My Bible Milestone
Purpose:
To empower families to spend time together reading the Bible and memorizing Scripture, truly putting God’s Word at the center of their lives.
Target Age:
3rd grade class and their parents/grandparents/guardians
Scriptural Basis:
Psalm 119: 11 “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”
Deuteronomy 6: 5-7 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”
2 Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
Reasoning behind this Faith Journey Event:
The Holy Spirit works through the truths of the Bible, God’s inerrant Word, to change us. It will transform us to be not only people who appear more like Christ but who are more like Christ. God’s love letter to us helps us to understand what God wants us to know and how he wants us to act and think. Third graders at Eastminster will be given a Bible with the hope that they will be life-long students of God and His empowering word.
Implementation at Eastminster:
Third graders will be given a bible when Sunday school resumes for the fall. Then there will be a Faith Journey Event on a Sunday morning where the parents of third graders join their children in Sunday school. During this session, staff and the third grade ministry team will lead an interactive discussion of 2 Timothy 3:16 and how God commands us to know His word in order to learn how to live as His people. There will be a breakout session for parents including a time of writing a letter to their children while the kids decorate Bible covers. This will be followed by a Bible Blessing Ceremony between the parents and children. Families will go home with a sheet of Family Bible Activities for them to begin interacting together with their Bibles. Information for this event is taken in part from the book, Take it Home by Mark Holmen and Dave Teixeira.
Follow up:
Contact families two months after the event. Ask them to share any ways their family has interacted with the Bible at home. Encourage them to continue in reading the Scripture. Share some fun facts and ideas.
Resources:
* What the Bible is All About for Young Explorers.Blankenbaker, Frances. Ventura, CA: Gospel Light, 1986
*The Adventure Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Zonderkidz, 2000.
*The Big Book of Bible Facts and Fun. Ventura, CA: Gospel Light, 2005.
*Take it Home. Mark Holmen and Dave Teixeira. Ventura, CA: 2008 Gospel Light