I want to learn a little more about you before I get started.

Raise you hand to answer the following questions. You may raise your hand more than once.

How many have children 5 years old and younger?
How many have children 6 to 10 years old?
How many have children in the home 11 years old and older?

Anyone raise your hand all three times? Bless you.

What I’m going to talk about works with children of all ages. You can start using Family Time with children 2 years old and you can continue to use Family Time with teenagers. You tweak the delivery but still provide parent led spiritual training. It will continue to be a skill that as grandparents you can use with visiting grandchildren.

REQUIRED

optional

Teaching Parents to be Spiritual Leaders
Using Family TIme

Goal: Equip parents with everything they need to begin providing fun and intentional spiritual training in the home.

Essentials Elements:
•	Educate parents on God’s plan for primary spiritual training in the home.
•	Show parents the simple Family Time Format that can be used to structure their Family Time.
•	Motivate parents to get started by using demonstrations, stories, and research on the current spiritual 
	condition of children.
•	Make resources available. 

Learn About the Audience

 Note: The best presentation of Family Time includes a personal testimony of how it has changed your life. So, if you can, please develop your own introduction based on your own experience. If you don’t have experience, it would be good for you to get some by practicing Family Time with your children or grandchildren. This will give you first-hand experiences you can use as illustrations.

Alternative Introduction

Let me start by telling you about an activity from our Teen Family Time Activities book called Tried and True. The children are all given a ruler like this one. Hold up photocopied ruler.

The young people are asked to create a triangle with sides that are six inches long.

As children complete the task say, “No, that’s wrong.” Let them continue to try again or ponder their error for a bit. When they can’t figure it out, you share the application. 

Application: How could you follow all the instructions and the results be wrong? It’s because the ruler is wrong…it says six inches but it’s actually longer. 

I want to use that same analogy and apply it to us today. How could we do all the right things yet end up with the wrong result?

How can we involve children in Sunday School and Youth Ministry and they still leave the church. Because our form of measurement is wrong…the system of church as the primary spiritual trainers and the family as support is wrong. God calls families to be primary place where spiritual training happens.

The Biblical Background

God calls the family, not the church, to be the primary source of spiritual training in the lives of our children. The church is important support but if we want to follow God’s plan for successfully passing the faith from generation to generation then we need to get primary spiritual training in the home. There are many scriptures that talk about parents teaching their children. For example:

Psalm 78:5-7 — Read it out of your Bible.

God commanded our forefathers to teach their children the law, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would teach their children.

The first point about God’s plan for passing the faith is that “family” is the primary source of spiritual training. The scriptures do not say, “take you kids to church and the church will pass the faith to your children, then they will take their children to church and the church will pass the faith to their children.” God is clear that parents are primary in passing the faith to children.

Second, Deuteronomy 6:6-9 — Read it out of your Bible

 “These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them as you sit at home, when you walk along the road, as you rise up and when you lie down.”

The second point about God’s plan is that spiritual training takes place 24/7. Not just 1 or 2 hours on Sunday morning but 168 hours a week in the context of the family. 

Family Time Example 

Jim is the father of four. One day while hanging around the house, his eight year old son, Jake, asked, “Dad, why do we need Jesus to get to heaven?” 

Jim said, “That’s a great question. Why don’t we answer that for the whole family this week when we do Family Time.” Since they already had established a regular time of intentional training in their home, Jim had a format for answering questions that come up in daily life. (It also gave him time to come up with an age appropriate answer.)

That week at Family Time, Jim gathered his four children at the bottom of the stairs in their home. That’s important. Some of you have multiple age children. Family Time works with families with multiple age children. Jim had children ranging in age from 12 to 4. 

Jim went to the top of the stairs and held out his arms. “Kids, I represent Jesus in heaven. More than anything I want you up here with me but you can’t use the stairs and you can’t use the handrails. How are you going to get up here?” So the kids started pacing around trying to figure out how they were going to get to their dad at the top of the stairs.

Finally, Jake, the same boy who asked the question came up with the answer. He said, “I got it Dad. You come down here and get me.” So Jim went down the stairs and one at a time picked up his kids and carried them to the second floor. He sat them down and said, “Kids, that’s how you get to heaven. You can’t do it on your own. Only through Jesus can you get there.”

