Exploring the Bible together

How do we help our children to get excited about the Bible? They might be familiar with many of the stories from the Bible. But how can we help them to grasp that it’s not just a book of ‘stories’, but it’s ‘living and active’ and totally relevant to their lives? This month we’re thinking about ways to engage our children in exploring the Bible for themselves, and discovering how it can help them live with their family and friends, at home and in school.

Ideas this month

My youngest daughter has some learning needs and is a visual learner, so it’s become a fun tradition for us to memorise Bible verses using actions. And that became particularly useful in the summer holidays …

Two days in, and my nine and twelve-year-old were constantly bickering. I was at the end of my tether playing referee, until I suggested we read the first few verses in Proverbs 20 and pick a verse to memorise. My eldest immediately started laughing when she reached verse 3 and discovered that ‘only fools argue’. And to my amazement the girls chose that as our memory verse and decided they would use it as a reminder to try not to argue with each other.

All was going well until a week later. Months in to a house renovation and after a stressful meeting with our builder, we all rushed out of the house to lead our small group at church. Tempers were high and my husband and I started arguing in the car, in front of the kids (something we do try to avoid). The children were upset, I felt guilty and thankfully after the small group we apologised to each other and the children.

I thought that was the last we’d hear of it until my youngest decided to tell my in-laws all about it the following evening. I was feeling rather embarrassed until she added, ‘I wanted to remind them about our verse (as she acted it out), but I thought they’d think I was cheeky’. We all started laughing and told her that even as adult church leaders we don’t always get it right, but the Bible helps us to learn to do the right thing and next time she definitely had permission to remind us what God says to us through the Bible.

This one incident really gave me insight into the impact those little action verses are having on our daughters’ daily lives. It also got me thinking about how we can encourage others, and so through our church parents group on Facebook I’ve encouraged other families to get involved in the fun and post videos reciting their favourite memory verses to actions.

Who knows what impact that will have on faith in family life?

Maybe this month take some time thinking about some simple, fun ways that you can make the Bible relevant to your everyday life.

Blessings

Claire and the Kitchen Table Project Team

Please send us your stories of inspiring faith at home – good and bad – we know it’s a rollercoaster! We’d love to include them in our emails and on the blog.