Teaching kids the Bible is one thing but teaching them to read, understand and use it correctly is another. I’m constantly amazed at how little our children do know about using a Bible and I accept part of the blame. At the first of every year, I teach a series of “classes” that introduces kids that are new to scripture reading how to navigate the Bible.
As someone once said, “You can feed a hungry person fish or you can teach them how to fish.” I “feed” kids the Word of God every week but at some point, they have to be willing to and want to “fish” for themselves.
First, get on the same page. For a good class on Bible study, you should all use the same version. Send home a letter asking for kids to bring the appropriate version or you’ll have to provide that yourself. You might have to explain that you aren’t promoting a particular version, you just want to simplify the teaching.
Show the kids the parts of the Bible including the table of contents, the difference between the Old and the New Testament and the maps and the concordance. Take the time to explain to kids how to use the table of contents first. Tell them to find books that you call out like Daniel, 1 John and Exodus. Practice, practice!
You should tell kids that the Old Testament is full of great stories that happened before Jesus was born. The New Testament occurred after Jesus was born. Play a game with the kids by calling out the names of some of the books of the Bible. They have to tell you if they are Old or New Testament books.
Next, give kids clues on how to use the concordance. Ask a kid if he’s ever wanted to know more about angels, or God, or heaven and he will say yes. Point to the concordance and show him where to begin a topical search.
Of course, you might have children who are too young to read or don’t enjoy it but don’t leave them out. Assign volunteers or older children to sit with the those kids and help them find the correct verses.
Teaching kids the Bible basics will help them for years and years to come!