My Bible (Stone 4)
The Objective of this Stone:
To teach the whole story of salvation by walking through the Bible from Genesis to the Revelation of John, to prepare and present a Bible to all early readers marked for the next 120 nights of FAITH5; to call parents to recommit to FAITH5 using the suggested verses from God’s Word every night.
What Is It?
An eight session course for children and parents in the church and community titled “My Bible.”
What’s the Purpose?
To teach the whole story of salvation by walking children and parents through the Bible, highlighting 120 key Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation; to prepare a Bible for the next 120 night of home devotions; to add the reading of one Bible verse each night to the bedtime ritual of sharing highs and lows, prayer, blessing, and putting children to sleep with music featuring God’s Word.
Who Owns It?
A Theme Team of people who love God’s word, like the early reader age, and are willing to set up and lead a four to eight session course.
How Long Does It Last?
Eight 1 1/2 hour sessions. (See Setting Ideas below for more ideas.)
When Does It End?
The sessions conclude at the altar in worship with the presentation of the Bible at the Bible Blessing Liturgy. (And, if you do this right, it continues every night in every home with the reading of Scripture for the rest of the kid’s life.)
Printable Fact Sheet
Download a detailed printable PDF description of “My Bible (Stone 4)”
Detailed Description:
Many churches have the tradition of presenting Bibles to their children in second or third grade. This practice provides a wonderful opportunity to ritually celebrate the child, remind parents of baptismal promises, and do some remedial Bible education at the same time.
A Stepping Stones church tries not to give a child a new Bible. We give used Bibles—Bibles children and their parents have used for at least four to eight weeks. A Stepping Stones church doesn’t simply place a Bible in a child’s hands. We make it the goal to place the gift of nightly devotions into our families’ lives. This is the first Stone where parents and their kids attend together. (Parental involvement is key.) This Stone is actually subliminal adult education! Think about it, what is one of the biggest reasons adults do not attend adult education classes? Because they think they’ll be the only one that doesn’t know their Bible! Parents will be learning right along with their kids.
In Stepping Stone 4, this is done through the use of an eight session “mini–tour” of the Bible where parents and children highlight 120 key verses—at least one verse from every book in the Bible. A letter is sent or calls are made well in advance of the sessions by the Bible Stepping Stone Theme Team (or pay a visit to check in with the family). This contact reminds parents that they once promised to place the Holy Scriptures in their child’s hands and provide for their instruction in the Christian faith. With this Stepping Stone, your church is going to help them keep their promise! On a chosen Sunday, parents will be presenting a Bible to their children in worship. Between now and then, parents and children will meet to walk through the Scriptures, highlighting 120 key verses. These Scriptures will provide the basis of future nightly home devotions.
The Eight Sessions
Each Theme Event walks the family through 15 Bible verses, highlighting them as they go. Each Theme Event utilizes the key pieces of the Opening, Presentation, Small Group Time, and Closing. Intertwined in these pieces are songs, game shows, Images & Analogies, skits, and more. Here are the eight sessions:
The Books of Moses: From Genesis to Deuteronomy, these five books reveal how the Creator chose a people to bring the fallen world back from sin and how God chose Moses to lead the Children of Israel out of slavery.
Into the Promised Land: This Theme Event picks up the story of the Children of Israel after they escaped from Egypt and tells of their challenges of becoming a new nation. The books included in this Theme Event are Joshua through Job.
The Songs of Israel: Simply put, this is the hymn book for worship in Israel and includes Psalms.
Wisdom & Major Prophets: This section covers Proverbs through Daniel and compiles the greatest wisdom and common sense ever compiled. The Major Prophets describes how God sent messengers to bring Israel back to right living when they strayed. (Why are they called the Major Prophets? Because they wrote longer books!)
The Minor Prophets: These are the shorter books by the prophets to share God’s messages of justice, challenge, and hope. Included here are Hosea through Malachi.
The Good News: These are the accounts from four of Jesus’ disciples: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Here is where we learn the depth of God’s love for us by his sacrificing his only son.
The Letters of Paul: Romans through Philemon tell of the great deeds and adventures Jesus’ followers experienced after Jesus returned to God and sent the Holy Spirit to the followers of Jesus.
Universal Letters and the Revelation: Hebrews to Revelation are full of advice on how to live the Christian life and finishes with a vision by St. John about the ushering in of a new heaven and earth.
The eight sessions conclude in worship where Bibles are presented. We’ve provided a liturgy for this worship service, but you may want to cut and paste with your own ideas. The Stepping Stone promise is expanded to include the reading of one verse each night, starting with the ones you have highlighted.
Graduation Quilt
A key verse chosen by the child is now added on the perimeter of the Graduation Quilt panels. Again, utilize the quilters of your congregation who would love to “adopt” a family to help them with their quilt. Maybe your quilters or families have some other ideas of what to include in the panel with their key verse?
Setting Ideas
Eight Weeks. The ideal setting for Stone 4? A 1.5 hour session once a week for eight weeks. Since we are covering so many Bible verses and Bible sections, it is not realistic to do it effectively in only a few sessions.
Sunday School. Some churches use Stone 4 during the Sunday school hour. However, since time is limited and there is much to cover, consider using these 8 sessions over an entire semester instead of only 8 sessions.
Vacation Bible School. This option allows you to fit Stone 4 into an already established tradition within your congregation. The trick will be to get parents to commit to coming rather than simply dropping off their kids for the day. Because parental commitment is key, doing it in the evening would be preferable.