In a previous post we established why we should teach the Bible to children. The next question is “How?” — How do we take a Book written with language and concepts most suitable for adults and teach it in a way that makes sense to children?
How to Teach The Bible to Children
- Of utmost importance, rely on the Holy Spirit to teach through us and in the hearts of the children.
Because the transformation Scripture brings about is a work of God, anything is possible … even children being able to grasp what is needed from a Book geared to adults. “This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words” (1 Cor. 2:13). “So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” (1 Cor. 3:7)
Resource: The Holy Spirit & My Teaching Devotional
- Also important is to teach in ways that conform with their age level developmental characteristics.
God made people to develop different abilities over the course of time. Meeting children where they are not only makes sense but follows along with the Apostle Paul’s approach — “I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some” (1 Cor. 9:22).
The image above is the final slide in the Teaching the Bible to Children PowerPoint. This resource may be used for a group session or distributed to individual teachers to examine how children’s developmental characteristics affect the way to teach the Bible to them. It looks at spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, and social characteristics.
Other helpful resources:
Wonderful, very nice one