This 180 day devotional takes elementary children step by step through the Bible's big story of God's redeeming love. Each day's reading includes a Bible passage, discussion questions, a biblical lesson, a personal story, a guide and space for the reader to insert his or her own personal story if desired, and a suggested topic of prayer. The book was designed to...
Introduce children to all of the foundational elements, or building blocks, of the gospel in one school year. This book is designed to bring all children, including those who have never heard about God or the Bible and those who have heard various Bible stories "a million times", to an understanding of how the Bible flows together as one big story with God's love and pursuit of people at the center. It takes children, step by step, through all of the foundational concepts of the gospel. Each concept, or topic, builds on the previous ones. Within each topic, there are roughly ten devotions. The goal is to get children thoroughly familiar with each topic before moving to the next. This devotional is ideal for teachers, since it is designed to fit in one school year.
Help children see the Bible stories and God himself as actively connected with their everyday lives. In each devotion, a personal current-day story or description is included. However, personal stories from an adult they know and love can have a greater impact on children. A story prompt and guide is therefore provided to enable parents, teachers, and children's ministry leaders to insert their own stories if they wish. Older elementary children may also enjoy inserting their own stories and sharing them with friends.
Engage children's attention and encourage them to evaluate and apply the information they learn. Each devotion begins and ends with a discussion question that reviews or extends concepts from the devotions. In order to encourage children to evaluate and apply what they have learned, most of the questions require children to use critical thinking skills rather than just recall facts. For classes or groups, the questions give children a chance to connect with one another on a spiritual level as they hear each other's thoughts. They also provide a way for parents, teachers, and children's ministry leaders to identify and correct any misconceptions and encourage or extend any good ideas the children express.
Help children develop a desire to read the Bible for themselves. For this to happen, they must see it as intricately connected to God, the life of the person leading the devotion, and their own lives. A Bible passage is therefore woven into each devotion in a way that connects to both the biblical lesson and the personal story.
Inspire children to love God and interact with him. Prayer is one way to do this. While scripted prayers can be helpful at times, a topic of prayer, rather than the prayer itself, is given. This allows children to express their own hearts and thoughts to God while still taking into account the things they have learned in the devotion.
Engage children at varying levels of development. Each devotion has a simple concept and can be read in 2-3 minutes. The discussion questions then take the concept to the next level in terms of the depth of thought and understanding required. With the discussion questions and prayer time included, the devotion times can take up to 15 or 20 minutes. This flexibility allows teachers, parents, and children's ministry leaders to use the devotional in ways that fit their unique schedules, the children's varying attention spans, and the children's levels of cognitive development.