Did you know that you are not only a parent to your children, you can and should be a pastor (or shepherd) to them as well? It is our job as parents to lead our kids to a true understanding of the Bible. God’s Word is clear about our role as parents:
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 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. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
This is the motivation behind The Dig for Kids, a resource written by Pastor Patrick Schwenk, husband of Ruth Schwenk of The Better Mom, a site for which I am so honored to be a contributor.
The Dig for Kids is a simple, yet in-depth resource for leading your children through the study of the Scriptures. A typical Dig lesson follows this pattern:
1. The Map: The Map tells you and your child where you’ll be going in each lesson. It is a short summary of the study ahead.
2. The Dig: The Dig is the main passage you will be studying. Following each passage will be several questions designed to help conversation and understanding. They are meant to be a guide. You can use them or tweak them to help you talk with your children.
3. The Treasure: The Treasure is the big idea of each lesson. In a short statement, it is what you want your child to remember from the passage you studied.
4. The Display: When an archaeologist finds a treasure, they will clean it up and put it on display for everyone to see. This is the basic idea of the Display. It is the application of the Treasure you have found!
I so appreciate that the Dig for Kids is a resource that takes our families to the Word of God, and not to paraphrased stories of the Bible. God’s Word is presented as treasure waiting to be discovered. The greatest blessing in pastoring our own children is that the transformation is not just for our kids…it’s for us as parents as well.
I’m giving away a PDF copy of the first in the series, Luke Vol.1, to one of my readers!
Please leave a comment below telling me why you’d like to win The Dig, and I will pick and announce a winner at random on Monday, August 6.
(Giveaway closes at 10pm, August 5, 2012) This giveaway is now closed.
If you can’t wait, The Dig is available on The Dig for Kids website or amazon, so check it out!
Have a blessed weekend, friends…and be in the Word with your kids today and everyday!
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This looks good! We would love go through this with our girls. Anything (that is sound) to encourage them to get into Scripture, and especially to see it as the treasure it is.
Oh wow, this would be great for us .. I have been trying to find a tool to teach our son the bible outside the church – that we can learn God’s words at home everyday too. So this will be so helpful for me. Thanks for the giveaway!
I agree that resources for kids that get them in the word are kind of hard to find. We have several paraphrased children’s Bibles (some very good) but it is the Word of God that is living and active, sharper than a two edged sword. Thanks for sharing this resource!
This looks wonderful! I especially love that it directs the children to the Word, and that it gives them application lessons. What a great thing for family devotions, or for my oldest to do on his own for his quiet time. I can see reading with my youngest as well. Thanks for sharing!
I saw this on The Better Mom and was excited to see you are having a give away! A solid Biblical teaching resource is a blessing indeed. It would be a great tool to help instill a love of scripture in our boys.
I think this would be great! I’m all about new ways to teach my littles scripture!
I would love to start doing family devotions with this. We have the Long Story Short devotional, but I find it a bit advanced for the kids right now. We read the Jesus Storybook Bible and Big Picture Story Bible, but this sounds like it would be a good, much-needed addition to our day!
Enter me! Teaching our children to dig into scripture now is vital for a lifetime of serving, worshiping and delighting in God. I’ve read amazing reviews about this new resource and am wanting to use it with my own family!
My oldest son accepted Chist and was baptised just a few months ago. He asked for a study that he can do to grow in his faith. This followed a sermon that he was intrigued by at our home church. I have been asking around and researching kid bible studirs. This is one of two that I like and want to try out.. Fingers crossed.
I would love to have this tool to lead my children through the Word. We started out our summer with one children’s story book, but I switched after a week because it wasn’t hitting the points I wanted to cover. The 2nd choice has been very profittable to us; it teaches biblical truths backed up with scripture. Bringing this to an end, we’re ready to move on. This new resource sounds amazing!
My husband leads family devotions most nights and I would like to surprise him with something new for our 4 kids! This sounds really good to help the kids retain what they have heard. Why is it when they watch one cartoon at Grandmas they can tell you all about it but you ask them about Sunday school, they look at you like you just asked them in German?