God’s Story, Our Story

I have three girls, ages 12, 10, and 7, so finding a book to meet all three of their spiritual needs can be challenging.

I am always on the lookout for books that aren’t just devotional in nature but are rooted in Scripture. God’s Story Our Story touches on both of my struggles by equipping parents to help their children develop a better understanding of HOW to study God’s Word and HOW to apply its timeless truths to their lives.

Highlights:

9 Weeks of study- broken into 5 days- that will take about 15 minutes to go through.

Format stays the same every day:
Our Story, God’s Story, Bible Story, God’s Story, Our Story, Read it ( Bible Verse), Discuss it, Pray it, Do it.

Often, our children are taught stories in Scripture as stand-alone events and don’t see how they are connected to one another—this book helps them see the grand narrative of Scripture. God’s whole story of redemption and where they fit in. It’s both theologically deep and attentive to the target audience’s age, yet also rich in practical application.

I found the connection stories engaging for both parents and children, and the “do it” section ( putting into action what you learned) achievable and things we would actually do.

While the book is written in a daily format to be covered weekly, it is easy to pick up and put down, something our family needs. You can keep the conversation going throughout the day by doing one section at a time—Read the Bible story in the morning, discuss in the afternoon, pray at bedtime, etc.

Highly recommend for children 8-12/13, but might be a bit juvenile for a teen with a faith foundation. However, if someone is new to the faith and wants a basic overview of Scripture, how to see God in the text, where we fit in, and how that should change our lives, this is a great resource!

Enthusiastically appraised by Christian parents, children’s workers and church leaders alike, this nine-week course, broken down into five-day, fifteen-minute chunks takes readers on a multi-media ride through the whole bible for the whole family. The Ollertons have recognised the crisis in children’s reading in this generation and produced a realistic resource that will appeal to boys and girls (5+) by linking the text of the book (using QR codes) to optional video and audio resources as well as further materials for church or home use.

For the purist, it also stands very much on its own as a book to read from cover to cover and offers no cheap alternative to grappling with the text of scripture which is encouraged on day five of each week - Memory-Verse day.

The chapters follow an identical and memorable structure weaving our own experience together with the stories in the bible, tying them to God’s broader purposes and looping back again to accessible application. Four actions round things up: Read It (the passage itself is printed for you), Discuss It (assuming a parent’s guidance); Pray It (a suggested text is provided) and finally, Do It (an action is suggested).

Written in a gently humorous but biblically rigorous style, the particular strength of this book is that it does just what it says on the tin - it shows how God’s story links with our story today as followers of Jesus.

If you are just trying to get into the habit of family devotions with your young children, this is a wonderful resource to get you started! Each of the 9 weeks has 5 days of material with the last day focusing on Scripture memory. The lessons are short & introduce your littles to the story of God in Scripture. Highlighting some well-known & a few lesser-known stories, the authors help point your heart to the Gospel throughout.