The Family Bible Devotional: Stories from the Bible to Help Kids and Parents Engage and Love Scripture (52 Weekly Devotions with Activities, Prayer Prompts, & Discussion Questions) Paperback – August 1, 2018

"This family devotional aims to cultivate healthy conversation between parents and their children about the Bible and its stories." And so begins Sarah Wells' beautiful and honest family adventure into scripture. There are several things that raise this family devotional above many others I've seen. It is designed to inspire questions rather than to offer answers. More than teaching Bible stories, Sarah teaches families how to approach the Bible as explorers and seekers. Once you have finished the 52 lessons you could easily apply her "technique" to other passages. Related to this question driven method is that Sarah doesn't provide simple "Sunday School" answers, but gives kids (and parents) permission to wonder,doubt, and ask questions about what they are ready. This freedom is rarely discovered in other children's study aids.Sarah covers the great themes of Scripture that all of us want our kids to discover: forgiveness, grace, love, God's provision, and more. Jonah isn't just a story about a big fish, it's about second chances. God's miracles are to show both his power and his absolute desire to restore all things to himself. You'll find that the way Sarah approaches devotions leaves room for a lot of discovery and will fit your family regardless of your theological leanings.Lastly, I love that Sarah takes families beyond stories about other characters and invites them to see themselves in God's story. She includes many of the stories kids love (creation, the ark, King David) but also challenges them with passages not often found in family devotionals (the woman caught in adultery, John 1, Job). Sarah gives the readers permission to skip around, go at our own pace, and simply enjoy the adventure.On a practical note, the book includes "Tips For Keeping Kids Engaged" and an easy to follow plan study method (setting up the story, read, talk about it, closing thought, prayer prompt, activities, and extra facts) for each lesson. Get this book today and get your kids excited about the Bible.

My family and I have a family night once a week where we do family worship and go over a devotional together. Other devotionals I have used in the past, have been a little cheesy and just not getting the depth I was looking for and wanted to engage my kids in. I want my kids to learn and grow in the Bible, not answer cheesy questions. This devotional was the perfect mix I was looking for of head and heart and was VERY APPLICABLE to children. I have kids from 2 to 19 and we found ways to engage each and every one of them using this devotional. I will definitely recommend to my friends and family. I hope the author writes more family devotionals with this style.

So many family devotional books focus on one verse at a time, teaching a moral principle. THIS one shows you scripture in context and helps families fall in love with the God of the Bible, not just moral teachings. As a pastor, I can’t recommend this enough.

I’m so glad I came across this devotional when trying to find one for our family.Our kids are 6 and 10 and both can engage and understand it very well. We’ve been using it after dinner while we all sit around the table and my kids stay so engaged, it’s opened up the door to so much more in-depth discussion once we’re done reading.I highly recommend it for families!

Well written but best for 9 and up. Alot of it went right over my 5 and 7 year Olds heads. Not the writers fault, just not the right age range for my needs.

If you are looking for a devotional to read with your kiddos, I recommend this one. All 5 of my kids sat and listened, but I think it was most impactful to my school aged kids.It does a fantastic job of weaving new and old testaments, showing how the Bible works together to point to Jesus. There are questions that can be left open ended, allowing natural curiosity which I loved. The activities are hit and miss, but the ones that hit are great.I was struggling to find a devotion that I could really recommend, that I felt didn’t try to gloss over hard things, but also wasn’t too challenging for kids. But I think this one is exactly what I was looking for!

Nice book would probably last all year for new devotional topics daily

Our family of 5 is using this book for coronavirus family worship at home. The book is serious enough for you to get as much spiritual learning out of each chapter as you want. The chapters are broken-up enough to keep things interesting but not too complicated. Our family has younger children and they are engaged. The author's notes are accurate that it's flexible and you have to decide how to work it into a consistent routine for your family. I read ahead to better guide our family reading/discussions but this book requires little to no mental preparation. We're very happy with this book; it has all the pieces we were looking for to keep our family committed to a weekly worship during 2020 uncertainty.