Leading | Knowable Word

4 Ways an Apprentice Can Help with Your Small Group

January 22, 2016 By Peter Krol

Leo Reynolds (2005), Creative Commons

The second stage of training a new Bible study leader is “I do, you help.” When your apprentice is ready to help, will you have something for that person to do? Here are some areas to consider.

1. Help with Logistics

As you give your apprentices some responsibility for the group, they can feel more ownership and demonstrate faithfulness. And as they show faithfulness in small things, you can entrust even greater things to them. Helping with logistics may involve recruiting, hosting, communicating, advertising, bringing a snack, or planning a group activity.

2. Help with Shepherding

Your goal in training a new Bible study leader should ultimately be to raise up a new shepherd of God’s people. So apprentices will learn much by learning to help you shepherd people. Apprentices can help shepherd people during the meeting: Asking good questions, encouraging quiet people to speak, or following up with prayer requests from previous meetings. They can also help shepherd people between meetings: Calling folks in the group, meeting with them for lunch, or connecting with outreach contacts. Ministry experience will help apprentices learn to lead better Bible studies.

3. Help with Preparation

Include your apprentice in your Bible study preparation. Though you could get it done faster by yourself, apprentices won’t learn unless you let them in. Meet with them before the meeting to go over the passage. Show them how to observe and investigate the text. Give them a voice to help shape your main point and craft specific applications for the small group.

4. Help with Evaluation

After the meeting, ask your apprentice how it went. How clear was the study? What was helpful or unhelpful? How were people responding? What was good? What could be better? What could we do to follow up on things that were said?

When leading a group, it’s great to have some help from an apprentice. This means we have to ask for help. But sometimes we fail to think of how apprentices can help because we’re too busy keeping all the responsibility for ourselves. So the main idea is to give apprentices real responsibility. In the next post I’ll expand on why it’s often difficult for us to do this.

5 Signs They’re Ready to Help

December 18, 2015 By Peter Krol

As you train a new Bible study leader, how do you know when the person is ready to begin helping? When should you move an apprentice from the “I do, you watch” to the “I do, you help” stage of training? If we advance people too quickly, they may burn out and give up. If we move them too slowly, the training could become stagnant and lifeless. What are the signs of a good balance?

Loving Earth (2008), Creative Commons

1. When they ask for more

Don’t miss this critical sign on account of your grand master planning. Though there are times for challenging people to step up to something new and scary, it’s generally not a good idea to heap burdens of responsibility on unwilling victims. High commitment + low motivation = small chance of long-term perseverance. “If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task” (1 Tim 3:1). A Bible study leader is not the same as a church elder, but I don’t think it’s a stretch to apply the same leadership principle.

2. When they develop proficiency in basic Bible study skills

They don’t have to be top scholars, but they do need to grasp the rudiments of OIA Bible study (Observe, interpret, apply). If not, I would begin by teaching those rudiments. You are, after all, training this person to lead a Bible study. Best to make sure this person knows how to study the Bible and doesn’t merely seek a platform for greater control over people’s lives or propagation of personal opinions.

3. When they’re aware of group dynamics

I’ve tried to train leaders who were clueless about how to read people, respond to social cues, or adjust their approach to the need of the moment. It hasn’t gone well. Before giving people more responsibility, make sure they know how to listen actively and carry on a conversation. Especially make sure they generally know when to talk and when to let others talk.

4. When they get your vision for the group

You don’t want to train apprentices up to multiply your group, only to have them take the new groups where you don’t think they should go. And you’ll all be frustrated if you can’t eventually trust your apprentices to lead their own groups. Some painful splits can be prevented by making sure the vision for Bible study, heart-oriented discipleship, and pastoral care are clear up front.

5. When they serve more than they seek to be served

Of course, a new apprentice often brings a fresh perspective and helps us to see things we wouldn’t otherwise see. If apprentices look more to the needs of others than to their own needs, this can be a great blessing. You can teach someone to study the Bible. You can teach someone to lead a Bible study. You can challenge apprentices to put the needs of others first. But you can’t actually make them put others first. Such disciples are gifts from the Lord. Don’t squander them. Set them loose, and let them help.

