Some thoughts about the task of introducing children to the Bible.

What is the Bible?

Think of the Bible the way we think of Jesus. Christianity teaches that Jesus is, mysteriously, both God and human. He is not half one, half the other. He is both: all God and all human all the time. Now think of the Bible by drawing a parallel: In the same way that Jesus is both completely divine and human, the Bible also has divine and human dimensions.

Just like Jesus’ clothing and customs were at home in his world, the Bible was written in ancient, common languages using many of the expressions and ideas of the ancient world. But because these writings are ultimately from God, they don’t “slip up” anywhere. There is no place in the Bible where the Holy Spirit says, “Oops, I really didn’t mean to put it that way.” The Bible does exactly what God wants it to do—invite us gently toward the story of Jesus using the language and cultures of its time and place.

When we look to the Bible to see that journey and that destination, we will read it differently than if we were treating the Bible as an instruction manual. The Bible is an invitation to discover Jesus.

Step 1: Knowing Jesus

Jesus is the focal point of the Christian Bible. This doesn’t mean that we have to “find Jesus” in every verse of the Old Testament. Rather, the Bible as a whole is going somewhere, and that “somewhere” is actually a “someone.” The Bible exists to reveal who God is, what God has done, and who we are as a result. The absolute centre of all this is Jesus, who he was, what he did, and what he said.

By beginning in the earliest years of teaching with a focus on Jesus, you focus first on the point of the whole biblical story. You demonstrate to your children the ultimate payoff for knowing their Bibles: knowing Jesus.

Jesus is described in full colour in the Gospels. He weeps, laughs, becomes angry, has compassion, loves, has determination, prefers times of isolation, and grows tired. We should focus on bringing out this full portrait of Jesus in the early years. What should not be emphasized is the child’s miserable state of sin and the need for a saviour. Please do not misunderstand; Jesus rescues us from our sin. But we cannot and should not expect adult comprehension of the depth of sin and the grace of God from our children.

We must remember that our children’s salvation is not our work; it is the work of the Spirit. Fuller lessons concerning sin and grace will come in time, and certainly, parents and churches have the responsibility to teach the fullness of what the Bible has to offer. But most young children simply do not have the emotional or intellectual maturity to grasp the adult concepts in the Bible. Children need to be approached as children, and Jesus approached children by blessing them, praying for them, and reassuring them of his love for them.

Step 2: Bigger Picture

When children look at Jesus first, they are able to begin thinking of Scripture as a coherent story, not a random assembly of Bible stories. They begin to learn that the Bible is essentially a single long story.

That means that when you read, for example, the story of David, you should not approach it by saying, “Hey, David is just like Jesus!” Instead, the better our children know the Hebrew Scriptures' patterns, the better they will begin to see the dramatic and sometimes unexpected ways in which Jesus brought final expression to God’s long story.

For example, children can learn that the Israelites were first welcomed to Egypt under Joseph, only to be enslaved several generations later. Moses arose, chosen by God, to deliver the Israelites to freedom. In this, they see the goodness of God to all who are in trouble, and that will remind them of what they have already learned about God from Jesus.

Step 3: The Parts of the Story

Now that children have an understanding of God’s love for them shown in Jesus and can imagine the Bible as one long story that leads us to Jesus, we can fit in more of the picture.

Children can learn about creation and the way the same generous God we saw in Jesus formed the world and made all things. We can help them understand the role of the prophets who called God’s people back to the grace and compassion we saw Jesus embody. We can explore the New Testament beyond the Gospels to meet the early church that tried to live in the way of Jesus and Paul, who had a dramatic encounter with Jesus that changed his life forever. We can even imagine together the final images in Revelation where God promises to make all things new, healing the world of pain.

In this way, each stage of the story relates back to the Jesus we have already come to see as the centre.

Some Considerations:

It’s very common to teach children “Bible stories” as they begin their Christian journey. On some level, this makes perfect sense. Children can easily grasp stories with vivid characters and lots of action: the Flood, Tower of Babel, the Exodus, and the walls of Jericho. As they listen to these stories, they become increasingly familiar with the Bible—particularly the Old Testament. And the stories hold their attention.

However, this approach can have unforeseen consequences when it is not grounded in a Jesus-centered imagination.

For example, the story of Noah’s flood works well in images and colouring books but also conveys a deeply complex story where the writers of Genesis mimic other more ancient flood narratives to say something unique about their God. Without the background to understand comparative mythologies, children can become fixated on God’s drastic response to rebellion and the death it caused. All of this is often beyond what young children can do.

Likewise, when we take a “character study” approach, we can find fantastic stories of bravery, faithfulness and courage. We can encourage children to be brave like David or to be a leader like Moses. These are, of course, good and true lessons. However, as adults, we also know that the full counsel of Scripture doesn’t present us with clean and tidy characters. David and Moses (and every other character save Jesus) are deeply flawed and human.

The Bible presents us with raw and honest images of people doing their best—and sometimes their worst. While it is important to learn about the major characters, particularly Abraham, Moses and David, we do our children a disservice if we hide the character’s flaws. Eventually, children will encounter the unsanitized portions of Scripture, and if we have not prepared them well, we may cause unnecessary struggles for them.

Instead, these stories are primarily about God and God’s faithfulness. If we teach them this way, our children are both unsurprised by the mess that they slowly uncover (at an appropriate age), and they are drawn back to the fact that the whole story of the Bible is about God’s goodness that leads us to Jesus.

This is our approach at Commons Kids. Honest. Passionate. Jesus at the centre.

*portions adapted from; Peter Enns, Telling God's Story: A Parents' Guide to Teaching the Bible. Copies of the book are available free for all parents from Commons Kids.