# family bible study



## Eoghan (Sep 5, 2009)

I am thinking of trying to introduce some sort of Bible study with my children age 7 and 10. I have no experience/tradition of this at all.

Any suggestions welcome


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## rpavich (Sep 5, 2009)

Eoghan,
First off...wow...what a great opportunity!

I was saved later in life and my children never had a chance to be around bibles/bible study when they were little...

Be thankful.

So from my perspective; I'd say; basics. Who is God? Etc....

The Kiddies shorter catechism is good; it gives you a systematic way to go through the word....subject by subject...
:: children's version of westminster catechism ::

BONUS: you can get the children's CD from this forum that puts the children's catechism to song! That will reinforce all of the teachings..

bob


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## itsreed (Sep 5, 2009)

Eogahn:

Have you studied up on the biblical practice of Family Worship? This is where you begin.

I'm sure you'll get a lot of good advice here. If you want to email me offline, I can send you some recent studies I put together for the fathers here in our church.

Aside, a practical answer here, you can go one of two ways: 1) Bible reading, and/or 2)Catechising. The first involves reading a passage and then giving your children the simplest of overviews of how the passage ties into God's plan of redemption in Christ for His children. My five and my wife and I started this, about a section a morning, some 4 or 5 years ago, when our oldest was in her teens and our youngest was in his pre-schooler. We're just now (working straight through from Genesis) in the Sermon on the Mount. 

For your own background in this you should read a good book presenting the redemptive storyline of the Bible, i.e., something on Biblical theology. Robert Vaughn has an exceptional one geared for high school level, Derke Bergsma (WSC) another, Graeme Goldsworthy more advanced, and Gerhardos Vos the foundational work (_Biblical Theology_).

The second involves teaching your children some sound catechism. At your children's age this means memorization. We use the Shorter Catechism. Reformed Baptist brother's may appreciate Spurgeon's Puritan's Catechism. I'd stay away from such as the Children's Catechism, as it's intended use is to make some subjects more understandable to the very youngest. As it does this by increasing the q&a count, it is actually more work memorizing, and for naught as the older mind still needs the background study that the catechism is intended to be a starting point for.

We do this in the evenings. As the kids are all memorizing (-ed) the WSC for their schooling, I use this time to give them deepening explanations of the doctrine of Scripture.

Both of these types of Family Worship anticipate some sort of father-led worship. Prayer, singing of psalms/hymns, reading/explanation, and prayer. In our evenings now we are using Spurgeon's Evening Devotions to focus the teaching element. After this part, we usually read a section of a Christian classic, bio, etc. My kids learned to love Bunyan's Holy War and Gladys Aylward's story (among many others) this way.

Just a quick snippet of what you should consider. It is actually much simpler than these details may suggest, especially since God uses such expression of faith as a means of grace. Again, email me and I'll send you some bite-size things. Also, you should get a good book on this biblical practice. Terry Johnson still has one of the better ones available. Matthew Henry's has recently been re-released. There are a number of good ones in between these.

A minimum of 15 minutes in the morning; start lite rather than full-bore, do it by faith - you will be amazed at how deeply and fully God keeps his covenant promises in your children's lives

reed dot 1pm at gmail dot com


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## Peairtach (Sep 5, 2009)

Here are some resources on it:-

http://newhope2.timberlakepublishing.com/files/familyworshipbibliography.pdf

Amazon.co.uk: family worship: Books

The very late Merle d'Aubigne has a booklet justifying the practice from Scripture, called "Family Worship" (Presbyterian Heritage). It may be online somewhere.

I was brought up in a home that had family worship (sometimes called "a reading"). And I still have it today.

We start with a shorter prayer of adoration, confession and thanksgiving, by the head of the household, then a psalm or part of a psalm is sung, then a passage of Scripture is read (sometimes read round the family, four verses each; sometimes if more difficult, or not, comments are made on the passage); concluding with a longer prayer with various petitions and intercessions, or the Lord's Prayer recited together.