Let Them See You Do It

December 4, 2015 By Peter Krol

My grandfather used to do a magic trick for children where he would remove half of his finger and make it float in mid-air. I thought he was a wizard, until he showed me how to do it. His revelation inspired me to perform the same trick whenever I’m around young children, and I now think I’m destined to become like my Pop-pop: a crazy old feller who gets his kicks off making children laugh at him.

Did you catch the turning point in my tale? He showed me how to do it. Training a new Bible study leader works the same way.

Following Jesus’ Example

Jesus got his first disciples on John the Baptist’s recommendation. John’s men trusted him when he told them to behold the Lamb of God (John 1:35-36). They went to check Jesus out, and Jesus didn’t commit too quickly. He merely invited them to “Come and see” (John 1:38-39). (Presumably, it was sometime after this that Jesus called them to make a clean break with their life direction and follow him – Mark 1:16-20.)

Jesus took these disciples along when he performed his first miracle (John 1:2) and cleared out the temple (John 1:22). He had them watch for a little while (Mark 3:13-6:6) before he gave them much to do themselves (Mark 6:7-8:30).

Jesus knew they wouldn’t know what to do unless they first saw him do it.

What to Show Them

As you begin training new Bible study leaders, first let them in and then let them see you do it. But what should we show them?

Show them how you study the Bible. Practice Bible study together. Work through the observation, interpretation, and application as a team. Label things as you go so they can see why you’re doing what you’re doing.
Show them how you prepare to lead a Bible study. Doing it and leading it are different skills. The former begins with a blank notebook and a clean text, the latter begins with a main point and suggested applications. Some people will intuit the difference; others need to be shown.
Show them how you think about caring for the Bible study’s members. Meet with your apprentice and discuss how people are doing. Share your insights about how to encourage and challenge these folks.
Show them how you set up the meeting. Talk about the schedule, room set up, greetings, and dismissal. Don’t just make these decisions yourself or feel your way through it. Let your apprentice know why you’ve made the choices you’ve made.
Show them how you pray. If you need the Lord’s mercy for the Bible study to succeed (and you do), your apprentice should see you begging for this mercy. Don’t be too respectable to beg.

If you had a mentor who showed you these things, you understand how helpful it was. If you didn’t have such a mentor, you can help others avoid the mistakes you made. This will get them farther faster.

The first phase of training apprentices is “I do, you watch.” This involves letting them in and letting them see you do it. Don’t just tell them how to do it; show them.

Teach Bible Study During Family Devotions

November 30, 2015 By Ryan Higginbottom

skeeze (2014), public domain

My daughters have gone dance crazy this fall. Everywhere I look, I see pointed toes, pliés, and skipping, twirling children.

My girls will join their dance studio’s production of The Nutcracker in a few weeks. You can imagine the preparation this requires—buying costumes, reserving a venue, and cramming gobs of detailed instructions inside little heads. What an undertaking!

Train Them Up

Just as my daughters need months of ballet lessons before they hit the stage, they also need training in the skills and habits of Christians. Following Jesus is the central calling of their lives, and I cannot send them off unprepared.

It is vital that we provide our children with a solid approach to Bible study. At this blog, we advocate the OIA method. While the terminology isn’t sacred, we think the skills of observation, interpretation, and application show up in all faithful descriptions of Bible study.

So how do we pass along these crucial skills to our children?

Gather as a Family

We have opportunities throughout each day to equip our kids to study the Bible. Chief among these chances are meals and times of family worship. It’s a privilege to engage all of your children at once about the most important things in the world!

But most parents know that family devotions can feel more like a chore than a privilege. The adults are exhausted, the baby is crying, and the older children are feeding spaghetti to the dog. It is difficult to steer a ship this large (especially with a mutinous crew).

Let me encourage you to stick with it. Family devotions can be a source of deep joy and they can prepare your children for a life of loving and obeying God. Family devotions are worth the effort.

