Invest in children’s ministry that works. Teach Christian theology for kids and equip your congregation’s young people for faith!
From the time I was around four until I graduated high school, I attended Sunday School, and then youth group, at the various churches our family attended. I even attended a Christian school for three and a half years. Honestly, that experience is one of the primary reasons I have devoted my adult life to increasing biblical literacy for children. I don’t want to sound bitter, because I am not, but I do want to be frank.
It was as an adult, a parent with multiple kids, that I first:
- read the Bible cover-to-cover and actually understood the overarching themes of Scripture
- was saved as I confessed faith in Christ and repented of my sins
- learned the history of the Christian faith
- realized that confessions and catechisms even existed
- came to understand that the moralistic Bible stories I’d been taught didn’t even resemble the actual Scripture they were taken from, apart from the characters involved
- learned the attributes of God
- studied and understood theology.
For any children’s pastor or kidmin teacher, that ought to be a humbling list. After all, if we are not teaching Scripture, theology, and doctrine in our children’s ministries, what–exactly–are we doing?
The saving grace, for me, was the memorization of Scripture during those few years I attended Christian schools. It was those Bible passages that the Lord used to call me to himself and to save me. I am so, so grateful for the years I spent memorizing God’s Word. I am eternally grateful for the way God used his Word that was hidden in my heart.
It is my experience with growing up in the church, apart from true biblical training, that has motivated my work. In writing Bible Road Trip™ and Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible, my goal has been to pass on the hard work I have done to equip myself to teach God’s Word to my kids. I want to equip other moms to do the same.
Though I worked as a Sunday School coordinator, a kidmin teacher, and an AWANA volunteer instructor for a number of years, and have seen the inner workings of children’s ministry, my role is as a fellow mom and homeschooler. That said, I think our entire system of chilidren’s ministry needs an informed overhaul.
That’s why I’m so excited to share this resource that will help all levels of volunteers and pastors involved with teaching the Bible to children. As I read the book, I was blessed to imagine how it could help gird up those who love the children in our churches to do the work of pointing children to a lifelong walk of faith in Christ.
Children’s Ministry that Works
Children are often presented with caricatures of God because of their age and stage of development. It’s assumed that they can’t comprehend the deeper truths of the Christian faith, so God is explained in simplified, watered-down language. The problem with these accommodations is that they lend themselves to methods of teaching that minimize God’s character and works. (How to Teach Kids Theology, pp.6-7)
In their book, How to Teach Kids Theology: Deep Truths for Growing Faith (New Growth Press, 2024), Sam Luce and Hunter Williams make a case for teaching theology to kids, and for using the traditional spiritual disciplines and time-honored doctrines to do so. Our kids need to actually know Scripture, the attributes of God, important orthodox (with a small o) Christian doctrines, and both biblical and historical theology.
The children in our churches live in the real world, where life is actually quite challenging. For a children’s ministry that works, children’s pastors and teachers must equip children to understand God’s Word. They must, then, equip their parents–as the primary teachers of their families–to teach God’s Word at home.
We may not be able to control what children believe, but we can control what we teach them. We can deliberately teach them what is true or casually teach them what is easy. (pp. 15)
Learn more about Help Your Kids Learn & Love the Bible and get your FREE Bible Study Resources here.
Christian Theology for Kids
Sam Luce, MACCS, MABTS, is the Pastor of Global Ministries at Redeemer Church in Utica, NY. He has served there for more than twenty-six years, twenty-five as a children’s pastor. Hunter Williams, BA, is the children’s pastor of Ridgedale Baptist Church in Chattanooga, TN. Williams is also the cohost of the Cross Formed KidMin podcast. The experience and wisdom of both men in their role as children’s ministry pastors is evident in their writing on the subject.
If we want our children to have a knowledge of God that is beautiful, true, and good, then we need to accept our role as theologians. You teach theology! The question is whether or not the theology you teach is good. (pp. 24-25)
How to Teach Theology to Kids is more than a treatise on why theology is important. Rather, Pastors Luce and Williams take you through both strategy and tactics as you integrate theology, and teaching the Bible from the Bible, into your children’s ministry.