A powerful lesson, presented in the language of children, that Jim’s kids have not forgotten to this day. 

optional

Personal Connection with Family Time

Alignment Test with God’s Plan

Here is a simple test to see if your family or your church is out of alignment with God’s plan of family first, church support.

For your family ask:

One, if we don’t go to church on Sunday morning, what percentage of the intentional spiritual training is lost in the lives of our children? 10%? 25%? 50%? For most church families today, if your kids miss church, they also miss 95% or more of the intentional spiritual training for that week.

Second, what percentage of the intentional spiritual training in the lives of your children takes place in the church building? 10%? 25%? 50%? For most church families today, more than 95% of weekly intentional spiritual training takes place in the church building led by church staff and volunteers.

Most Christians will say that family is the primary source of spiritual training, but does reality reflect this statement? For your church ask:

One, what percentage of the church budget and staff time that is allocated to children and youth is spent on “doing” the spiritual training for the family? And what percentage is spent on equipping parents to do the spiritual training? In most churches more than 95% is spent on doing the spiritual training for the family and little if anything is spent on equipping parents to be primary spiritual leaders.

Two, what percentage of the programs and training that we measure take place in the church building or under church leadership and what percentage of the training that we measure is led by parents? What standards are we using to measure children’s ministry?

REQUIRED

optional

REQUIRED

REQUIRED

optional

Family Time Format

optional

REQUIRED

Here is a simple format, a structure families can use to start Family Time in the home. Younger children love structure. It helps them anticipate what is going to happen. As kids get older you need less structure but with young children, structure is helpful.

I. Weekly
10,800 MINUTES IN A WEEK
We encourage families to do a Family Time activity once a week. Most activities take 20 minutes or less. Each one of us starts each week with over 10,000 minutes. We each have 10,080 minutes in a week. Would you take 20 minutes out of 10,000 to lead an intentional spiritual lesson with your children? Most of us in the church would have a hard time saying “no” yet because of our busy lives and spirituality being such a low priority, unless you schedule it, it won’t happen.

INTENTIONAL SETS UP 
INFORMAL TRAINING

Twenty minutes of intentional training sets up informal training throughout the week. 
A 20-minute lesson does not mean that is the only training that will take place during that week. Formal training sets up informal training.

EXAMPLE OF NOAH ACTIVITY

Younger children learn by repetition and may want to repeat an activity throughout the week. Consider the activity on Noah. First, you get a big box like a refrigerator box. Put the story of Noah into your own words and while you cut a hole in the top for a window and a hole in the side for the door, tell the story of Noah. 

Continue to tell the story as they climb in and out of the box. Boil the lesson down into one phrase, “Noah had faith in God.” Repeat this phrase several times as you work and then later when you tell others about playing with the box.

Do a four-year-old and two-year-old understand what faith is? No, and there are a lot of 40-year-olds and 20-year-olds who don’t fully understand faith, but this becomes the building block for future learning. The kids will hear about faith in this story, and then another story, and eventually it will start to gain some meaning.

Maybe the next night the kids want to play with the ark again. Repeat the story and this time color the box or cover it with contact paper.

The next night the kids ask for the ark again! Hide their stuffed animals in sets of two for them to find and bring back to the ark. While they’re having fun, retell the story and now you can ask them to fill in parts of the story themselves.

II. No Fuss Dinner
You can do Family Time anytime. Some do it in the morning after breakfast, others on Saturday but most families do it right after dinner on a weeknight. Keep the meal simple. Use leftovers, pizza, or fast food. Don’t have one parent spending a lot of time preparing a meal and another parent spending a lot of time cleaning up. Put the focus on being together as a family. You can even set the table using paper plates and paper cups. Just by the way the table is set the kids know it’s Family Time. 

III. Review Last Week’s Family Time Lesson
During dinner, discuss the lesson from last week. This is a way to reinforce lessons. If kids have difficulty remembering, usually reminding them of the activity will cause them to remember the teaching point.

IV. Family Time Theme Song
When you’re ready to start the new lesson, play a family theme song. This can be any song that your family already enjoys singing together or listening to. When you’re in the car, what song comes on that brings a smile to everyone’s face? That could be your family theme song. Or, if you come from a musical family, sing the same song each week to start the lesson.

I know of families that use the songs, “Big, Big House,” or “I’m a Believer.”

For VeggieTale fans, there’s a CD called VeggieTale’s Sing the 70’s. And the song “We are Family” is on the CD. That would make a good family theme song.