Realistic Expectations

If you’re feeling guilt about family devotions, you may need to adjust your expectations. We must be both faithful and realistic. If we set the bar too high, we will frustrate everyone.

First, consider your weekly schedule. For most families, our weeks bear more resemblance to each other than do our days. Survey a typical week for your family and seize a pocket of time on each lightly-scheduled day for family worship. Don’t beat yourself up when you miss a few days.

Next, consider the content. I’ll advocate for the Bible below, but ponder what else you might do. Involve your children as much as possible and make it fun. Let them choose praise songs or hymns. Ask them about the best parts of recent days and join in a rousing prayer of thanksgiving. The elements of worship can vary. If you make family worship memorable and fun, your children will anticipate and remind you about it!

Study the Bible

Given my push for realistic expectations, it might seem strange to suggest Bible study. Doesn’t Bible study require long, private periods of concentration?

No! Since the Bible is for everyone, so is Bible study. Training children to study the Bible is as simple as asking three questions: What? Why? So what?

What? Children should observe the Bible. You may want your older children to help out with the Bible reading, but anyone can listen and observe! Ask your children to pick out the main characters, the actions, the commands, and so on. The younger your children, the more time you’ll probably spend on the “what” question.

Why? As children get older, they should move into interpretation. Follow their observations with “why” questions. Why did Jesus heal that blind man? Why did Joseph’s brothers sell him? Why does Paul say we should always pray? Ask questions like this to move your children toward the main point of the passage.

So what? With this question we enter the land of application. What difference does all of this make? Children usually need the most help with this question, but you might be surprised how eagerly they suggest applications once you get them started.

Final Remarks

Let me leave you with a few recommendations as you consider how family devotions might work in your home.

Don’t neglect the Bible. Story Bibles can be a blessing for young children, so feel free to incorporate them. (My youngest really loves the pictures.) But don’t let them replace God’s word. Your children can handle more than you think.
Involve the whole family. Ask questions of all the children—and all the adults! Children should see the adults in their lives modeling good Bible study habits.
Revisit Bible passages. If your family devotions bog down, return to the same passage the next time. You might also consider studying the same passage with the family that you (or your children) are reading in personal devotions.

We have several articles on teaching Bible study to age-specific children, along with devotional guides for readers and non-readers, at our children’s Bible study page.

Let Them In

November 20, 2015 By Peter Krol

I’m elbow-deep in my family’s second annual Legofest, where we dedicate our spare moments to rebuilding every Lego set in the house.

I’ve learned a lot since last year, but what I’ve learned has really slowed me down. In particular, I’ve learned how to include my kids.

Last year, I introduced Legofest as a way to serve the children. I would rebuild all their Lego sets for them, thus providing them with a load of “new” toys to enjoy through the winter. But the problem was that my kids wanted to join me in the work; and their help was not always very helpful.

They’d pick something to start building. They would search for the first few pieces. They would complete the first few steps. But they’d quickly hit a problem, where they couldn’t find a specific piece amid the piles of carnage. But they’d find an identical shape in a different color; they’d settle for this lucky find and go on their way. By the end, we were missing all sorts of pieces, and we had to unbuild a few automobiles to swap out the necessary parts.

This year, I decided to get in front of the problem, and I banned the children from all Legofest activities. That is, until I realized I was a terrible parent for doing so. What sort of father would do that to his kids?

I’ve now done all I can think of to include the children in the building process, with some clear ground rules for when we can and cannot substitute imperfect pieces. And I’ve gotten better at teaching them how to build and how to find the right pieces. The problem with this is, of course, that the building takes longer than it did last year. Inclusion comes with a great cost to efficiency.

Building Legos and Training Bible Study Leaders

Training a new Bible study leader is like Legofest in this way: Inclusion tends to work against efficiency. If your goals are to keep your calendar clean and to minimize the time you spend in preparation, it’s not worth it to train an apprentice. But of course, the larger cost is that your ministry will always center around you. Training is inefficient. It takes time, effort, repetition, initiative, coaching, careful attention, and repetition.

