It would be wonderful if every student who walked into your Bible class was enthusiastic about learning what God wants them to know. The reality is that one or more of your students is ambivalent about studying the Bible or has already decided the Bible is “too hard” or “boring”. Unfortunately, some of the adults teaching them have the same attitudes and it can become a self perpetuating idea.
One of the ways to quickly engage students in a new Bible lesson is to share some interesting facts with them. The Bible has an incredible amount of interesting things in it that just fascinate kids and teens. The cultures found in Bible times are also unfamiliar to most young people, so you can find even more interesting facts about those cultures. In addition, older students will be aware that some people question the veracity of the Bible. They often enjoy hearing about the things archaeologists find that confirm the stories in the Bible.
So where can you find these interesting facts? Our website (www.teachonereachone.org) has a few interesting facts listed with each of our Bible lessons for children. You can also find them in places like Bibles with study notes or online.
So how would you introduce these facts? One way is to drop the fact before you even start teaching the lesson. For example, “How many of you know what a mummy is? Did you know that two people in the Bible were mummified when they died? Can you guess who they are?” This increases their interest in the story that includes the deaths of Jacob and Joseph. If you pair it with an activity mummifying a fish….you have a class that engages them, teaches them new Bible stories and that they will be more likely to remember.
You can also make a game of it. While students are coming in and getting settled, throw out random numbers and see if students can remember their significance in the Bible. Not only is it a fun review, but it helps them begin to see patterns of using numbers like 12, 7, 3, etc.
For older students, if you learned your interesting facts from an article, bring in copies for those who want more information. You can also use interesting facts to encourage reading the Bible at home or to tease the lesson for the following week. This often works best if the fact is particularly bizarre (to your students….remember many Bible stories are still new to most of them)….for example, “Make sure you come back next week to learn about the Bible story when 42 people were killed by bears!” Even if they have heard the story about Elisha before, the way the fact is presented will often keep them from connecting the fact to the story.
Using interesting facts is an easy and quick way to get students engaged in your Bible lesson. It may even encourage some to rethink their negative views of the Bible. It’s worth knowing a few to share with your students.