Below is a lengthy essay I developed over a couple of years to give practical help for families teaching their children how to participate in corporate worship of the Lord. I decided to post it here in lieu of it gathering dust inside my computer storage.
Teaching Ourselves &
Our Children to Worship God
September 2016
by Cheryl Hatfield, Beijing, China
All rights reserved. No part
of this booklet may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or
otherwise—without prior permission of the author. The author may be contacted
at mchatfield6@bellsouth.net.
Scripture quotations marked
ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright ©by Crossway
Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
The blog post entitled “10
Tips for First Time Obedience” by Kathie Morrissey used by permission.
Cover image: public domain
from https://pixabay.com/en/choir-gospel-people-group-standing-309051/
Preface
~~
I
am indebted to Robbie Castleman’s book Parenting in the Pew: Guiding Your
Children into the Joy of Worship, William P. Farley’s book Gospel-Powered
Parenting: How the Gospel Shapes and Transforms Parenting, Ginger Hubbard’s
book “Don’t Make Me Count to Three!”, and John & Noël Piper’s
pamphlet “The Family: Together in God’s Presence”. These resources helped
develop my thoughts and ideas about how to teach our children and our church’s
children to worship our holy God.
As my husband, Mark,
and I prepared to move to Beijing for him to pastor an international church for
ex-pats (foreigners), I gathered up material and resources to help parents
raise, nurture, and instruct their children in the Lord, part of which included
teaching them how to worship our God. Robbie Castleman’s book offered motives
and tips on how to engage our kids in worship. It’s a book I wish I had when
our children were young and learning to sit in “Big Church.”
At
the time of her writing, Robbie was a pastor’s wife of a traditional,
high-context Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) church. Her ideas fit her
context. I bought the book for our church parents, but no one purchased the
book. Maybe the words in the pew intimidated them. We first met in a
hotel room then in a business center. We didn’t have pews; we sat in chairs.
The PCA church used hymnals; we displayed song lyrics on a screen. The PCA
church had beautiful, symbolic banners; we had glass walls. How could we adapt
her ideas to our context? So after
reading her book, various blogs, and our church restructuring its children’s
ministry, I decided to find ways to help our parents include their children in
the holy act of worshipping a holy God.
This booklet is a result of those efforts. I pray we all learn ways to
train ourselves and our children to worship our holy God.
~Cheryl Hatfield
Beijing, China 2016
Priorities
When parents place high importance and
worth on worshipping God, then children will learn and catch that importance.
We parents must teach our kids, yet they catch much more from our lives
than we realize. They pick up on our attitudes. They mimic our words and tones
of voice. They model our behaviors. What a wonderful, but also frightening,
reality. God gives us parents a sacred responsibility to nurture and instruct
our children.
Consider God’s words in Deuteronomy
6:4-7:
Hear, O Israel: The Lord God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord God with all your heart and with all your soul and with
all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your
heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall
talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and
when you lie down, and when you rise (ESV). (Emphases mine)
And
in Ephesians 6:1-4:
Children, obey your
parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is
the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that
you may live long in the land.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger,
but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. (Emphases
mine)
For
how-to parenting, I highly recommend Gospel-Powered Parenting: How
the Gospel Shapes and Transforms Parenting by William P. Farley and “Don’t
Make Me Count to Three!” by Ginger Hubbard. These authors lay down foundational
principles for parenting that also form the basis for training our kids how to
worship with the body of Christ.
When we parent
our children by teaching them to worship, we rely on God’s merciful grace to
work in their hearts. We moms and dads nurture, train, teach, discipline, and
disciple with faith believing that God gives our children the capacity to learn
and obey. Therefore, by faith we can expect them to grow in learning how
to worship. Children often rise up to our expectations when we set those
expectations in a biblical framework.
Why is teaching our
kids to participate in worship important? Why is it important for us to
participate and not just sit and listen? God is worthy of our worship. When
we read through the Scriptures that all people – men, women, and children –
heard God’s Word and worshipped, we know God desires that of us.
When
Ezra read the Book of the Law in Nehemiah 8, everyone “who could understand”
(vs. 2, 3) listened, wept, and celebrated. Ezra declared that day holy unto the
Lord. As a result, all the people confessed their sin and acknowledged that God
is “ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in
steadfast love” (Neh. 9:17).