So the first step for training apprentices is to invite them to watch you. Bring them into the planning process, and talk it through together. Slow yourself down, pull back the curtain, and show them the way. Adjust your expectations so you’re not surprised when it takes more time and effort.

Is it worth it to you?

How to Train Someone in a Task

November 13, 2015 By Peter Krol

Training is the process by which someone matures from learning to leading, from participating to performing. It is a process we regularly underestimate but can’t go without.

Some self-disciplined, intuitive types can train themselves in a skill by merely observing and imitating successful people. But there are masses of people who, to make progress, need rigorous coaching and instruction. This is why athletes, entrepreneurs, and executive teams hire personal trainers or outside consultants. Classes and books may help with communicating information, but effective skills-training rarely takes place without close contact, personal investment, and frequent feedback.

Living Fitness (2013), Creative Commons

The world gives many names to such training: mentoring, coaching, supervising, parenting, tutoring, consulting, counseling. The Bible calls it “making disciples.” And when we use this fitting label, we’ll quickly realize the Bible has much to say about how to go about doing it.

While I write this post as part of a series about how to train someone to lead a Bible study, the process I outline¹ can be applied to almost any skill. Since it describes how God works in the world, we should expect it to work as we follow his example.

I do, you watch; aka “Come and see” (John 1:39). Invite this person to become your official assistant leader. Meet with your assistant before the group meeting to go over the passage. Teach that person how to do OIA Bible study. Practice it with that person over the course of a few months.
I do, you help; aka “Come and follow me” (Mark 1:17). Ask your assistant to evaluate your leadership and make suggestions for improvement. Give assignments for your assistant to carry out during the meeting. “Please help me to draw out the silent person.” “Please feel free to ask a key question if you think the discussion is lagging.” “Please come early and be ready to help welcome people.” “Please let me know what you hear that will enable me to make the next study more relevant to them.”
You do, I help; aka “Go out and come back” (Luke 10:1-24). Let your assistant lead one of the meetings, and then meet to give that person feedback on how it went. You now play the support role during the meeting, helping with difficult situations or participants. Encourage your assistant with what went well and offer suggestions for improvement. Avoid correcting every minor mistake; focus on broad patterns that might hold back this person’s leadership ability.
You do, I watch; aka “Go and make disciples” (Matthew 28:18-20). Right when your assistant starts being truly effective, you’ll need to send that person out to start a new group without you. This is painful, because it will feel like your own group is moving backwards. You’ll lose the momentum and excitement of visible progress. But where there had been one group, now there are two. This is worth it.

The beauty of this process is that it’s neither time-sensitive nor dependent on factors like capacity, competence, education, or learning style. Because it’s merely a framework to guide the discipleship of an individual, we can tailor the process to all the different kinds of people we train.

If, after delegating the task fully (step 4), you suspect the person is struggling to succeed, that’s okay. Most trainees need to make their own mistakes and find their own style before they find competency. But perpetual floundering may also reveal that you moved too quickly through the steps and should return to one of them.

For the rest of this series, I’ll walk through these four steps in detail, explaining how we can use them to train people to lead their own Bible studies.

————

¹I’m grateful to Dave Kieffer for introducing this model to our Team Leaders in DiscipleMakers.

The First Step for Training a Bible Study Apprentice

October 30, 2015 By Peter Krol

The best way to grow a Bible study is to multiply it, which involves training a new leader for the newly birthed group. To train a new leader, you must first choose an apprentice who is faithful and will be able to teach others. But once you’ve chosen your apprentice, what do you do with that person? How do you get started?

Justin Kern (2011), Creative Commons

The following posts in this series will focus on training an apprentice in the skills of leading a Bible study group. Before we get to those skills, however, I must clarify the first step: Teach your apprentice how to study the Bible. When I move on to leadership skills and training, I will assume your apprentice understands the basics of OIA Bible study (observe, interpret, apply) and can do them well in his or her own study of the Scripture.

