Answering Your Questions

Where to start with the Bible, post Easter stuff kids wonder, and more.

Hi there! It’s 6 short answers to 6 could-be-a-whole-book-to-answer questions! Today we’ll talk about…

• 4 post Easter follow up questions from your kids.

• Where do I start with the story? Genesis? Jesus?

• How do I help my kids get involved in the community-with-other-Christians aspect of faith?

• I’m in a tough spot with my own faith but have a 6 month old. Should I have him dedicated or wait?

• How do you create rituals and traditions in your everyday?

• How to explain God is with us to a 2 year old?

Before we dive in, there’s a new episode of Ask Away out today: Jesus sleeps in the storm. Even if your kid isn’t into podcasts, if you ever wonder ‘how do I tell this Bible story?’, see if we’ve done it there!

Ok, onto the questions!

Post Easter follow up questions from your kids, with answers in ‘kid voice’ (how I’d say it to a 6/7 year old).

• “If Jesus is alive, why can’t we see him?” Because Jesus is in heaven right now. But lots of people did see him back when it first happened!

• “Why did Jesus have to go to heaven instead of staying here with us?” I’m not totally sure! He did tell his friends and followers that after he left, that would give a chance for the Holy Spirit to be with us. (You might explore the story of Pentecost too.)

• “After Jesus rose from the dead, did he die again?” Nope! That’s one thing that’s so cool about Jesus resurrected body—it’s a forever body that doesn’t die.

• “Where is he now?” Jesus is in heaven—the Bible talks about heaven kind of like it’s one place and kind of like it’s the place God is, but of course, God’s everywhere. So that means we get to have fun imagining what it’s like. And that’s where Jesus is now.

Here’s what I hope you see: you can give one small true thing and then pause. They may ask more, or not. But you don’t need a comprehensive answer, even if you, as the adult, know there’s more to it all.

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Where do I start with the story? At the beginning or with Jesus?

Option 1: Start with Jesus via Luke/Acts

While there are lots of ways to start, I think one of the easiest is to start with Luke, then Acts, using the NLT as a jumping off point. The books sharing an author, and the fact that Luke is a good storyteller, are both really helpful.

Even this way, still select stories that kids can get and save sections they can’t.

Option 2: Hop around using quick context

You can also hop around the biblical stories with kids, in which case you start the story with a bit of backdrop and then dive in.

So for example: Manna in the Wilderness

Start with: “God’s people had been enslaved in Egypt, forced to work for the king. It was very hard and sad, but God set them free. That’s a whole big story, but what you need to know is that now the people were out of Egypt and in the desert, on their way to a land God promised.”

Option 3: the big story of God

Another way to think about where to start is core stories, the ones that form the big story of God in the world. In that case we’re talking:

• Creation - God made a good world and had a dream for how people would be on God’s team to make it even better!

• Abraham - God called Abraham and Sarah to start a family who would show the world what God is like!

  • waiting for baby Isaac can start at 2, and then being called to a new land can come around 5, the family continuing in Isaac, Jacob, Joseph is good around 8.

• Exodus - God freed the people and rescued them.

  • This is a huge story, of course, and you don’t need to cover it all. I’ve done baby Moses and manna in the wilderness from ages 2 and up, added the burning bush at age 5, and then done God confronting Pharaoh at about 10.

• Promised Land - As the people got to know God, they would live together in ways that matched who God is. It’d be like a light shining to the world. In real life, it was bumpy and good all at once.

  • The spies to Canaan works for all ages, as does God stopping the Jordan river to cross in.

• Jesus - God came to be a person like us, showing who God is and re-forming God’s big family. God’s dream kept going—a world that works in a way that matches who God is—and Jesus was inviting people back to that.

• Early Church - After Jesus went to heaven, God came as Holy Spirit and this group that loved and trusted Jesus practiced being God’s family together. It was bumpy and good all at once.

I’m sure you see how there’s a lot more to the story. But these 6 points can start at the youngest ages, and then you can fill in as kids grow or as their questions or life experiences lead to other stories.

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How do I help my kids get involved in the community-with-other-Christians aspect of faith? We currently don’t belong to a church, and the search for a new one has been difficult. Will I mess up my kids’ developing faith by not having them regularly attend Kids Sunday school or youth group?