“Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it.”
– Proverbs 22:6 NKJV
For the most part we have outsourced the spiritual education of our kids into the hands of the institutional church. Dad and mom…listen up! If you would have “home church” once a month around the kitchen table or in your living room, what would the impact on your kids be? I really believe it’s that simple.
Select a passage of Scripture to read and draw a picture and talk about the passage. Participation is essential. Select one person to read the passage. Dad, ask questions about the text and together make observations about what the Lord is teaching from the verses or the story. Have every person draw a picture of what was read and talked about. Mom and dad, make sure you are drawing as well! After everyone is done, have each person stand and face the family to explain their picture. Make sure that the explainer turns the picture toward the rest of the group, speaks up so everyone can hear, and has direct eye contact with each person as they explain their story.
I have personally saved nearly every picture my family has drawn thus far. I have also taken the pictures to my men’s groups to give a vision for how this works and to recount some of the insightful comments I remember the kids making during these home church times.
Here are just a few of the Bible passages that we talked through and drew:
Judges 3: 12-30: Eglon, the evil king of Moab, (an extremely fat man), was killed by Ehud the only left-handed man mentioned in the Bible. Wow! Did we have fun with this story.
Job 41:1-34: Use the Henry Morris Study Bible notes on this Chapter as well as Ken Ham’s Book The Great Dinosaur Mystery, SOLVED! His notes from Job 40:15-24 are also excellent. We drew pictures of a Behemoth (40:15); and Leviathan (41:1-15). Most likely this magnificent animal was a dinosaur that roamed the land. The leviathan that swam in the open seas was probably a kronosaurus which is one of the mighty sea dinosaurs. The pictures the kids drew were amazing and their explanations were even more expansive!
Genesis 1:1-10, and 2 Peter 3:1-3:
Ok, as you can imagine these passages were not easy. The kids drew the earth being formed out of a muddy watery matrix, the dry land emerging, the “firmament” which was space and air between the “waters below the firmament” (Gen. 1:7, 8) and the “waters above the firmament,” (1:7, 8). The passage in 2 Peter 3 reinforces the passages in Genesis. Light, (which in it’s most basic form is energy, consists of light waves, visible light, shortwave radiations, ultraviolet light, etc.) was coming from one direction and the earth was rotating as day one ended with the designation of an “evening and morning the first day” (Genesis 1:5, 7). By the way, this answers the question how could there be light if the sun and the moon were not created until day 4! Most of the men I disciple have never heard this truth and when explained, they were empowered to communicate this with people from all walks of life.
Wow, the pictures the kids drew were amazing and they began to understand the process of creation as revealed in the Bible and how this compared to evolution. Once again, the Henry Morris Bible is a must for every family! Click the title link to be directed to Answers in Genesis to purchase it!
In Christ,
Dale
Dale@DaleEbel.Org