Most kids know the Bible stories from children’s church and they have watched all the DVD’s, but many have never cracked open a Bible.
One of my goals is that the kids in my class have a regular time for devotions.

One day I asked for a show if hands, “How many of you read the Bible every day?”

Out of 200 kids in my class only 30 hands went up. This was not good news. When I am having an 85% failure rate I can’t blame the kids, it’s a leadership issue.

I asked myself some hard questions.

“How come kids don’t read the Bible?”

“What is stopping them?”

“I can talk about the importance of daily Bible reading, but how do I get them to actually do it?”

The answer was incredibly simple.

Most kids don’t read the Bible because they have never done it and it seems like something hard to do. They know the Bible stories from children’s church and they have watched all the DVD’s, but many have never cracked open a Bible.

I realized that I had not built Bible reading into my kidmin program. We talked about it, but we never did it.

I know this is radical, but we stopped telling Bible stories in children’s church and let the kids actually read the Bible during Small Group Time.

I purchased 200 NIV Bibles. (This only works if everyone has the same translation.) Third grade and up sit in a circle of eight to ten kids. Each child reads one verse from the Bible as we go around the circle. If one child has trouble reading we let them pass.

After reading the Bible story we ask questions. I tell my Small Group Leaders not to preach to the kids. Lead by asking questions.

What did you get out of this story?

Why did David run away from Saul?

I want the kids to experience reading the Bible and having the Holy Spirit speak to them as they read it. This skill is a must for every believer.

How do you get your kids to actually read the Bible?