When Ezekiel saw a
vision of God’s glory, he fell on his face in worship (Ezek. 1:26-28). When
John in the book of Revelation saw a vision of Jesus’ glory, he fell down as
though dead. He worshipped Jesus (Rev. 1:12-17).
God is worthy of our
worship.
Gospel-Focus
When we teach our
children how to behave in church or a worship service, we don’t want to only
address behavior. That would be moralism or legalism. We want to
bring the message of God’s glory and his salvation to their hearts. We know
it’s hard, or even impossible, to really worship without applying the message
of redemption to their hearts and ours.
We all need the
forgiveness of our sins and sinfulness. Parents and children alike. To worship
rightly, we need to learn, and to teach our children, to confess our sins – the
wrongs we commit and the right we omit – then pray to Jesus to wash those sins
away and give us a heart ready to worship him. When we truly understand Jesus’
forgiveness of our sins, then we truly understand real worship.
We don’t train our
children to perform or behave in a particular way for the sake of good
behavior. We train them to hear and apply God’s Word to their hearts. In the
early stages of their lives, they may not and probably won’t understand it all.
But like all training, sometimes the pieces of understanding come later. We
parents are the teachers and modelers of worship, always laying the foundation
of the gospel.
Preparation
How can we prepare
our young children to participate in worship?
Preparation begins at
home, not in the worship service. To illustrate - athletes spend many hours on
drills, techniques, and mock games before the real game. All the things the
athlete has learned and rehearsed come together in the big game. We moms and
dads can teach and train our kids to sit quietly and pay attention by
practicing at home before the big game of participating in a worship service.
However, practical
preparation for Sunday worship actually begins on Saturday evening. Even
the New Testament Jews referred to the day of Preparation (John 19:42).
What can we parents
do on Saturday to prepare for Sunday worship?
Here are some
practical ideas:
Maintain a consistent
family mealtime at a normal dinner hour. Consider the dinner hour as the
beginning of preparation. Eating as a family draws everyone into closer
community and builds a sense of togetherness. Talk about what will occur in
tomorrow’s worship service. Talk about what the children will see and hear.
Talk about your expectations for your children.
Before or after
dinner, bathe children so they enter bed clean, refreshed, and calm. This
avoids a Sunday-morning rush to bathe.
Lay out an easy-to-fix,
nutritious breakfast for Sunday morning. Feed children well before coming to
the worship service.
Lay out children’s
(and parents’) clothes the night before. Gather the outfit, socks, shoes, and
accessories and have them ready to wear before going to bed. This avoids the
stress of searching for that missing sock or pressing out wrinkles on Sunday
morning.
Gather all items to
bring to worship and organize them by the door. This might include Bibles,
notebooks, diaper bags, purse, keys, etc. Then in the last minute rush to get
out the door, just pick up the pile and go. This avoids the stress of hunting
for Bibles or notebooks at the last minute.
Maintain a consistent
bedtime for children and parents so everyone in the family wakes up rested to
worship. We all have better attitudes and attention spans when well rested and
refreshed. If a child needs a specific number of hours of sleep to be at his
best, order the week so he consistently receives that sleep on Saturday. This
goes for parents too.
On Sunday morning,
wake up refreshed with plenty of time to get ready without rushing or stress.
Consider adding time for contingencies like spilled breakfast or temper
tantrums. Satan loves to sidetrack our path to worship on Sunday mornings with
accidents and arguments. Have enough time to overcome these temptations.
When our family had
young children, I usually fed them breakfast before getting them dressed to
avoid spills on their clothes.
Leave home at a time
that allows you to arrive at least 15 minutes before the worship service
begins. That gives you and the children enough time to visit the restroom,
fellowship with friends, find a seat, and prepare hearts for worship without
rushing.
How do we prepare our
hearts for worship even as we enter the worship service?
After locating your
seat and organizing your things, spend a bit of time reading a Bible passage to
get your mind settled on who God is. Who is this God we have come to worship?
Perhaps read a short psalm that describes God or read the upcoming sermon text.
Perhaps pray silently asking that God would help you focus and learn. We moms
and dads can help our children do these things as well. Again, they catch much
as they watch us worship.
What can we parents
do to help our children learn to worship?
