It can be a challenge to help elementary-age children learn and enjoy reading God’s word!
“Read, Think, Pray, Do” is a sweet introduction to the grand adventure of reading and engaging with Scripture. The illustrations are wonderful and the book is short but wonderfully makes the point that our Bibles are an amazing gift for a lifetime adventure in knowing God.

— Donna Leupp

Both sites list by interest or genre or age so you can find things easily, and they often have great sales to watch for! Make reading a family event–there are great adult selections too!

https://www.thegoodbook.com
https://www.wtsbooks.com/pages/children

— Donna Leupp

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:6-9 NIV

Heading into summer transitions? It’s time for a plan! This verse encourages us to focus, not on elaborate special event type planning, but the day-to-day intentionality of modeling and speaking life with our children. I love this quote from “How to Teach Kids Theology”: “Our culture leads us to believe that if something isn’t novel, then it isn’t impactful. But this couldn’t be further from the truth! The ordinary, not the exceptional, is what shapes us the most.”

Yup, consistency over time is the ticket!

What summer rhythms can you intentionally use to point your kids to our awesome God and His creation?

Try “habit stacking”, choosing a thing that you do consistently and add a God-centered practice on top, like reviewing your memory verse as a family when you thank God for your dinner.

If you’re looking for some practical direction, check out “Family Discipleship” by Matt Chandler and Adam Griffin. Maybe take a little time today to ponder and pray for direction in what that looks like for your family.

— Donna Leupp

“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

Note the emphasis on diligence, all areas of daily life, remembering and passing on the experience of God’s faithfulness and His desire for our good.

Likewise, in Psalm 78:2-7 the psalmist conveys the need to pass on the testimonies of God’s greatness that were passed on to their generation, to tell the coming generation. Emphasis on knowing and experiencing God, “so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God but keep His commandments….”

Ephesians 6:4 urges, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” This is all-of-life instruction.

WOW! The list could certainly go on! You see God’s Word is not silent on our need to disciple our kids. We can’t settle for behavior modification, though it’s so tempting! It’s easier and more measurable on the outside and may provide temporary relief. But then we model a salvation-by-works surface-level façade, not a living relationship with our awesome God.

How might that look in our lives?

Modeling: We all know our kids won’t buy into the joy of walking with Jesus if we don’t model it…or worse yet, if we make it seem like a dreaded or tolerated chore. Stop and think through what your kids SEE of your faith journey (things like time in the Word and prayer, priorities, responses to others) and prayerfully ask God’s guidance in seeing blind spots that you need to address or changes that need to be made. Commit it to prayer and share the journey. Notice God’s fingerprints on everyday things and share them OUT LOUD.

• Share your own faith story (Deut. 6:20-25).
• Is discipline and instruction gospel-infused or behavior modification centered?

Environment: Is your home peaceful?

What about a focused family devotional time?

Family Worship: Read, Pray, Sing

Read Scripture: read through books of the Bible together—age appropriate and in short chunks. Younger kids will do better with narrative passages. Read it with emotion!!!!

Pray: I like the suggestion in Family Worship to at least pray about one thing you just read in the Scripture (however the Word prompts you in thanksgiving, praise, repentance, intercession, even asking the Spirit for clarification). Beyond that, themes may be helpful: praise only night; missionary night; classmates or teammates; the ministry you serve in at church; unsaved family members…the list goes on. Keep it short.

Sing: Tools like songbooks or printed lyrics are helpful. Find artists that focus on putting Scripture to music so that you can memorize verses while you sing together. Perhaps your jam will be just to listen to a hymn or sing along with a beautiful worship song or dance to a praise tune as you close your family devo time. Be creative!

Overall, keep it simple: how many of you feel overwhelmed? Don’t let the enemy convince you that you can’t do this! What God calls us to do, He equips us for. Be brief. Be consistent, not legalistic. Expect failure—it won’t always be easy or welcomed, but it will be worth it!

DON’T FORGET TO MARK MILESTONES, finding ways to memorialize life-changing events.

For example, look at what Exodus 12:14; 24-27; 13:8-10 includes in the instructions regarding Passover and Unleavened Bread:

• A tangible memorial (symbolic meal; blood on the doorposts; dressed for travel; eat in a hurry)
• Personal testimony
• Instruction (what God directed and what He revealed about Himself)
• Consistently remembered and celebrated.

What a memorable, all-senses-included way to distinguish such significant events in a way that can be passed on for generations!

— Donna Leupp