What 4 books of the Bible should we study?

[Ali in OR]

For our Bible/Devotion time this year, we'll study some books of the bible and some other books I want to discuss with dds like Do Hard Things...probably switching every 4-6 weeks. I would love some input on some good books of the Bible to do with an 11 year old and 8-9 year old. We did Ancients last year, so I think we've covered OT history and Acts pretty well. We'll definitely do one gospel (which?) and Proverbs. Is Romans too hard for this age? What else would you do? Thanks.

[ErinMarie123]

I don't think Romans is too hard, and it lays out the Christian life really well with concepts I wish I had learned earlier in my walk (especially Romans 6, 7, & 8).

 

My choices would be John, Romans, James, & Proverbs or Psalms. John for the life & ministry of Christ, Romans for spiritual warfare/living, James for dealing with trials, & Proverbs (for wisdom/reproof) or Psalms (for comfort/love).

 

I would have suggested Acts but you said you've already covered it. ;)

[Mrs Twain]

I have been a Christian for 20 years, and I still struggle with John. I have been accused of being too concrete. Maybe that is the problem! If you understand John well and can explain it your kids, then by all means do that one. I tend to gravitate to Matthew, Mark or Luke just because I have an easier time with these myself. Luke has a lot of detail and is my favorite.

 

Romans would be great to tackle, too. One of the other epistles like Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, or Colossians would also be great to study.

[PeacefulChaos]

I think Romans would probably be fine - I second the idea of something like Philippians, Ephesians, etc, also.

(on a side note, I love the book Do Hard Things!)

[JudoMom]

I'd go with Luke, Romans, Ephesians, and James.

[MrsMe]

If you have never started with Genesis then that's what I highly recommend. You can't have Bible study without the main foundation of how it all came about.

 

The rest of the 3 IMO would be John, but then any of the rest the pps have mentioned. Proverbs and/or Psalms should be in that as well.

[Harriet Vane]

Romans really could be a full year study. If you want to do a shorter unit, you might steer towards Colossians as a shorter summary of doctrine about Christ.

 

You might consider the Precepts for Kids Bible studies by Janna Arndt and Kay Arthur (there are some by others besides Arndt as well). They make nice unit studies. My only warning is that the one on inductive study skills is very different from the others, and also much harder. I like the Precepts studies because they guide the student to mark the text and to do a more inductive study.

[Annie Anne]

:bigear:

[raceNzanesmom]

John and Ephesians are my favorite books of the Bible. If you find any of them hard to teach I'd get a study guide. I find they help even me, they pull things out I might have missed.

[Gailmegan]

Romans is pretty deep, but it might be worth it if you're comfortable with it. I personally would add Luke, Psalms and Galatians. I steer clear of books like James or Proverbs until my kids are old enough to be fully grounded in the gospel so as not to get confused about the place that good works have in the Christian life. I want them to really understand that the imperatives are only in light of the indicatives; so in the younger years we really focus on salvation through Christ alone by faith alone, as well as God's faithfulness to his children throughout history. But that's just my personal preference and theological bias coming through.

[Ali in OR]

Thank you all--great insights. I'm leaning toward Luke and away from Romans at the moment (may wait a year or two). You've given me a lot to think about. Think I'll read through some of the others you suggested and see if any jump out as being particularly appropriate for where my girls are at this time. And see what all is out there as far as study guides for kids. Thanks again for all of your suggestions.