Here are some ideas:
First, we need to
instruct our children to obey us as parents. They need to learn to obey
immediately, cheerfully, and completely. Without first-time obedience, all the
training and teaching described hereafter is useless. See the Appendix A for
“10 Tips for First Time Obedience”.
We need to
communicate to our children that worshipping our Lord is a sacred event. When
our young children sat in the worship service with us, we didn’t allow them to
bring toys, books, crayons, markers, etc. to church or to sleep in church. They
were expected to sit still, listen attentively, and eventually take notes. But
how do we as parents begin that training?
One
of the best ways to teach children to worship is through family devotions and
family prayer time. As Noël Piper writes in her article,
“We
discovered that the very earliest ‘school’ for worship is in the home – when we
help a baby be quiet for just a moment while we ask God’s blessing on our meal;
when a toddler is sitting still to listen to a Bible story book; when a child
is learning to pay attention to God’s Word and to pray during family devotional
times.”
During family
worship, teach children to listen attentively and participate appropriately by
using the suggestions that follow. Use devotional resources or plans that
accommodate the ages of your children. See Appendix B for some excellent
resources.
In addition, most
kids love to hear Mom and Dad read stories to them. Read short stories out loud
to young children. In preparing them to participate in worship, start with
short stories for which they can sit still. The younger the age, the shorter
the story. Teach them to be quiet and not talk or ask questions until you have
finished reading the story. We want our kids to actively participate in
learning so after the story, tell the children, “Now that I’ve finished the
story, let’s talk about it.”
As children get older
and their attention span grows, graduate to reading longer stories for longer
periods of listening and not interrupting. Consider placing chairs in a row,
have children sit still in the chairs as you sit in front of them reading a
story, much like a teacher in a classroom. Place the chairs in a row without
tables, toys, or other distractions. Have the children sit still and quietly
with their hands folded on their laps as you read. The same procedure could be
used with movies to train them to sit still and be quiet.
Consider holding
practice worship services. Children learn through play and practice.
Include elements of your church’s worship service, explaining each element,
what it means, and how we worship God through that element. Some churches use
liturgical elements. Explain why your church uses that liturgy. What does it
mean? Where do we see those elements in Scripture?
Teach children how to
pray by praying with them. They need to be taught how to behave in
prayer; it doesn’t come naturally. Show them how to fold their hands to keep
them from fiddling or playing with items. It also helps them keep their hands
to themselves and not pester the person next to them. Teach them to close their
eyes so they aren’t looking around when they pray. In addition, by closing our
eyes, we communicate to them that God is a spirit and cannot be seen.
Demonstrate to them
how to bow their heads out of reverence for God. All cultures recognize that
bowing is a sign of honor, respect, and worship. Show them and instruct them
how to be still and quiet when others pray.
Pray with children to model
what to say in prayer. Use Scripture passages of prayer as patterns to pray.
Teach them to praise God in prayer, acknowledging his attributes and
characteristics. Help them focus on who God is before they remember prayer
requests.
Teach children to
follow along when the congregation sings or when someone reads the Bible. If the congregation stands when they sing,
make your child stand still beside you. Don’t let her flop on the pew or chair.
Direct her attention to the words. If the church uses songbooks or hymnals,
place a finger under the words for her to follow a finger and see the right
words. Even pre-readers can follow a finger. This practice also helps prepare
them for the time when they learn to read.
If the church
projects songs onto a screen, direct his eyes to the screen. Maybe even contact
the person responsible for music and ask him or her to print lyrics to the
songs. With printed lyrics, place your finger under the words and help the child
follow along. Don’t let him mentally or physically wander. Help him stay
focused on the task.
The same techniques
work for Bible reading. Although many of us now use digital devices to read our
Bibles, we can employ the same finger method to help our kids follow along.
God’s Word is so important that we want them to bring a Bible to the worship
service and to help them read it. Although many simple Bible versions exist,
kids can more easily follow the version that is read publicly than bringing a
children’s Bible to the worship service. To help your child understand what’s
read, re-read the sermon passage at home in a children’s version. But to follow
along with the worship service reading, keep it the same version as what is
publicly read. As the pastor preaches, also point out key words or verses from
the Bible on which the child can focus.
