Family Guide: Scripture
At Bridgetown, our goal is that every person – adult and child – would be with Jesus, become like Jesus, and do what Jesus did. But these things don’t just happen overnight; they take time, intention, and repetition. So, with this in mind, we will be releasing a Family Guide during each teaching series to help you engage a particular Practice from the life and teaching of Jesus together. Since these Guides are aimed at kids of multiple ages, please skip or adapt anything that does not feel age appropriate. These Guides are written conversationally, so feel free to read through them. Italicized words are notes to parents and bolded words are questions to take some time with.
In our Bridgetown Church family, we are on a lifelong adventure to be with Jesus, become like Jesus, and do what he did. Something we can participate in that combines ALL those things is reading the Bible!
When you think of the Bible, what comes to mind?
(Give space for answers.)
The Bible we have today looks like one big book. But, when you open it up, the Bible is actually a little library filled with lots of different kinds of stories! There are poems, there are adventure stories, there’s history, and there are songs praising God. All these little stories make one big story when you put them together: a big story about how Jesus rescues the whole world.
Do you have a favorite story from the Bible, or somewhere else? What is it? Why do you like it?
(Give space for answers.)
Jesus was once a child, just like you. He spent his childhood learning and even memorizing the story of Scripture. Since Jesus is who we want to be like, we want to read the Bible often too.
The Bible is a story about God and his people, and God’s plan to love and rescue the whole world. We get to follow and even be part of that story, from creation to God blessing his special people to God’s people going astray and Jesus coming to earth to heal and save us, inviting ALL of us to be part of his story. We even get to look ahead at how God will one day make the whole world new and how his church — us — gets to be a part of it!
Let’s open our Bible together to Psalm 23 and read this poem (written by King David) out loud together. As we read, let's listen for what David is saying about God and how he loves us, so we can talk about that afterwards.
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
Response
What does this poem tell us about who God is?
What does this poem tell us about how God loves us?
After we read the Bible, we can pray and talk to one another about what we read. We can even ask God, “God how are you asking me to respond to what I read? Is there anything you want me to know, to do, or to change?”
How is God inviting me to respond?
When we need to remember something really important, it can be helpful to be reminded of it really often! The Bible teaches us about who God is and how we are loved and rescued by him, and we need to be reminded of that all the time. In Deuteronomy 6, God’s people are encouraged to talk and think about Scripture often — especially with their families — like at home, out and about, when you’re headed to bed or when you start your day. Reading the Bible often helps us remember that this is our story, too, and gives us a chance to let God speak to us through Scripture.
Jesus took those words of Deuteronomy 6 really seriously. He read scripture every single day, and even memorized lots of it! Many followers of Jesus today do the same as they learn to be with Jesus, become like him, and do what he did.
How does the idea of reading the Bible every day make you feel?
(Give space for answers.)
The Bible is a big book, and it’s okay if reading it sometimes feels really big or overwhelming! Even just a little every day helps us learn how to be like Jesus and remember who God is. A great place to start can be the Psalms, like the one we just read, and the Gospels, which are stories about Jesus' life.
Did you know that God sent us a helper to teach us to understand the Bible? It’s true! God’s Holy Spirit does so many things in us, but one of them is that he helps us to understand what God is saying through the Bible, and what he is trying to teach each of us when we read it. When you read something that feels confusing, you can ask the Spirit to help you understand. The Holy Spirit is who brings the Bible alive in us!
Here are a couple ideas for how we could get more Scripture into our lives now. Let’s pick one to try this week.
Explore the Bible together
Followers of Jesus often read scripture together to encourage one another and learn together. Here are a couple ideas for us to choose from to explore the Bible together.
Every night before bed, let’s read a Bible story together. We can use a story Bible like The Jesus Storybook Bible or The Biggest Story Bible, or read straight from the Bible itself. Before we read, let’s pray together to ask God to show us something about him, his story, and what it means for us.
Another idea is to read a verse out loud when we eat together as a family, like at breakfast or dinner. We can even choose one verse to read every day and memorize it together! Or, we could choose one Psalm, and do a verse of it each day, or read the whole Psalm out loud together.
Adults: If your family would like to try memorizing scripture together, a few memory verses to consider are Psalm 27v1, Proverbs 3v5–6, Philippians 4v6–7 or 4v8, Ephesians 4v32, and John 3v16–17. Your family could also try memorizing a longer section a verse at a time, such as Psalm 23, Psalm 103v1-5, 1 Corinthians 13v4-7, or Romans 12v9-18.
Explore the Bible on your own
Once every week (maybe on Sunday or your family’s Sabbath), pick a Psalm to read on your own and talk to God about! If you open up BREAD for Kids (available in the Bridgetown Bookstore), there’s a Psalm picked out for each week, and space for you to draw or write down what you think or feel about what you read. If your grown-ups use BREAD too, they’ll be reading the same Psalm as you each week, so you can talk about it together if you like.
Which ideas would you like to try this week?
Grown ups: circle or write down how your family would like to proceed.
No matter what we try, let’s commit to reading God’s words to us, and pray now that God would transform us and show us his love while we read the Bible.