Tool for Children to Study the Bible

You want the children in your ministry to study the Bible on their own, not just when they are at church. But, how will that happen? Since children do well at memorizing, you could give them a tool to help them remember how to approach the Bible. Here’s an acrostic using the word “BIBLE” which you may give to children.

You are permitted to print copies of the Bible acrostic. Simply click on the image to enlarge it in Pinterest and print the number of copies needed, preferably on cardstock paper.

Acrostic to Help Children Study the Bible

Make sure children understand the significance of these words:

Believe

Children need to believe that the God of the Bible wants to communicate with them through the Bible. They also need to believe the importance of Bible reading and study for their personal lives. This helps with children’s motivation to spend time in the Word on their own.

As part of this step, encourage children to begin by thanking God for His Word and telling Him what they believe about it, asking for His help to understand as they read.

Investigate

Children need to do more than passively read God’s Word. They need to dig into the Word, investigating like they are detectives looking for answers. Such involvement with God’s Word will help keep children’s attention as they read.

As part of this step, encourage children to ask the who, what, when, where, why, and how types of questions. For example, what does this passage teach me about God?

Benefit

Children need to get beyond head knowledge to seeing the implications of what they are reading for their lives. Whether it is promises they can hold on to or principles to live by, God’s Word is useful even to children (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Understanding the relevance of God’s Word to their everyday living helps them attach even more worth to reading and studying the Bible.

As part of this step, encourage children to ask the “how does it benefit” questions. How does this benefit my relationship with God? How does this benefit my friendships? How does this benefit me with my family? How does this benefit the way I feel? How does this benefit me at school?

Listen

Children need to not only understand the implications of Scripture for their lives, how it benefits them, but also do something with it. They need to apply what they learn — to listen in the sense of obeying or doing something with what they heard God say in His Word. This is how they will truly benefit.

As part of this step, encourage children to ask questions like: What will I do differently as a result of my Bible reading? To listen to God, do I need to change my attitude? Do I need to change the way I think about things? Do I need to change what I do?

Encourage

Children need to grasp that with an understanding of God’s Word comes responsibility to share it with others. They too can become teachers of God’s Word by encouraging others with what they have read. Sharing God’s Word with someone else helps cement the truth in their minds and hearts.

As part of this step, encourage children to think of at least one person they can be an encouragement to by sharing what they have read. They could share how God used His truth to change their lives. They could share verbally, with a note, e-mail, on social media, making a card, etc.

Giving children a tool is only a starting point. In the next post we will consider to how to reinforce this emphasis. (Click here to subscribe to receive e-mail notice of new posts.)

More Resources for: How to Teach Students to Value, Study, Know & Apply the Bible

— Also, use the share buttons below to pass this on to parents and children’s Bible teachers you know so they can use this tool.