Family Bible & Prayer Time - where do I start?
by Joanne Gilchrist, writer and founder of Ruach Resources
The 23rd March, 2020 was the first day of the UK “lock-down” and a day of new beginnings. For Joanne Gilchrist (creator of God for Kids app) and her family, it was a day of good intentions. “Finally,” I thought, “we have the time to do the things we have always been too busy to do.” Like family devotion/prayer/worship/Bible time (or whatever you call it where you are from).
Almost one year later, did my good intentions pay off?
Toddler devotions started with ‘Stories with Jesus’ by Caroline Larson @CAG Publishing
OUR VERY FIRST FAMILY BIBLE TIME
Long before coronavirus, when I was a mum of two girls under 3, it never occurred to me to pray or worship at home with my kids. Until one day, a friend gave me a set of ‘Jesus cards’ to use with my toddlers. She was a full-time Mum herself and really missed her daily ‘quiet times’ with God. So instead, she created space to do it with her kids; she found a way to keep up her own devotional life while embracing the crazy early years of parenting. Wow!
She said the ‘Jesus cards’ would help me make a start with my family Bible and prayer time. They contained a simple story, a few actions to bring the story to life and a prayer. That’s all it took to start a great habit of reading the Bible and praying together as a family, a habit that grew. And out of that habit, God for Kids app was born. (Woohoo!)
Since then, we’ve had times when we’ve been really pro-active about praying together, using some of the great resources available in the Christian bookshops. But there have been times when we have been truly lousy at this. In fact, before 2020, we had been particularly poor at making time to pray and read the Bible together. We needed a kick-start to pray together again.
So during the months of corona-lock-down, I was determined to make the most of this amazing opportunity to start small again and build up our family’s ability to worship God, pray, read the Bible together.
I was hopeful.
DAY 1 DIARY ENTRY
“Here’s how it looked TODAY for this family of 11, 9 and 2 year old girls and their Mum:
8:30am This is when we usually leave the house to go to school. Instead of shouting ‘Shoes on everybody NOW!’ and rushing around like a whirlwind I called ‘Go get your Bibles and meet me in the dining room in 2 minutes!’ then serenely glided … ok no that’s an exaggeration. I still rushed around, this time making myself a coffee, sifting through the bookcase for something to guide our time together and grabbing some colouring books and pens for the 2 year old.
8:32am I sit waiting patiently for everyone to promptly arrive
8:34am Not so patiently sitting now…
8:35am You get the idea…
8:40am Finally, altogether, we open our Bibles and pray ‘Lord help us to understand what we are about read…’ or words to that effect.
8:41am The 11-year-old and 9-year-old read the first 8 verses of the book of Esther and immediately begin to ask why the King is called Xerxes in one Bible and ‘Ahasuerus’ in the other… I have no idea! It was a surprise to me too. So I did the best I could - admitted that I didn’t know and would look it up for them later while in the meantime guessing that perhaps one name is the translation of the other in a different language. (Now I’ve had time to look it up that’s exactly what it is. In layman’s terms, ‘Ahasuerus’ is the Latin version of the Hebrew translation of the Babylonian version of the Old Persian name. Xerses is the Greek translation of the same old Persian name. Aren’t you glad they asked?!) By now, 2 year old has scattered her books all over the floor and is now colouring in her ‘God for Kids’ colouring book.
8:45am I ask the girls some questions about the text (using a 40-day devotional booklet I bought 5 years ago and never used… coming in handy now!) and have a bit of a chat about what kind of King Ahasuerus / Xerses might have been from this introduction.
8:50am 2 year old has finished colouring and wants to sit on my knee and join in while we each say a prayer, asking God for his help for our day.
8:55am All done with the big kids! Now I try to gather up the books to read and pray with the 2 year old but she’s moved on. Can’t get her interested in the books, or the colouring and she’s definitely not interested in posing for a ‘Facebook Live’ devo that I’m trying to set up. So I’ve missed my window with her. Will try again later.”
Not a bad start! And it only took 15 minutes. (Once we got going.)
At first I started imagining how we could make it more complex and interesting - we could include craft or baking or a game but actually, I like how simple it can be. Perhaps it’s best to simply focus on Jesus and his word. Perhaps that is even more meaningful? But I would love to hear from you - your ideas, what you do, what works and what your kids love? Do you listen to a song or kneel in a circle to pray? Do you dance, do you shout, do you meditate in silent awe?
ONE YEAR LATER
Keeping it simple paid off. Still at 8am, weekdays, term time, we gather to read a passage from the Bible, ask a question or two about what it means and pray. Simple. Wonderful. I’m so glad we started. It was worth all the effort.
YOUR TURN
Most of us don’t feel confident to simply open the Bible and lead our children on an ad-lib Bible Study but if you can do that, then go for it! If not, what do you have lying around that you can dig out and use?
If you don’t have anything, here’s three ideas:
If your child is between 4-9 years old you can use God for Kids app.
In 2020 I broadcasted live on our Facebook page every weekday at 9am to communicate in a fun way, one new aspect of God’s character. You can view all the live videos here: www.Facebook.com/Godforkisapp/live)
Use any of the multitude of printed materials out there. We give printable colouring in sheets to all who subscribe to the mailing list (and you can unsubscribe any time).
Use a different Christian app. Here’s a list, roughly in age order from toddler to teenager, of Christian apps you can download.
God bless you and be encouraged - You are doing an amazing job with your kids!
