Tips for studying the bible with your children

One of the most important responsibilities you'll have as a parent is fostering a healthy foundation for your child's spiritual life. While you can't make their decisions or steer their interests forever, you can plant the seeds for a long, rewarding, and self-motivated walk with Christ for your children with the right lessons.

Here are some tips to make biblical study more fun, engaging, and rewarding for your kids.

When you have young children, you need to find a way to make the bible connect with them. If you're ONLY reading verses out of the Bible to them, that won't be anything but a quick path to nap time, not to any kind of lasting interest in the Word of God. You need to get their attention and make the Bible something they want to know more about. 

Instead of making Bible study time a totally serious and straight laced affair, try to make it a fun activity that they can look forward to. Pick interesting stories from the bible and act them out as you read them, bringing your kids into it wherever you can. Use different voices for different characters, bring in things like puppets, pictures, and props to make it entertaining for your little audience members. If a particular story resonates with your kids, stage an amateur play in the living room with the kids acting for different characters and going through the broad strokes of the story (David and Goliath is a great choice for this, as is Jonah in the belly of the whale, or the good Samaritan).

Transform bible study time from a passive activity where the kids just sit there to something they engage with and help to create as well.

In addition to the times where you specifically teach your children about the word of God, work a daily devotional into your family routine. It's easiest to structure this as something you do right before bed as part of the wind down for the day (maybe as an extension of story time or tucking them in) or as something you do in the morning before you start the day, but if another time works for your family then go for it. The important thing is that you take a moment every day to read a passage of the Bible together and pray.

Your family devotional doesn't need to be long or drawn out, it just needs to be consistent. Reading a quick pair of verses and saying a prayer together everyday is better than trying to struggle through full chapters and missing days because you just don't have the time. What you need to show is that as parents reading the Bible is important and valuable to you,  that is is something that is part of your lives, not just something you sometimes sit down to do like a math class.

Whenever you are studying the Bible or holding your daily devotion, be sure to always answer any questions your kids have to the best of your abilities. You want them to fully understand the lessons you've imparted to them, not to walk away scratching their heads.

But, once your children become more capable readers on their own, have them look up the occasional answer or passage themselves when they have questions. By all means, guide them and give them direction, but have them flip through the Bible and find the spot they need themselves. Make sure they understand how the Bible is divided into different books, chapters, and verses and how to use that knowledge to find specific parts. This is the kind of knowledge that will stick with them as they become young adults and allow them to find their own path to spiritual growth. You'll be giving them tools they'll use for the rest of their lives.

Your own example will always be the most important Biblical education your children receive. Words are one thing, but actions are another, and your children will see your example and model their own actions and decisions after it. Always look for ways to implement the lessons you've taught your children in your own life. Model your teachings, enthusiastically live the virtues you've taught them and be sure they know that their parents stand by what they preach.