V. Prayer
It’s pretty common, if you ask a young child to pray in public, they are going to bless the food or ask for a good night sleep…even if there isn’t any food in the room and it’s 10 o’clock in the morning. Why? Because those are often the only times we ask our kids to pray…mealtime and bedtime. 

So during Family Time we expand their conversation with God. We pray for things that are happing with friends, family members, in our neighborhoods, and in our country.

VI. Message 
Then comes the core of the lesson. As much as possible read the Bible verse or story from the Bible. Amplify the Bible story with explanation about the history and culture of that time. Make it clear that the lesson learned today is one that has its roots in God’s Word. Simplify the lesson learned from the story so that children have a quick and easy application from the scripture. 

VII. Object Lesson or Activity
Use the activity presented and be sure to explain how the activity illustrates the Bible verse or story and the lesson learned. I'll demonstrate some object lessons in a moment.

VIII. Memorize
Each lesson includes a short memorization. An activity that uses air in a balloon to teach young children that God is invisible and powerful has the memorization, “Just like air. God is there.”

Kids have different learning styles and some will remember the short phrase first while others will remember the activity. 

A Bible verse is also included in each lesson that you might encourage children to memorize.

IX. Closing Prayer
Close with a simple prayer tied to what we learned.

I. Weekly

EXAMPLE OF THE “INTENTIONAL” SETTING UP THE “INFORMAL”

Let’s say on Tuesday night I do this fun activity that teaches about self-control. The activity involves a bucket of gum balls, a timer, and a race. If I have a 4-year-old and 6-year-old in my home, how many times do you think I’ll be able to apply the lesson on self-control in the coming week? --pause-- About once an hour. 

Now, the next week we do an activity on praying for friends in need. Several times that week we pray for special needs that come up…oops, here comes a self-control issue so we apply the lesson from the previous week. Then the following week we do an activity on peer pressure. Now we are applying lessons on self-control, prayer and peer pressure.

Do you see what is happening? The faith is becoming part of the DNA of the family! When we do 20 minutes once a week it starts to impact all areas of our family life. Kids are unable to separate their faith from their lives because they are naturally entwined.

Compare this DNA approach with dropping kids off at Sunday School. A kid grows up leaves home, decides to sleep in on Sunday morning and poof, there goes the spiritual training in their life. Sunday-only children experience spiritual training in a box that is easily discarded.

SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT 
AT A YOUNG AGE
By the way, we do spiritually with our kids what we would never do educationally or physically. Can you imagine a mom looking at her toddler pulling himself up to a stand by the coffee table for the first time, letting go and standing independently, and mom saying, “No big deal. I can’t wait until he can run.” No! Of course not. We clap, squeal and praise our kids. We get out the video camera and take pictures. We call grammy and grandpa. 

Or a child saying her first words, “mamma.” And the mom responds, “I can’t wait until she speaks a complete sentence.” Of course not! We praise our daughter and may even cry a little.

We need to have the same excitement and passion with the spiritual learning of our children. Don’t say, “They’re too young. I’ll do it later.” Start now and include important spiritual truths like faith, God, etc.

THE IMPORTANCE OF REPETITION

One of the newer Bibles translates the Deuteronomy 6 passage, “Repeat and repeat these commandments to your children…” That is how young children learn.

REQUIRED

optional

optional

REQUIRED

Activity Demonstrations

ACTIVITY: 
Sharing

Every Family Time lesson comes with an activity plan. The lesson includes the scriptures, a list of materials, directions on how to do the activity, and even words in bold that can help guide you on what to say.

For this activity we need a piece of copy paper and a pair of scissors.

Let’s say I want to talk to my kids about sharing. There are two Bible stories and I can use one or both.

The first one is the story about Elisha and the widow. Elisha comes to the widow’s house and asks for something to eat. The widow only has a little bit of oil. Elisha says, “Get all the containers you can and pour the oil from the little jar into the other jars. She does what Elisha says and soon all the jars and containers in her home are filled with oil! Where did the oil come from? How does this happen?

More familiar is the story from the New Testament where the little boy offers five loaves of bread and two fish to feed 5,000 hungry people. Just imagine the innocent faith of the little boy. Offering what he had. Most of us adults would do a mental calculation and not even offer what we have believing it wasn’t enough.

