Mike is a father who wonders “I have a two-year-old boy and another about to turn three, but most materials seem to be written for older kids. When should I start?”
It’s never too early! All you need is a book with good pictures. You can begin talking about the pictures, even with a one-year-old. Over time, you can explain more and more. Your children will begin to love those books and want to learn more.
First impressions are often the image that last a lifetime, so make them count.
Many good books are available, even reprints of old books. The New England Primer, used by the early Puritans in America, allows parents to teach serious biblical truths along with their ABCs. Newer books, geared for young ages, include the alphabet books A is for Adam and D is for Dinosaur (by Ken Ham).
Check out catechisms for children. Ask your pastor or church librarian. Depending on your denomination, check out the background and history about catechetical nurture HERE. At bedtime, ask simple questions:
Who made you? God made me.
What else did God make? God made all things.
Why did God make you and all things? For His own glory.
Who is God? God is the maker of all things.
Who made God? No one.
Was God ever not there? No.
Has God always been? Yes.
Will God always be (alive)? Yes.
Did God have a birthday? No.
Will God have a funeral? No.
Can you say this another way? Yes, God is eternal.
With very young children, repetition is key. Although they aren’t ready for long discourses, they’ll repeat to you simple phrases and sentences. That’s how God made them to respond at this age. As they mature, you can add additional explanations and move on to more extended questions and answers.
Of course, teaching time doesn’t always need to be formal. Wanda, mother of three-year-old Susan, takes advantage of every teachable moment: ‘When we’re pulling weeds, I mentioned that we wouldn’t have to do this if Adam hadn’t sinned. When our cats leave dead animals at the house, I talk about the bad news (why things die) and the good news that we can live forever in heaven, the good gift from God that we receive by faith in Jesus.’
Whatever method you choose, do teach. It’s never too early to begin with the truths of the Bible with the little ones entrusted to you!
Read below what OPC pastor Edd Cathey conveys at this one particular time of baptizing an infant—he provides excellent points about God’s early start with little ones:
"Since before he was born and received his name, little Graham has been in a developing relationship with [his parents] Megan and Behn. He heard their voices every day. When he was born, that relationship was intensified with hugs and kisses and touch and sight along with more words of love. He is learning to trust them through all these things. He is a person and his family members are persons- expanded recently to aunts, uncles, grandparents, and others. He is a person receiving communications of love from persons.
In Holy Baptism he is about to be embraced in an intense way by Another who loves him and calls him by name. The one God in three persons is speaking to Graham.
Just as he did not at first comprehend those earlier voices and touches completely, he does not fully comprehend the gracious Triune God who embraces him with covenant love. Nevertheless, God is calling his name and saying “Graham, you are mine, follow me, I am your Savior, I put my name on you.”
My son, Toby, offers great quotes about using the question and answer method, something that can be used with little ones:
“The word 'catechism' derives from the Greek word katecheo which is found in several places in Scripture. The most familiar is Luke 1:4, where Luke explains why he wrote his Gospel: 'that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed [catechichized].' Like many Greek words katecheo is put together from two words, in this case kata, meaning 'down toward,' and echeo, meaning 'to sound.' Katecheo is 'sound down.'"
And again:
“We teach first the Bible and then the confessions, the Bible because it is God speaking to his people, and the confessions because they are the church speaking to God, answering his Word."
From Donald Van Dyken, Rediscovering Catechism, 56
Our Faith Presbyterian congregation has been using the children’s catechism and the Westminster Shorter Catechism in a memory program, see one HERE, and it’s been great for our young children, students and their families. The reinforcement, modeling and grounding in truth has been gold.
Ideas for this post are taken from Answers magazine, (April-May 2008), Great Commission Publications (the publishing arm of the OPC and PCA), the book, Rediscovering Catechism (from Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co.) and the Catechism for Little Persons (by Jim Dennison, an OPC minister and professor at Northwest Theological Seminary in Seattle).
G. Mark Sumpter
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