So how do you teach someone to study the Bible? I’ve written on this at greater length in another post, but I’ll recap my points for you here.

1. Teach OIA

You’ve got to be explicit about what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. Explain why OIA is the best Bible study method. Give an overview of the process (this can be done in 5 minutes) and walk through the steps over time. Explain how to observe repetition, comparisons, contrasts, names and titles, and connectors. Walk through the process of asking questions, answering them from the text, and synthesizing the answers into a coherent main point. Fight for the main points. Explain the two directions and three spheres for application. Call your apprentice to get specific and focus on Jesus throughout.

The categories and concepts will give apprentices a vocabulary to see what they’ve never seen, understand what they read, and see everything in their lives change. When done well, this won’t feel academic but thrilling.

2. Demonstrate OIA

Talking about the methods and skills isn’t enough. People need to see them in action. That’s why you can’t really teach someone to study the Bible unless you actually study the Bible. Pick a book and go through it together. If your apprentices have been part of your Bible study for a while, they’ll have had time to see you do OIA study. And when you teach the skills (step one above), it will feel like opening a machine to see the inner workings.

3. Practice/Coach OIA

People won’t get it until they have to do it on their own. They might learn all the lingo and be able to tell you the difference between a summary and a main point. But unless they practice the skills regularly, in their own Bibles, and without relying on study guides or commentaries—they’ll end up with a few short circuits in their bionic implants.

Because of this need for practice, I find it crucial to meet with an apprentice outside of the group meeting. I’ll tailor my coaching to the needs and passions of the person. Sometimes we’ll collaborate to prepare the study for the next meeting. Sometimes we’ll review the previous meeting’s study and review how the OIA model guided the discussion. Sometimes we’ll do our own 1-on-1 study of a book other than the one the group is studying. The point is simply to give the apprentice an opportunity to practice OIA independently and come back for frequent feedback and coaching.

Again, for more details on these three steps for teaching OIA, please see the model I proposed here. If we don’t teach the steps for OIA, our Bible teaching will feel like secret dark arts that the uninitiated can’t ever replicate. If we don’t demonstrate OIA through books of the Bible, our teaching will feel academic and won’t take root in people’s regular practice. And if we don’t coach them through their own practice of the skills, they’ll never gain full confidence that they can do it.

And you’ll want your apprentice to be confident in his or her ability to study the Bible. That’s why you’re training, right?

Choosing Your Apprentice

October 23, 2015 By Peter Krol

Though it’s an important choice, it doesn’t need to be a complicated one. It’s not like you’re looking for someone to help you overthrow the emperor and take over the galaxy. You just need someone who is willing to learn how to lead a Bible study.

This choice matters, though, because you see the need to train a new Bible study leader. You want the word of God to go forth. You want your ministry to multiply and not center on you. You want to train others to reach more people than you could reach on your own.

How do you get started? How do you find the right person to train?

Companies hire new professionals who have experience in a relevant field. Major League baseball teams call up players who develop through the system of minor leagues. And public schools recruit certified people who pass through a season of student teaching. In each case, the supervisory committee looks for evidence of commitment and success before they take further risk or assign greater responsibility to the potential apprentice.

Similarly, Paul instructs Timothy to look for evidence of both commitment and success in potential ministry apprentices.

What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. (2 Tim 2:2)

1. Find someone who is faithful

What this doesn’t mean: The person you train should be without flaws or struggles. The apprentice must never let you down. The apprentice must be the oldest or most mature Christian you can find.

What this means: Apprentices should demonstrate a pattern of resisting sin and addressing areas of weakness. They should be regular attenders and cheerful members of the groups they are learning to lead. They should be growing as Christians and committed to knowing God through the Scripture.

2. Find someone who will be able to teach others

What this doesn’t mean: The apprentice must already have experience in a teaching role. The apprentice must have a charismatic, extroverted personality. The apprentice must have a degree or comparable education in the Bible or divinity.