If you know the
Scripture text for the next Sunday from which the pastor will preach, consider
reading that passage ahead of time with the children. Then when they come to
the worship service and hear the message, they will be familiar with the
passage.
How can we help kids
listen and take notes?
Consider purchasing a
special notebook and designating it only for worship service.
Young children like
to draw. Take advantage of this and help them draw pictures of what the pastor
talks about. By keeping the focus of the drawing on the sermon, it keeps their
attention on the message. Edith Schaeffer in her book The Hidden Art of
Homemaking described how she helped her children draw pictures of the
sermon by first creating basic symbols to represent concepts. For example, a
stick figure with a black heart represented a person before believing in Jesus.
A stick figure with an open or clean heart represented a person whose heart had
been cleansed by Jesus. A cloud
represented God because he doesn’t have a body, and we don’t want to give an
image to God. A cross represented Jesus. She developed other representative
symbols that she taught her own children to use in drawing sermon pictures.
Drawing pictures unrelated to the sermon for the sake of keeping quiet wasn’t
allowed.
As children get older
and can write, parents can write down a verse pertaining to the sermon and have
the child copy it into his special worship notebook. Depending on how the
pastor preaches his sermon, children can write down the main idea or key words
of the sermon.
As they grow in
understanding, help them listen and write down an outline for the sermon. Then
as they mature, they can fill in the outline more fully.
Some churches provide
a Kids’ Bulletin to facilitate listening and participating. Our home church
developed a Kids’ Bulletin that I then adapted to our overseas international
church. Encourage your child to
interact with the Kids’ Bulletin. Be sure to supply a pencil for him to use.
Communicate the
importance of the message by reviewing it and talking about it at home during
the week. Review your child’s drawing, note taking, or Kids’ Bulletin. Ask her
what she remembers about the message. Always relate the pastor’s message to the
message of the gospel and help your child see her need for salvation in Jesus.
Be creative and help
your children listen actively and take notes. Teach them to listen by
instructing them to look at the speaker when he preaches. Help them to engage
in active listening. If they listen actively and attentively, they can learn to
take notes of the message.
If you as a parent
aren’t used to taking notes during a sermon, this would be a great way for you
to begin as well. Start simple and grow with your kids. They will model what
you do.
A trip to the
restroom is another very practical preparation for sitting in a worship
service. Prior to the service, encourage children to use the facilities even if
they say they don’t need to go. It’s always amazing that they can if they try.
Strongly discourage leaving during the time of worship.
For our family, we
found that sitting near the front of the worship space helped minimize getting
distracted by other people. It also encouraged our children to sit quietly so
they wouldn’t be a distraction to others.
Naturally, you as a
parent know your child’s level of understanding. However, kids often grasp much
more that we recognize. Just as they learn their native language by hearing and
absorbing it long before they can speak it clearly and articulately, so they
also learn from our direct teaching and modeling.
Decorum
To help kids
understand the specialness and sanctity of worship, we parents should teach
them how to behave in the worship space. In past decades, most worship services
took place in a traditional church building. We often had the sense of walking
into a special place because of the architecture, decorations, and arrangement.
Even today when we walk into an old ornate cathedral, we experience a sense of
awe. When we meet in warehouse-type spaces, hotels, or business spaces, we lose
some of that decorum and awe.
Let’s consider how
the people of God in the Old Testament approached the worship of God. We would
agree that in the Old Testament, the tabernacle and temple held very prominent
positions. These beautiful structures inspired awe and decorum. They set the atmosphere
for what occurred in that place.
Yet God was more
concerned with the people’s hearts and how they prepared to worship him. God
required the people to “consecrate themselves” before they approached him. How
would we in the 21st century define consecrate? To consecrate
means to set apart as sacred, to consider holy, and to be different than
everyday. How does that apply to decorum in worship in our time and context?
Just as God set apart one day of seven to focus on worshipping him, we can
teach our children and ourselves to set apart our expectations and attitudes
toward our acts of worship and our space of worship. We can communicate to our children the
holiness of worship and instruct them to behave in a manner consistent with reverence
and awe. For example, ideas to facilitate an attitude of reverence might
include the following: walking rather than running in the worship space,
talking quietly (using an inside voice) rather than talking loudly or yelling,
children standing near parents when parents fellowship, and parents including
children in conversation when appropriate. Adults can engage children in
conversation on their level, asking them what they learned.