But Jesus takes the bread and fish, divides them, and after everyone is finished eating there are twelve baskets left over. Where did the extra fish come from? How does this happen?

In both these stories, the people who were willing to share ended up with more. 

(Hold up the piece of paper) In this activity, the value of this piece of paper is represented by the number of corners. How many corners are on this piece of paper? Four. (Turning to my child.) Since I love you, I’m going to give you one of my corners. (Cut off a corner.) Look! You didn’t end up with just one corner, you have three. And look at my paper, I now have five. (Turn to another family member.) Because I love you, I am going to share one of my corners with you. (Cut off another corner). Now you have three corners. And I already gave away three corners. And now I have six corners!! Every time I give a corner away I end up with more! You can then ask, how is this like 
the stories of the widow and the little boy?

You can see what is going to happen. Kids are going to want to keep cutting. So keep cutting and giving away corners and count how many corners you end up creating.

Now let’s apply the Bible stories and activity to everyday life. Let’s say my daughter wants to have a play date with her friend Theresa. The mothers make contact and agree to a one hour play date. Theresa comes over and says to my daughter, “Hey, let’s play with your dolls.” My daughter says, “No. I don’t want you to play with my dolls. They are special.” Theresa says, “How about your stuffed animals?” My daughter says, “No. Some of those stuffed animals are new. I don’t want to play with them.”

How is that play date going to go? Not very well. It may be just a few minutes and one or both of the girls are crying. Mom calls the other mom and the friend ends up going home early.

But what if Madi is willing to share her dolls and stuffed animals? Theresa comes over and they start playing. They’re playing together so nicely that Mom never hears a word from them. After an hour the girls say, “Can’t we play a little longer?” So Mom calls the other mom and arranges for Theresa to stay an extra ½ hour. 

Because my daughter shared, a one hour play date turned into a 1 ½ hour play date. And what did it cost her? Nothing.

You take a Bible story. Attach an activity. And apply it to a real life situation.

ACTIVITY: 
Energy

Let’s start this Family Time by telling two stories. While I tell the stories I put air into the balloon or let air out of the balloon. The first story may be hard to believe but keep listening, you’ll be able to relate to the second one.

Imagine my son. He’s six years old and he’s always the first one up in the mornings. I’m usually the second one up so when I open my bedroom door, he is sitting in the hallway waiting for me. 

So I say, “How you doing buddy? Did you have a good night’s sleep?” 
“Great!” (Blow some air into the balloon and pinch it closed.) 
“Glad to hear it. Let’s get your teeth brushed before we go downstairs.”
“I already brushed my teeth. You can feel the toothbrush, it’s still wet.” (Blow a little more air into the balloon.)
“Super. Let’s go downstairs and have breakfast.”
“Dad, can we have pancakes?”
“No. It’s a school morning so we better have cereal.”
“Cereals good.” (Fill up the remainder of the balloon with air.)
—I know, you’re thinking, “Who’s child is this?
The rest of the morning goes great. He has all his school stuff together and we head out the door on time with a great attitude.

Now, let’s look at another morning. I open the bedroom door and find my son sitting in the hallway waiting for someone to wake up.
“How you doing buddy? Did you have a good night’s sleep?”
He doesn’t answer with words, he just grunts, “Urrg.” (Let some air out of the balloon. Stretch the opening so it makes a whining sound.
Can’t you just tell sometimes from the first word of the day, what kind of morning it’s going to be? You can just feel the energy drain right out of you.
But, you are going to persevere and try to keep a positive attitude.
“Before we go downstairs, let’s get your teeth brushed.”
“I don’t want to brush my teeth. I’m not going to do it!” (Let some more air out of the balloon continuing to make a whining sound.)
He’s been brushing his teath 365 days a year and today he decides to make it a battle.
“Let’s go downstairs and have breakfast.”
“Can we have pancakes?”
“No, it’s a school morning, we don’t have time for pancakes so we’ll have cereal.”
“I don’t want cereal! I want pancakes.” (Let the remainder of the air out of the balloon.)
It takes prodding and reminders but finally, he’s off to school.
In less than an hour, it feels like all the energy has been drained from your day.

We have the ability everyday to put energy into someone else’s life or to drain energy out. Proverbs 10:1 tells us a wise child brings joy to his parent but a foolish child brings grief to his parent.

