One of the greatest callings as a mom (parent) is the privilege to teach the Bible to our children. What is even greater, is teaching them HOW to study it for THEMSELVES. The beautiful picture of Deuteronomy 6 tells us exactly what our teaching should look like…
“You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.”
I love that it is a continual, on-going event, not just a one-time “let’s sit down with our bibles” moment. It is a lifestyle that is encouraged of Christian parents in the ins-and-outs of everyday.
However, I do recognize that we also need to have those times where we sit down, in the intentional quiet moments, and walk through how to study the Bible with our children. I feel the best way to do this is to walk through books of the Bible with our children teaching them the inductive study method.
What in the world is that?! you might ask. It’s very simple. It a way to study by observation, interpretation, and application. Instead of opening to a passage, reading it, saying one or two things about it, and then closing it up, inductive study goes deeper. You become detectives, and students of the Bible. It can be tedious, as well as a lot of fun!
If this overwhelms you, there are many tools and resources out there to help you. Here are a couple:
- Kay Arthur’s book How to Study Your Bible as well as Lord, Teach Me to Study the Bible
- Living By the Book is another great resource
- Caroline Saunders The Simple Study Binder and Simple Discipleship Study for Moms and Daughters Ages 9-13 and Simple Discipleship Study
There are many more out there. Those are just a few, but I want to spotlight the Simple Discipleship Studies by Caroline. These are awesome downloads that can easily get you started on your discipleship process with your children.
My daughter and I were able to test the one for ages 9-13. It was a joy to be able to study the Bible together using this tool. The best part is that it is not a bible study, so the tool does not end, it can be used continually for any part of Scripture.
If you have children this age, I recommend this tool because it is encouraging as well as helpful. It simply helps you get started on the process of discipling your child and walking through Scripture in a systematic way.
It does not matter how you organize your study of Scripture, because that’s not the main point, but I want to share with you how I have organized our study of Scripture using Caroline’s discipleship tool.
My daughter and I are going to start working through the book of Genesis. I know it’s a big book but we are going to go slow and not race through it. I took the whole book of Genesis and pasted it into a Word document. I made sure I had lots of space between my lines where I can write notes as we study. I printed this out, as well as the documents from Caroline’s Discipleship Tool that I need.
After printing all of the pages I needed, I laminated the front and back cover. I then used my Swingline Pro Click Binding System to make a booklet. I made two, one for me and one for my daughter.
We are using colored pencils to color-code words and phrases as we read. I also bought an awesome pencil case to keep our pencils and pens organized and in one place so all we have to grab for our study time is our bibles, booklets, and pencil case.
Our plan is to meet two or three times a week and during this time we will talk about what we’ve read during the week, pray together, talk about struggles we are having, and I will do some teaching on how to study the Bible more fully. It is a very simple, yet sweet time.
It is not always easy to make this part of discipling our children the most important priority for many reasons. It could be because our schedules are so busy, it might seem awkward, or we may just feel like we aren’t qualified to teach in this way. But I want to say this to you, dear friend, you can do it! God is capable and it is in His strength that we can do what He has called us to do, disciple our children.
Find hope that you and I are in this together and that we can walk in the trenches together encouraging each other along the way AND that God is our stronghold.
Let me know what you do as a parent to intentionally disciple your children. I’d love to hear.