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## Honor (Sep 6, 2009)

HI Eoghan,
this is what we do... granted our children are 4 and 5 so I'll tell you what we do and then what I would suggest for yours who are older.
We pray first then we read a chapter of the Bible we have used several editions getting progressively more indepth as they have gotten older. after we read we ask questions about the chapter and then we let them ask questions. Oh and we go through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation one chapter at a time. Then we ask the boys what is on their hearts that we can talk about and then pray about after that we pray giving them a chance to pray. It's not a whole lot and takes about a half hour before bed. But they are little and it's good for now. We don't do Catechism, we just don't believe in it. But the boys are memorizing Scripture and sometimes we go over that but we talk that at school so we don't do that, that often. 
If your children aren't homeschooled I would have a verse or two that hey would memorize and recite each night. Start with just reading a chapter or two through the Bible and then talking to them about it and their day and how that can relate to their every day life. It's so fun to watch them think about the verse we just read relating to their little world. Then just talk to them and get to know what's on thier hearts so that you can really pray for them and with them. I would use it as a time to usher them into the throne room of God. what an exciting time. also keeping a family prayer journal would be neat. Have the 10 year old be the "secretary" and write down the prayer requests every day... then ya'll can look back and praise God for the requests He's granted and talk about things that maybe they prayed for that God answered in different ways. it could be a powerful tool. Anyways, I'll be praying for your family. hope that helps


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## Scot (Sep 6, 2009)

I read a chapter from the Bible to them then the same chapter from The Child's Story Bible by Catherine Vos. I then ask questions on what we have just read and discuss it with them. We've also used Leading Little Ones to God by Marian Schoolland which I thought was very good.


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## Brian Withnell (Sep 6, 2009)

Start 10 years ago with reading the scripture to them regularly. 

at 7 and 10, you can add discussion (simple questions, then more open ended questions) to encourage them to think about what it means.


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## Eoghan (Sep 10, 2009)

Spurgeon's Puritan's Catechism ? This is a part of my Baptist heritage I have not heard of before!


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## itsreed (Sep 11, 2009)

Check here:

A Puritan Catechism


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## J. David Kear (Sep 11, 2009)

Eoghan,

We started family worship/devotion about three months ago. It is one of the best investments ever.

My wife and I have three girls age 2, 5, and 11. First we read two booklets by Joel Beeke one about bringing the gospel to covenant children (very convicting) and one on the duty of family worship. We also bought a family worship resource book by Terry L. Johnson which has everything you might want for family worship:

1. Bible reading plan 
2. Children’s Catechism and the Westminster Shorter Catechism 
3. Bible memory verses (with leading lines) 
4. Family Psalter/Hymnal 
5. Creeds (Apostles, Nicene, Westminster) 
6. A great section on constructing family prayer ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) 
7. And a bunch of other useful stuff

We started out by meeting twice a week on Monday and Thursday. We have incorporated the following elements:

1. Prayer of invocation – Asking for God to bless our time of devotion 
2. Reciting the Apostles Creed or 5-10 questions from the Children’s Catechism
3. My older daughter occasionally requests to read a Psalm or Proverb that she has enjoyed in the week
4. Bible reading and discussion
5. Assign reading for the next devotion 
6. Then we construct a family prayer using the ACTS model. The girls, daddy, and momma make requests and suggestions to meet all the ACTS elements and Sonya records them in a prayer journal. Then I lead the prayer that the family has constructed. We end it together with the Lord’s Prayer.


In Bible reading and discussion we started by covering the life of Elijah (I Kings 17 – II Kings 2). Now we are studying through Daniel and plan to cover a gospel next. 

The girls absolutely love it. I have been so pleasantly surprised how quickly they have memorized the catechism questions and the Lord’s Prayer (even the 2yr old). They ask me almost everyday if we have family devotion tonight. We will probably increase the frequency soon.

All I can say is don’t hesitate to do it. It will be a huge blessing to your family.


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## Eoghan (Sep 21, 2009)

We are now on chapter 3 of Mark. The kids seem to prefer a worksheet based study so I have drafted one for the weekend. How do I upload the word doc? 

I am struggling a bit with explaining the unforgivable sin  and would welcome suggestions.


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