Archive | Book Reviews

Helping children and teens understand the Bible and what God wants them to do with the commands and principles in it are crucial tasks of Bible class volunteer teachers. Yet, we do little to train them on how children learn best. It’s important to understand the human brain and what we can do to insure our young people are not only learning, but also retaining and using the information we teach them from the Bible.

Most of the books I suggest you read are meant for consumers. They are helpful, but not particularly difficult to read or understand. Today, I really want to encourage you to read what is basically a college textbook. While it may be a little more dry and complex than our normal suggestions, the information in it is crucial for Christian teachers to consider.

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Recently, I saw an ad for a series of Christian books. Each contained several books of the Bible and used the NIrV translation (which I believe is one of the better choices for kids and many teens). The one I chose to purchase contained the books of prophecy from the Old Testament – The Prophets:Books of the Old Testament for Kids.

This way of presenting the Bible is unique, without changing scripture. Perhaps the most interesting choice is to go back to the original style and omit chapters and verses. (Chapter and verse numbers were not added until the 1500’s.) At first, I thought it might be confusing. After actually seeing it in person though, I have to admit I rather enjoy it. They do put a little squiggle between certain passages, and longer books are often divided into parts – arguably close to the chapter idea. There are less of them though and they tend to keep large thoughts together instead of breaking them up as some chapters tend to do.

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Volunteer teachers in Bible classes for children often have little training in education. They love God and their students dearly, but probably aren’t as effective as they could be with just a little more coaching. Unfortunately, very few churches and ministries provide this crucial regular training for their volunteers.

Of course, we would love for you to contact us and schedule our founder to come to your location and conduct intensive training workshops. If that’s not possible, and your church doesn’t provide training resources, you can self-educate. Reading books, educational journals or following blogs like this one can improve your skills and the effectiveness of your lessons and activities.

At the moment, the best books for teachers are all written for teachers in secular schools. This doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot you can learn from these master teachers. Often what they share will work in your Bible class for children just as well as it does in the elementary school down the street. At other times, you can make a few small changes in what they suggest and make it work for your Bible class. (For example, social studies ideas often work well when trying to help your students understand the history and cultures of the Bible.)

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