As a Pastor, part of my job is training and equipping the church to use the gifts that God has given them to serve Him for the upbuilding of the body of Christ, that ‘job description’ is pretty clear from Ephesians 4. Most people would nod along and agree with that when it comes to adults, but when it comes to children there is a tendency to focus more on fun and games rather than training and equipping. However, there are so many good resources out there that have been produced to help you train and equip little ones, here are four that have come across my desk recently.
What are Hands for? & What are mouths for? by Abbey Wedgeworth
These wee board books for ages 1-4 are great! One of the thing I like most about them is that they are lift-the-flap board books which create more of an interaction with the child and keep them engaged. I’ve not found many Christian books that are a bit more interactive so I was very pleased to see these two books in the post!
These books go through a pattern of 1) what our mouths/hands were made to do, 2) what God didn’t make our mouths/hands for, 3) how Jesus too was a child with a mouth/hand and how He used it and then 4) there’s application of how we can use our mouth and our hands to serve God because of what He’s done for us in Jesus. obviously some of the concepts in these books will not be understood by a 1 or 2 year old initially, but they help children from a young age see that God created us with a purpose, that He gives His people the Holy Spirit who enables us to serve God and that Jesus brought us to God. If you know a toddler get these books because they are really good and Emma Randall has done a lovely job at illustrating the books!
God’s Big Promises Bible Storybook by Carl Laferton
I’m not normally a fan of Bible storybooks, but this one might have just convinced me otherwise. Often Bible story books pick out certain stories that are seen to be more ‘exciting’ (the flood, Daniel and the lion’s den, etc.). But Laferton has done something different here and I think it’s great. He’s pulled together some of the great promises of God in the Bible in the Old Testament and shows how they are fulfilled in the New Testament. The message is that if God makes a promise, God keeps a promise. But it isn’t all just thrown together randomly either, if a child (aged 2-6) finds a particular ‘path’ of promises more interesting they can follow that path through from promise made to promise kept. The five promise paths are…
- The rescue path
- The people path
- The land path
- The joy path
- The king path
The Bible stories are told well, the book is full of great illustrations and vibrant colours that catch your eye. This Bible storybook has changed my mind, I think this would be a great little tool to train and equip children to have confidence in God and His faithfulness. I highly recommend this book.
The great big sad by Christina Fox
Explaining to a child that someone has died is not easy. It’s hard for a child to wrap their heads around not seeing someone again and why that is. Christiana Fox has written this helpful little book for 4-8 year olds that will be an aid in that difficult conversation. In the book you join two siblings whose grandma died, you journey with them through their grief and learn how to understand and express that grief and sorrow. The book also takes you to Jesus and shows how He too felt grief and sorrow in John 11 as Lazarus died. But the book does not end on a sad note, the little reader will be pointed to Jesus who knows the pain of someone dying and they will be pointed to find comfort and hope in Jesus and in the resurrection. This could be a helpful book to have that difficult conversation with a child about the death of a friend or relative.
*** I received a copy of these books from the publishers in exchange for honest reviews. This does not change the way I rate the books. My views are my own. ***
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