As I read, I was so encouraged by the wisdom they shared. Much of their advice is along the same track as the advice I share for parents discipling kids at home in Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible. On the flip side of the coin, as an author who writes about theology and doctrine for kids in my Bible Investigators and Who What Why series, I was vastly encouraged that the work invested to teach proper theology is not wasted. In fact, sharing the gospel and God’s Word with children is some of the most important work I can do.
The chapters of How to Teach Kids Theology are:
- Introduction: Lack of Confidence = Lots of Confusion
- Seeing the Great Lion: Why We Need to Teach Kids Theology
- What is Theology?
- Theological Fluency: Applying Theology to All of Life
- Theology as Story
- Simplifying vs. Distilling Theology
- Orthodoxy and Theological Clarity
- Pathways: Developing a Plan for Teaching Kids Theology
- Bringing Theology Home
- Conclusion: Remember and Believe–Nothing Else Matters
- Appendix 1: Bible Lesson Prep Sheet
- Appendix 2: Example Lesson: Distilling the Doctrine of Sin
- Appendix 3: Developing a Ministry Pathway
I enjoyed all the chapters. They are informative and highly applicable without being overwhelming or dry.
“Simplifying vs. Distilling Theology” was a new framework for me to consider the work of writing about theology for kids, and I appreciated that. I had the concepts rattling around in my brain, but they are now firmly cemented as a structure I can build my thoughts on.
The authors of the book refer to that sort of framework as “hooks” your kids can hang theological concepts on. As you give children hooks, framework, and structure for the theology and doctrine they will learn over eighteen years of ministry, they will develop a thoroughly biblical worldview. That is what we want for them, isn’t it?
I highly, highly recommend How to Teach Theology to Kids for anyone working with children in your church.
Purchase How to Teach Kids Theology: Deep Truths for Growing Faith by Sam Luce and Hunter Williams
I highly recommend taking every children’s pastor, teacher, and volunteer through How to Teach Kids Theology as a group. It is well worth your time! You can purchase the book in bulk amounts from New Growth Press.
Parents will learn:
- How to overcome major concerns about teaching the Bible to their kids.
- To successfully develop a consistent family Bible reading habit and plan.
- How to interpret and apply the Bible rightly.
- Skills for hosting meaningful Bible discussions with their kids.
- To be prepared to answer tough questions.
- Age-appropriate ways to share the gospel.
- To prepare for tough and busy days with unique ways to focus on Scripture.
- Tips and tricks for making the Bible fun and engaging.
- Tools for Bible memorization.
- To structure Bible activities and discussions to their child’s God-given strengths.
Packed with useful information and with practical application in each chapter, Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible is the tool the parents in your congregation need in order to be equipped to teach their kids God’s life-giving Word.
Learn more about using this resource with your congregation!
Bible Resources for Your Kids
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Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible
You want your kids to learn and love the Bible.
You want to teach the Bible…
As parents, we deeply desire the best for our kids. We look for the right schools, we make them eat right and exercise, and we get them involved in extracurricular activities. We take our job as parents seriously.
But are we also putting our time and energy into
teaching them the Bible? Giving them the life-changing, soul-nourishing words of Scripture is not only doable, it’s an essential part of parenting kids for Jesus. And the good news is, studying God’s Word as a family doesn’t have to be difficult!
2 Timothy 2:15, ESV, says:
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved,
a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
Our job, as parents who love Jesus, is to help our kids become approved workers, unashamed and rightly handling the word of truth.
The good news? Teaching the Bible isn’t hard. Your family can learn the Bible together.
…and you can!
A Crash Course in Teaching the Bible to Your Kids
Danika Cooley’s book, Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible, will give you the tools and confidence to study the Bible as a family. It will help you identify and overcome your objections and fears, give you a crash course in what the Bible is all about and how to teach it, and provide the guidance you need to set up a family Bible study habit.
You will finish this book feeling encouraged and empowered to initiate and strengthen your child’s relationship with the Lord through His Word.
Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible will equip you with everything you need to know to teach the Bible to your kids!
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