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What are we missing as we teach? How can we better introduce GOD's Word to children, students, and adults and help them to fall in love with it for themselves? How can we better explain that the Bible is one beautiful love letter from GOD to each of us and it is relevant to our everyday life? How can we break it down so that it doesn't seem so daunting at first glance -- and so that people will have a DESIRE to dive deeper into it? I have spent the past few weeks reading through and teaching from the Books of the Bible At-a-Glance reference sheets from Teach Sunday School and I'm praying that they will be a difference maker in how we raise students up to do church outside the walls of the church building.
These are the questions that I start every lesson with in both Children's Ministry and Middle School Ministry:
How many books are in the Bible? [66]
How many "parts" is the Bible divided into? [2]
What are those parts of the Bible called? [Old and New Testament]
How many books are in the Old Testament? [39]
How many books are in the New Testament? [27]
What is the first book of the Bible? [Genesis -- which means beginning]
What is the last book of the Bible? [Revelation]
What are the Books of Law? [Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy]
What are the Gospels? [Matthew, Mark, Luke, John]They are basic Bible facts that I think every student should know. They just scratch the surface of all that students need to know for life, but they offer a beginning and I am able to add more and more information each week. For example, this week I added these questions to our introduction:
What book is smack dab in the middle of the Bible? [Psalms]
How many chapters does Psalms have? [150]
Over how many years was the Bible written? [1500]
How many different authors were inspired by GOD to write it? [40]
What languages was it written in? [Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek]Did you notice that the questions are getting a little more difficult? I know that our kids can handle it and I know that they can fall in love with reading their Bibles. It's our goal that children and middle schoolers move into high school knowing what GOD's Word says and that means we do what we need to in order to provide them the right tools for learning. The overview of each book provided from the Books of the Bible At-a-Glance is fast becoming one of my all-time favorite tools.
Books of the Bible At-a-Glance is a book-by-book printable that offers an idividual summary sheet of each of the 66 books of the Bible. These "cheat sheets" provide a plethora of information for budding Bible scholars and have become the perfect training tool for use in both Bible Drill and Middle School Bible Study. We want to make sure that each student has exactly what they need to become passionate about GOD's Word so we start by putting an age-appropriate copy of it in their hands. We give them a Bible and encourage them to own it by underlining, highlighting, and making notes right on the pages of it. Add to that a 3-ring-binder with a copy of the Books of the Bible At-a-Glance and you have the perfect combination for study.
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Each page follows the same format so students can open right up and easily find out about a specific book of the Bible. The At-a-Glance page lists the proper name of the book, the order it falls in either the Old or New Testament (there's a number and a slide graph showing where it falls), the author of the book, the date in which the book was written (or the approximation if it's hard to know for sure) and the time period which it covers, the "claim to fame" for the book (something that really sets it apart from the others), famous stories found in the Old Testament books and problems addressed in the New Testament books, famous or most referenced verses in each book, and the important points about each book. As you can see in the picture below, the pages are clear, concise, and easy-to-read. They are visually appealing and easy-to-use and help students identify what is important to remember about each particular book. We are finding them to be just as engaging for adults as they are for 3rd graders.
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It makes for a great study guide to the entire Bible -- and my students add notes that they want to remember as we talk about different passages in class. For example, in class Wednesday night we discussed a series of the longest and the shortest. We went searching for these as a way to become more comfortable with GOD's Word. Students looked up the longest book in the Bible [Psalms], the shortest book in the Bible [2 John], the longest chapter in the Bible [Psalm 119], the shortest chapter in the Bible [Psalm 117], the longest verse in the Bible [Esther 8:9], and the shortest chapter in the Bible [John 11:35]. They were able to make these notes on their Books of the Bible At-a-Glance pages, making the notebooks even more valuable to them. I love watching them own it -- and I love watching the adults own it, too. We are all learning so much MORE as we study and read together.
You can find even more information about the Books of the Bible At-a-Glance when you visit the following Social Media pages. Trust me on this one -- you are going to want a copy of this printable for yourself.
Books of the Bible At-a-Glance is a great discipleship tool. Check it out.
I was given the opportunity to review the Books of the Bible At-a-Glance reference sheets from Teach Sunday School as a member of the Homeschool Review Crew. You can check out the Crew Review and see what other members of the Homeschool Review Crew thought of these handy summary sheets by clicking on the graphic below.
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