Teaching Bible to Children
We hear so much about age-appropriateness when we teach young children, and in my personal opinion it is terribly overrated. Children are naturally curious and are often capable of learning more than the carefully calculated educational standards that are dished out to teachers today. In the early days of education with one-room schoolhouses, students in the lower grades heard the older students lessons and often learned the material before it was officially presented to them.
The same situation is present when it comes to teaching Bible stories to children. I like to see children given the opportunity to learn more than bare details of a story. They deserve an opportunity to hear more whether they remember all of the details or not.
A case in point, last summer during Bible school I was to portray Noah’s wife to the children. The story had been stripped down to the bare essentials and a big deal was made over how crowded the animals would have been on the ark. Needless to say I re-wrote my script. As I saw it, not only was the story overly simplified, it was told in a way that encouraged disbelief.
I knew I couldn’t add too much more to the story given the amount of time available for the presentation, but I did give them reasons why they could believe the story – given a few simple facts – that the ark was one and a half times as long as a football field and it was three stories high. I personally believe children need to hear the whole story at a much younger age.
There was a time when the Bible was the first reader children knew. I’m not trying to imply that we go to that extreme with teaching reading, but am saying that children could be introduced to the actual Bible text at an earlier age than is the norm today.
Earlier this week I told the story of David and the Big Bully (Goliath) on my personal blog, Honeycomb Adventures Press. I was under a self-imposed word count of under 500 words, so I still left out many details, but in telling the story I kept the most important part intact – that David’s confidence came from knowing that God was with him and that he could defeat Goliath as easily as the Israelites defeated Jericho when the walls came tumbling down.
I would love to hear your reaction to my position of introducing more Bible at an earlier age. Please share your views in the comments below. And if you read David and the Big Bully, I would appreciate a similar discussion of age appropriateness there as well.
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Very good thoughts, indeed! I agree that we must not water down stories for children. When I try to make Bible stories age-appropriate for children, my goal is not to dilute the story, but to use words that children understand, and to present the story in a way that they will comprehend it. Being age-appropriate is not just about content, but also about language. I am glad you brought this up, so that when I say my stories are age-appropriate or kid friendly, I can clarify that I am referring to language and vocab. Thanks Janice!
Thanks, Crystal. There is a difference between choosing kid-friendly language and leaving major parts out altogether.
Janice, thanks for your article. As a Bible lover who enjoys reading to my grands, I like your “bully” approach to Goliath that relates to situations kids often encounter today. In that instance, the timely topic might be more important than the full story but still shows David’s reliance on God.
For reading times in general, snuggling up with a child and an easy-to-read translation such as the Common English Bible, Good News Bible, or New Living Translation will provide those details and also associate Bible-reading with a loving environment that leads to a life-long habit of loving God’s word.
YES! That is Bible reading at it’s best for kids. Thank you for your encouraging comment.
P.S. Oh, I forgot to say: I posted your URL and lead to the article on the Christian Poets & Writers blog – http://christianpoetsandwriters.blogspot.com/
Thanks!
I once read a quote from John Piper: ‘It takes as much or more understanding of a biblical doctrine to teach it to children than it does to teach it to adults’.
I suppose another way of putting it is that Age Appropriate could mean ‘listener appropriate’.
Yes, I like that. It is so true. If you don’t understand the concept yourself, you’ll not be able to explain it in a way that children will understand it.
I totally agree that Bible stories should be taught when children are quite young. Children love stories & are soaking up a lot of information, even when they aren’t being verbal about what they have heard.
Thank you Wendy.