What this means: Apprentices should envision reaching others. They should care about how they come across and how they can improve their communication. They should be eager to learn, able to think clearly, and quicker to listen than to speak.

Perhaps you’ve got someone in your Bible study who already meets these qualifications, and your decision is easy. Or maybe you’ll want to invite someone to join your group to step into an apprentice role. Either way, if you stay focused on the right set of qualities, I bet the Lord would be delighted to entrust you with someone to train.

Then you can work with that person to spread the knowledge of God until his glory covers the earth like the waters cover the sea. I guess it’s like finding someone to help you overthrow the emperor and take over the galaxy.

4 Reasons to Train a New Bible Study Leader

October 9, 2015 By Peter Krol

This is bigger than you. There’s no need to be a bottleneck, decelerating the growth of God’s work in your community.

We’ve explored at length how to study the Bible and how to lead a Bible study. My compadre Ryan has reflected on how to be a helpful small group member. It’s time for the next step. With this post, I launch a new series on how to train a new Bible study leader. Why should we do this?

Jöran Maaswinkel (2012), Creative Commons

1. So your ministry will multiply

You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. (2 Timothy 2:1-2)

When grace strengthens you, you might feel about to explode. You’ve got to share it. And one of the best ways to share grace is to entrust it to another person who will be able to teach others also. Now there’s not just one teacher, but two. Not just one Bible study, but two. If you do it well, two eventually becomes four. And four becomes eight.

If you train another leader, you’ll end up reaching far more people than you could ever reach on your own.

2. So others can surpass you in effectiveness

When Paul was in Corinth, he met and trained a man named Aquila and his wife Priscilla. They moved on to Ephesus together, and Paul left them there when he set sail for his home in Antioch.

Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord…though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him and explained to him the way of God more accurately…When he arrived [at Corinth], he greatly helped those who through grace had believed, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus. (Acts 18:24-28)

Paul trains Aquila & Priscilla, who eventually return to Rome to lead a house church (Rom 16:3-5). Priscilla & Aquila train Apollos, who rivals Paul for influence in Corinth (1 Cor 1:12). And the point is not that Apollos sought to compete with Paul, but that Apollos acquired an exceptional effectiveness for the Lord Jesus.

We love to be loved, and we often need to be needed. But how much better it is for Christ’s kingdom when we’re willing to get out of the way so others can carry on the work! This means we must not put ourselves at the center of the ministry. We make poor high priests for those we serve. And we can actively train others to succeed in ways we ourselves have not. If it’s not finally about us, the success of others is a real delight to witness.

3. So the word of God may not be reviled

Older women…are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. (Titus 2:3-5)

Ministry training is not just for church officers, nor even for men. Women must also train and be trained. And lest you think the content of this training limited to homemaking activities and genteel feminine ethics, remember that a woman cannot love her husband without also speaking truth to him (Eph 4:13-16, Prov 31:26). Nor can she love her children without teaching them to read and study God’s word for themselves (Prov 1:8, 2 Tim 1:5, 3:14).

If women (and men, of course) don’t learn to study the Bible, or to train others in how to study the Bible, then we don’t really believe these Scriptures are useful for teaching, reproof, correction, or training in righteousness (2 Tim 3:16). And then why would we trust these Scriptures to reveal the good news about Jesus, which is the power of God for salvation (Rom 1:16)? And if we don’t functionally believe these things (as demonstrated by our failure to teach and train others), then the world should consider us hypocrites, and they’ll deem these Scriptures not to actually be the word of God.

Let’s prove the lie of such reviling by drawing this sword and unleashing its power, training others to wield it with expert care.

4. So you don’t wear out yourself and your people

Moses had two million people to shepherd. He had been appointed to this task by none other than God himself. Remember the burning bush thing? And yet…

What you are doing is not good. You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone. (Exodus 18:17-18)

Sometimes fathers-in-law know how to hit that nail’s head. Training a new leader takes time and effort. It slows us down in the short term. But a long-term perspective reminds us that it’s worth it.