Regardless of the
type of space in which we meet, we must remember that we meet God there.
Dress
In addition to
respecting the space in which we meet, we can teach our children to make that
separation by not wearing everyday play clothing to public worship. We often dress differently for special
occasions like weddings, funerals, or special parties. Why would we not come to
the Lord in a similar manner? Why would we dress up to meet an important person
but not to meet the Lord? Have you ever noticed how our attitude and demeanor
improve when we dress up a bit? The same is true for children. Watch how a girl
acts when she wears a pretty dress or how a boy acts when he wears slacks. We
must be very careful to not communicate self-righteousness by how we dress or
that how we dress affects our standing with Christ. What we wear has nothing to
do with our salvation. Yet if we want to teach the importance of worship,
sometimes it helps to dress up a bit.
Discipline
What do we parents do
when our children don’t sit still or pay attention in a worship service? How do
we discipline them in those moments?
First, crying
children should be immediately and discretely removed from the service. Crying
babies and crying young children distract all worshippers and the pastor. Take
the child to a place out of earshot of the worship center until she calms down
and you can gently talk with her. Depending on the age of the child, instruct
her on what you expect her to do in the worship service then either return to
your seat, return to a back row, or remain outside the worship space within
earshot of the sermon. At these moments, you can teach her how to be quiet
while sitting unobtrusively and you the parent can still hear the message.
In the case when
children start to fidget, develop a discrete way to get their attention and
communicate quietly that they need to sit still. With our own school-age
children, I often gave them a ‘look’ to let them know they were misbehaving, or
I would reach my hand over and firmly squeeze the child’s knee to get his
attention. At other times, I might put my arm on the back of the pew (in our
case) and place my hand on his shoulder to communicate that he needed to settle
down. I usually sat the wiggliest child next to me so I could easily help him
or her. In a family with a few children, they could each sit between parents.
With our four children, I usually had one of them within arm’s reach even if he
didn’t sit right next to me.
Afterwards
After
the worship service, praise your children when they attempted to behave well.
Specifically point out something they did well, such as singing along with the
songs or following along with the Bible reading.
What do we do if our
child completely disregards our instruction? After the worship service, one
parent should immediately and quietly take the child to the most private place
available to speak to her about expectations and how she did not obey. Then
administer the appropriate consequence or promise to administer the consequence
immediately upon arrival at home. If the promise is for later, follow through
on that promise. A child quickly learns not to trust her parents’ promises when
a parent doesn’t follow through on the disciplinary measure.
Final Encouragements
As we teach our
children to worship, let us remember what Jesus said to the Samarian woman and
to the disciples:
“But
the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the
Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship
him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and
truth.”(John 4:23-24)
“Jesus said, “Let the children come to me and do not
hinder them, for to such belongs
the kingdom of heaven.”
Let us help our
children become true worshippers of Jesus by bringing the message of redemption
to their hearts. We parents must point them to the gospel message that answers
such important questions as Who is God? What does He require of us? And, How is
Jesus our Redeemer?
We also help our
children become worshippers of Jesus by helping them train their attention and
minds to the holy act of worshipping a holy God.
May God give us
parents patience and grace to encourage our children to come to Jesus.
APPENDIX
A
Because
websites and blogs change frequently and sometimes get removed, I obtained the
author’s permission to quote the entire article below for easy reference.
Please see the Bibliography for its reference.
10
TIPS FOR FIRST TIME OBEDIENCE
JUNE 13, 2014KATHIE Morrissey
One of my readers...requested
that I offer more tips for teaching first time obedience or reviving obedience.
That request inspired me to write this post for those times when you are
struggling as a parent to teach your child to obey, or get them back in the
habit when you have let obedience slide.
When our kids were very young,
my husband and I worked hard to teach them the importance of obeying the first
time they were told to do something. It took a lot of training, practice, and
reminding, but we felt that first time obedience was vital for two reasons:
We wanted them to learn to obey
the first time, so when God spoke to them they would obey Him without question.
Safety reasons.
If they were about to run in
front of a car, we couldn’t risk them waiting till the 3rd time we said
“Stop!”Or if they were about to touch a hot stove, they needed to know that
when we said “don’t touch!”they should immediately stop.
