I love a good, doctrinally sound, biblical resource to help disciple my kids. When the boys were in the toddler stage, I shared such resources quite often. We still love some of those same resources (and now Faith is starting to love them!), but we’ve also found others we love as our boys have entered the elementary stage. Here are some current favorites:
Indescribable and How Great is Our God by Louie Giglio. If your kids love science, they’ll love these! They’re devotions that connect a science lesson/fact with a biblical principle. These are definitely favorites of our boys.
Sermon Notebooks from Not Consumed. Not Consumed offers two different styles of these – Junior for ages 4-10 and Youth for ages 10+. The Junior has space for kids to mark when they hear certain words in a sermon, and then another space to draw a picture about what they learned. The Youth is a little more in-depth. It gives space for kids to write keywords, things they have questions about, the sermon points, and more. We purchased Isaac (age 6) the Youth and Hunter (age 8) the Junior. Hunter uses his pretty much every Sunday, and it really seems to help him engage more during the sermon. Isaac’s usage is TBD, as he’s just started to join us for the sermon. However, we’re hopeful this resource will help him engage more as well!
Kaleidoscope Bibles. Kaleidoscope realized there wasn’t a great “Bible” for elementary-level readers. Therefore, they’re writing each book of the Bible in a way that elementary children can better read and understand. Several are already written. We have Proverbs, Acts, John, Judges, Ruth, and more. We love them! Hunter can read these on his own, but both boys enjoy listening to them and learning from them. They teach me a lot as well!
Tales that Tell the Truth Series. I’ve shared about many of these books individually, but there are several in this series that are excellent. Some of take Bible stories, such as Elijah and Lazarus, and write them in a way children can understand, weaving the Gospel message throughout. Others do this with concepts such as Jesus’ return and diversity.
Biblically Sound Worship Music. Kids can pick up on song lyrics so easily! The songs don’t have to be simple. I think “We Don’t Talk about Bruno” has proven that. If my kids can sing the majority of these lyrics, then they can handle worship music that’s deep and more than just a line or two. Two of their favorites are “His Mercy is More” by Shane and Shane and “Yet Not I but through Christ in Me” by CityALight. We all learn theology through music, and this includes our children. Are we teaching them deep, Christ-centered theology with the worship music we listen to or shallow, me-centered theology? Music is a great way for them to learn deep truths about God (maybe without them even realizing it).
At the end of the day, these resources (and others) are helpful, but you don’t need them. Also, I don’t necessarily fully agree with every little thing in these books/their authors. They’re all fallible in some way, because the only infallible, inerrant resource is God’s Word. Therefore, the only resources your children truly need are parents who know their need for Jesus and the desire to take their calling to disciple them seriously, God’s Word, and the local church.
So friends, prioritize your personal time with the Lord. Use ordinary moments, disciplining moments, joyous moments, and sad moments to point your kids to Christ. Plug your entire family into a solid, local church. When you fail (and we all will), lean on the grace of Jesus that’s sufficient for both you and your kids. May our homes be centered on Christ, using whatever resources we have to bring up conversations about him, pointing our children to Jesus.
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