I heard someone say that in one year we’ll never accomplish what we hope, but in five years we can accomplish more than we expect. I’ve seen the truth of this statement in the lives of trainees.

Teach Your Preschoolers to Have Devotions

July 17, 2015 By Peter Krol

On a recent drive home, I had the following conversation with my 6-year-old daughter:

What did you learn at baseball practice tonight?

Lots of things!

Like what?

The same thing I learn at every practice.

And what is it that you learn at every practice?

I don’t remember…

No wonder she has to relearn it at every practice.

This is how shepherding children usually feels: seeking clarity, repeating things, practicing skills, and repeating things. Training our children to walk with God is no different. We can start early, promote good habits, and practice those habits year after year. The rare “Aha!” moments are glorious, but most of our parenting will consist of innumerable “try it again” moments.

Preschoolers are Ready for More

Let’s not wait for the children to be ready to walk with the Lord before encouraging them to start practicing. If God placed them in your family, they are ready. Of course you should address matters of belief, character, and wisdom as you have opportunity. And from the children’s earliest days you can train them to hear God’s voice and respond to it.

Let’s say you’d like to hand your children a Bible and teach them to use it. You’d love to give them a handsome devotional page and begin coaching a new season. And though you are ready for this step, your children are not. They would stare blankly at the indecipherable runes and hieroglyphs and ask you where the pictures are. Your child cannot yet read.

What do you do?

Illiteracy is No Obstacle

We’ve found four things helpful in our household. I’d love to hear your ideas as well.

1. Read to them

You can read the Bible as a family. You can read one-on-one. You can read in groups. Whatever it takes, however it works best for you, read the Bible to them.

The key, as always, is to read the Bible. Supplement their Bible intake with children’s Bibles, but don’t limit the children to the supplements. Like a good Amish cook, keep the grease right in that pan and don’t ever wash it out. Let your instruction simmer in the caloric, fatty goodness of God’s own words. Your children will get used to them and be able to understand them. These children are much smarter than we think they are.

For example, I had a child who consistently resisted instruction from us. He would get distracted and make excuses, refusing to hear counsel. We disciplined him when appropriate, but we clearly needed something more. So I had a private devotional time with this child in James 4:6-7. This child could not read, but he could understand that God would oppose him if he was proud. He knew he wouldn’t win if God fought against him, and the Scripture softened his heart toward us.

2. Read near them

Children will imitate what they see. It’s nice if they know you go into a room alone to have time with Jesus, but it’s even better if they can see you spend time with Jesus day after day. Soon enough, their play time will include “time with Jesus,” and they’ll find “Bibles” to carry around with them.

3. Have others read to them

My wife knew our kids would learn to use technology before they learned to read, so she taught them how to use a simple mp3 player. We loaded it with nothing but an audio Bible, and asked them to listen to it every morning. She would give them a track number (Bible chapter) for the day, and they would draw pictures while listening. But their drawings would take longer than a single track/chapter, so they’d hear multiple chapters in a row. The next day, she’d give them the next assigned chapter, which would involve some repetition from the day before. (In other words, on the day for Exodus 15, they’d hear Exodus 15-18. The next day would be “Exodus 16,” but they would hear Exodus 16-19.)

In these pictures, we’ve seen Noah carrying animals onto his boat, Abraham watching the stars, and Israel fleeing from “Ejip.”

Whales and drowning soldiers in the Red Sea, while long lines of Israelites pass through on dry ground (Exodus 14):

People gathering manna, baking it in the oven, and fighting Amalekites (Exodus 16):

4. Work it into their routines

Whatever you do should become routine (not mindless but regular). The more repetitive it gets, the more normal and expected it will be. And how many of us wish our time in Scripture and in prayer would feel normal and natural?

To be clear, our family life is not one of complete Bible bliss. We still eat dinner, watch Jake and the Neverland Pirates, and play baseball. We build legos, and we fight. But we try to organize life around the Scripture in basic and repetitive ways.

Here’s your chance to help the next generation. May they rise up and call you blessed.

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