Family Faith Formation Resources | Bibles and Bible Storybooks

This article is part of the Family Faith Formation Toolkit - a collection of resources for equipping ministry leaders, parents, and caregivers with family faith practices and resources, brought to you by Faith Formation Ministries.

In the following links you’ll find creative resources and practices around Bibles and Bible-reading to use both in community and at home. These ideas can be seamlessly woven into existing church programs and into family life.

Bibles and Bible Storybooks: In Community

“Reading the Bible is one of the most important ways for children to learn a vocabulary of faith.”
—Elizabeth Caldwell,  I Wonder: Engaging a Child’s Curiosity About the Bible

• Does your church bless kids with the gift of a Bible? At Willoughby CRC in Langley, British Columbia, the children in grade 2 are each given a copy of The Adventure Bible, and those graduating from grade 12 are presented with a pocket-sized Bible. The presentations occur each year as part of a worship service.

• Bible presentations are an intergenerational affair at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Newington, New Hampshire, where older adults spend time with children and parents to talk about favorite verses and how God’s Word has shaped their life. Find out how they do it here.

• Imagine receiving a Bible in which the texts beloved by your grandparents and parents were underlined. Or imagine opening a Bible and discovering messages about God’s faithfulness written inside by members of God’s family, your church. As you read the post The Cookbook Bible, think about how you might build on these ideas in your congregation.

• Hosting a Get to Know Your Bible class for children and parents is a great way to get families excited about reading the Bible. It’s also a way to help both children and parents become more familiar with the Bible and how to read it. This list of ideas for Breaking in Your Bible includes a YouTube playlist of songs to help families memorize the books of the Bible together.

• The book 100 Things Every Child Should Know before Confirmation contains a “list of 100 Bible stories, characters, verses, church traditions, habits, and conversations” that author and Presbyterian associate pastor Rebecca Kirkpatrick believes “children and younger teenagers should have in order to make the transition to the next level of faith expression as older teenagers and young adults.”

• Wondering which Bible translation works best with children? The NIrV (New International Reader’s Version) is the first choice of the CRC pastors and faith formation leaders we polled.

Bibles and Bible Storybooks: At Home

“Hearing the Bible stories in relationship with loving parents or family members forms children in faith and helps them develop a language of faith that will grow with them.”
—Elizabeth Caldwell, I Wonder: Engaging a Child’s Curiosity About the Bible

How we tell God’s story to children matters! The practical ideas in the book I Wonder: Engaging a Child’s Curiosity About the Bible empowers parents to talk about the Bible with their kids and provides expert advice about what translations may be best for children, which passages and stories of the Bible are age-appropriate, and what methods are best to help children learn as they read Scripture. We highly recommend it for parents, pastors, and other faith formation leaders.

Not all Bible storybooks are created equal. Here are some of our favorites:

• Baby Bible by Sarah Toulmin
• God Loves Me storybooks by Patricia Nederveld
• Spark Story Bible from Augsburg Fortress
• The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones
• Tomie dePaola’s Book of Bible Stories by Tomie dePaola
• Children of God Storybook Bible by Desmond Tutu
• Shine On: A Story Bible from MennoMedia
• Children's Bible in 365 Stories by Mary Batchelor
• Growing in God’s Love: A Story Bible by Elizabeth Caldwell and Carol Wehreim

QUESTIONS?

If you’re part of the Christian Reformed Church in North America and you have questions about how to equip ministry leaders, parents, and caregivers with family faith practices and resources, one of Faith Formation Ministries’ Regional Catalyzers would love to talk with you about ideas and strategies.