In reality, if our kids can
obey us the 3rd or 4th time we tell them something, they have the ability to
obey the FIRST time, so why not require it?
Picture the parents who use the
“1, 2, 3” method. Their child has been trained that they don’t have to move or
obey right away, but can wait till right before or Dad says “3”.Repeating
your commands or threatening them like this, trains them to disobey.
Children who wait till we have
raised our voice, threatened, or told them something several times, do so
because they’ve been “programmed” or trained that way by the parents. We
shouldn’t get angry with them, since we have unknowingly trained them to wait
to obey.
So what should you do if your
children are in the habit of not obeying the first time you speak to them? Don’t get angry, but realize
that either they are still young and in training, OR that you have
unintentionally trained them to disobey. At that point, it’s up to YOU to have
the self-discipline to break the habit of repeating instructions. In either
instance, patience will be required, as training is still in progress.
Sit
down and talk to them about the problem. Take the blame, and let them know that God says that
children should obey their parents, and that when they wait to do what they are
told, it’s not obedience. (Obedience is doing what you’re told, right away,
with a good attitude.)
Explain
and give examples of right and wrong responses when they are told to do something. Then PRACTICE right responses.
This is especially important for younger kids. We would turn it into a game,
and clap and praise when they responded right during our practice sessions.
Pray
with them asking God to help them to obey right away, and to help you, the
parent, be consistent, as well.
Let
them know that for the next few days you will remind them when their response
is wrong (disobedient), and ask them to try again. Bad habits take time to
change, so we can’t just expect them to instantly start responding right, if we
have allowed them to wait till the 3rd or 4th time.
Consider
a character chart, where you give stickers each time you catch them responding right. Positive reinforcement is
always my first choice for encouraging changes in behavior. Have a reward when
a certain number of stickers have been earned.
After
a few days of reminding, and practicing the correct behavior, let them know
that you now EXPECT them to continue this way without reminders. Them up for success by giving
some easy or fun commands early in the day, then praising the obedience. This
will make the other kids eager to try, and also serve as a reminder of what is
now expected.
Determine
an appropriate consequence for disobedience, and let the kids know in advance
what it is.
Then when they “forget” and don’t obey the first time, you can calmly call them
aside and talk to them about it, and remind them of the consequence they will
receive because of their disobedience.
Be
consistent, and don’t fall back into the old habit of telling them often, or
threatening and raising your voice. When you aren’t consistent, they learn to take chances.
It’s not fair to make them wonder each day if you are going to be strict, or if
one or two of them might get away with pushing the limits.
Be
sure and show grace when needed. A child is doing very well, but is having a bad day and
messes up, determine whether it’s out of rebellion, or more of an immaturity
issue that needs to be worked on.
If
you are going through an extra busy time, or for some reason DO find that you
have fallen back into the habit of giving orders more than once, or yelling to
get the kids to listen, call another family meeting. Admit that you haven’t been
training them to obey like you should, apologize for your inconsistency, and
once again have a few days of training and practice.
It’s easy to gradually let
things slip, and we all are prone to it. Don’t get discouraged, and don’t get
angry with the kids. Realize the need to address the issue, and ask God to
help you to be consistent!
http://thecharactercorner.com/10-tips-for-first-time-obedience/
Appendix B
Excellent Devotionals for Kids
Beeke, Joel R. (2009). God’s Alphabet
for Life: Devotions for Young Children. Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation
Heritage Books.
Challies, Tim. (2011, June 6). How I
Lead My Children in Personal Devotions. Retrieved September 15, 2016, from
CHALLIES.COM:
http://www.challies.com/resources/how-i-lead-my-children-in-personal-devotions
Harding, Susan. (1991). Tell Me about
God: Simple Studies in the Doctrine of God for Children. Carlisle, PA:
Banner of Truth.
Helm, David R. (2014). The Big Picture
Family Devotional. Wheaton, IL: Crossway.
Hunt, Susan, & Hunt, Richie. (1999). Big
Truths for Little Kids: Teaching Your Children to Live for God. Wheaton,
IL: Crossway.
Lloyd-Jones, Sally. (2007). The Jesus
Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name. Grand Rapids, MI:
Zondervan.
Machowski, Marty. (2010). Long Story
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