I tell both these stories at the beginning of our Family Time and what is everyone doing? They are laughing! Why? Because they know these stories are true. They can also laugh because they are not in the heat of the moment. How effective is it to have this conversation with your son after he’s grunted in the morning and pushes back against having to brush his teeth? Confrontation then seems to escalate the issues, but now during Family Time we are able to see and laugh at the silliness of the situation.

So for the next week, I just carry a balloon around in my pocket. When I see one of my children doing something that puts energy into the family, I pull out the balloon and blow some air into it. (Blow some air into the balloon.) I don’t have to say anything, they know what I’m talking about.

When I see them do something that drains energy out of the family, I just pull out the balloon and let a little air out making the whining sound. (Let the air out of the balloon while making the whining sound). They get the message.

ACTIVITY: 
Knock Sin Out of Your Life

We start this activity with a pie pan and some pieces of paper. The pieces of paper represent specific sins that each family member struggles with.

We have another Family Time activity that we do the week before or as a refresher at the beginning of this activity. It simply involves having a target, we put a target on the wall, and throw balls at the target.

If your children are into basketball, then you can use a hoop and basketball for your target. If they are into soccer you can use a goal and soccer ball. Try to adapt the activity to the specific interests of the children.

If you hit the target, everyone yells “Yeah!” If you miss the target everyone yells “Sin!”
Why? Because the theological definition of sin is “Missing the target.” That is what sin means. Everyone including Mom and Dad takes turns throwing at the target. And you back up, further from the target until everyone has missed. Why? Because Paul teaches us in the New Testament that all of sinned and fall short of the mark.

So what does the target represent? It represents God’s will for our lives. God has told us in his Word and through his Spirit the kinds of things we should think, say and do. We should have positive thoughts about others. We should use words that build others up and don’t tear them down. We should serve and share with others, not ignore or horde things. When we do what God teaches us to do it is like hitting the target.

But when we do what we want to do, instead of what God would have us do. That is like missing the target. We put what we want ahead of what God wants. So I might say to my daughter, “Last week when you hit your brother. Chances are you missed the target on that one.”

Back to the pie pan and pieces of paper. Within the family, we can talk about specific sins that each member struggles with. Imagine you have a son who struggles with using the word “stupid.” He knows he isn’t suppose to use that word but when he gets mad, what word do you think he uses? 

So here is what happens. He get’s mad uses the word “stupid” and you say, “If you use that word one more time…” And he says, “Stupid, stupid, stupid.” Real effective parenting, right? 

But now what happens. We’re all together having fun. Everyone is going to share a sin they struggle with and he says, “I know. I’m not suppose to use that word. I’ll try not to use it next time.” We write the word stupid on a piece of paper and put it in the pie pan.

Now your daughter is older and has a different issue. She is working on obedience. You walk by her room and it’s a mess. You say, “Honey, you need to clean your room.” In a perky voice she says, “No problem Dad. I’ll do it right away.” Wonderful. That is just the kind of response you like to hear.

Twenty minutes later you walk by her room. Total chaos and she is nowhere in sight. “Madi, where are you? I thought you were going to clean your room?” “Dad, I’m on my way. I’m going to do it.”

Twenty minutes later you look in the room. She’s sitting in the middle of the floor piddling with something small, total chaos all around her. “Honey, you need to get your room clean.” “Dad, I’m working on it.” So obedience is the issue she is dealing with. We write obedience on a piece of paper and put it in the pie pan.

As the parents, you need to share one of the sins you struggle with. Remember last night when you spilled the glass of water and I grounded you for 3 months? I think I over reacted. So you write anger on a piece of paper and put it in the pie pan.

Now you have a pie pan filled with sins. The jar filled with water represents us. (Position it near the edge of the table.) The pie pan is filled with our sins. (Center it on top of the jar. Place the toilet paper tube in the center of the pie pan over the center of the jar.) And the egg represents God. (Place the egg sideways on top of the toilet paper tube.)

So you can see there is a very clear visual image, if we are the jar of water and God is the egg, then what separates us (the jar) from God (the egg)? Our sins! So what we need is a sin buster. We need someone who can come into our lives, take away the sin, so we can be back together with God. Who do you think can be our sin buster? Jesus.

This broom represents Jesus. When we become Christians, Jesus comes into our lives, takes away the sin so we can be back together with God. This happens quickly so I’m going to count to three then let the broom go. 1, 2, 3.

