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FAMILY BIBLE TIME
A developmentally appropriate Bible us a wonderful way to begin a family tradition of reading Scripture. Eliot Church recently presented the Children of God Storybook Bible to our kindergartners and The NIV Adventure Bible to our 4th graders. Here are some ideas to get you started using the Bible with your family!
Finding a time:
When is your family together? Maybe it is bed time or breakfast on Saturday morning. Any time when your family is together is a good time. Gather together with whatever Bible is most appropriate. You might begin with a short prayer, "God help us listen to you." works well.
Where do we start?
There aren't any rules! You can start at the beginning with Genesis and the Creation Story. You can start with the birth of Jesus or with any story your child/children seem curious about. You might want to note that biblical passages are referred to by Book Chapter: Verses (for example Genesis 1:1-9). It also helps to find the Table of Contents,
There are some stories of the Bible that make good sense for Christians (and Bible users) to know:
A developmentally appropriate Bible us a wonderful way to begin a family tradition of reading Scripture. Eliot Church recently presented the Children of God Storybook Bible to our kindergartners and The NIV Adventure Bible to our 4th graders. Here are some ideas to get you started using the Bible with your family!
Finding a time:
When is your family together? Maybe it is bed time or breakfast on Saturday morning. Any time when your family is together is a good time. Gather together with whatever Bible is most appropriate. You might begin with a short prayer, "God help us listen to you." works well.
Where do we start?
There aren't any rules! You can start at the beginning with Genesis and the Creation Story. You can start with the birth of Jesus or with any story your child/children seem curious about. You might want to note that biblical passages are referred to by Book Chapter: Verses (for example Genesis 1:1-9). It also helps to find the Table of Contents,
There are some stories of the Bible that make good sense for Christians (and Bible users) to know:
- The Story of Creation - Genesis 1
- The Ten Commandments -Exodus 20:10-17
- The 23rd Psalm - Psalms 23 (you might also want to note that physically, the book of Psalms is the half-way point of the Bible)
- The Beatitudes - Matthew 5:1-12
- The Lord's Prayer: Matthew 6:9-13
- Older children can take turns reading.
- Each member of the family can read - or have each member read a verse.
- Younger children can act the story out
- Encourage questions and "what ifs"
- Rather than worrying about "right or wrong" answers, ask "What do you think?"
- If you need more information or have questions that you might need help answering, don't hesitate to get in touch with Dr. E.
- You can find all sorts of word puzzles, coloring pages and quick crafts by searching them on line - just search by the passage citation.
- Have fun - don't be afraid to laugh or be silly. The Bible is the story of human beings relationship with God - we take it seriously, but not literally. Sometimes humans laugh - remember Sarah laughed (Genesis 18:22)!
- End your time together with the story by saying a short prayer , "Thank you, God, for the gift of the Bible."
- The Bible has two parts -the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament) and the New Testament
- The 4 stories of Jesus' life and ministry are called "Gospels" ("Good News" in Greek) and they begin the New Testament
- There are 66 books in the whole Bible - use the Table of Contents to count how many in each Testament
- The Bible was put together over thousands of years and written by many people in many places
- The first word in the Bible is "In" or "When" depending on the translation.
- The last word of the Bible is "Amen"
- There are 28 chapters in the Book of Acts - but that is not where the story ends. Each one of us is writing the 29th chapter as we live following Jesus.
