 to 7 devotionals to a topic. Some topics are: Aims; God’s Guidance; Why Be Saved; How to Be Saved; Understanding Envy; Value of Respect for Authority; Inferiority Feelings; Work; Fear of God; and many more topics that are relevant to teens and adults. Each devotional starts out with a chunk of Scripture to be read first. We like this because it gets us into the Word as a family. This is put out by Christian Light Publications, a Mennonite company, so there are a few devotionals that highlight Mennonite missionaries, martyrs and deal with head coverings for women. But over all we have really enjoyed this devotional. It has spurred good discussions in our family. The devotions are dated, but we ignore the dates because if we miss a night, we don’t want to miss a devotional.
· The Christian Almanac by George Grant & Gregory Wilbur. After we read the Scripture and devotional for the day, then we look up the page for that day in The Christian Almanac and read what happened in history for that day and we also read the quote for the day. We’ve enjoyed some good discussions as a result of some of the events from history that we have read in this book. If you use this book, use some discretion with what events you might read about. If you have young children, for instance, you might choose to skip over events referring to abortion or murder until your children are older and you can discuss those things with them. I don’t read every event listed for each day because it would drag things out too long. Use your own judgment.
Sufficient Grace Publishing
http://stores.lulu.com/marsha-iddings
Sufficient Grace for Suffering Saints
The Aroma of Change
http://aromaofchange.blogspot.com
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