Sin is busted out of our lives by Christ.

ACTIVITY: 
Excess Baggage Video

Now I want you to see a family doing the Family Time activity in their home. They are following the Family Time format although they have already done part of the activity before the video starts rolling. Notice the faces of the children and parents.

Show the video.

The whole lesson boils down to one question. Was it easier or harder? Harder. The activity just helps the lesson to stick.

By the way, this is a great activity if you have one of those kids who is kind of bossy. They are always trying to be Mom or Dad or big brother or big sister. You can do this activity and then when you see them being bossy say, “Life will go easier for you if you just stay in the clothes God gave you. Don’t try to wear someone else’s clothes.” Then they will remember the lesson.

Do you think those kids will be eager to do another Family Time? You bet. When we put spiritual training into the language of children, the problem isn’t the interest level of our kids. The problem is whether or not we as the parents will take the time to do the lessons.

optional

REQUIRED

optional

REQUIRED

REQUIRED

optional

optional

REQUIRED

Why is a Family Time So Important?

optional

REQUIRED

Why is a Family Time so important?
If you’re in the church, you need to ask yourself the core question: Does it matter if my child grows up in the faith and has a personal relationship with Jesus? Is this really important? If yes, then what is your plan and how does it compare to God’s plan for seeing that the faith is passed to future generations?

If you are not in the church but you are concerned about your kids having good morals and character qualities, then where do you think they will learn those qualities? Do you think the school and your child’s peers reflect your values? What is your plan for being intentional in passing along values like honesty, integrity, sharing, serving, giving?

Examples of Junior High and Senior High School

The language in many schools is unbelievable. It’s as if they hand out a card on the first day that says, you can cuss as much as you want. Our kids will hear the “F” word, not to mention other words, 30 times or more each day. 

Even in well respected schools young people are passing around web sites about having sex. Our kids are experiencing weapons drills and drug searches.

One dad went to his daughter’s school play. After the 5th time they took the Lord’s name in vain he decided to count. More than 25 times and that didn’t count the words that start with “a” and “s” and “b.” People in the audience responded like this was acceptable, approved, everyday language. The drama teacher was hired that year. She came from another local high school where her last play was “Urine Town.”

In high schools today kids are wrestling with serious moral questions like considering an abortion.

Statistics

Research shows that between 75% and 93% of youth in our churches…not youth in the community, youth in our churches…say that when they are out of their parents homes, they no longer intend to go to church. What impact would this have on our grandchildren?

Here’s another way to look at these statistics. It now takes two Christian families with two children each to get one Christian into the next generation. 

Some will say. It’s normal for students to take a break from church after High School. They’ll come back. That may have been true in the past but it is no longer the case.

The Billy Graham School of Missions did a study to measure basic knowledge of Christianity. The role of Christ in the forgiveness of sin. In the generation over age 65, the percentage of professing Christians who could articulate a basic understanding of their faith was 65%. The next generation, boomers, 35%. The next generation, busters 15%. The current generation, those who are in their early 20’s, 4%. 

The research shows this, the slipping morals in the culture confirm this, but in the church we don’t believe it. You might say, “But my church is full.” Is it full of people who can articulate their faith? You might say, “I’m in the church.” Are your brother’s, sisters and friends who grew up with you in the church still in the church?

So what? What’s the big deal? Yes, Family Time looks fun but can 20 minutes once a week really make that big of a difference? Isn’t it really just fun and games?

We’re losing generation after generation; they’re leaving the faith. And each generation seems to be slipping further and further away from Godly principles. You know this. Look at the culture. 

TV—what we see in commercials is more than what was allowed on TV just 30 years ago. 

Dress—walk around a mall and see what the culture views as modest. 

Language—words that use to be taboo are everywhere. 

Unless you have children in Junior High and High School you may have no idea the pressures facing our children. If they don’t have the truth in their hearts they’re going to have a very difficult time facing the challenges posed by school, the media, and peers.

Some families will gain a few extra years in church schools or home schools, yet eventually this is the culture in which our children will live. By the grace of God you are learning about Family Time when your kids are young and every lesson helps create a plumb line of right and wrong for your children.

They’re growing up in a world where their friends and neighbors don’t have a plumb line. These kids do wrong stuff every day and may not even know it’s wrong.

I believe there are eternal consequences to our decisions. We need to decide today to get intentional spiritual training back in the home. As parents, what is more important than raising kids who know and seek Christ?

