It is not uncommon for children’s ministry leaders to heavily emphasize other ministry program components and avoid basic doctrine as dry and uninteresting. However, children need to be instructed in basic doctrine. Doctrine is what we believe about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Bible, heaven, Satan, angels, and Christ’s second coming. This is basic doctrine. Purposeful teaching of doctrine can be accomplished not only through direct teaching, but can be incorporated into music, games, and other activities. Keep in mind that every denomination or church may have specific doctrine distinctives that they will also want to have taught to their children.
The Bible – Points for Teaching Books
have been written for a very long time; actually, machines have printed them now for over 500 years. Before that time, books were handwritten and hand copied which took a long time. Today there are many millions of books. Some books are fiction, or made-up stories. Other books are non-fiction, containing stories that are true; stories about people, places, and history. Other non-fiction books are written to teach things such as “how to” books or books on science, math, or other subjects.
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Of the millions of books ever written, there is only one book written by God. Before the printing press was invented, the Bible was copied by hand over and over. Every word was checked and rechecked to make sure the words never changed. That is one reason why the Bible can be trusted. It never changes. What was true when it was written is still true today.
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This one book, the Bible, is very different from all other books ever written. It is God’s non-fiction book that tells about Him. There are two parts of the Bible. The Old Testament tells about the beginning of the earth and mankind. The New Testament tells about Jesus’ life, the start of the Christian church, the description of heaven, the end of this world, and the new world to come.
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The Bible is made up of 66 smaller books. Some are short and others quite lengthy. The Spirit of God spoke to the hearts of forty different men who then wrote God’s words to make up these books of the Bible.
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These men did not all live at the same time. Some of these writers lived hundreds, or thousands, of years before another writer. So it took 1,600 years for the entire Bible to be written. Many places in the Bible a person wrote about things that were going to happen in the future. And these things came true hundreds of years later! That is one proof the Bible is accurate because only God can accurately predict the future.
Examples of fulfilled prophecy:
Isaiah 40:3-5 – John the Baptist – 730 years before John the Baptist
Isaiah 7:14 – virgin birth – 730 years before Jesus was born of a virgin
Micah 5:2 – born in Bethlehem – 700-735 years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem
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There are many other religious books, but the Bible is different. Writers who wrote other religious books had “ideas” about God and recorded their ideas, but they were just their ideas and thoughts. The Bible is God telling us about Himself; about His Son, Jesus; and about the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God told men to write what God wanted us to know about Him.
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God speaks to us today through the Bible. It tells us how to live a godly life. It tells us how we are all important creations of God – every man, woman, and child on the whole earth. God made people different from all other creation because God had a special purpose and plan for us. The Bible tells us how much God loves each of us, no matter what country we live in, the color of our skin, or the kind of house we live in.
- The most important thing about the Bible is that it is the story of God’s salvation. It tells us about God sending His only Son, Jesus, to pay the price for the forgiveness of our sins so that we can have life with Him forever.
In teaching basic doctrine, make sure children can reason at their own level of understanding and not just accept what the teacher is saying. Help them to be able to use their Bible to explain what they believe and why.
The Bible is a solid beginning for doctrine because what Christians believe is based on the ONLY source of all truth – the Bible.
You can access this entire magazine for free here: Edition 39
