What is the right age to teach your children the Bible? You can teach the Bible to your kids. Find out when to start!
Have you ever wondered what the right age to teach the Bible to your children is? Have you heard people say kids are too young to hear the words of the Bible?
Friend, the right age to teach the Bible to your kids is now.
The Right Age to Teach Children the Bible
With our younger two kids, we began teaching the Bible very early. We did a lot of it passively—like having an audio version of the children’s Bible playing in the car or while they were playing.
I honestly didn’t think they picked much of it up, but I’ll never forget my three-year-old, Erik, asking me from the back seat of the car one day why we call Jonah a prophet rather than a missionary. It was the first time I realized my kids were really listening to and processing God’s Word, even at a young age. We read Scripture, talked about God, and did fun activities.
I just—as a parent—hadn’t realized what an impact that was having on them. I thought we were just setting the tone for Bible study yet to come and introducing them to the idea of who God is. It turns out, God was working in their little hearts through his Word.
Our kids are never too young to hear God’s Word, and never too old to begin reading Scripture as family.
Whatever season you are in is the right one to start reading and learning about the Bible with your family.
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. – Deuteronomy 6:4-9, ESV
Scripture reminds us, as in Deuteronomy 6:4-9, that we are to share God’s Word with our kids over and over. We should diligently talk about them when we sit in our house, when we walk by the way, when we lie down and rise up. God’s Word should be written on our doorposts and gates—it should be the thing we talk about upon entering and leaving our home. We should always be talking about God and his Word to us.
Grab your FREE Bible Study Tool Kit–over 130 pages of Bible resources for your family!
Teach Children the Bible in an Age Appropriate Way
With very young children, it’s a great idea to introduce the main themes of the Bible as you go about your day. Who God is, our human sin nature, God’s great plan for salvation, and how Jesus wants us to live are great things to point out in nature, in relational interactions, and even in discipline.
By the time kids are teens, you can have some very important and vigorous discussions about those same topics, about doctrine and theology, and about what it will look like for them to apply God’s Word to their lives. We want to move our kids from milk to meat, as the writer of Hebrews says.
Children change developmentally as they age, so your approach to reading the Bible, discussion, and teaching about the Bible will change as they grow. I have a whole chapter about teaching the Bible in an age-appropriate way in my book, Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible.
Our Children Can Learn and Love the Bible
You can read the Bible with your kids.
Moses addresses this in Deuteronomy 30:10-13, ESV, when he says:
…when you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.
Earlier in chapter 30, he references our children and our offspring as well.
We are supposed to bring our kids to the Lord through his Word. God tells us to do so because he will equip us in the task!
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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