20 minutes, once a week, is an effective way to start.

optional

REQUIRED

Age Appropriate Bible Reading
Junior High Quiz

When should a child read through the Bible for the first time? At what age? Most of us get hung up with books like Leviticus and Numbers. How could a kid get through those books?!

I realized I was asking the wrong question. The better question is, at what age should a child read through an age appropriate Bible? The answer to this question can be as young as age 2. Here is why being in God’s Word at home is so important.

One youth leader who saw children raised in the church decided to do a quiz. He was shocked to find out what these young people who grew up in the church didn’t know. He told the following story:

After two years working with the Junior High kids I began to realize that these kids know very little. These are the graduates of children’s ministry. And our church is known to have above average youth and children’s ministry programs. So I decided to ask them a series of questions. 

We had 37 teens, 26 have been in church their whole lives. 31 have been in church more than 4 years. The first question I asked was, “What is the last book in the Bible?” 46% didn’t know the answer.

Think about it. When do kids read the Bible? In many cases scripture verses in church youth groups are projected on a screen. Most teens aren’t even carrying Bibles. If students aren’t using Bibles at church do we really think they are using them at home?

Another question. Name 4 of the disciples. 84% didn’t know the answer.

Name one of the judges. 2 kids could name a judge. 95% didn’t know.

Are these the questions we use to determine if someone is a Christian? No. But what makes us think that if they have been in church 13+ years and can’t answer these questions that they are going to understand concepts like faith, salvation, atonement?

By the way, who got mad at me for asking these questions? The parents! We have been in church 30 and 40 years and can’t answer the same questions.

We need to be in God’s Word. Our kids need to be in God’s Word.

After starting a regular weekly Family Time, a next step would be to systematically get our children into the Word of God. 

We’ve previewed and selected a series of great age appropriate Bibles. Imagine picking a Bible and making it your Family Time Bible. Three times a week, find five to ten minutes to sit down as a family and read one of the stories. Just a few minutes several times a week. Keep the Bible separate from the other books…it’s special. After you complete the Bible together, then you can add it to the other books. Then select another age appropriate Bible and go through the same process with new pictures and a new format. 

Fast forward to age 12 and you could have a book shelf with 10 different age appropriate Bibles that you have gone through systematically. The kids know the stories, they know the chronology. Now they are ready for their first study Bible.

optional

REQUIRED

Age Appropriate Bible Reading

optional

REQUIRED

Tiny Tots Bible: What do young children like to do? Turn the pages. So you have to be able to read the words on the page before they turn it. Plus, there are tons of stories. Not just the same 10 stories over and over. There’s also a website that corresponds to this Bible. You can download coloring pages that go with the different stories.

Family Time Bible Storybook: Each page is a different story. There are more than 100 stories in this Bible. In addition to scripture, you’ll be working on colors, counting, and shapes. There’s a simple activity at the bottom of each page. For example, when you read about Abraham walking from place to place you have an activity to go upstairs and count the number of shoes in your closet. You also talk about how they didn’t have cars and walked everywhere.

If you include your email on the Feedback Sheet, we’ll send you, once a month, an email with a free activity. 

On the table in the back we have several resources that will help you get started today.

Tiny Tots Bible: Here is an absolutely wonderful first Bible. Big pictures and few words.

Family Time Bible Storybook: Here is another great preschool Bible.

Begin to Read Kids Bible: This is an excellent Bible for kids who are learning to read. The author Karyn Henley is great.

We also have several Family Time Activities Books:

Wiggles, Giggles & Popcorn, and Bubbles, Balloons & Chocolate: These activity books are for families with preschool age children.

Seeing is Believing, Playing for Keeps, Running the Race: These are activity books for families with various age children. If you told me you had a 9-year-old, 7-year-old and 4-year-old then I would recommend these three books. 

If you said you had a 7 year old, 4 year old and 2 year old then I would recommend the preschool books. 7 year olds still love the activities in these books.

Tried and True: This is an activity book for families with teens.

REQUIRED

optional

Resources
Conclusion

REQUIRED

Step #1. Start a 20 minute weekly Family Time.

Step #2. Begin a systematic approach to Bible reading as a family.

Please, for the eternal sake of our children and grandchildren choose to do something different. In the next 48 hours start Family Time and make home the primary source of spiritual training.