Which Bible is best for Kids?

Welcome to the first of our new blog series! We’ll be exploring those FAQs we see all the time on Facebook groups for kids ministers!

Which Bible is best for kids? It’s one of the questions we see most often on kids’ ministry forums — but before we talk versions, let’s ask: where will it be used? At home? In church? For personal study?

There are some amazing resources out there with recommendations of specific Bibles for different age groups. The important thing however isn’t just how the Bible is designed, illustrated, packed with activities – it is how it is going to be used to build a genuine moment of connection with God!

At Foundationstones Resources we are passionate about building Bible Literacy and the opportunity we have in our Sunday School classes and teaching groups to equip children to explore and discover the Bible for themselves. That means whatever type of Bible they pick up they should be able to read it and encounter God, connecting with His voice.

So... here’s a few things to think about when choosing a Bible to use in your Sunday School group.

1.      Is the language accessible for the age group?

There are some wonderful translations such as the NCV (International Children’s Bible) and NIrV (New International Readers Version) which use simple language that children can follow.  The NLT (New Living Translation) is also written to be accessible with clear and concise language. There will always be tricky words in the Bible especially names of people or places, but I always tell our group they can just go for it and pronounce them any way they like, the important thing is the story and the message not the pronunciation!

TOP TIPS

• Some of our kids love to read, others don’t – we don’t force anybody to read aloud.

• Some days we encourage a ‘DRAMATIC READ’ with readers competing to be the biggest they can be.

• Sometimes I’ll interrupt a reader and say...”What! – that’s amazing... go back..read that again.” if I feel like a key point needs to be focussed on. Or ask “How many year?” and get the whole group to shout out an answer.

• We have a “SCHWOOOOM” sound that children are encouraged to make to pass on to the next reader – it means they can skip if they don’t want to read, offer a few words or verses, or really go for it if they are keen!

2.      Is everybody working from the same Bible?

Years ago, I was a big fan of encouraging children to bring a Bible from home to church. The problem was that finding a passage together and potentially reading it became a nightmare with different translations and page numbers galore! If we want to equip children to be able to discover the Bible for themselves that means having the skill of looking up a passage.  [Our Exploring the Bible A3 Poster has a simple guide for this!]

If everybody is reading from the same version, they can help one another to locate the passage, point out where we are on the page and build an understanding week on week. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have other translations available or perhaps even take time to read a verse or passage from a different translation to explore if there is more to discover – but if you are taking time to equip children to find passage in their own Bibles at home having a cohesive starting point is really helpful.

TOP TIPS

• Give some time for children to search for a passage but don’t make everybody wait for the last person to catch up and turn them into a spectacle.

• Using the contents page at the front of the Bible isn’t cheating – it’s good practice!

• Once a few people have found the passage you might like to announce the page number to help others catch up.

• Use phrases that can be applied to any Bible – e.g. Find the Big Number for the chapter and the Small number for the verse.

  
  

  

3.      Is the story the hero?

There are some wonderful study Bibles out there for children, with incredible illustrations, detailed notes, teaching and challenges. In a group setting however, I want the focus to be on the story, so we can explore and discover it for ourselves. In my groups we use an edition of the NCV that has a few illustrations on separate pages dotted through, but the majority of the pages are just text. Particularly with our older groups I want them to discover the story for themselves.

4.  What about if they can’t read?

Do not get me wrong, there is a place for picture and story Bibles particularly with the youngest groups. Last year our youngest group worked through the Jesus Storybook Bible and loved it! However we always explored the stories alongside our Big Bible Timeline – the children knew they were only dipping in to bits of God’s big story and that there were lots more stories to discover.  The first thing I always look for with any Bible picture book or story is whether the diversity of God’s creation is present and whether Jesus looks like he was actually born in Israel!

Equipped for success

Ultimately the best Bible is one that helps a child to draw closer to God and fall in love with His word. Our role is to equip them to dive deeper, explore the Bible for themselves and build a long term relationship with God. The version, illustration or format aren’t the most important thing, instead let’s focus on making sure that opening the Bible is an exciting dynamic part of our teaching times.

The Bible is not just a book but a library packed with different types of writing, stories of God’s goodness, wisdom to help us through tough times and words to inspire and guide us as we live for God. Here at Foundationstones Resources we’re committed to creating materials that can help you equip children for a lifelong love of God’s word with the confidence to explore it for themselves.