Seen Around Church – Week of August 6, 2023
August 8, 2023
Faces of Faith: Laura Flora
August 16, 2023By SMPC Director of Spiritual Formation Rebecca Guzman
By far the most common question parents ask me is what Bible to purchase for their child. We give Bibles to
children twice at SMPC—at baptism and in third grade. At baptism, babies and young children receive the Growing in God’s Love Story Bible and in third grade, children take a Bible class and receive the Spark NRSV Bible. If you only had these two Bibles in your home, your child would have access to everything they need for nurturing their faith! The most important thing is that you read the Bible you have—together! Here are some great tips for Bible exploration with your children.
All that being said, I do have favorite Bibles for various ages. As you may have guessed, the two I mentioned above are on the list! But there are a few more that are on our shelf at home and on my bookshelf at church that I also adore.
Story Bibles
These are illustrated Bibles that contain stories rewritten especially for children. They are listed in order of reading comprehension level.
Unlike some of the other Bibles, this one is just the stories! When you are reading the Bible with very young children especially, there usually not a need to make a theological interpretation. You can just read the story! Knowledge of the biblical storyline is key to faith growth, and faithful Biblical interpretation resists easily moralistic answers. These stories are extremely concise and age-appropriate for the attention span of very young children and toddlers.
This has a large table of contents and many stories. It includes onomatopoeia and other ways of engaging children. There are great questions at the end of each story to “spark” conversation. The illustrations are kid-friendly, and the characters’ skin color is historically accurate. Some kids don’t like the exaggerated eyes and other features of the people, so be aware of that. You’ll notice I linked the Sunday School edition. It has more stories than the family edition for only a $5 difference.
The Growing in God’s Love Story Bible
I love this Bible! If I only had one picture Bible, this would be it. It has beautiful and diverse artwork from over 20 artists. The “hear, see, and act” prompts at the end give families easy ways to go deeper. The stories balance being friendly for younger children with giving some of the details that older kids want really well. This is also produced by our denomination, so there are no worries about it being a good fit theologically.
Each story in Shine On is beautifully crafted, maintaining the spirit and poetry of the biblical text in language that is fresh and engaging for children. There are a lot more details, and it also condenses some of the longer Old Testament stories that span many chapters of the Bible. I sometimes even use this with adults to help them understand a summary of key points! Like some of the other Bibles, multiple illustrators of diverse backgrounds contributed beautiful art. Sidebars with thought-provoking questions, interesting facts, and simple activities invite families and congregations to take each story a few steps further.
“Grown Up” Bibles
These are full translations of the Bible with supporting helps especially for kids. We use the NRSV translation in worship at SMPC, which is why we give children the Spark NRSV Bible!
This Bible has icons and illustrations throughout with a wealth of notes, historical facts, book introductions, devotionals and other interactive elements. It also has a dictionary, maps, etc. I like the CEB because it is a full and faithful translation, but it’s written on an 8th grade reading level, which means it’s much easier for older kids to grasp at least some parts of it on their own.
The Spark New Revised Standard Version (NSRV) Bible
This Bible has so many awesome features! I love the overviews at the beginning of each chapter that give an outline. It also has stickers and introduces kids to the idea of marking up their Bibles. There are definitions and explanations scattered throughout the text. We give this to third graders so they can read along in worship, but this is still a difficult translation for kids. They really need an adult to read with them.
This is a great Bible for middle school and older children and teens. It has tons of explanations throughout and addresses real life issues that adolescents are dealing with. This is also the translation we use in worship, so they can read along with the preacher. It provides helpful historical context as well as connecting the Bible to life today. If I were giving a Bible to an adolescent or teen, this would be the one every time!
